Steve Roggenbuck

This is always my question: what is "good" poetry? Just like someone told me to say "isn't" instead of "ain't" somewhere there is someone who wrote down what makes a poem a poem ( a play a play, a novel a novel, etc.). I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that, because if you teach someone the rules, they might break them in a fascinating way. Like Nadia Comaneci.

Man, I was obsessed with her when I was a kid. I was fat, Black and, still, I signed up for gymnastics like Bela Karolyi was gonna ready me up for the next Olympics. Anyway, Nadia followed the exact same rules and regulations that, say, Cathy Rigby did, but she blew the sport out of the water with her perfection and personality. No one said, "I don't know, Nadia, what does a round-off look like to you?" They said, "Point your foot like this!" (and  Bela probably cussed her out a time or two) and she came up with something amazing.

That said, here comes Steve Roggenbuck.  He's got Justin Beiber hair, big grey/blue eyes, and a heap of 26 year-old energy and passion. He was in an M.F.A. program and his professor read one of his pieces and told him to "save it for his blog." So he quit the program and took to the You Tubes with his slam/rant/exultation poetry words.

Now, this is America. And this boy is young, cute, and media savvy enough to catch Gawker and The Atlantic's attention. He's got a good fifteen minutes coming to him. But what if that prof had said, "Here, try this. I know, at first, you're going to be copying [very important poet] but see where these rules meet your passion."  Maybe he'd be a celebrated poet. Maybe he'd be a fifth grade English teacher in Flint, Michigan (not a bad thing).  Maybe he will really stick to it and come up with a new form of poetry. Maybe he'll end up the new Chocolate Rain guy.

I was just thinking.