What makes a poem a good poem?

I've thought of this question often. Pondered it while I dragged a pen across the page or madly tapped words onto the wordprocessing doc. I haven't came up with a clear answer.

The one thing that I've realize that I really like about a poem, is being able to connect with the piece. Something that draws me in. Something that let's me have a moment to be beyond myself. To see things in a different light.

I think that this question is so subjective that everyone has different ideas of what constitutes as "good" poetry. It may feel daunting to share these pieces with others. My suggestion for OctPoWriMo-

Don't worry about making "good" or "bad" poetry. Just write it. Don't have any expectations of what you're writing. It's a series of rough drafts. You may go back to some of it later. You may find pieces that you love..and other things that you don't like as much.

It's all fine. An exercise like this is to get your blood pumping. Your poetry brain going. In a month like this, every poem you finish is a good one, because you did it.

7 Days Until OctPoWriMo! 

Tamara Woods was raised (fairly happily) in West Virginia where she began penning poems after a boy broke her heart. She shares poetry, short stories and writer interviews on her blog, PenPaperPad. Her writing has been featured in Mamalode, In the Powder Room, and many others. She is the editor for The Reverie Journal, which will be releasing it's first poetry collection early October. She also hosts #writestuff TweetChat where writers talk about writing every Tuesday at 9 pm EST. She is a hillbilly hermit living in Honolulu with her Mathmagician.