A conversation with a friend has just made me realize the single thing I hate most about a lot of poetry nowadays: a lack of space within the poem for the reader/listener to include their own experiences in their understanding of the poem.
We are drowned in the need of the poet to make sure we know exactly what he/she is talking about, no questions asked, every detail provided. Linear space/time is the rule in poems, with no chance of misconstruing the intent allowed.
The hectoring in political writing is one example. The lack of imagery and the prevalence of clumsy metaphor in so many slam poems is another.
There is a lack of generosity of spirit. We don’t trust our audiences to get us.
Add to this a healthy helping of atrocious writing skills (that sometimes make poems seem more difficult than they actually are) and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.
Thoughts?
Dark Matter 
November 10th, 2004 at 4:44 pm
Opposite problem here. No one ever knows what the fuck I’m talking about. Pretty much the reason I’m 32 and still not sure if I want to share. what I write, that is.
U of Houston told me my writing is immature, another, professional poet-type told me mine was the least immature he’s seen – and another, his friend and on the admissions board for another writing program said she shuddered to think what her’s was if mine was immature. Always told I had talent. But no one knows what I’m talking about. so…
I know what you mean, though. I like the poems that leave me some room to insert my own small world and learn to move around in theirs, too.
November 10th, 2004 at 4:44 pm
Opposite problem here. No one ever knows what the fuck I’m talking about. Pretty much the reason I’m 32 and still not sure if I want to share. what I write, that is.
U of Houston told me my writing is immature, another, professional poet-type told me mine was the least immature he’s seen – and another, his friend and on the admissions board for another writing program said she shuddered to think what her’s was if mine was immature. Always told I had talent. But no one knows what I’m talking about. so…
I know what you mean, though. I like the poems that leave me some room to insert my own small world and learn to move around in theirs, too.
November 10th, 2004 at 4:44 pm
Opposite problem here. No one ever knows what the fuck I’m talking about. Pretty much the reason I’m 32 and still not sure if I want to share. what I write, that is.
U of Houston told me my writing is immature, another, professional poet-type told me mine was the least immature he’s seen – and another, his friend and on the admissions board for another writing program said she shuddered to think what her’s was if mine was immature. Always told I had talent. But no one knows what I’m talking about. so…
I know what you mean, though. I like the poems that leave me some room to insert my own small world and learn to move around in theirs, too.
November 10th, 2004 at 4:44 pm
Opposite problem here. No one ever knows what the fuck I’m talking about. Pretty much the reason I’m 32 and still not sure if I want to share. what I write, that is.
U of Houston told me my writing is immature, another, professional poet-type told me mine was the least immature he’s seen – and another, his friend and on the admissions board for another writing program said she shuddered to think what her’s was if mine was immature. Always told I had talent. But no one knows what I’m talking about. so…
I know what you mean, though. I like the poems that leave me some room to insert my own small world and learn to move around in theirs, too.
November 10th, 2004 at 4:44 pm
Opposite problem here. No one ever knows what the fuck I’m talking about. Pretty much the reason I’m 32 and still not sure if I want to share. what I write, that is.
U of Houston told me my writing is immature, another, professional poet-type told me mine was the least immature he’s seen – and another, his friend and on the admissions board for another writing program said she shuddered to think what her’s was if mine was immature. Always told I had talent. But no one knows what I’m talking about. so…
I know what you mean, though. I like the poems that leave me some room to insert my own small world and learn to move around in theirs, too.
November 10th, 2004 at 4:44 pm
Opposite problem here. No one ever knows what the fuck I’m talking about. Pretty much the reason I’m 32 and still not sure if I want to share. what I write, that is.
U of Houston told me my writing is immature, another, professional poet-type told me mine was the least immature he’s seen – and another, his friend and on the admissions board for another writing program said she shuddered to think what her’s was if mine was immature. Always told I had talent. But no one knows what I’m talking about. so…
I know what you mean, though. I like the poems that leave me some room to insert my own small world and learn to move around in theirs, too.
November 10th, 2004 at 4:44 pm
Opposite problem here. No one ever knows what the fuck I’m talking about. Pretty much the reason I’m 32 and still not sure if I want to share. what I write, that is.
U of Houston told me my writing is immature, another, professional poet-type told me mine was the least immature he’s seen – and another, his friend and on the admissions board for another writing program said she shuddered to think what her’s was if mine was immature. Always told I had talent. But no one knows what I’m talking about. so…
I know what you mean, though. I like the poems that leave me some room to insert my own small world and learn to move around in theirs, too.
November 10th, 2004 at 4:44 pm
Opposite problem here. No one ever knows what the fuck I’m talking about. Pretty much the reason I’m 32 and still not sure if I want to share. what I write, that is.
U of Houston told me my writing is immature, another, professional poet-type told me mine was the least immature he’s seen – and another, his friend and on the admissions board for another writing program said she shuddered to think what her’s was if mine was immature. Always told I had talent. But no one knows what I’m talking about. so…
I know what you mean, though. I like the poems that leave me some room to insert my own small world and learn to move around in theirs, too.
November 10th, 2004 at 7:07 am
Well, there are a few things about political poetry that I don’t like. This is all perfectly selfish and not objective in the least, so please don’t assume I want everyone to stop writing political poetry. If we need to write it, then we should write it, I’m just not the target audience.
I read and watch the news, and hear more than enough politics for my liking as it is… my hope when I go to a poetry reading is that I will be entertained, not lectured. I think of politics as business and don’t want to hear it when I’m trying to relax.
I don’t like being told what to think.
I do not hate President Bush. I do not agree with some of his actions, sure, and I didn’t vote for him this year (I did vote for Bush in 2000.) The president can’t please everyone in a country where we are completely intolerant of one another, which I really believe is our own fault. This opinion doesn’t mesh particuarly well with 90% of political poetry I hear.
Overall, I am a moderate individual… unable to align with Democrats or Republicans (you know the feeling.) I find politics generally frustrating and not worthy of a significant investment of my energy and emotion. Who could blame me? I am a 22 year old white gay suburban-Boston male making 33K a year, with no dependents, working at and putting much of that energy and emotion into a for-profit corporation. I am stuck so precariously in the middle of any political issue.
As such, I don’t respond well to the liberal hotheadedness of lots of political poetry.
Also, who are poets to be such experts in complex affairs as war, the national budget, healthcare, or international politics?
Overall, political poetry stresses me out and I just don’t need it.
November 10th, 2004 at 7:07 am
Well, there are a few things about political poetry that I don’t like. This is all perfectly selfish and not objective in the least, so please don’t assume I want everyone to stop writing political poetry. If we need to write it, then we should write it, I’m just not the target audience.
I read and watch the news, and hear more than enough politics for my liking as it is… my hope when I go to a poetry reading is that I will be entertained, not lectured. I think of politics as business and don’t want to hear it when I’m trying to relax.
I don’t like being told what to think.
I do not hate President Bush. I do not agree with some of his actions, sure, and I didn’t vote for him this year (I did vote for Bush in 2000.) The president can’t please everyone in a country where we are completely intolerant of one another, which I really believe is our own fault. This opinion doesn’t mesh particuarly well with 90% of political poetry I hear.
Overall, I am a moderate individual… unable to align with Democrats or Republicans (you know the feeling.) I find politics generally frustrating and not worthy of a significant investment of my energy and emotion. Who could blame me? I am a 22 year old white gay suburban-Boston male making 33K a year, with no dependents, working at and putting much of that energy and emotion into a for-profit corporation. I am stuck so precariously in the middle of any political issue.
As such, I don’t respond well to the liberal hotheadedness of lots of political poetry.
Also, who are poets to be such experts in complex affairs as war, the national budget, healthcare, or international politics?
Overall, political poetry stresses me out and I just don’t need it.
November 10th, 2004 at 7:07 am
Well, there are a few things about political poetry that I don’t like. This is all perfectly selfish and not objective in the least, so please don’t assume I want everyone to stop writing political poetry. If we need to write it, then we should write it, I’m just not the target audience.
I read and watch the news, and hear more than enough politics for my liking as it is… my hope when I go to a poetry reading is that I will be entertained, not lectured. I think of politics as business and don’t want to hear it when I’m trying to relax.
I don’t like being told what to think.
I do not hate President Bush. I do not agree with some of his actions, sure, and I didn’t vote for him this year (I did vote for Bush in 2000.) The president can’t please everyone in a country where we are completely intolerant of one another, which I really believe is our own fault. This opinion doesn’t mesh particuarly well with 90% of political poetry I hear.
Overall, I am a moderate individual… unable to align with Democrats or Republicans (you know the feeling.) I find politics generally frustrating and not worthy of a significant investment of my energy and emotion. Who could blame me? I am a 22 year old white gay suburban-Boston male making 33K a year, with no dependents, working at and putting much of that energy and emotion into a for-profit corporation. I am stuck so precariously in the middle of any political issue.
As such, I don’t respond well to the liberal hotheadedness of lots of political poetry.
Also, who are poets to be such experts in complex affairs as war, the national budget, healthcare, or international politics?
Overall, political poetry stresses me out and I just don’t need it.
November 10th, 2004 at 7:07 am
Well, there are a few things about political poetry that I don’t like. This is all perfectly selfish and not objective in the least, so please don’t assume I want everyone to stop writing political poetry. If we need to write it, then we should write it, I’m just not the target audience.
I read and watch the news, and hear more than enough politics for my liking as it is… my hope when I go to a poetry reading is that I will be entertained, not lectured. I think of politics as business and don’t want to hear it when I’m trying to relax.
I don’t like being told what to think.
I do not hate President Bush. I do not agree with some of his actions, sure, and I didn’t vote for him this year (I did vote for Bush in 2000.) The president can’t please everyone in a country where we are completely intolerant of one another, which I really believe is our own fault. This opinion doesn’t mesh particuarly well with 90% of political poetry I hear.
Overall, I am a moderate individual… unable to align with Democrats or Republicans (you know the feeling.) I find politics generally frustrating and not worthy of a significant investment of my energy and emotion. Who could blame me? I am a 22 year old white gay suburban-Boston male making 33K a year, with no dependents, working at and putting much of that energy and emotion into a for-profit corporation. I am stuck so precariously in the middle of any political issue.
As such, I don’t respond well to the liberal hotheadedness of lots of political poetry.
Also, who are poets to be such experts in complex affairs as war, the national budget, healthcare, or international politics?
Overall, political poetry stresses me out and I just don’t need it.
