Why do people hate poetry so? This free-verse poem is an attempt to create an answer.

When the English teachers pull out Shakespeare,

Or break out the Iliad and Odyssey,

Students groan in sighs of  irritation  

Of the thing, that they hate so viciously. 

And yet, with very little explanation

To what poetry did to deserve it.

They say that schools have ruined poetry,

Or that it’s just too hard to comprehend. 

And that poetry is a dead art form,

That students shouldn’t need to understand. 

And yet, through all of this complaining,

They lose sight of why they are unhappy. 

Because we are wired to reject verses,

And taught to hate anything resembling

The dreaded art form known as poetry.

And all the while, during all this hating, 

Poetry’s impact is lost to the storm.

Because when students are commenting that

They would rather be stabbed or kicked or hit 

Instead of just learning the dreaded word,

Fighting with teachers in battles of wit, 

And it makes us students wonder why,

The teachers are even trying this anymore.

Because when out of 500 students, 

169 feel that verses have no point,  

It brings to mind the questions that follow, 

Why students don’t feel their feelings are voiced.

Poetry has meaning, and I wish luck 

To those who are willing to look for it. 

And thanks to this modern society,

People decide to just loath it simply  

As that’s easier than understanding. 

However, poetry mustn’t be thought

Of something as hateful as it’s believed. 

It’s an art form that’s fluid like water

And yet people choose to cut it like trees. 

Why do people hate poetry so much?

I don’t really have an answer to give.

Maybe they keep poetry like a pet,

And just won’t ever let it out, free to live.