To write poetry is to read it. When we write a poem, we are using words, patterns, traditions that have been tried by others, whether or not we know that. Contemporary poetry, as always, is so new and so close to our own experience, that reading it with . . .

To write poetry is to read it. When we write a poem, we are using words, patterns, traditions that have been tried by others, whether or not we know that. Contemporary poetry, as always, is so new and so close to our own experience, that reading it with an open mind is important to enjoying it. As readers and writers of poetry, we are standing between the old and new. Exploring what we use to define where we are standing is the purpose for this group.

What are you reading? What excites you? What classics do you tuck under your pillow at night? What new dalliances and flirtations are you currently excited about? What would you consider right now, to be Great Poetry? Not necessarily what will survive the ages or change the world, but what poem got you excited?

Posting guidelines:

1. All GreatPoetry postings are now "members only". To protect this limitation, please do not cross-post to other groups. That maintains the limited scope of people who see our postings and avoids the growing member criticisms of our "cut and paste jobs".

2. Length of poems should be no more than 250 words. No one is going to count but the spirit of that 250 word limit is one of the guidelines for Fair Use.

3. Please add a comment or two, brief is fine, to the body of your posting. Unadorned postings of other people's work appears to violate Fair Use guidelines.

4. Comment away. Just as we have been doing. As long as we are acting to learn together, we meet an important guideline--we are an educational group and not a profit-making one.

5. Please limit submissions from any one poet to one every one-three months. Apparently, repeated full citations of copyrighted material from any one poet is a potential violation of guidelines.

There are so many great sources for published poetry.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/

http://www.poets.org/index.php

http://www.poetseers.org/

http://www.poetryconnection.net/poets

http://poetryx.com/

http://www.cprw.com/

http://thepage.name/

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/

http://www.poetz.com/

http://www.haikuhut.com/index.html

The goal of this group is provide each other access to a variety of poetry and to share why it matters to us. This should be the work of poets who have published work. For simplicity, this excludesself-published chapbooks or volumes. Also, poems work should be by other people, even if you have published. This group does not support self-promotion.

Read, enjoy, comment, comment on comments.