November 10th, 2004 at 7:07 am
Well, there are a few things about political poetry that I don’t like. This is all perfectly selfish and not objective in the least, so please don’t assume I want everyone to stop writing political poetry. If we need to write it, then we should write it, I’m just not the target audience.
I read and watch the news, and hear more than enough politics for my liking as it is… my hope when I go to a poetry reading is that I will be entertained, not lectured. I think of politics as business and don’t want to hear it when I’m trying to relax.
I don’t like being told what to think.
I do not hate President Bush. I do not agree with some of his actions, sure, and I didn’t vote for him this year (I did vote for Bush in 2000.) The president can’t please everyone in a country where we are completely intolerant of one another, which I really believe is our own fault. This opinion doesn’t mesh particuarly well with 90% of political poetry I hear.
Overall, I am a moderate individual… unable to align with Democrats or Republicans (you know the feeling.) I find politics generally frustrating and not worthy of a significant investment of my energy and emotion. Who could blame me? I am a 22 year old white gay suburban-Boston male making 33K a year, with no dependents, working at and putting much of that energy and emotion into a for-profit corporation. I am stuck so precariously in the middle of any political issue.
As such, I don’t respond well to the liberal hotheadedness of lots of political poetry.
Also, who are poets to be such experts in complex affairs as war, the national budget, healthcare, or international politics?
Overall, political poetry stresses me out and I just don’t need it.
November 10th, 2004 at 7:07 am
Well, there are a few things about political poetry that I don’t like. This is all perfectly selfish and not objective in the least, so please don’t assume I want everyone to stop writing political poetry. If we need to write it, then we should write it, I’m just not the target audience.
I read and watch the news, and hear more than enough politics for my liking as it is… my hope when I go to a poetry reading is that I will be entertained, not lectured. I think of politics as business and don’t want to hear it when I’m trying to relax.
I don’t like being told what to think.
I do not hate President Bush. I do not agree with some of his actions, sure, and I didn’t vote for him this year (I did vote for Bush in 2000.) The president can’t please everyone in a country where we are completely intolerant of one another, which I really believe is our own fault. This opinion doesn’t mesh particuarly well with 90% of political poetry I hear.
Overall, I am a moderate individual… unable to align with Democrats or Republicans (you know the feeling.) I find politics generally frustrating and not worthy of a significant investment of my energy and emotion. Who could blame me? I am a 22 year old white gay suburban-Boston male making 33K a year, with no dependents, working at and putting much of that energy and emotion into a for-profit corporation. I am stuck so precariously in the middle of any political issue.
As such, I don’t respond well to the liberal hotheadedness of lots of political poetry.
Also, who are poets to be such experts in complex affairs as war, the national budget, healthcare, or international politics?
Overall, political poetry stresses me out and I just don’t need it.
November 10th, 2004 at 7:07 am
Well, there are a few things about political poetry that I don’t like. This is all perfectly selfish and not objective in the least, so please don’t assume I want everyone to stop writing political poetry. If we need to write it, then we should write it, I’m just not the target audience.
I read and watch the news, and hear more than enough politics for my liking as it is… my hope when I go to a poetry reading is that I will be entertained, not lectured. I think of politics as business and don’t want to hear it when I’m trying to relax.
I don’t like being told what to think.
I do not hate President Bush. I do not agree with some of his actions, sure, and I didn’t vote for him this year (I did vote for Bush in 2000.) The president can’t please everyone in a country where we are completely intolerant of one another, which I really believe is our own fault. This opinion doesn’t mesh particuarly well with 90% of political poetry I hear.
Overall, I am a moderate individual… unable to align with Democrats or Republicans (you know the feeling.) I find politics generally frustrating and not worthy of a significant investment of my energy and emotion. Who could blame me? I am a 22 year old white gay suburban-Boston male making 33K a year, with no dependents, working at and putting much of that energy and emotion into a for-profit corporation. I am stuck so precariously in the middle of any political issue.
As such, I don’t respond well to the liberal hotheadedness of lots of political poetry.
Also, who are poets to be such experts in complex affairs as war, the national budget, healthcare, or international politics?
Overall, political poetry stresses me out and I just don’t need it.
November 10th, 2004 at 7:07 am
Well, there are a few things about political poetry that I don’t like. This is all perfectly selfish and not objective in the least, so please don’t assume I want everyone to stop writing political poetry. If we need to write it, then we should write it, I’m just not the target audience.
I read and watch the news, and hear more than enough politics for my liking as it is… my hope when I go to a poetry reading is that I will be entertained, not lectured. I think of politics as business and don’t want to hear it when I’m trying to relax.
I don’t like being told what to think.
I do not hate President Bush. I do not agree with some of his actions, sure, and I didn’t vote for him this year (I did vote for Bush in 2000.) The president can’t please everyone in a country where we are completely intolerant of one another, which I really believe is our own fault. This opinion doesn’t mesh particuarly well with 90% of political poetry I hear.
Overall, I am a moderate individual… unable to align with Democrats or Republicans (you know the feeling.) I find politics generally frustrating and not worthy of a significant investment of my energy and emotion. Who could blame me? I am a 22 year old white gay suburban-Boston male making 33K a year, with no dependents, working at and putting much of that energy and emotion into a for-profit corporation. I am stuck so precariously in the middle of any political issue.
As such, I don’t respond well to the liberal hotheadedness of lots of political poetry.
Also, who are poets to be such experts in complex affairs as war, the national budget, healthcare, or international politics?
Overall, political poetry stresses me out and I just don’t need it.
November 9th, 2004 at 5:18 pm
Have to agree that this is more of a problem for spoken word
I think the fact that our poetry is primarily spoken word — as opposed to for the page — is a prime culprit in the theft of space. It’s not that we don’t trust our audiences to get us — it’s that we understand from our own listening experience that we have to allow the audience to keep up. If we put too much space in a poem, there is the possibility that the audience will get caught in that moment and miss what comes next.
When I started doing this about a year ago I had thirty or so pieces that I had written in the preceding two years. They were definitely page poems: kind of dense, a bit abstract, lines that could be scanned and parsed in two or three different ways depending on where the reader’s eye/mind/heart chose to find the phrase. And as a result, totally worthless as spoken pieces.
What I’ve noticed most is that we write to move our audience from one moment to the next, that we play with the geography, lead a listener to an unexpected view, turn a corner the audience didn’t even see, go just fast enough to keep the listener hard on our heels without the time to look around too much, end up at that one perfect spot.
Maybe if we read more slowly. Maybe if we carved out some of those lines that can be read three ways and then actually read them three ways. Maybe we just don’t soak in the language often enough.
November 9th, 2004 at 5:18 pm
Have to agree that this is more of a problem for spoken word
I think the fact that our poetry is primarily spoken word — as opposed to for the page — is a prime culprit in the theft of space. It’s not that we don’t trust our audiences to get us — it’s that we understand from our own listening experience that we have to allow the audience to keep up. If we put too much space in a poem, there is the possibility that the audience will get caught in that moment and miss what comes next.
When I started doing this about a year ago I had thirty or so pieces that I had written in the preceding two years. They were definitely page poems: kind of dense, a bit abstract, lines that could be scanned and parsed in two or three different ways depending on where the reader’s eye/mind/heart chose to find the phrase. And as a result, totally worthless as spoken pieces.
What I’ve noticed most is that we write to move our audience from one moment to the next, that we play with the geography, lead a listener to an unexpected view, turn a corner the audience didn’t even see, go just fast enough to keep the listener hard on our heels without the time to look around too much, end up at that one perfect spot.
Maybe if we read more slowly. Maybe if we carved out some of those lines that can be read three ways and then actually read them three ways. Maybe we just don’t soak in the language often enough.
November 9th, 2004 at 5:18 pm
Have to agree that this is more of a problem for spoken word
I think the fact that our poetry is primarily spoken word — as opposed to for the page — is a prime culprit in the theft of space. It’s not that we don’t trust our audiences to get us — it’s that we understand from our own listening experience that we have to allow the audience to keep up. If we put too much space in a poem, there is the possibility that the audience will get caught in that moment and miss what comes next.
When I started doing this about a year ago I had thirty or so pieces that I had written in the preceding two years. They were definitely page poems: kind of dense, a bit abstract, lines that could be scanned and parsed in two or three different ways depending on where the reader’s eye/mind/heart chose to find the phrase. And as a result, totally worthless as spoken pieces.
What I’ve noticed most is that we write to move our audience from one moment to the next, that we play with the geography, lead a listener to an unexpected view, turn a corner the audience didn’t even see, go just fast enough to keep the listener hard on our heels without the time to look around too much, end up at that one perfect spot.
Maybe if we read more slowly. Maybe if we carved out some of those lines that can be read three ways and then actually read them three ways. Maybe we just don’t soak in the language often enough.
November 9th, 2004 at 5:18 pm
Have to agree that this is more of a problem for spoken word
I think the fact that our poetry is primarily spoken word — as opposed to for the page — is a prime culprit in the theft of space. It’s not that we don’t trust our audiences to get us — it’s that we understand from our own listening experience that we have to allow the audience to keep up. If we put too much space in a poem, there is the possibility that the audience will get caught in that moment and miss what comes next.
When I started doing this about a year ago I had thirty or so pieces that I had written in the preceding two years. They were definitely page poems: kind of dense, a bit abstract, lines that could be scanned and parsed in two or three different ways depending on where the reader’s eye/mind/heart chose to find the phrase. And as a result, totally worthless as spoken pieces.
What I’ve noticed most is that we write to move our audience from one moment to the next, that we play with the geography, lead a listener to an unexpected view, turn a corner the audience didn’t even see, go just fast enough to keep the listener hard on our heels without the time to look around too much, end up at that one perfect spot.
Maybe if we read more slowly. Maybe if we carved out some of those lines that can be read three ways and then actually read them three ways. Maybe we just don’t soak in the language often enough.
November 9th, 2004 at 5:18 pm
Have to agree that this is more of a problem for spoken word
I think the fact that our poetry is primarily spoken word — as opposed to for the page — is a prime culprit in the theft of space. It’s not that we don’t trust our audiences to get us — it’s that we understand from our own listening experience that we have to allow the audience to keep up. If we put too much space in a poem, there is the possibility that the audience will get caught in that moment and miss what comes next.
When I started doing this about a year ago I had thirty or so pieces that I had written in the preceding two years. They were definitely page poems: kind of dense, a bit abstract, lines that could be scanned and parsed in two or three different ways depending on where the reader’s eye/mind/heart chose to find the phrase. And as a result, totally worthless as spoken pieces.
