Politicians in many countries are judged for their personal morality and pay the price for their personal shortcomings. Ideally, these issues of a personal nature should be of no concern or consequence to the general public and are matters to be decided by the families and / or related parties of the errant politicians. However due to the resurgence of family-based, conservative and religious movements, the politicians are being held to account in many cases and a number of the political leaders end up resigning from their posts.

A while ago the AC thought it might be a good idea to include on the Tools>Undiscovered work list poems with 2 replies or less. It was a terrible mistake and I take responsibility for it as I was the one who mostly pushed for the change. The list blew out to many pages dating right back to the reboot of Neopoet, totally over-whelming and unmanageable.

It now only lists poems that have received no feedback and is only two pages. The goal, of course, is zero.

When writing haiku and senyru you must keep strict Japanese form for it to be what it is, Japanese poetry;

Haiku is strictly anything that's nature: such as the sun moon and stars. Nature also refers to animals plants and inanimate objects; it can be anything not human.

As for senyru it can be all of the above with a human touch, desire or passion: key words such as I me he she saw see my etc makes a haiku a senyru.

We have a bunch of new members, and a lot of recidivist older members, who are uncomfortable with giving critique.

This will be an easy, un-confronting workshop that will help you get the idea of how to help others with their poetry which will help you by others giving you better feedback.

Please post the link on any social media you belong to.

See you there at
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/super-quickie-critique

Rhyme is the least of your concerns. Poetry is about saying less to mean more. It involves learning some of the devices of poetry to make your language sound more potent/musical/magical whatever.

How can I give you specific advice on how to do that? Well, I spent many years in academic study. It didn't make me a better poet but it did teach me to write better poetry.

I don't know where Jonathon is, I have been waiting for him to announce the June winner, but since it is now August and he hasn't been here to announce any contests, let alone the June winner, I thought perhaps I should let you know the winner...

Congratulations to raj for 'star link'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/poems/star-link-choka-june-contest

Sorry raj, you'll have to wait for your prize until Jonathon returns

Does anyone know if he is alright?

Some articles about great poets of past and present!

i wonder if they think of me
if anything I did or said
remains a pleasant memory
some are aged
some are dead
i hope my song plays in their head
for I remember quite a few
and long to love them once anew
some perverse and some -so kind
for a night, they all were mine
I knew and loved them biblically
in our passion and our pain
I gave away my precious gift
my future hopes for love bereft
and so you see
a lonely soul, an outcast from
society
a broken heart with shattered dreams

In giving Loved feedback recently I jotted this down-
Recipe for a poem-
A modicum of talent.
A generous helping of poetic knowledge.
Three very large cups of vocabulary (nb. store bought vocabularies won't do, you have to grow your own by always looking up words you don't know, although thesaurus assistance is allowable).
Stir, whisk, beat or smash together inside a large skull.
Allow to ferment with a few drops of imagination.
Optionally the fermentation process can be enhanced with psychoactive herbs and spices.

I am not going to name names but just read if the cap fits wear it with pride, this also applies to our lovely opposite sex, lol.

Curmudgeons