Bad poetry

23 February, 2010 - 22:28 by Mag1

Do we HAVE to accept bad poetry just because someone local has written it?

Submitted by New ed. on 3 March, 2010 - 14:55.
I did print a 'bad' poem recently since it was submitted by the family of the deceased poet. It would have meant a lot to them despite the lack of rhythm and the cliches. I guess this doesn't help when you have an over zealous contributor. My problem seems to be lack of items not just bad ones.
Submitted by Enjay on 13 March, 2010 - 18:15.
Dear Mag1, the way that I feel; Is that editors need nerves of steel; Bad poem? Right, then! Get out your red pen! Never mind that the poet may squeal! There you go, just to prove there are worse poems than the one you were looking at when you posted your question! :-)
Submitted by Werburga on 18 March, 2010 - 01:00.
I always print the author's name - that way readers know who to blame!
Submitted by Scribbler on 22 March, 2010 - 21:45.
I always print the name of who wrote the article and usually with the © symbol too as our magazine goes on the parish website. If its from Parish Pump I acknowledge the source.
Submitted by Mrs Editor on 17 May, 2010 - 19:21.
I always reserve the right to edit articles as I feel necessary, but realise that this cannot really be done with poetry. Although I have not had to deal with 'bad' poems, I recently had a testimonial which for various reasons needed to go into the magazine, but was not only grammatically wrong in several places but some of the content was not what I would have chosen. (I hasten to add there was nothing in it that was actually unsuitable for a church magazine) I corrected the grammatical errors and then put a footnote at the end of the article saying that because of the circumstances (which I cannot go into) the testimonial had been published with minimal editing. I have had no feedback so assume that was acceptable.
Submitted by musician on 30 May, 2010 - 17:27.
I agree, print the author's name, in the circumstances people reading the poem will understand the position of the Author. Thank you for the tip on copyright
Submitted by Crispi-ed on 2 June, 2010 - 16:05.
All "local" articles in the magazine have the author's name attached, and any poems taken from Parish Pump. I always put local articles from the magazine onto the church website (but nothing from PP), but there is a general Copyright indication on the homepage.