What I’ve noticed most is that we write to move our audience from one moment to the next, that we play with the geography, lead a listener to an unexpected view, turn a corner the audience didn’t even see, go just fast enough to keep the listener hard on our heels without the time to look around too much, end up at that one perfect spot.
Maybe if we read more slowly. Maybe if we carved out some of those lines that can be read three ways and then actually read them three ways. Maybe we just don’t soak in the language often enough.
November 9th, 2004 at 5:18 pm
Have to agree that this is more of a problem for spoken word
I think the fact that our poetry is primarily spoken word — as opposed to for the page — is a prime culprit in the theft of space. It’s not that we don’t trust our audiences to get us — it’s that we understand from our own listening experience that we have to allow the audience to keep up. If we put too much space in a poem, there is the possibility that the audience will get caught in that moment and miss what comes next.
When I started doing this about a year ago I had thirty or so pieces that I had written in the preceding two years. They were definitely page poems: kind of dense, a bit abstract, lines that could be scanned and parsed in two or three different ways depending on where the reader’s eye/mind/heart chose to find the phrase. And as a result, totally worthless as spoken pieces.
What I’ve noticed most is that we write to move our audience from one moment to the next, that we play with the geography, lead a listener to an unexpected view, turn a corner the audience didn’t even see, go just fast enough to keep the listener hard on our heels without the time to look around too much, end up at that one perfect spot.
Maybe if we read more slowly. Maybe if we carved out some of those lines that can be read three ways and then actually read them three ways. Maybe we just don’t soak in the language often enough.
November 9th, 2004 at 5:18 pm
Have to agree that this is more of a problem for spoken word
I think the fact that our poetry is primarily spoken word — as opposed to for the page — is a prime culprit in the theft of space. It’s not that we don’t trust our audiences to get us — it’s that we understand from our own listening experience that we have to allow the audience to keep up. If we put too much space in a poem, there is the possibility that the audience will get caught in that moment and miss what comes next.
When I started doing this about a year ago I had thirty or so pieces that I had written in the preceding two years. They were definitely page poems: kind of dense, a bit abstract, lines that could be scanned and parsed in two or three different ways depending on where the reader’s eye/mind/heart chose to find the phrase. And as a result, totally worthless as spoken pieces.
What I’ve noticed most is that we write to move our audience from one moment to the next, that we play with the geography, lead a listener to an unexpected view, turn a corner the audience didn’t even see, go just fast enough to keep the listener hard on our heels without the time to look around too much, end up at that one perfect spot.
Maybe if we read more slowly. Maybe if we carved out some of those lines that can be read three ways and then actually read them three ways. Maybe we just don’t soak in the language often enough.
November 9th, 2004 at 5:18 pm
Have to agree that this is more of a problem for spoken word
I think the fact that our poetry is primarily spoken word — as opposed to for the page — is a prime culprit in the theft of space. It’s not that we don’t trust our audiences to get us — it’s that we understand from our own listening experience that we have to allow the audience to keep up. If we put too much space in a poem, there is the possibility that the audience will get caught in that moment and miss what comes next.
When I started doing this about a year ago I had thirty or so pieces that I had written in the preceding two years. They were definitely page poems: kind of dense, a bit abstract, lines that could be scanned and parsed in two or three different ways depending on where the reader’s eye/mind/heart chose to find the phrase. And as a result, totally worthless as spoken pieces.
What I’ve noticed most is that we write to move our audience from one moment to the next, that we play with the geography, lead a listener to an unexpected view, turn a corner the audience didn’t even see, go just fast enough to keep the listener hard on our heels without the time to look around too much, end up at that one perfect spot.
Maybe if we read more slowly. Maybe if we carved out some of those lines that can be read three ways and then actually read them three ways. Maybe we just don’t soak in the language often enough.
November 9th, 2004 at 4:56 pm
you!
I recommend this site: http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/
Read this stuff: http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9967&poems
Be humble. I’ve grown a lot there; it’s the only on-line workshop I’d recommend as useful.
November 9th, 2004 at 4:56 pm
you!
I recommend this site: http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/
Read this stuff: http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9967&poems
Be humble. I’ve grown a lot there; it’s the only on-line workshop I’d recommend as useful.
November 9th, 2004 at 4:56 pm
you!
I recommend this site: http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/
Read this stuff: http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9967&poems
Be humble. I’ve grown a lot there; it’s the only on-line workshop I’d recommend as useful.
November 9th, 2004 at 4:56 pm
you!
I recommend this site: http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/
Read this stuff: http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9967&poems
Be humble. I’ve grown a lot there; it’s the only on-line workshop I’d recommend as useful.
November 9th, 2004 at 4:56 pm
you!
I recommend this site: http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/
Read this stuff: http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9967&poems
Be humble. I’ve grown a lot there; it’s the only on-line workshop I’d recommend as useful.
November 9th, 2004 at 4:56 pm
you!
I recommend this site: http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/
Read this stuff: http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9967&poems
Be humble. I’ve grown a lot there; it’s the only on-line workshop I’d recommend as useful.
November 9th, 2004 at 4:56 pm
you!
I recommend this site: http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/
Read this stuff: http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9967&poems
Be humble. I’ve grown a lot there; it’s the only on-line workshop I’d recommend as useful.
November 9th, 2004 at 4:56 pm
you!
I recommend this site: http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/
Read this stuff: http://www.everypoet.org/pffa/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9967&poems
Be humble. I’ve grown a lot there; it’s the only on-line workshop I’d recommend as useful.
November 9th, 2004 at 4:49 pm
hm….
on the lack of metaphor and the “hitchya upside the head”-ness of spoken word, one thought came to mind: my only academic study of poetic metaphor was about poetry as a written art, not a verbal one, and as such i have a much harder time catching subtleties of language in something that is read to me than i do from something that i read on my own. using myself then as the example, i would theorize that the quest for blatant clarity is a result of the typical audience’s poor listening skills. pretty metaphors do tend to seem prettier if someone else gets them, too.
November 9th, 2004 at 4:49 pm
hm….
on the lack of metaphor and the “hitchya upside the head”-ness of spoken word, one thought came to mind: my only academic study of poetic metaphor was about poetry as a written art, not a verbal one, and as such i have a much harder time catching subtleties of language in something that is read to me than i do from something that i read on my own. using myself then as the example, i would theorize that the quest for blatant clarity is a result of the typical audience’s poor listening skills. pretty metaphors do tend to seem prettier if someone else gets them, too.
November 9th, 2004 at 4:49 pm
hm….
on the lack of metaphor and the “hitchya upside the head”-ness of spoken word, one thought came to mind: my only academic study of poetic metaphor was about poetry as a written art, not a verbal one, and as such i have a much harder time catching subtleties of language in something that is read to me than i do from something that i read on my own. using myself then as the example, i would theorize that the quest for blatant clarity is a result of the typical audience’s poor listening skills. pretty metaphors do tend to seem prettier if someone else gets them, too.
November 9th, 2004 at 4:49 pm
hm….
on the lack of metaphor and the “hitchya upside the head”-ness of spoken word, one thought came to mind: my only academic study of poetic metaphor was about poetry as a written art, not a verbal one, and as such i have a much harder time catching subtleties of language in something that is read to me than i do from something that i read on my own. using myself then as the example, i would theorize that the quest for blatant clarity is a result of the typical audience’s poor listening skills. pretty metaphors do tend to seem prettier if someone else gets them, too.
November 9th, 2004 at 4:49 pm
hm….
on the lack of metaphor and the “hitchya upside the head”-ness of spoken word, one thought came to mind: my only academic study of poetic metaphor was about poetry as a written art, not a verbal one, and as such i have a much harder time catching subtleties of language in something that is read to me than i do from something that i read on my own. using myself then as the example, i would theorize that the quest for blatant clarity is a result of the typical audience’s poor listening skills. pretty metaphors do tend to seem prettier if someone else gets them, too.
November 9th, 2004 at 4:49 pm
hm….
on the lack of metaphor and the “hitchya upside the head”-ness of spoken word, one thought came to mind: my only academic study of poetic metaphor was about poetry as a written art, not a verbal one, and as such i have a much harder time catching subtleties of language in something that is read to me than i do from something that i read on my own. using myself then as the example, i would theorize that the quest for blatant clarity is a result of the typical audience’s poor listening skills. pretty metaphors do tend to seem prettier if someone else gets them, too.
November 9th, 2004 at 4:49 pm
hm….
on the lack of metaphor and the “hitchya upside the head”-ness of spoken word, one thought came to mind: my only academic study of poetic metaphor was about poetry as a written art, not a verbal one, and as such i have a much harder time catching subtleties of language in something that is read to me than i do from something that i read on my own. using myself then as the example, i would theorize that the quest for blatant clarity is a result of the typical audience’s poor listening skills. pretty metaphors do tend to seem prettier if someone else gets them, too.
November 9th, 2004 at 4:49 pm
hm….
on the lack of metaphor and the “hitchya upside the head”-ness of spoken word, one thought came to mind: my only academic study of poetic metaphor was about poetry as a written art, not a verbal one, and as such i have a much harder time catching subtleties of language in something that is read to me than i do from something that i read on my own. using myself then as the example, i would theorize that the quest for blatant clarity is a result of the typical audience’s poor listening skills. pretty metaphors do tend to seem prettier if someone else gets them, too.
November 9th, 2004 at 3:13 pm
yeah, that works to some extent.. just have to realize that you can’t touch everybody.
…and who knows, those so-called “weeds” could go into hiding and become something like the next sylvia plath.
November 9th, 2004 at 3:13 pm
yeah, that works to some extent.. just have to realize that you can’t touch everybody.
…and who knows, those so-called “weeds” could go into hiding and become something like the next sylvia plath.
November 9th, 2004 at 3:13 pm
yeah, that works to some extent.. just have to realize that you can’t touch everybody.
…and who knows, those so-called “weeds” could go into hiding and become something like the next sylvia plath.
November 9th, 2004 at 3:13 pm
yeah, that works to some extent.. just have to realize that you can’t touch everybody.
…and who knows, those so-called “weeds” could go into hiding and become something like the next sylvia plath.
November 9th, 2004 at 3:13 pm
yeah, that works to some extent.. just have to realize that you can’t touch everybody.
…and who knows, those so-called “weeds” could go into hiding and become something like the next sylvia plath.
November 9th, 2004 at 3:13 pm
yeah, that works to some extent.. just have to realize that you can’t touch everybody.
…and who knows, those so-called “weeds” could go into hiding and become something like the next sylvia plath.
