Is there a place for profanity in poetry, or does it totally turn you off?

I think there can be a place for it. The poignantly place profane word is perfectly viable. Poems that go on and on with fuck this and fucking that don't really float my boat. I guess it sort of goes along with the saying, "there's a time and a place..."

If you're creative, profanity can be a thing of beauty.

Why talk about a sunrise, when what's really splattered across the sky's tits is creamy white, and like light coming through something oily and slick.

I've always been fine with it, but then I'm a big fan of Miller and Bukowski. Sometimes profanity can convey a brutality (of thought or action) that other words can't.

Alternatively it can strip a concept down to it's very bones, without the over-decorative phrasing which can blur the image.

It really depends on what you want to convey, I guess.

my thoughts have already been expressed by the above posts. i agree that profanity can be a good thing if it is used properly. if used excessively and without real purpose, it just degrades the poetry.

Profainity like anything else is beautiful in the hands of someone who is adept with language. But in the hands of a moron it's disgusting.

well said.

welcome back fd.

I've never gone anywhere... You can find me, lingering in the background noise... (or the arcade.)

lol ok

I think that in SOME poetry there is a need for profanity of some kind....as long as it is used sparingly, and not on every other sentence. It gives other words and meanings a certain aggression or power, which is always vividly required in a poem for it to have a real connection with someone.

Thats what I think anyway!

Byesy Bye!

I seldom use it, because it's seldom needed. It's a cop-out for a lot of people.