BARDBOMBS:

How to survive poetry’s greatest lovers . . . by Wanda Sue Parrott

How well do you do when hit by bardbombing? The answer probably depends on whose poetry is bardbombing you? Your own or someone else’s. The answer also depends on whether you are doing the bardbombing or being bombarded by one or more bards other than yourself.

A bardbomb can simply be defined as: an onslaught of poetry that comes unbidden like a falling object hitting a target.. True bardbombs can raise the spirit to untold heights, or blast the human mind to psychological smithereens, because it is not necessarily true that “one good poem leads to another.”

If you are a poet who is being bardbombed by your muse, do not automatically assume every poem you pen is profound or others are interested in each and every one of them! Before sharing your creations with others, stick the poems in a drawer for a month or year. Reread them after your zelator’s ardor has cooled down; then,revise or discard as reason dictates. Why? Because bardbombing family, friends, co-workers or editors will destroy what you seek: approbation and appreciation. Too much of a good thing leads to resentment and boredom.

Poets are the greatest lovers in the world—often in love with their own works. Unless you want to risk being rejected as a bore, or considered a narcissist, before acting as a human bardbomber, pause and remind yourself: Give me a break.

(In memory of my student, Jim Stone, who bardbombed himself to death when a resentful worker knocked him down a flight of stairs.)

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