What makes a poem good?

[KatBrown]

That's a big question, what makes art good? When strolling a museum what makes me stop in front of one piece and not another? For me it's either when they have successfully communicated, when I get a view into an emotion or experience they were tapping into or when their use of their chosen medium is so skilled it holds me long enough to absorb what they were getting at. Maybe the two are the same thing.

A poem that works for me makes me read repeatedly, pulls me through it each time with interest in its successful use of word and form while it reveals its many layers.

What interests me on one day is not the same as what I'm drawn to on another, though there are some pieces that stop me in my tracks each time. I think part of what makes some pieces my favorites is my own journey that I have taken with it and that, of course, will be different for each of us.

IME, one of the great things about this site is reading and being read by people who have all sorts of views of what is successful. It's for each poet to figure out how they can best communicate, and what is worth the effort it takes.

Good answer!