November 9th, 2004 at 3:13 pm
yeah, that works to some extent.. just have to realize that you can’t touch everybody.
…and who knows, those so-called “weeds” could go into hiding and become something like the next sylvia plath.
November 9th, 2004 at 3:13 pm
yeah, that works to some extent.. just have to realize that you can’t touch everybody.
…and who knows, those so-called “weeds” could go into hiding and become something like the next sylvia plath.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:48 pm
Re: A further thought:
I think the other missing piece of the equation is the pursuit of universality — not to make the poem totally available to all, but to at least be thinking of how to make it last longer than the next six months.
my 2c: the poem should be Universal on some level – it should bring the author & the audience together through something shared, but it should also be personal enough that the poem is not the Same Tired Shoe for the reader – it should bring to the audience Newness, and it should bring to the audience the Author. Detail & Craft. Detail & Craft.
when i teach performance poetry/Slam in class, the emphasis is on Connection w/, & Emotional Investment of, the audience. we talk about discourse & how the poem should lead there.
it is important that we tell our stories – equally important that someone hears them. people don’t hear you if they don’t listen. as the authors, we are bound to give the audience a reason to listen.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:48 pm
Re: A further thought:
I think the other missing piece of the equation is the pursuit of universality — not to make the poem totally available to all, but to at least be thinking of how to make it last longer than the next six months.
my 2c: the poem should be Universal on some level – it should bring the author & the audience together through something shared, but it should also be personal enough that the poem is not the Same Tired Shoe for the reader – it should bring to the audience Newness, and it should bring to the audience the Author. Detail & Craft. Detail & Craft.
when i teach performance poetry/Slam in class, the emphasis is on Connection w/, & Emotional Investment of, the audience. we talk about discourse & how the poem should lead there.
it is important that we tell our stories – equally important that someone hears them. people don’t hear you if they don’t listen. as the authors, we are bound to give the audience a reason to listen.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:48 pm
Re: A further thought:
I think the other missing piece of the equation is the pursuit of universality — not to make the poem totally available to all, but to at least be thinking of how to make it last longer than the next six months.
my 2c: the poem should be Universal on some level – it should bring the author & the audience together through something shared, but it should also be personal enough that the poem is not the Same Tired Shoe for the reader – it should bring to the audience Newness, and it should bring to the audience the Author. Detail & Craft. Detail & Craft.
when i teach performance poetry/Slam in class, the emphasis is on Connection w/, & Emotional Investment of, the audience. we talk about discourse & how the poem should lead there.
it is important that we tell our stories – equally important that someone hears them. people don’t hear you if they don’t listen. as the authors, we are bound to give the audience a reason to listen.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:48 pm
Re: A further thought:
I think the other missing piece of the equation is the pursuit of universality — not to make the poem totally available to all, but to at least be thinking of how to make it last longer than the next six months.
my 2c: the poem should be Universal on some level – it should bring the author & the audience together through something shared, but it should also be personal enough that the poem is not the Same Tired Shoe for the reader – it should bring to the audience Newness, and it should bring to the audience the Author. Detail & Craft. Detail & Craft.
when i teach performance poetry/Slam in class, the emphasis is on Connection w/, & Emotional Investment of, the audience. we talk about discourse & how the poem should lead there.
it is important that we tell our stories – equally important that someone hears them. people don’t hear you if they don’t listen. as the authors, we are bound to give the audience a reason to listen.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:48 pm
Re: A further thought:
I think the other missing piece of the equation is the pursuit of universality — not to make the poem totally available to all, but to at least be thinking of how to make it last longer than the next six months.
my 2c: the poem should be Universal on some level – it should bring the author & the audience together through something shared, but it should also be personal enough that the poem is not the Same Tired Shoe for the reader – it should bring to the audience Newness, and it should bring to the audience the Author. Detail & Craft. Detail & Craft.
when i teach performance poetry/Slam in class, the emphasis is on Connection w/, & Emotional Investment of, the audience. we talk about discourse & how the poem should lead there.
it is important that we tell our stories – equally important that someone hears them. people don’t hear you if they don’t listen. as the authors, we are bound to give the audience a reason to listen.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:48 pm
Re: A further thought:
I think the other missing piece of the equation is the pursuit of universality — not to make the poem totally available to all, but to at least be thinking of how to make it last longer than the next six months.
my 2c: the poem should be Universal on some level – it should bring the author & the audience together through something shared, but it should also be personal enough that the poem is not the Same Tired Shoe for the reader – it should bring to the audience Newness, and it should bring to the audience the Author. Detail & Craft. Detail & Craft.
when i teach performance poetry/Slam in class, the emphasis is on Connection w/, & Emotional Investment of, the audience. we talk about discourse & how the poem should lead there.
it is important that we tell our stories – equally important that someone hears them. people don’t hear you if they don’t listen. as the authors, we are bound to give the audience a reason to listen.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:48 pm
Re: A further thought:
I think the other missing piece of the equation is the pursuit of universality — not to make the poem totally available to all, but to at least be thinking of how to make it last longer than the next six months.
my 2c: the poem should be Universal on some level – it should bring the author & the audience together through something shared, but it should also be personal enough that the poem is not the Same Tired Shoe for the reader – it should bring to the audience Newness, and it should bring to the audience the Author. Detail & Craft. Detail & Craft.
when i teach performance poetry/Slam in class, the emphasis is on Connection w/, & Emotional Investment of, the audience. we talk about discourse & how the poem should lead there.
it is important that we tell our stories – equally important that someone hears them. people don’t hear you if they don’t listen. as the authors, we are bound to give the audience a reason to listen.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:48 pm
Re: A further thought:
I think the other missing piece of the equation is the pursuit of universality — not to make the poem totally available to all, but to at least be thinking of how to make it last longer than the next six months.
my 2c: the poem should be Universal on some level – it should bring the author & the audience together through something shared, but it should also be personal enough that the poem is not the Same Tired Shoe for the reader – it should bring to the audience Newness, and it should bring to the audience the Author. Detail & Craft. Detail & Craft.
when i teach performance poetry/Slam in class, the emphasis is on Connection w/, & Emotional Investment of, the audience. we talk about discourse & how the poem should lead there.
it is important that we tell our stories – equally important that someone hears them. people don’t hear you if they don’t listen. as the authors, we are bound to give the audience a reason to listen.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:43 pm
Some people don’t even want critique.
The only way to fix things is to give critique without reserve. The people who don’t want it will enentually go away, and you’re left with individuals who are glad to learn and improve.
It’s like weeding a garden.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:43 pm
Some people don’t even want critique.
The only way to fix things is to give critique without reserve. The people who don’t want it will enentually go away, and you’re left with individuals who are glad to learn and improve.
It’s like weeding a garden.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:43 pm
Some people don’t even want critique.
The only way to fix things is to give critique without reserve. The people who don’t want it will enentually go away, and you’re left with individuals who are glad to learn and improve.
It’s like weeding a garden.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:43 pm
Some people don’t even want critique.
The only way to fix things is to give critique without reserve. The people who don’t want it will enentually go away, and you’re left with individuals who are glad to learn and improve.
It’s like weeding a garden.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:43 pm
Some people don’t even want critique.
The only way to fix things is to give critique without reserve. The people who don’t want it will enentually go away, and you’re left with individuals who are glad to learn and improve.
It’s like weeding a garden.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:43 pm
Some people don’t even want critique.
The only way to fix things is to give critique without reserve. The people who don’t want it will enentually go away, and you’re left with individuals who are glad to learn and improve.
It’s like weeding a garden.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:43 pm
Some people don’t even want critique.
The only way to fix things is to give critique without reserve. The people who don’t want it will enentually go away, and you’re left with individuals who are glad to learn and improve.
It’s like weeding a garden.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:43 pm
Some people don’t even want critique.
The only way to fix things is to give critique without reserve. The people who don’t want it will enentually go away, and you’re left with individuals who are glad to learn and improve.
It’s like weeding a garden.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:38 pm
Re: A further thought:
I’m in total agreement with that.
Some people want nothing more than fifteen minutes of fame, to be understood by the masses and praised.
And what gets that is something “new”.
I haven’t been on the scene long enough to know if these people last or even stick around long. Two years isn’t enough time to base very much on.
Sidenote:
A slam between Shakespeare and Robert Frost is running through my head as a demented little skit.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:38 pm
Re: A further thought:
I’m in total agreement with that.
Some people want nothing more than fifteen minutes of fame, to be understood by the masses and praised.
And what gets that is something “new”.
I haven’t been on the scene long enough to know if these people last or even stick around long. Two years isn’t enough time to base very much on.
Sidenote:
A slam between Shakespeare and Robert Frost is running through my head as a demented little skit.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:38 pm
Re: A further thought:
I’m in total agreement with that.
Some people want nothing more than fifteen minutes of fame, to be understood by the masses and praised.
And what gets that is something “new”.
I haven’t been on the scene long enough to know if these people last or even stick around long. Two years isn’t enough time to base very much on.
Sidenote:
A slam between Shakespeare and Robert Frost is running through my head as a demented little skit.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:38 pm
Re: A further thought:
I’m in total agreement with that.
Some people want nothing more than fifteen minutes of fame, to be understood by the masses and praised.
And what gets that is something “new”.
I haven’t been on the scene long enough to know if these people last or even stick around long. Two years isn’t enough time to base very much on.
Sidenote:
A slam between Shakespeare and Robert Frost is running through my head as a demented little skit.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:38 pm
Re: A further thought:
I’m in total agreement with that.
Some people want nothing more than fifteen minutes of fame, to be understood by the masses and praised.
And what gets that is something “new”.
I haven’t been on the scene long enough to know if these people last or even stick around long. Two years isn’t enough time to base very much on.
Sidenote:
A slam between Shakespeare and Robert Frost is running through my head as a demented little skit.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:38 pm
Re: A further thought:
I’m in total agreement with that.
Some people want nothing more than fifteen minutes of fame, to be understood by the masses and praised.
And what gets that is something “new”.
I haven’t been on the scene long enough to know if these people last or even stick around long. Two years isn’t enough time to base very much on.
Sidenote:
A slam between Shakespeare and Robert Frost is running through my head as a demented little skit.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:38 pm
Re: A further thought:
I’m in total agreement with that.
Some people want nothing more than fifteen minutes of fame, to be understood by the masses and praised.
And what gets that is something “new”.
I haven’t been on the scene long enough to know if these people last or even stick around long. Two years isn’t enough time to base very much on.
Sidenote:
A slam between Shakespeare and Robert Frost is running through my head as a demented little skit.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:38 pm
Re: A further thought:
I’m in total agreement with that.
