I see what you mean, RL. I think that having an archive of good fan poetry would be a wonderful thing.

I get the feeling that people tend to ignore fan poetry for the most part--one person who reviewed my poem said that she only read it because she had read my other stuff, and that normally she avoids fan poetry.

Is there some sort of stigma about fan poetry? Maybe people assume that it's going to be schlocky, Hallmarky, "moon-june-spoon" doggerel.

I love writing poetry. The only issue is that I only get smacked around by the poetry muse once or twice a year at best.

Is there some sort of stigma about fan poetry?

That's the problem. I think it's a circular thing-- most fan poetry is shit, therefore people who are serious don't write or read fan poetry. It's got a stigma along the lines of songvids' or mpreg's.

Because, you know, most of fan fiction is shit. But there's an amazing amount of really, really wonderful things. And what I'd like is a movement of fan writers who do poetry as happily, well, and with as much professional skill and composure as do fic writers.

cereal:

I think this is exacerbated by the fact that most people who attempt poetry, untrainedly, also kind of tend to suck.

this is exacerbated by the fact that most people who attempt poetry, untrainedly, also kind of tend to suck.

Like me. Yeah. But also true of prose, and somehow never seen as a problem there. A lot of people say that they can use fanfic as a 'training ground', a place to learn to write and have thier mistakes gently corrected; so why can the same not be true of fan poetry? As I said before: I'll join the movement.

Is there some sort of stigma about fan poetry?

Yes. I think part of the problem, in my context, was always that those who chose poetry as their medium tended to be those who thought that prose couldn't sufficiently express the incredible angsty love they were feeling. So, as poetry gets defined as something syrupy and excessive and reductive, fewer people are willing to try out poetry as a way to express any other kinds of feelings.

I used to know a woman who wrote original poetry all the time, great poetry, stuff I really admire, and she only ever wrote prose fanfic.

Brighid writes fan poetry. Although only for Stargate, I think.

It occurs to me, in a very tangenty way, that part of the problem may be the same as original poetry has. Most people- even very well-read, literate people- feel that prose is much more accessible, and when they buy from a bookshop it's prose and not poetry they buy.

Add that to the problems that fanfic has already- inaccessible if you don't know the show, looked down on slight as not 'real' writing- and fan poetry is under two kinds of stigma. People who aren't fans won't read it, and people who don't read poetry are unlikely to.

And fans-who-are-poets is a small group. Worth contacting, because we clearly have some and we need to get in touch with each other, but never going to be as large as general fanfic.

Nope, she wrote one for Sentinel, too.

I've seen fan poetry for Due South by (I think) Kellie Matthews and collen.

Currently I'm working on a poem based on Warren's last moments alive, I'm kind of stuck on certain phrasing, trying to find the words I want.

I'd read it, but I know my poetry-crafting skills are not what I would like.