"To achieve memorable badness is not so easy.

June 25, 2000 7:02 AM

"To achieve memorable badness is not so easy. It has to be done innocently, by a poet unaware of his or her defects. The right combination of lofty ambition, humorless self-confidence, and crass incompetence is rare and precious. "

I wish I was talanted enough to write something really bad. At best, I flirt with the mundane.
posted by grumblebee (7 comments total)

A contemporary example.
posted by Paul Dunne at 5:50 AM on June 26, 2000

Recent discussion of this site in the wonderful Ethel the Blog including the text of the "worst poem ever written in the English language." Well worth a read, if only to scare you badly enough to make your hair turn white.
posted by elgoose at 11:14 AM on June 26, 2000

Then again, there's also the Ode To A Small Lump of Green Putty I Found In My Armpit One Midsummer Morning.
posted by Aaaugh! at 11:51 AM on June 26, 2000

Ah, but that's not "memorably bad". It's Douglas Adams being satirical.
posted by Paul Dunne at 1:49 PM on June 26, 2000

Christ! I meant Ethel the Blog.

I told you I was dangerous with html. incometent is more like it. Go read the poem.
posted by elgoose at 2:10 PM on June 26, 2000

Incompetent.

I'm going home. I've had enough for one day.
posted by elgoose at 2:11 PM on June 26, 2000

Well, the bit by "Grunthos the Flatulent" is certainly Mr. Adams having some fun, but the poor Paul Neil Milne Johnstone (aka Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings) does exist, according to the FAQ (scroll down to section 4.3).

posted by Aaaugh! at 4:31 PM on June 26, 2000