The Bad Poetry Drinking Group 

"where the bar is low"

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A Good-humoured Group to generate and celebrate Bad Poetry - both our own and others'.

Inspired by Canadian writer Tristanne Connolly's assertion that loving your own bad poetry can lead to self-acceptance."

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We welcome and share poetry from all our members.

Please consider joining in!   (The link is below.)

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NEXT  MEETING (online)

Sunday 5 February 2023

3-4:30pm (EST)

 

Please note: Time Zones
Central Europe – 9pm (CET)

Pacific – 12noon (PST)
UK - 8pm (GMT)

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ALL POETRY IS WELCOME

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This is a safe creative zone, to share, play with verse - and worse.

Only criteria - please write it yourself.

(But also, rules are for fools. So, y'know, poems...)

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Things to remember about TBPDG!

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Poetry-play for people who are likely better at doing other things.

We put the ‘AM’ back in amateur (as in, I 'am' writing poetry!).

Hubris-free engagement with verse: good, bad & worse.

Share, listen, watch in wonder.

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That's it! Join us!

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BACKGROUND

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The origins of The Bad Poetry Drinking Group remain obscure - as one might expect - but legend has it that the first meeting was in a pub on Dundas St West in Toronto in 2013. A group of friends gathered with the idea to generate bad verse, but only one person turned up with Real Efforts. (ie, see below).

 

The pandemic demanded creative thinking by creative people and, under the auspices of my new company, I resuscitated the group online as a way to pass the time and stay connected in a fun way to people across the country. The past two years have seen gorgeous and gory offerings of poetry from around the world.

 

Currently at 130 members, the online group is growing and gaining momentum! It has generated some wonderful poetry: good, touching, eloquent, arresting, heart-stopping, epic, mundane, pathetic, rambling, rare, winsome and worse. In any state, poetry is a way to share our days with one another.

 

Quick and dirty poems can grace any day - and sharing them is the best way to keep community alive. The stakes are low. The price is nothing. What have you got to lose? "The bar is low" and it's getting lower all the time - as we like to say at The BPDG.

 

 

And in case you're still not sure, here's a free sample of Very Bad Verse

 

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Bad Poetry is a thing of delight

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Bad Poetry is a thing of delight

It’s not something you should try to get right.

But if you feel you really must do it,

I’ve organized something to help you get through it.

 

There’s rhythm and phrasing and plenty of words

That are expressive and meaningful & often don’t rhyme.

Don’t forget metaphor and the ‘like’ and the ‘as’

That make similes work, at the end of your phraaase.

 

There’s allusion and image and that thing called caesura,

That I don’t understand, but you probably don’t either.

And enjambment really makes my head spin

Cuz the word looks so awkward, and so is the thing

(that it does, which I won’t explain here)

 

I could do a kind of performative ending

But after the drinks that might be extending (myself a little too far)…

Oh! Yea! Celebrate the success of my very bad verse.

If I had some more time, I could make it much worse.

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MEETINGS - Previous

 

December 4th, 2022

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The Bad Poetry Drinking Group GOES LIVE (online) :
Real-Time Event!  Sunday December 4th 2022 / 3-4:30pm EST

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Join us for an easy afternoon of Bad Poetry, Good Company & Fresh Drinks (byod, y'know?)

 

The Bad Poetry Drinking Group GOES LIVE (online) offers a casually structured time to share our poems, listen to one another's, participate in some live poem-making, share a chat and some social ... Each participant is welcome to share 1-2 poems at this inaugural event. Time will be managed by a moderator, to allow for all participants to have a relaxed time to share their work (play). Sara Porter offers an easy series of ways to participate. Audience is also welcome! AND you can come and participate as you feel you can in the moment. All presences are welcome. (Except mean ones. Don't be mean, or laugh at people. Except where you're supposed to laugh ... but really, don't worry, we'll work it out...)

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We will meet

We will share

Poetry will happen

Be there.

 

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