Some people want nothing more than fifteen minutes of fame, to be understood by the masses and praised.
And what gets that is something “new”.
I haven’t been on the scene long enough to know if these people last or even stick around long. Two years isn’t enough time to base very much on.
Sidenote:
A slam between Shakespeare and Robert Frost is running through my head as a demented little skit.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:36 pm
most definitely.
the best teacher I’ve ever had would give only one student each per grade of A, B, C, or D, on their weekly assignment, and all of the rest of the students got F’s.
criticism is immeasureably important to the improvement of one’s skills. We’re all to bleedin’ nice to each other.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:36 pm
most definitely.
the best teacher I’ve ever had would give only one student each per grade of A, B, C, or D, on their weekly assignment, and all of the rest of the students got F’s.
criticism is immeasureably important to the improvement of one’s skills. We’re all to bleedin’ nice to each other.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:36 pm
most definitely.
the best teacher I’ve ever had would give only one student each per grade of A, B, C, or D, on their weekly assignment, and all of the rest of the students got F’s.
criticism is immeasureably important to the improvement of one’s skills. We’re all to bleedin’ nice to each other.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:36 pm
most definitely.
the best teacher I’ve ever had would give only one student each per grade of A, B, C, or D, on their weekly assignment, and all of the rest of the students got F’s.
criticism is immeasureably important to the improvement of one’s skills. We’re all to bleedin’ nice to each other.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:36 pm
most definitely.
the best teacher I’ve ever had would give only one student each per grade of A, B, C, or D, on their weekly assignment, and all of the rest of the students got F’s.
criticism is immeasureably important to the improvement of one’s skills. We’re all to bleedin’ nice to each other.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:36 pm
most definitely.
the best teacher I’ve ever had would give only one student each per grade of A, B, C, or D, on their weekly assignment, and all of the rest of the students got F’s.
criticism is immeasureably important to the improvement of one’s skills. We’re all to bleedin’ nice to each other.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:36 pm
most definitely.
the best teacher I’ve ever had would give only one student each per grade of A, B, C, or D, on their weekly assignment, and all of the rest of the students got F’s.
criticism is immeasureably important to the improvement of one’s skills. We’re all to bleedin’ nice to each other.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:36 pm
most definitely.
the best teacher I’ve ever had would give only one student each per grade of A, B, C, or D, on their weekly assignment, and all of the rest of the students got F’s.
criticism is immeasureably important to the improvement of one’s skills. We’re all to bleedin’ nice to each other.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:30 pm
A further thought:
I think the other missing piece of the equation is the pursuit of universality — not to make the poem totally available to all, but to at least be thinking of how to make it last longer than the next six months.
I never have understood the slam community’s obsession with Newness at the slam. A good poem is timeless, or should be. My truest “competitors” (the only word I can think of, and the wrong word indeed) aren’t Taylor and Regie and Lynne and Danny and Mike — they’re Shakespeare and Neruda and Rilke.
I want to reach for the ages, even if I’m not getting there myself. The only way I kow how to do this is to create a work of art that will allow varying interpretations, room for change in interpretations over time wven.
Hot damn. I think we’re onto something here.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:30 pm
A further thought:
I think the other missing piece of the equation is the pursuit of universality — not to make the poem totally available to all, but to at least be thinking of how to make it last longer than the next six months.
I never have understood the slam community’s obsession with Newness at the slam. A good poem is timeless, or should be. My truest “competitors” (the only word I can think of, and the wrong word indeed) aren’t Taylor and Regie and Lynne and Danny and Mike — they’re Shakespeare and Neruda and Rilke.
I want to reach for the ages, even if I’m not getting there myself. The only way I kow how to do this is to create a work of art that will allow varying interpretations, room for change in interpretations over time wven.
Hot damn. I think we’re onto something here.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:30 pm
A further thought:
I think the other missing piece of the equation is the pursuit of universality — not to make the poem totally available to all, but to at least be thinking of how to make it last longer than the next six months.
I never have understood the slam community’s obsession with Newness at the slam. A good poem is timeless, or should be. My truest “competitors” (the only word I can think of, and the wrong word indeed) aren’t Taylor and Regie and Lynne and Danny and Mike — they’re Shakespeare and Neruda and Rilke.
I want to reach for the ages, even if I’m not getting there myself. The only way I kow how to do this is to create a work of art that will allow varying interpretations, room for change in interpretations over time wven.
Hot damn. I think we’re onto something here.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:30 pm
A further thought:
I think the other missing piece of the equation is the pursuit of universality — not to make the poem totally available to all, but to at least be thinking of how to make it last longer than the next six months.
I never have understood the slam community’s obsession with Newness at the slam. A good poem is timeless, or should be. My truest “competitors” (the only word I can think of, and the wrong word indeed) aren’t Taylor and Regie and Lynne and Danny and Mike — they’re Shakespeare and Neruda and Rilke.
I want to reach for the ages, even if I’m not getting there myself. The only way I kow how to do this is to create a work of art that will allow varying interpretations, room for change in interpretations over time wven.
Hot damn. I think we’re onto something here.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:30 pm
A further thought:
I think the other missing piece of the equation is the pursuit of universality — not to make the poem totally available to all, but to at least be thinking of how to make it last longer than the next six months.
I never have understood the slam community’s obsession with Newness at the slam. A good poem is timeless, or should be. My truest “competitors” (the only word I can think of, and the wrong word indeed) aren’t Taylor and Regie and Lynne and Danny and Mike — they’re Shakespeare and Neruda and Rilke.
I want to reach for the ages, even if I’m not getting there myself. The only way I kow how to do this is to create a work of art that will allow varying interpretations, room for change in interpretations over time wven.
Hot damn. I think we’re onto something here.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:30 pm
A further thought:
I think the other missing piece of the equation is the pursuit of universality — not to make the poem totally available to all, but to at least be thinking of how to make it last longer than the next six months.
I never have understood the slam community’s obsession with Newness at the slam. A good poem is timeless, or should be. My truest “competitors” (the only word I can think of, and the wrong word indeed) aren’t Taylor and Regie and Lynne and Danny and Mike — they’re Shakespeare and Neruda and Rilke.
I want to reach for the ages, even if I’m not getting there myself. The only way I kow how to do this is to create a work of art that will allow varying interpretations, room for change in interpretations over time wven.
Hot damn. I think we’re onto something here.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:30 pm
A further thought:
I think the other missing piece of the equation is the pursuit of universality — not to make the poem totally available to all, but to at least be thinking of how to make it last longer than the next six months.
I never have understood the slam community’s obsession with Newness at the slam. A good poem is timeless, or should be. My truest “competitors” (the only word I can think of, and the wrong word indeed) aren’t Taylor and Regie and Lynne and Danny and Mike — they’re Shakespeare and Neruda and Rilke.
I want to reach for the ages, even if I’m not getting there myself. The only way I kow how to do this is to create a work of art that will allow varying interpretations, room for change in interpretations over time wven.
Hot damn. I think we’re onto something here.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:30 pm
A further thought:
I think the other missing piece of the equation is the pursuit of universality — not to make the poem totally available to all, but to at least be thinking of how to make it last longer than the next six months.
I never have understood the slam community’s obsession with Newness at the slam. A good poem is timeless, or should be. My truest “competitors” (the only word I can think of, and the wrong word indeed) aren’t Taylor and Regie and Lynne and Danny and Mike — they’re Shakespeare and Neruda and Rilke.
I want to reach for the ages, even if I’m not getting there myself. The only way I kow how to do this is to create a work of art that will allow varying interpretations, room for change in interpretations over time wven.
Hot damn. I think we’re onto something here.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:28 pm
I think it’s hard for one to realize their faults on their own unless they’re smacked upside the head with a clue-by-four.
People are superfluous in praise and too scant in criticism. That in and of itself negates the usefulness of anything that would help improvement.
It takes introspection to become more than run-of-the-mill, and some people choose to settle for what they are and what they have and never grow.
It’s kinda depressing when you think of it.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:28 pm
I think it’s hard for one to realize their faults on their own unless they’re smacked upside the head with a clue-by-four.
People are superfluous in praise and too scant in criticism. That in and of itself negates the usefulness of anything that would help improvement.
It takes introspection to become more than run-of-the-mill, and some people choose to settle for what they are and what they have and never grow.
It’s kinda depressing when you think of it.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:28 pm
I think it’s hard for one to realize their faults on their own unless they’re smacked upside the head with a clue-by-four.
People are superfluous in praise and too scant in criticism. That in and of itself negates the usefulness of anything that would help improvement.
It takes introspection to become more than run-of-the-mill, and some people choose to settle for what they are and what they have and never grow.
It’s kinda depressing when you think of it.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:28 pm
I think it’s hard for one to realize their faults on their own unless they’re smacked upside the head with a clue-by-four.
People are superfluous in praise and too scant in criticism. That in and of itself negates the usefulness of anything that would help improvement.
It takes introspection to become more than run-of-the-mill, and some people choose to settle for what they are and what they have and never grow.
It’s kinda depressing when you think of it.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:28 pm
I think it’s hard for one to realize their faults on their own unless they’re smacked upside the head with a clue-by-four.
People are superfluous in praise and too scant in criticism. That in and of itself negates the usefulness of anything that would help improvement.
It takes introspection to become more than run-of-the-mill, and some people choose to settle for what they are and what they have and never grow.
It’s kinda depressing when you think of it.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:28 pm
I think it’s hard for one to realize their faults on their own unless they’re smacked upside the head with a clue-by-four.
People are superfluous in praise and too scant in criticism. That in and of itself negates the usefulness of anything that would help improvement.
It takes introspection to become more than run-of-the-mill, and some people choose to settle for what they are and what they have and never grow.
It’s kinda depressing when you think of it.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:28 pm
I think it’s hard for one to realize their faults on their own unless they’re smacked upside the head with a clue-by-four.
People are superfluous in praise and too scant in criticism. That in and of itself negates the usefulness of anything that would help improvement.
It takes introspection to become more than run-of-the-mill, and some people choose to settle for what they are and what they have and never grow.
It’s kinda depressing when you think of it.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:28 pm
I think it’s hard for one to realize their faults on their own unless they’re smacked upside the head with a clue-by-four.
People are superfluous in praise and too scant in criticism. That in and of itself negates the usefulness of anything that would help improvement.
It takes introspection to become more than run-of-the-mill, and some people choose to settle for what they are and what they have and never grow.
