Poetry Journal- The Bad Version

The title of online literary publication The Bad Version caught my attention as I was admittedly scrolling mindlessly through pages of blogs and magazines. The simplicity of the title perfectly walked the line between boringly blunt to pretentiously complicated. The Bad Version’s aim is to spark conversation and criticism over poetry other creative writing. This publication welcomes experimentation and risk, which leads to unique material without the fear of seeming “bad”.

Due to the structure of The Bad Version, the poetry feels fresh and raw; qualities that I feel are often undervalued. Despite the varying lengths of each poem, the language and imagery used by the contributors to this publication successfully convey the complex emotions in each poem without ever feeling played-out and unoriginal. In the poem “Dissertation: Aphasia”, author Sarah Matthes candidly recounts a coffee shop interaction with an old peer. Her use of second person to describe what I assume was a personal experience of hers, immediately drew me as the reader into the scene the speaker’s created. While the progression from a single moment to a meaningful description of events may seem cliché, Matthes’ fresh writing style takes the poem from cliché to innovative. The speaker’s response to the unsettling scenario of encountering a man from her past evokes feelings of nostalgia and self pride. Mattes addresses the familiar concept that teenagers make important decisions without giving much consideration to the consequences, but she does so in a way that doesn't feel offensive in lines like,

You would take it
if you were fifteen and stoned,
and maybe later you would have tried
to unzip his jeans in the car,

While I enjoyed the overall tone and content of this poem, in its entirety this poem felt somewhat disconnected and unfinished. At first this irritated me, but then I recalled that this journal is made for the disconnected and unfinished. Individual lines that may seem a bit out of place actually brought a new meaning to the poetry that may not have existed otherwise. In the line “Like the first dull inspiration of color, how green eyes are only ever the green they allow you to see”, the speaker takes a creative spin on the concept of self presentation that strengthens the overarching theme of personal growth.

The design of the website, much like the poetry itself, is wonderfully simple and bold a t the same time. The color scheme of red, white and black catches the eye while still allowing the poetry to be the main focus of each page. The format of the pages plays an integral part in the mission of The Bad Version. Each page has a response section in which readers ranging from Yale literature students to anonymous contributors are capable of providing their take on the presented material. I found it amazing that this journal serves as a platform in which poets can share their work, and receive helpful feedback online, much like a peer or writing group could do in real life. 

http://thebadversion.com/category/poetry