Life is mawkish; at least some of our poems should be, too.
* Main Entry: mawk·ish
* Pronunciation: \ˈmȯ-kish\
* Function: adjective
* Etymology: Middle English mawke maggot, probably from Old Norse mathkr — more at maggot
* Date: circa 1697
1 : having an insipid often unpleasant taste
2 : sickly or puerilely sentimental
— mawk·ish·ly adverb
— mawk·ish·ness noun
words that rhyme with mawkish:
mawkish •blackish, brackish, quackish •Frankish, prankish •clerkish, darkish, sparkish •peckish • rakish •cliquish, freakish, weakish •sickish, thickish •pinkish •hawkish, mawkish •folkish • bookish • textbookish •puckish •monkish, punkish •quirkish, Turkish •establish, stablish •Spanglish •embellish, hellish, relish •palish, Salish •English • stylish •abolish, demolish, spit-and-polish •Gaulish, smallish, tallish •owlish • Polish •coolish, foolish, ghoulish, mulish •bullish • dullish • publish •accomplish • ticklish • purplish •devilish •churlish, girlish •famish • Amish • schoolmarmish •blemish, Flemish •Hamish • squeamish • dimmish •warmish • gnomish • Carchemish •skirmish
Otohime 
…mawkishness is the default mode of of American populist poetry and seems to be the primary and maybe even the exclusive effect American poets strive for in their work (with the possible admixture of various modes of middlebrow sententiousness). So it's a pop effect that's lost all vitality… not that it couldn't be reinvented.. so… Go ON…