It’s kinda depressing when you think of it.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:24 pm
Y’know, I’d like to hear more about your aversion to political poetry. As soemone who writes a fair amount of it, but still tries to stay “poetic” as least as much as “political,” it would be interesting to hear.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:24 pm
Y’know, I’d like to hear more about your aversion to political poetry. As soemone who writes a fair amount of it, but still tries to stay “poetic” as least as much as “political,” it would be interesting to hear.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:24 pm
Y’know, I’d like to hear more about your aversion to political poetry. As soemone who writes a fair amount of it, but still tries to stay “poetic” as least as much as “political,” it would be interesting to hear.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:24 pm
Y’know, I’d like to hear more about your aversion to political poetry. As soemone who writes a fair amount of it, but still tries to stay “poetic” as least as much as “political,” it would be interesting to hear.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:24 pm
Y’know, I’d like to hear more about your aversion to political poetry. As soemone who writes a fair amount of it, but still tries to stay “poetic” as least as much as “political,” it would be interesting to hear.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:24 pm
Y’know, I’d like to hear more about your aversion to political poetry. As soemone who writes a fair amount of it, but still tries to stay “poetic” as least as much as “political,” it would be interesting to hear.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:24 pm
Y’know, I’d like to hear more about your aversion to political poetry. As soemone who writes a fair amount of it, but still tries to stay “poetic” as least as much as “political,” it would be interesting to hear.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:24 pm
Y’know, I’d like to hear more about your aversion to political poetry. As soemone who writes a fair amount of it, but still tries to stay “poetic” as least as much as “political,” it would be interesting to hear.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:21 pm
and that’s complicated further by the fact that what counts as good varies situationally. the poem that kills one night gets you knocked out in the first round another night. Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art got turned down by some ridiculous number of publishers. my favorite speedy colt song is not tonie’s favorite speedy colt song.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:21 pm
and that’s complicated further by the fact that what counts as good varies situationally. the poem that kills one night gets you knocked out in the first round another night. Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art got turned down by some ridiculous number of publishers. my favorite speedy colt song is not tonie’s favorite speedy colt song.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:21 pm
and that’s complicated further by the fact that what counts as good varies situationally. the poem that kills one night gets you knocked out in the first round another night. Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art got turned down by some ridiculous number of publishers. my favorite speedy colt song is not tonie’s favorite speedy colt song.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:21 pm
and that’s complicated further by the fact that what counts as good varies situationally. the poem that kills one night gets you knocked out in the first round another night. Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art got turned down by some ridiculous number of publishers. my favorite speedy colt song is not tonie’s favorite speedy colt song.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:21 pm
and that’s complicated further by the fact that what counts as good varies situationally. the poem that kills one night gets you knocked out in the first round another night. Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art got turned down by some ridiculous number of publishers. my favorite speedy colt song is not tonie’s favorite speedy colt song.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:21 pm
and that’s complicated further by the fact that what counts as good varies situationally. the poem that kills one night gets you knocked out in the first round another night. Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art got turned down by some ridiculous number of publishers. my favorite speedy colt song is not tonie’s favorite speedy colt song.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:21 pm
and that’s complicated further by the fact that what counts as good varies situationally. the poem that kills one night gets you knocked out in the first round another night. Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art got turned down by some ridiculous number of publishers. my favorite speedy colt song is not tonie’s favorite speedy colt song.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:21 pm
and that’s complicated further by the fact that what counts as good varies situationally. the poem that kills one night gets you knocked out in the first round another night. Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art got turned down by some ridiculous number of publishers. my favorite speedy colt song is not tonie’s favorite speedy colt song.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:17 pm
yeah, I’m going to have to agree.. that’s a valid point. A lot of folks encourage writing. However, there is not nearly enough encouragement on the improvement of your writing skills.
It took me long time to improve my writing. I started going to the reading here in DE over two years ago, and up until maybe 6 months ago, there was little to no change to my writing skills. But it took a bout of depression to knock me on my ass and stop reading for a while to begin to make changes. Once I stopped reading, I allowed myself time to do nothing more than spectate… and from spectating, I learned. I think that it was then that I truely began to listen. …And from listening, I was able to begin to formulate my own ideas regarding poetry and writing and what is good and what is effective. But it took me a year and a half to get to that point. Perhaps if there were more energy focused on the enhancement of my skills, it would’ve begun sooner.
I guess for some people, skills come naturally. For others, motivation has got to be an essential.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:17 pm
yeah, I’m going to have to agree.. that’s a valid point. A lot of folks encourage writing. However, there is not nearly enough encouragement on the improvement of your writing skills.
It took me long time to improve my writing. I started going to the reading here in DE over two years ago, and up until maybe 6 months ago, there was little to no change to my writing skills. But it took a bout of depression to knock me on my ass and stop reading for a while to begin to make changes. Once I stopped reading, I allowed myself time to do nothing more than spectate… and from spectating, I learned. I think that it was then that I truely began to listen. …And from listening, I was able to begin to formulate my own ideas regarding poetry and writing and what is good and what is effective. But it took me a year and a half to get to that point. Perhaps if there were more energy focused on the enhancement of my skills, it would’ve begun sooner.
I guess for some people, skills come naturally. For others, motivation has got to be an essential.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:17 pm
yeah, I’m going to have to agree.. that’s a valid point. A lot of folks encourage writing. However, there is not nearly enough encouragement on the improvement of your writing skills.
It took me long time to improve my writing. I started going to the reading here in DE over two years ago, and up until maybe 6 months ago, there was little to no change to my writing skills. But it took a bout of depression to knock me on my ass and stop reading for a while to begin to make changes. Once I stopped reading, I allowed myself time to do nothing more than spectate… and from spectating, I learned. I think that it was then that I truely began to listen. …And from listening, I was able to begin to formulate my own ideas regarding poetry and writing and what is good and what is effective. But it took me a year and a half to get to that point. Perhaps if there were more energy focused on the enhancement of my skills, it would’ve begun sooner.
I guess for some people, skills come naturally. For others, motivation has got to be an essential.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:17 pm
yeah, I’m going to have to agree.. that’s a valid point. A lot of folks encourage writing. However, there is not nearly enough encouragement on the improvement of your writing skills.
It took me long time to improve my writing. I started going to the reading here in DE over two years ago, and up until maybe 6 months ago, there was little to no change to my writing skills. But it took a bout of depression to knock me on my ass and stop reading for a while to begin to make changes. Once I stopped reading, I allowed myself time to do nothing more than spectate… and from spectating, I learned. I think that it was then that I truely began to listen. …And from listening, I was able to begin to formulate my own ideas regarding poetry and writing and what is good and what is effective. But it took me a year and a half to get to that point. Perhaps if there were more energy focused on the enhancement of my skills, it would’ve begun sooner.
I guess for some people, skills come naturally. For others, motivation has got to be an essential.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:17 pm
yeah, I’m going to have to agree.. that’s a valid point. A lot of folks encourage writing. However, there is not nearly enough encouragement on the improvement of your writing skills.
It took me long time to improve my writing. I started going to the reading here in DE over two years ago, and up until maybe 6 months ago, there was little to no change to my writing skills. But it took a bout of depression to knock me on my ass and stop reading for a while to begin to make changes. Once I stopped reading, I allowed myself time to do nothing more than spectate… and from spectating, I learned. I think that it was then that I truely began to listen. …And from listening, I was able to begin to formulate my own ideas regarding poetry and writing and what is good and what is effective. But it took me a year and a half to get to that point. Perhaps if there were more energy focused on the enhancement of my skills, it would’ve begun sooner.
I guess for some people, skills come naturally. For others, motivation has got to be an essential.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:17 pm
yeah, I’m going to have to agree.. that’s a valid point. A lot of folks encourage writing. However, there is not nearly enough encouragement on the improvement of your writing skills.
It took me long time to improve my writing. I started going to the reading here in DE over two years ago, and up until maybe 6 months ago, there was little to no change to my writing skills. But it took a bout of depression to knock me on my ass and stop reading for a while to begin to make changes. Once I stopped reading, I allowed myself time to do nothing more than spectate… and from spectating, I learned. I think that it was then that I truely began to listen. …And from listening, I was able to begin to formulate my own ideas regarding poetry and writing and what is good and what is effective. But it took me a year and a half to get to that point. Perhaps if there were more energy focused on the enhancement of my skills, it would’ve begun sooner.
I guess for some people, skills come naturally. For others, motivation has got to be an essential.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:17 pm
yeah, I’m going to have to agree.. that’s a valid point. A lot of folks encourage writing. However, there is not nearly enough encouragement on the improvement of your writing skills.
It took me long time to improve my writing. I started going to the reading here in DE over two years ago, and up until maybe 6 months ago, there was little to no change to my writing skills. But it took a bout of depression to knock me on my ass and stop reading for a while to begin to make changes. Once I stopped reading, I allowed myself time to do nothing more than spectate… and from spectating, I learned. I think that it was then that I truely began to listen. …And from listening, I was able to begin to formulate my own ideas regarding poetry and writing and what is good and what is effective. But it took me a year and a half to get to that point. Perhaps if there were more energy focused on the enhancement of my skills, it would’ve begun sooner.
I guess for some people, skills come naturally. For others, motivation has got to be an essential.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:17 pm
yeah, I’m going to have to agree.. that’s a valid point. A lot of folks encourage writing. However, there is not nearly enough encouragement on the improvement of your writing skills.
It took me long time to improve my writing. I started going to the reading here in DE over two years ago, and up until maybe 6 months ago, there was little to no change to my writing skills. But it took a bout of depression to knock me on my ass and stop reading for a while to begin to make changes. Once I stopped reading, I allowed myself time to do nothing more than spectate… and from spectating, I learned. I think that it was then that I truely began to listen. …And from listening, I was able to begin to formulate my own ideas regarding poetry and writing and what is good and what is effective. But it took me a year and a half to get to that point. Perhaps if there were more energy focused on the enhancement of my skills, it would’ve begun sooner.
I guess for some people, skills come naturally. For others, motivation has got to be an essential.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:06 pm
Guilty as well.
I stop myself mid-word if I don’t think it will be understood. I write for others as well as myself, and constantly condem myself because my recent writing hasn’t struck as many people as it used to.
My problem is that the style in which I desire to write is, as far as I’ve been told (by peers and teachers), either too eloquent or too “classical” for a majourity of people to understand. I don’t know if this is because of the ignorance that seems to be as catchy as the cold, or the fact that perhaps I simply can’t write. As a result, I find myself dumbing down and trying to force out things that people understand. It is well known that this results in nothing but crap.
