I have to admit that I am really not a fan of poetry to begin with, and so to say I was not looking forward to reviewing a site named BloggingPoet is accurate. Upon opening the page however, I spotted the picture of Billy and thought this might be fun. The blog is pink, though. It’s really, really pink. More about that in a moment.
The author of this site, Billy, is a former long haul trucker. Since he has come off the road he has been a pretty busy guy according to his “About Billy” page. He has written three books, publishes an e-zine and has organized a popular local blogger meet-up, among other activities. Oh to have Billy’s energy! Billy is into Trademarks as well. He has trademarked the title “Billy the Blogging Poet” and “Poet Laureate of North America.” The latter was a protest against the government’s propensity to designate poet laureates based on political affiliations. This cracks me up because as Billy says, it’s “the coolest Google trick ever!”
Lest the title of the blog scare off “poetry haters,” you will not find anything rivaling Keats or Cummings here. Billy is more into the raucous instead of cerebral “high-brow” poetry. Currently he is writing Christmas poems in a “30 Days of Christmas” theme. “Down at the Santa-A-Go-Go,” informs us “There won’t be any Christmas, Santa’s way to drunk to drive.” Unfortunately, though, most of his Christmas themed poems are retreads of holiday songs. Billy has just changed the lyrics. I have heard it said that writers should stick to what they know best. This adage is proven with posts like “Christmas at the Truck Stop,” where Billy shines.
The author is more into rhyme than poetry. In Billy’s world rhyme is the key, and he adapts words to fit his model. In “Frosty the Snowman,” posted on February 29, 2004, Billy writes, “he makes a bigger mess than he already has. See if there’s a bucket here. If not, we’ll use that vaz. (vase).” He tries, really he does. Most of the content though, consists of bad rhymes and Billy’s re-vamped lyrics to songs. On April 29, 2004, Billy gives us the delightful ditty “Bugs Inside my Range” to the tune of “Home on the Range.” Funny concept, yes. Poet laureate this is not.
As I mentioned, the blog is pink. It is incredibly difficult on the eyes. Billy has so much on his sidebars that you may get a migraine sifting through it all. He includes everything but the kitchen sink including more advertisements than a network affiliate. He should focus his energy on writing better poetry and less time building links.
Overall, I think that the concept here is an interesting one. A blog “poet” is certainly not your everyday fare. Perhaps Billy should stick to writing what he knows instead of re-vamping old songs. That and changing the “pink” would go a long way to giving him a higher review score.
BloggingPoet.com