this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2026
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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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[OC] [FB] Exhortation (piefed.blahaj.zone)
submitted 19 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) by queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zone to c/poetry@lemmy.world
 
Come, O Death, and make me not,  
As the Sun makes not the night.  
Spare not will, nor sense, nor thought;  
Obliterate the knowing light  

That pulls the strings that make it go  
In dismal jerks and frets and struts  
and sits behind to watch the show  
and hates the poppet's fucking guts.  

Hear, O Death, my solemn plea:  
dissolve the strange cruel chemistry  
That is an I that longs to be  
A nothing in eternity.  
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I want to make a documentary about a guitar player who lived hard and died young just so I can name it "Struts and Frets".

[–] queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zone 1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

I don't set out to write sonnets, but I keep getting pulled in that direction. Three quatrains is a good length for a poem, I think. I also spent a lot of time trying to think of a good couplet to put at the end because I feel, for some absurd reason, that it "should" have a couplet, but I can't think of one that fits the tone. Couplets just feel too cutesy and rhymey for a topic as super serious as the shuffling of the ole mortal coil.

[–] CombatWombatEsq@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

I think the most traditional turn for sonnet like this would be the “perchance to dream; aye, there’s the rub.”

[–] queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zone 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

It often is, but this poem isn't about the kind of death that includes an afterlife. That's just more life. This is an exhortation for nonexistence. I think that's what makes the volta tricky, is that the speaker knows exactly what they're asking for from the jump. Which I think is what makes it feel kind of like a prayer, the old school Catholic kind, not the non-denominational invocative freestyling where people just say whatever they want to god. When I was a kid we got all our prayers pre-written from the church, and those were the prayers we said. Feels... genre bending to have realizations in the middle of prayers, lol.

[–] CombatWombatEsq@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago

I meant more in the sense of: why does this sonnet exist? Why does the speaker stay around to pen and publish the poem? Hamlet fears what dreams may come; why this author?