I’ve found that many people simply don’t want to read between the lines. They want to be told what it is they’re supposed to think, and even how to react.
Because of this, I fear the audience, seeing it as nothing less than a dragon waiting to swallow up the eloquent individual. In my experiences, I’ve found very few people who are willing to read into anything, much less interpret something unless it hits the perfect chord with their psyche.
These thoughts have no real basis, but it’s what came to mind.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:06 pm
Guilty as well.
I stop myself mid-word if I don’t think it will be understood. I write for others as well as myself, and constantly condem myself because my recent writing hasn’t struck as many people as it used to.
My problem is that the style in which I desire to write is, as far as I’ve been told (by peers and teachers), either too eloquent or too “classical” for a majourity of people to understand. I don’t know if this is because of the ignorance that seems to be as catchy as the cold, or the fact that perhaps I simply can’t write. As a result, I find myself dumbing down and trying to force out things that people understand. It is well known that this results in nothing but crap.
I’ve found that many people simply don’t want to read between the lines. They want to be told what it is they’re supposed to think, and even how to react.
Because of this, I fear the audience, seeing it as nothing less than a dragon waiting to swallow up the eloquent individual. In my experiences, I’ve found very few people who are willing to read into anything, much less interpret something unless it hits the perfect chord with their psyche.
These thoughts have no real basis, but it’s what came to mind.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:06 pm
Guilty as well.
I stop myself mid-word if I don’t think it will be understood. I write for others as well as myself, and constantly condem myself because my recent writing hasn’t struck as many people as it used to.
My problem is that the style in which I desire to write is, as far as I’ve been told (by peers and teachers), either too eloquent or too “classical” for a majourity of people to understand. I don’t know if this is because of the ignorance that seems to be as catchy as the cold, or the fact that perhaps I simply can’t write. As a result, I find myself dumbing down and trying to force out things that people understand. It is well known that this results in nothing but crap.
I’ve found that many people simply don’t want to read between the lines. They want to be told what it is they’re supposed to think, and even how to react.
Because of this, I fear the audience, seeing it as nothing less than a dragon waiting to swallow up the eloquent individual. In my experiences, I’ve found very few people who are willing to read into anything, much less interpret something unless it hits the perfect chord with their psyche.
These thoughts have no real basis, but it’s what came to mind.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:06 pm
Guilty as well.
I stop myself mid-word if I don’t think it will be understood. I write for others as well as myself, and constantly condem myself because my recent writing hasn’t struck as many people as it used to.
My problem is that the style in which I desire to write is, as far as I’ve been told (by peers and teachers), either too eloquent or too “classical” for a majourity of people to understand. I don’t know if this is because of the ignorance that seems to be as catchy as the cold, or the fact that perhaps I simply can’t write. As a result, I find myself dumbing down and trying to force out things that people understand. It is well known that this results in nothing but crap.
I’ve found that many people simply don’t want to read between the lines. They want to be told what it is they’re supposed to think, and even how to react.
Because of this, I fear the audience, seeing it as nothing less than a dragon waiting to swallow up the eloquent individual. In my experiences, I’ve found very few people who are willing to read into anything, much less interpret something unless it hits the perfect chord with their psyche.
These thoughts have no real basis, but it’s what came to mind.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:06 pm
Guilty as well.
I stop myself mid-word if I don’t think it will be understood. I write for others as well as myself, and constantly condem myself because my recent writing hasn’t struck as many people as it used to.
My problem is that the style in which I desire to write is, as far as I’ve been told (by peers and teachers), either too eloquent or too “classical” for a majourity of people to understand. I don’t know if this is because of the ignorance that seems to be as catchy as the cold, or the fact that perhaps I simply can’t write. As a result, I find myself dumbing down and trying to force out things that people understand. It is well known that this results in nothing but crap.
I’ve found that many people simply don’t want to read between the lines. They want to be told what it is they’re supposed to think, and even how to react.
Because of this, I fear the audience, seeing it as nothing less than a dragon waiting to swallow up the eloquent individual. In my experiences, I’ve found very few people who are willing to read into anything, much less interpret something unless it hits the perfect chord with their psyche.
These thoughts have no real basis, but it’s what came to mind.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:06 pm
Guilty as well.
I stop myself mid-word if I don’t think it will be understood. I write for others as well as myself, and constantly condem myself because my recent writing hasn’t struck as many people as it used to.
My problem is that the style in which I desire to write is, as far as I’ve been told (by peers and teachers), either too eloquent or too “classical” for a majourity of people to understand. I don’t know if this is because of the ignorance that seems to be as catchy as the cold, or the fact that perhaps I simply can’t write. As a result, I find myself dumbing down and trying to force out things that people understand. It is well known that this results in nothing but crap.
I’ve found that many people simply don’t want to read between the lines. They want to be told what it is they’re supposed to think, and even how to react.
Because of this, I fear the audience, seeing it as nothing less than a dragon waiting to swallow up the eloquent individual. In my experiences, I’ve found very few people who are willing to read into anything, much less interpret something unless it hits the perfect chord with their psyche.
These thoughts have no real basis, but it’s what came to mind.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:06 pm
Guilty as well.
I stop myself mid-word if I don’t think it will be understood. I write for others as well as myself, and constantly condem myself because my recent writing hasn’t struck as many people as it used to.
My problem is that the style in which I desire to write is, as far as I’ve been told (by peers and teachers), either too eloquent or too “classical” for a majourity of people to understand. I don’t know if this is because of the ignorance that seems to be as catchy as the cold, or the fact that perhaps I simply can’t write. As a result, I find myself dumbing down and trying to force out things that people understand. It is well known that this results in nothing but crap.
I’ve found that many people simply don’t want to read between the lines. They want to be told what it is they’re supposed to think, and even how to react.
Because of this, I fear the audience, seeing it as nothing less than a dragon waiting to swallow up the eloquent individual. In my experiences, I’ve found very few people who are willing to read into anything, much less interpret something unless it hits the perfect chord with their psyche.
These thoughts have no real basis, but it’s what came to mind.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:06 pm
Guilty as well.
I stop myself mid-word if I don’t think it will be understood. I write for others as well as myself, and constantly condem myself because my recent writing hasn’t struck as many people as it used to.
My problem is that the style in which I desire to write is, as far as I’ve been told (by peers and teachers), either too eloquent or too “classical” for a majourity of people to understand. I don’t know if this is because of the ignorance that seems to be as catchy as the cold, or the fact that perhaps I simply can’t write. As a result, I find myself dumbing down and trying to force out things that people understand. It is well known that this results in nothing but crap.
I’ve found that many people simply don’t want to read between the lines. They want to be told what it is they’re supposed to think, and even how to react.
Because of this, I fear the audience, seeing it as nothing less than a dragon waiting to swallow up the eloquent individual. In my experiences, I’ve found very few people who are willing to read into anything, much less interpret something unless it hits the perfect chord with their psyche.
These thoughts have no real basis, but it’s what came to mind.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
I would agree that linear space-time is problematic – a story squished down to 3 minutes and without the commitment that a story needs to make an impact, doesn’t make good poetry in my mind.
For a poem to really speak to me personally, imagery without accounting is an imperative.
I also agree that political items are especially susceptible to linearity. But then, I have other grievances with political poetry that might cloud my judgment.
I plan to write tonight, I will keep this concept in mind…
I also agree that a “lack of space”, more generally taken, is a problem for me as the reader/listener to enjoy a poem – I think timing is very important specifically in a spoken-word environment — in the condensed-linear poem, rushing is a risk.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
I would agree that linear space-time is problematic – a story squished down to 3 minutes and without the commitment that a story needs to make an impact, doesn’t make good poetry in my mind.
For a poem to really speak to me personally, imagery without accounting is an imperative.
I also agree that political items are especially susceptible to linearity. But then, I have other grievances with political poetry that might cloud my judgment.
I plan to write tonight, I will keep this concept in mind…
I also agree that a “lack of space”, more generally taken, is a problem for me as the reader/listener to enjoy a poem – I think timing is very important specifically in a spoken-word environment — in the condensed-linear poem, rushing is a risk.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
I would agree that linear space-time is problematic – a story squished down to 3 minutes and without the commitment that a story needs to make an impact, doesn’t make good poetry in my mind.
For a poem to really speak to me personally, imagery without accounting is an imperative.
I also agree that political items are especially susceptible to linearity. But then, I have other grievances with political poetry that might cloud my judgment.
I plan to write tonight, I will keep this concept in mind…
I also agree that a “lack of space”, more generally taken, is a problem for me as the reader/listener to enjoy a poem – I think timing is very important specifically in a spoken-word environment — in the condensed-linear poem, rushing is a risk.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
I would agree that linear space-time is problematic – a story squished down to 3 minutes and without the commitment that a story needs to make an impact, doesn’t make good poetry in my mind.
For a poem to really speak to me personally, imagery without accounting is an imperative.
I also agree that political items are especially susceptible to linearity. But then, I have other grievances with political poetry that might cloud my judgment.
I plan to write tonight, I will keep this concept in mind…
I also agree that a “lack of space”, more generally taken, is a problem for me as the reader/listener to enjoy a poem – I think timing is very important specifically in a spoken-word environment — in the condensed-linear poem, rushing is a risk.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
I would agree that linear space-time is problematic – a story squished down to 3 minutes and without the commitment that a story needs to make an impact, doesn’t make good poetry in my mind.
For a poem to really speak to me personally, imagery without accounting is an imperative.
I also agree that political items are especially susceptible to linearity. But then, I have other grievances with political poetry that might cloud my judgment.
I plan to write tonight, I will keep this concept in mind…
I also agree that a “lack of space”, more generally taken, is a problem for me as the reader/listener to enjoy a poem – I think timing is very important specifically in a spoken-word environment — in the condensed-linear poem, rushing is a risk.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
I would agree that linear space-time is problematic – a story squished down to 3 minutes and without the commitment that a story needs to make an impact, doesn’t make good poetry in my mind.
For a poem to really speak to me personally, imagery without accounting is an imperative.
I also agree that political items are especially susceptible to linearity. But then, I have other grievances with political poetry that might cloud my judgment.
I plan to write tonight, I will keep this concept in mind…
I also agree that a “lack of space”, more generally taken, is a problem for me as the reader/listener to enjoy a poem – I think timing is very important specifically in a spoken-word environment — in the condensed-linear poem, rushing is a risk.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
I would agree that linear space-time is problematic – a story squished down to 3 minutes and without the commitment that a story needs to make an impact, doesn’t make good poetry in my mind.
