Comments on: Bad 9-11 poetry: ‘Ballad of 9/11/01,’ ‘Love Will Always Prevail’

By: Eric D. Snider

Eric D. Snider — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 04:01:06 +0000

If it’s any consolation, your poem wasn’t rejected by the Daily Herald because it was bad. It was rejected because it was a poem. The paper simply didn’t publish poetry submitted by readers. Letters to the editor, yes. Poems, no.

By: Andrea Dietrich

Andrea Dietrich — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:44:45 +0000

Sorry, I tend to be wordy at times. I just find it very irritating that you can take someone’s work and post it online without their knowledge or consent. Being turned down by the newspaper was enough. Rejection such as that makes it obvious to a writer that the poem was not worthy. Anyway, it’s a free country and it’s nice that we can both agree on airing our opinions in a forum such as this. Happy New Year, (oh) snide one.

By: Eric D. Snider

Eric D. Snider — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:13:01 +0000

I know this is obvious, but just for the record: I didn’t say Andrea Dietrich was a terrible poet who would never write anything good and who would never win prizes or help school children. The only thing I said was that this particular poem was bad — a sentiment she apparently shares. So I don’t know why she wrote that long thing just to say that she agrees with me on the one thing I did say.

By: Andrea Dietrich

Andrea Dietrich — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:20:30 +0000

(this will be too lengthy to post but go ahead if you want to)
A long time ago when I was a fledgling poet, I sent that “horrifying” first ballad of mine into the Daily Herald (at the time I was proud of it, but today I am not, and actually more for the fact of the over-patriotism it displayed rather than for its “bad” writing!). That is neither here nor there. I did not send that poem to have it be grabbed up by you, Mr. Snide. I can see you now, picking it up from the rejection pile to claim for your own devices with a gleam in your Grinchy eye. A simple rejection letter from the real people in charge there would have sufficed. I never gave my consent for you to have it, but then I stumbled upon it quite by accident and told my sister about it. I had no idea she had come to my defense until just today when I stumbled upon my poem again right here where it sits.(no, Jesse, my sister does not write poetry at all, so you got it wrong)

. I do not mind any more if you want to hold my ballad up to ridicule, Mr. Snide. I have penned over 2,000 poems since this ballad was written. I went on to win 2nd place in an International Sonnet Contest, first place in one of PoetrySoup’s International contests in 2010(a site with thousands of members) and numerous first, second, and third place wins in other contests of note. I’ve been a poetry editor for Marie Summers of ShadowPoetry and a co-judge for other of her contests after having my own wins in her annual ShadowInk contests win awards worth over 300 dollars each time. I’ve appeared in numerous magazines and books and have written articles in them as well, covering movies, grammar lessons and poetry form lessons. I teach adult ESL and help in organizing curriculum development materials there too.

It is not the measure of a poet’s success to earn money from his poetry. I will mention that I have earned over a thousand dollars in contest wins simply to show you that many people have indeed found my poetry to be of worth. At this moment I am working with a co-author on a book idea to sell to educators so that school children can learn to write in many forms of poetry (I take it that rhyme is not your cup of tea; however, millions of fans the world over are still in love with rhyming poems!)

Continue having fun showing off my bad example of a bad ballad. I can live with it. My current resume for writing overrides the “shame” of this very early work of mine. By the way, how do numerous poetry friends of mine get published in their local papers with their unsolicited poetry? They simply put their poems in an envelop and send them in. Had I known the Daily Herald was going to allow my poem to be grabbed up by you, I would not have sent it in. Maybe one day I will approach them again trying to “toot my own horn.” I am happy to say that I am a more polished writer today.

Finally, it was such a pleasure having met you back in the day when you could not even give me a nod for just participating in the reviews of movies you were doing online. You certainly did not enjoy interaction with someone like me. On the other hand, I have given thousands of hours of my time to building up my fellow poets and teaching them how to do correct forms to enhance their writing styles. I would never hold up any of them, particularly the beginners, to ridicule. Even the lowliest among them have “heart” in their writing!

Sincerely, Andrea Dietrich

By: Lulu

Lulu — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:23:54 +0000

My sister-in-law ‘for certain went to war’, and yet I managed to resist writing crappy poetry. She has forgiven me for being a ‘jerk without the soul’.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 07:14:16 +0000

Jennifer, you wrote that first horrible poem, didn’t you? Just admit it, and do so with greatness. Surely you can recognize the difference between “O” (as in “expression of reverence”) and “Oh” (as in “oh dear, what atrocious poetry!”) and that lines like “though all were senselessness” is just plain sloppy writing, regardless of the uniform emotion of those events.

And no, the paper was not particularly interested in the hundreds of “unsolicitated” bad poems and ballads that befell their office. Do you even know what jealously is?

By: Jennifer Walker

Jennifer Walker — Sun, 20 May 2007 17:25:38 +0000

What is everyone’s problem, I believe you are all jealous that you and those like you can not see the love this poet has of the people of the United States. That she used words such as flabbergast because there is no other word to describe the terror that happened that day. What is wrong with rythming when you can do so and I would say she did so with greatness. I believe that each and every one that responded so evilly take a look at yourself in the mirror.
By the way, the poem or ballad was not unsolicitated and who the blank are you to critize it the way you are doing. I for one think your an idiot without a soul. If anyone was interested that poem or ballad was written just the day the event happened. It was written because she was the mother of a marine and she feared for her son and for other sons of other mothers who would for certain go to war and die serving jerks like you without the souls.

By: Chrystle

Chrystle — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 21:49:35 +0000

I know it’s late, but Momma Snider Dulce and Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen, or anything by Seigfried Sasson.

Definition of ballad: poem comprised of four line stanzas, with at least one line repeated in each stanza.

Does using the word “day” in each stanza count as a repeated line?

By: Sharell

Sharell — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 00:49:24 +0000

Singing “Ballad of 9/11″ to the theme of “Gilligan’s Island” is lots more entertaining if you repeat the last line of every stanza. It’s especially fun on the “day to flabbergast” stanza. Try it. It’s fun and nutritious.

By: Momma Snider

Momma Snider — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 21:27:04 +0000

Somebody who knows good poetry from bad, please give me an example of a good poem. I mean, there are some things that would tip me off that it’s bad, but many that are considered good seem the same to me.

I love “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” And “Remember” by Christina Rossetti. But I don’t know if they’re “good” or not.