Roses are gray

Violets are gray

Everything is gray

I’m a dog

August 18^th, Bad Poetry Day, is a holiday that received very little attention. Although you didn’t get a day off from school, it was still a national (not so celebrated) holiday.

According to Wellcat, Bad Poetry Day was created by Thomas and Ruth Roy, who appear to invent many other random holidays.

So what exactly was Bad Poetry Day all about?

The creators of this holiday give very little detail about why Bad Poetry Day was made, but many have their own theories.

“I think it was created as a day to read really bad poetry – to laugh and have fun with it,” says Mrs. Krell, an English teacher.

Editor of The Eclectic, Kayla Carden states, “I hope it’s made to encourage everyone to view their writing more confidently. ‘Everyone’ can be a bad poet so there is no fear of sharing your writing and holding it up to an impossible standard. Either that, or it’s the day the Vogons take over.”

On Bad Poetry Day, everyone is a poetaster. A poetaster is defined as a person who writes “inferior” poetry. Yet there is a vague understanding of what makes a poem inferior to another.

“A bad poem is in the ‘ear’ of the beholder, so that would vary,” says Mrs. Krell.  “A bad poem is one that is just ridiculous (to the reader) and one that makes you laugh because it is so bad.”

To Kayla, there is a very clear difference in good poetry versus bad poetry.

“Good poetry must at least evoke an image, feeling, or message,” says Kayla. “Good poetry cannot be wasteful with words – every word, phrase, line, and stanza enlightens the reader. Bad poetry meanders. It is lazy and perhaps pedantic. While you may never be the next Robert Frost, it’s not hard to bypass the stage of being a bad poet. If you can convey anything meaningful to the reader without besting it over their head, you’re at least an average poet.”

On August 18th, celebrate Bad Poetry Day. “Write ‘bad’ poetry,” Kayla suggests. “Read it aloud with others. Then, discuss where you can improve, and keep writing!” We must embrace the poet in all of us, no matter how bad. Everyone is a poet, even if they didn’t know it.