I can't write a poem to order or specification nor can I do that when I'm writing a song. If someone says give me a peppy song, how should I know what will happen since I will try some chords until they feel balanced to go in a good flow but they may not sound peppy even though it makes me feel peppy to play them.
There is not any particular plan for a poem; it's only that the moment or whatever observation needs one. The poem has to be completed before I walk away from it since returning to it later feels like it's trying to polish something rather than actually build it. Polishing something isn't satisfying for me and may well be destructive.
"Talking to the Turtle" came out of nowhere yesterday largely propelled by the knowledge from legend that a giant turtle carries the Earth around on its back. Therefore, to find out where we're going, talk to the Turtle. (Ithaka: "Talking to the Turtle" #Poetry)
The intro may seem it could be a shot at some particular woman in my life but, in fact, that's more about modern feminism than anything else. The end to it seemed too brusque but nothing I wanted grew from it so I put into the holding tank with a future publishing date so it wouldn't get lost.
I did not go back to the poem and really I should have known I would not so Fate published the poem but it surprised me since I wasn't thinking about it. At first I thought to withdraw it but then I saw quite a few had already read it so I left it alone so you could decide and it had a smashing day.
On rereading it, I don't believe it could have ended any other way since an extension has to go Pollyanna because pushing it beyond the point at which I stopped would dismiss all of humanity as herd beasts when the fact of it is they're just scared. However, I can't write the Pollyanna part since my Fate is already cast so the only one who can bring Pollyanna to it is the reader.
I also think it would have been Pollyanna of me to suggest you can make the story one Pollyanna would like. Even that, I feel, would have undermined the premise so I have to count on the reader divining that.
The kind of thinking you see here is exactly why coming back to the poem after the fact of having written it is not a good idea.
The Art of the Art is making it in the first place since the result is hardly ever it, at least not for me. When I create anything, my first response is usually to start ripping it to shit so there's no art in that for me, only neurosis.
I don't understand why the poems happen relatively quickly, at least relative to making a song. They're not blank verse which is something of a standard for non-standards and my style is more like undisciplined ... but it feels right for me and happens quickly.
There's a definite attempt to keep a rhythm in the words even if sometimes it gets difficult to discern and that's probably about enough introspection.
It's an unusual phenomenon but one which people seem to appreciate. I could try to analyze that except it would be a completely stupid thing to do and probably would only be self-serving.
So that's the Art of the Art, mates, and there's only one substantive consequence: people like it or they don't. It doesn't have to suck up for favors in the way of pop music but it does have to deliver something which means some tangible thing to people and the latter aspect has been the surprise ... apparently it does.
Sometimes the poems are nice and I like it that they are because that's how it happened and it would be lying to throw those ones out since the only purpose I see in that would be in trying to create or extend an image which, based on the nice poem, may not even be true.
After all that and because The Rockhouse loves you, here's a bear which is much cooler than you. Even if he's not cooler than you, he's way cooler than me. I told Yevette, "It's getting so hot in the afternoons even the fire ants won't come out."
That got big laffs. She knows.
There is not any particular plan for a poem; it's only that the moment or whatever observation needs one. The poem has to be completed before I walk away from it since returning to it later feels like it's trying to polish something rather than actually build it. Polishing something isn't satisfying for me and may well be destructive.
"Talking to the Turtle" came out of nowhere yesterday largely propelled by the knowledge from legend that a giant turtle carries the Earth around on its back. Therefore, to find out where we're going, talk to the Turtle. (Ithaka: "Talking to the Turtle" #Poetry)
The intro may seem it could be a shot at some particular woman in my life but, in fact, that's more about modern feminism than anything else. The end to it seemed too brusque but nothing I wanted grew from it so I put into the holding tank with a future publishing date so it wouldn't get lost.
I did not go back to the poem and really I should have known I would not so Fate published the poem but it surprised me since I wasn't thinking about it. At first I thought to withdraw it but then I saw quite a few had already read it so I left it alone so you could decide and it had a smashing day.
On rereading it, I don't believe it could have ended any other way since an extension has to go Pollyanna because pushing it beyond the point at which I stopped would dismiss all of humanity as herd beasts when the fact of it is they're just scared. However, I can't write the Pollyanna part since my Fate is already cast so the only one who can bring Pollyanna to it is the reader.
I also think it would have been Pollyanna of me to suggest you can make the story one Pollyanna would like. Even that, I feel, would have undermined the premise so I have to count on the reader divining that.
The kind of thinking you see here is exactly why coming back to the poem after the fact of having written it is not a good idea.
The Art of the Art is making it in the first place since the result is hardly ever it, at least not for me. When I create anything, my first response is usually to start ripping it to shit so there's no art in that for me, only neurosis.
I don't understand why the poems happen relatively quickly, at least relative to making a song. They're not blank verse which is something of a standard for non-standards and my style is more like undisciplined ... but it feels right for me and happens quickly.
There's a definite attempt to keep a rhythm in the words even if sometimes it gets difficult to discern and that's probably about enough introspection.
It's an unusual phenomenon but one which people seem to appreciate. I could try to analyze that except it would be a completely stupid thing to do and probably would only be self-serving.
So that's the Art of the Art, mates, and there's only one substantive consequence: people like it or they don't. It doesn't have to suck up for favors in the way of pop music but it does have to deliver something which means some tangible thing to people and the latter aspect has been the surprise ... apparently it does.
Sometimes the poems are nice and I like it that they are because that's how it happened and it would be lying to throw those ones out since the only purpose I see in that would be in trying to create or extend an image which, based on the nice poem, may not even be true.
After all that and because The Rockhouse loves you, here's a bear which is much cooler than you. Even if he's not cooler than you, he's way cooler than me. I told Yevette, "It's getting so hot in the afternoons even the fire ants won't come out."
That got big laffs. She knows.
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