It’s said that novelists are failed short story writers, and short story writers are failed poets. I don’t know I entirely agree — they’re all different modes of communicating — but there’s an element of truth in that sentiment.
Poems express ideas concisely, efficiently — and they take more skill to compose than longer works. For nonfiction and ad copy, the same thing should be true. Follow these links to a few poems I think could teach us a thing or two about our own medium…
William Henley’s “Invictus”
Richard Brautigan’s “Love Poem”
They don’t even have to be profound or moving to get the job done, for example
Ogden Nashs’s “The Turtle”
What are some of your favorite poems? Link or put in the comments below.
Invictus is awesome… thank you for introducing me to Henley.
I can believe the short story myth. It’s pretty true with me, I have the most difficult time with short stories because I sometimes have so much more that I want to share and tell!