I am a lazy reader of poetry. I’m sure this is a personal flaw and that I need to meditate more or whatever, but as of right now, these are my limitations:
Poems need to be less than three pages long.
They cannot be about nature. Or rather, they cannot be only about nature. If a poem begins with a description of a belted Kingfisher, I can promise you I won’t make it to the second stanza.
I require at least the faintest outline of a plot in a poem.
As Ada Limón says: Enough of osseous and chickadee and sunflower and snowshoes, maple and seeds, samara and shoot….
Enough! Just give me a story, but make it beautiful.
Here’s the start of a poem I like. It’s called Only the Faintest Blue by the aforementioned Ada Limón.
Later in the poem, she leaves this man. And while they fight, she keeps her head down and packs “like fury was a new smart skill.”
That line is why I like poetry.
You can read the entire poem here: https://www.poetrynw.org/poetry/ada-limon-only-the-faintest-blue/
p.s. I share the books I read in my weekly newsletter: I’ll Have What She’s Having. You should sign up!