Wow, what a gut punch.
Reminded me of this pilot's saying:
It's better to be on the ground
Wishing you were up in the air
Than to be up in the air
Wishing you were on the ground
this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2025
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Poetry
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A community to celebrate published and OC works of poetry.
Welcome to !poetry
Guidelines & Community Rules
In addition to the general rules of lemmy.world:
Published Poetry
1a: Poetry posts should include the title and the author, when the author is known.
O.C. Poetry
2a: Sharing original poetry is encouraged, but it must be preceded by the tag "[OC]."
2b: If an [OC] post is requesting feedback, it should also follow with the "[FB]" tag. It would look like the following example:
[OC] [FB] Nothing Gold Can Stay
Feedback
All feedback should be given in good faith.
3a: All [FB] requests should be met with comments constructive in nature. It is okay to dislike parts of a poem, but make sure to explain why you feel that way.
3b: Feedback does not need to be extraordinary in nature. Simply expressing how a work makes you feel is often enough.
3c: Use the honor system. When you receive good feedback, return it in kind to another author. Everyone appreciates knowing their work is being read and appreciated.
As this community develops, these guidelines may be adjusted.
Formatting Help
Work in progress
To create a line break, use two spaces at the end of a line.
To create empty space, type .
Use four of these at the beginning of a line to create a standard indent.
UPDATE:
Some methods of access do not format markdown correctly. I am currently testing various apps and web interfaces to see what does and does not retain formatting.
In the interim, it is encouraged to post text poetry as you normally would, but to include a link at the beginning or end of the post with access to a website or image that retains the formatting as intended.
Other Poetry Communities
Poetry lovers unite! In the style of the fediverse, multiple poetry communities have arisen, and will continue to rise. I will try to keep a list here of communities across instances that are worth checking out!
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Ooh that's good!
Thank you for sharing OP. You subverted my expectations.
I'm glad!
I never really understood poetry, never understood the appeal. Like a month ago, I finally read a poem that just... moved me. I wondered if maybe it was just the one. This one did the same with just that last line. Guess I've been just reading awful poetry every time I had "tried" it in the past. Well, hot dog, a whole new fucking world!
I imagine in a time where reading books was the main leisure activity poems where like scrolling instagram or tiktok.
It's an acquired taste, and honestly some of it that is critically acclaimed does nothing for me. But when I find ones that really do it for me it's such a joy. Glad you're joining the team.
Yeah, I've always been super into music, so I thought it was weird that it didn't seem to translate. Like you, I think the critically acclaimed shit just ain't it for me. Which, now that I think about it, my music taste is for the most part not even kinda mainstream so I probably should have made that connection before. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I think the best music has kind of a poetic nature to it; like Neko Case's music. I want the lyrics to make images light up in my head.
If you don't mind sharing, what was the other poem?
Oh! Glad you asked. It was The Harlem Dancer by Claude McKay. First poem that finally hit me in my life.