My view of Poetry

 I've been writing poetry since I was a child. It wasn't always good or appreciated. I have taken years to get to a point last year where I started this blog specifically for poetry, because I felt that at last I had something to share and of a standard to share. Previously I published poems here and there on blogs, but last year this blog and the real momentum started and then this year I started competing. 
I've competed in short fiction and non-fiction contests before, but this is my first year in poetry contests.

Do I have any qualification to write poetry? Qualifications aren't really needed. I did A215 Creative Writing with the Open University, where they tried to teach me 'the rules' and I did my own thing and still passed. Poetry is like music, the best of it isn't about rules but inspiration. 

Poetry, the best of it, is a story in fewer words, a crafted tale with a rhythm. My idea of a good poem is one with a bit of mystery perhaps, a tale, evocative, an atmosphere captured. My poems tend to tell a story of places, times or people or all three. I do a lot of poetry about places. The poem has to hit that secret key, to tell a story, historic or current, in a way that people can relate to, or even feel emotion from. 

I consider my best poems at present to be Lough Foyle, Galtymore, Monaleen Church, and The Cold Institution. These are all about places. None are on this blog as they are competition poems. 

I don't publish all my poems on here as some are for competitions, and I store a lot of poems unpublished in the blog archives, for safekeeping, and to publish or not, when the time is right. I will keep adding poems because once you really start writing poetry and start to build skill, it's impossible not to write poetry. It's another bad habit.