Horrible Things

This past week I read Caucasian Legends, which is a terrible book and although I didn't get very far in it, I can only recommend it if you are looking to fall asleep quickly.

Instead of babbling about that, I thought I'd take a moment to gripe about poetry. Or, not really about poetry, but about "poetry" as appears in children's books.

I've been reading a lot of kid books lately, and there's this trend--mostly in the free stuff you can find on Amazon, but also in published books that some poor soul actually paid money for--there's this trend or assumption that rhymes are for kids.

Sure, kids like rhymes (when they are old enough to know what those are), but more importantly parents and caregivers like books that THEY CAN READ, and not ones that you have to stop four lines in and then sit in a corner crying over what our language has come to.

Poetry used to be an art form. It's only worthwhile when it has form and rhythm and structure. You can't just slap some rhyming words on a page with a picture of a train and call it a children's book.

Sure, there are a few authors of kid books who can get away with irregular rhythms and changing rhyme patterns, BUT THAT IS NOT YOU. Either learn to write a fucking poem or stick to prose.