For a poem to really speak to me personally, imagery without accounting is an imperative.
I also agree that political items are especially susceptible to linearity. But then, I have other grievances with political poetry that might cloud my judgment.
I plan to write tonight, I will keep this concept in mind…
I also agree that a “lack of space”, more generally taken, is a problem for me as the reader/listener to enjoy a poem – I think timing is very important specifically in a spoken-word environment — in the condensed-linear poem, rushing is a risk.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
I would agree that linear space-time is problematic – a story squished down to 3 minutes and without the commitment that a story needs to make an impact, doesn’t make good poetry in my mind.
For a poem to really speak to me personally, imagery without accounting is an imperative.
I also agree that political items are especially susceptible to linearity. But then, I have other grievances with political poetry that might cloud my judgment.
I plan to write tonight, I will keep this concept in mind…
I also agree that a “lack of space”, more generally taken, is a problem for me as the reader/listener to enjoy a poem – I think timing is very important specifically in a spoken-word environment — in the condensed-linear poem, rushing is a risk.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
an interesting point to think about.. and I am forced to aggree with you. That is a terrible thing to subject one’s readers/listeners to.
…I know that I generally aim to include the audience in some way, although it’s not something that I voluntarily put a lot of effort into.
Perhaps this is something I need to think more about.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
an interesting point to think about.. and I am forced to aggree with you. That is a terrible thing to subject one’s readers/listeners to.
…I know that I generally aim to include the audience in some way, although it’s not something that I voluntarily put a lot of effort into.
Perhaps this is something I need to think more about.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
an interesting point to think about.. and I am forced to aggree with you. That is a terrible thing to subject one’s readers/listeners to.
…I know that I generally aim to include the audience in some way, although it’s not something that I voluntarily put a lot of effort into.
Perhaps this is something I need to think more about.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
an interesting point to think about.. and I am forced to aggree with you. That is a terrible thing to subject one’s readers/listeners to.
…I know that I generally aim to include the audience in some way, although it’s not something that I voluntarily put a lot of effort into.
Perhaps this is something I need to think more about.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
an interesting point to think about.. and I am forced to aggree with you. That is a terrible thing to subject one’s readers/listeners to.
…I know that I generally aim to include the audience in some way, although it’s not something that I voluntarily put a lot of effort into.
Perhaps this is something I need to think more about.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
an interesting point to think about.. and I am forced to aggree with you. That is a terrible thing to subject one’s readers/listeners to.
…I know that I generally aim to include the audience in some way, although it’s not something that I voluntarily put a lot of effort into.
Perhaps this is something I need to think more about.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
an interesting point to think about.. and I am forced to aggree with you. That is a terrible thing to subject one’s readers/listeners to.
…I know that I generally aim to include the audience in some way, although it’s not something that I voluntarily put a lot of effort into.
Perhaps this is something I need to think more about.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:04 pm
an interesting point to think about.. and I am forced to aggree with you. That is a terrible thing to subject one’s readers/listeners to.
…I know that I generally aim to include the audience in some way, although it’s not something that I voluntarily put a lot of effort into.
Perhaps this is something I need to think more about.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:02 pm
Add to this a healthy helping of atrocious writing skills…
here’s what i think – we tell everyone that Anyone can write poems. & the spirit is that Everyone should write poems – at least one in a lifetime; it is supposed to be something for Anyone. but we never really put a whole lot out there about what makes a poem good – as long as it’s written, ain’t that grand? there ought to be more to putting po8ry out there as The Peoples’ Art than just saying hey, you, write something down… b/c it winds up becoming a meritocracy at the readings, &…
um, i think i might be babbling.
uh, yeh.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:02 pm
Add to this a healthy helping of atrocious writing skills…
here’s what i think – we tell everyone that Anyone can write poems. & the spirit is that Everyone should write poems – at least one in a lifetime; it is supposed to be something for Anyone. but we never really put a whole lot out there about what makes a poem good – as long as it’s written, ain’t that grand? there ought to be more to putting po8ry out there as The Peoples’ Art than just saying hey, you, write something down… b/c it winds up becoming a meritocracy at the readings, &…
um, i think i might be babbling.
uh, yeh.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:02 pm
Add to this a healthy helping of atrocious writing skills…
here’s what i think – we tell everyone that Anyone can write poems. & the spirit is that Everyone should write poems – at least one in a lifetime; it is supposed to be something for Anyone. but we never really put a whole lot out there about what makes a poem good – as long as it’s written, ain’t that grand? there ought to be more to putting po8ry out there as The Peoples’ Art than just saying hey, you, write something down… b/c it winds up becoming a meritocracy at the readings, &…
um, i think i might be babbling.
uh, yeh.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:02 pm
Add to this a healthy helping of atrocious writing skills…
here’s what i think – we tell everyone that Anyone can write poems. & the spirit is that Everyone should write poems – at least one in a lifetime; it is supposed to be something for Anyone. but we never really put a whole lot out there about what makes a poem good – as long as it’s written, ain’t that grand? there ought to be more to putting po8ry out there as The Peoples’ Art than just saying hey, you, write something down… b/c it winds up becoming a meritocracy at the readings, &…
um, i think i might be babbling.
uh, yeh.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:02 pm
Add to this a healthy helping of atrocious writing skills…
here’s what i think – we tell everyone that Anyone can write poems. & the spirit is that Everyone should write poems – at least one in a lifetime; it is supposed to be something for Anyone. but we never really put a whole lot out there about what makes a poem good – as long as it’s written, ain’t that grand? there ought to be more to putting po8ry out there as The Peoples’ Art than just saying hey, you, write something down… b/c it winds up becoming a meritocracy at the readings, &…
um, i think i might be babbling.
uh, yeh.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:02 pm
Add to this a healthy helping of atrocious writing skills…
here’s what i think – we tell everyone that Anyone can write poems. & the spirit is that Everyone should write poems – at least one in a lifetime; it is supposed to be something for Anyone. but we never really put a whole lot out there about what makes a poem good – as long as it’s written, ain’t that grand? there ought to be more to putting po8ry out there as The Peoples’ Art than just saying hey, you, write something down… b/c it winds up becoming a meritocracy at the readings, &…
um, i think i might be babbling.
uh, yeh.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:02 pm
Add to this a healthy helping of atrocious writing skills…
here’s what i think – we tell everyone that Anyone can write poems. & the spirit is that Everyone should write poems – at least one in a lifetime; it is supposed to be something for Anyone. but we never really put a whole lot out there about what makes a poem good – as long as it’s written, ain’t that grand? there ought to be more to putting po8ry out there as The Peoples’ Art than just saying hey, you, write something down… b/c it winds up becoming a meritocracy at the readings, &…
um, i think i might be babbling.
uh, yeh.
November 9th, 2004 at 2:02 pm
Add to this a healthy helping of atrocious writing skills…
here’s what i think – we tell everyone that Anyone can write poems. & the spirit is that Everyone should write poems – at least one in a lifetime; it is supposed to be something for Anyone. but we never really put a whole lot out there about what makes a poem good – as long as it’s written, ain’t that grand? there ought to be more to putting po8ry out there as The Peoples’ Art than just saying hey, you, write something down… b/c it winds up becoming a meritocracy at the readings, &…
um, i think i might be babbling.
uh, yeh.
November 9th, 2004 at 1:58 pm
i understand what you are. sometimes even i include too much descriptive. i will work on. let’s see how it. then, i look at the people i am reading to in mesa and good lord…
November 9th, 2004 at 1:58 pm
i understand what you are. sometimes even i include too much descriptive. i will work on. let’s see how it. then, i look at the people i am reading to in mesa and good lord…
November 9th, 2004 at 1:58 pm
i understand what you are. sometimes even i include too much descriptive. i will work on. let’s see how it. then, i look at the people i am reading to in mesa and good lord…
November 9th, 2004 at 1:58 pm
i understand what you are. sometimes even i include too much descriptive. i will work on. let’s see how it. then, i look at the people i am reading to in mesa and good lord…
November 9th, 2004 at 1:58 pm
i understand what you are. sometimes even i include too much descriptive. i will work on. let’s see how it. then, i look at the people i am reading to in mesa and good lord…
November 9th, 2004 at 1:58 pm
i understand what you are. sometimes even i include too much descriptive. i will work on. let’s see how it. then, i look at the people i am reading to in mesa and good lord…
November 9th, 2004 at 1:58 pm
i understand what you are. sometimes even i include too much descriptive. i will work on. let’s see how it. then, i look at the people i am reading to in mesa and good lord…
November 9th, 2004 at 1:58 pm
i understand what you are. sometimes even i include too much descriptive. i will work on. let’s see how it. then, i look at the people i am reading to in mesa and good lord…
November 9th, 2004 at 1:48 pm
I am guilty as charged on this count, and it’s something I really would like to change about my writing. I’ve come to think of myself more of a three-minute storyteller than a poet, which is okay if that’s what I want to be. But it isn’t.
November 9th, 2004 at 1:48 pm
I am guilty as charged on this count, and it’s something I really would like to change about my writing. I’ve come to think of myself more of a three-minute storyteller than a poet, which is okay if that’s what I want to be. But it isn’t.
November 9th, 2004 at 1:48 pm
I am guilty as charged on this count, and it’s something I really would like to change about my writing. I’ve come to think of myself more of a three-minute storyteller than a poet, which is okay if that’s what I want to be. But it isn’t.
November 9th, 2004 at 1:48 pm
I am guilty as charged on this count, and it’s something I really would like to change about my writing. I’ve come to think of myself more of a three-minute storyteller than a poet, which is okay if that’s what I want to be. But it isn’t.
November 9th, 2004 at 1:48 pm
I am guilty as charged on this count, and it’s something I really would like to change about my writing. I’ve come to think of myself more of a three-minute storyteller than a poet, which is okay if that’s what I want to be. But it isn’t.
November 9th, 2004 at 1:48 pm
I am guilty as charged on this count, and it’s something I really would like to change about my writing. I’ve come to think of myself more of a three-minute storyteller than a poet, which is okay if that’s what I want to be. But it isn’t.
November 9th, 2004 at 1:48 pm
I am guilty as charged on this count, and it’s something I really would like to change about my writing. I’ve come to think of myself more of a three-minute storyteller than a poet, which is okay if that’s what I want to be. But it isn’t.
November 9th, 2004 at 1:48 pm
I am guilty as charged on this count, and it’s something I really would like to change about my writing. I’ve come to think of myself more of a three-minute storyteller than a poet, which is okay if that’s what I want to be. But it isn’t.