How often does your poetry reflect who you... aren't?

[WickedEve]

Do you have poetry where the point of view may be from someone with a different sexual orientation, different race, gender, etc? Maybe poetry involving proclivities, beliefs or actions that are alien to you? Have you ever publicly shared a poem that caused you minor concern over the subject matter? Perhaps, you shared a poem about urinating on the neighbor's flowers--this sounds plausible. Of course, you didn't do it, but isn't it possible the reader will assume you did? Are there poems, with certain subjects, you simply won't publish for fear, or embarrassment, that the reader will come to an incorrect conclusion about you, the poet?

 

[tarablackwood22]

Do you have poetry where the point of view may be from someone with a different sexual orientation, different race, gender, etc? Maybe poetry involving proclivities, beliefs or actions that are alien to you? Have you ever publicly shared a poem that caused you minor concern over the subject matter? Perhaps, you shared a poem about urinating on the neighbor's flowers--this sounds plausible. Of course, you didn't do it, but isn't it possible the reader will assume you did? Are there poems, with certain subjects, you simply won't publish for fear, or embarrassment, that the reader will come to an incorrect conclusion about you, the poet?

I write all the time about thoughts that are not my own, but simply things I think may have gone on in the minds of others, or things I simply reflect on and try to crawl into as a foreigner.

I thought everyone did this.

Eve - you remember my shock at the stalker/predator/abduction readings which were unintended yet many saw in a poem of mine. I even started a thread for help....you answered it.

I haven't touched that poem since, but I'm sure I will because I see no reason not to. The further away I get from it, the easier it will be to see what others saw.

Great thread topic!!

 

[Liar]

There are poems that I haven't published that would give the reader a slightly not-me view of me. But the reason I haven't published them has more to do with them being bad poems than anything else.

But generally, far from all poems I write are personal or have anything to do with me. Ok, maybe I burned a good deal of street cred there, but I am first and foremost a writer who tells stories. Sometimes I do it in poetry form, sometimes as prose or as play sctripts, sometimes the stories are autobiographical, sometimes they are not. More poetry than fiction have actual connection with things I have done or am doing.

This, this and this for instance is not me, but me setting myself in other real or made up people's minds and writing a poem for them. The feedback and comments on those feels a bit embarrassing actually.

Maybe I should try to write and post a poem from really far off? I have written fiction in the first person POV of a young Irish woman in the 1930's. I am not a young Irish woman, and not even my parents were planned back then. It worked pretty well. The problem is that so many readers expect poetry to be different from prose on other ways than in form. Also in intention, soul if you like.

#L

 

[perks]

I would say about a third of my poetry is not necessarily me, however I feel my voice is pretty strong when I write, especially in the last half a year...year even, so it's hard to tell when it's really me, or only my voice on something that isn't. That sounds circular to me.

I know that several of the STCs are definitely not about me, like Dram of Dreams for instance. However, I wouldn't have been able to write that poem with out some sort of experience with the subject matter. My experiment poems are not reflections of me at all, neither is the circus poem.

That being said, doesn't a poem reflect you to some extent just by merit of you writing it?

 

[Angeline]

I would say about a third of my poetry is not necessarily me, however I feel my voice is pretty strong when I write, especially in the last half a year...year even, so it's hard to tell when it's really me, or only my voice on something that isn't. That sounds circular to me.

I know that several of the STCs are definitely not about me, like Dram of Dreams for instance. However, I wouldn't have been able to write that poem with out some sort of experience with the subject matter. My experiment poems are not reflections of me at all, neither is the circus poem.

That being said, doesn't a poem reflect you to some extent just by merit of you writing it?

That last part is my sentiment, too. I think you can't *not* put something of yourself in your own writing, and the poems I write that are not specifically about my experiences reflect the way I see the world. The poems in my book are all autobiographical, but most of what I have here, save the bits and pieces of remembrance in my poems, are my thoughts mixed with fiction--not my experiences. Either that or they're sort of documentary, like my poems about music figures or pieces of music, but I think those poems say as much about who I am as the autobiographical ones.

 

[WickedEve]

That being said, doesn't a poem reflect you to some extent just by merit of you writing it?

Hmm... I'm thinking about my bob Finds Love poems, where I write about a loner who has a passion for silent (dead, unconscious?) women and their lipsticks. I'm not bob, obviously, but is there a sliver of bob hidden inside me somewhere? Do we, as writers, tap into our dark side, crazy side, etc, when we write? Even though I'd never do what my bob does, I must have some darkness in me to create this character.
I wrote a lot of dark poetry that my ex inspired. (He actually inspired the bob poems.) Instead of writing too many poems about what actually bugged me or upset me about my time with the ex, I focused that energy into poetry like bob and Betty from Little Escapes, and other poems. Oh, the Let Me Out of This Box poem that was posted recently. I remember writing that a couple of years ago. I was quite pleased with the image of him tumbling down the stairs.

 

[perks]

That last part is my sentiment, too. I think you can't *not* put something of yourself in your own writing, and the poems I write that are not specifically about my experiences reflect the way I see the world. The poems in my book are all autobiographical, but most of what I have here, save the bits and pieces of remembrance in my poems, are my thoughts mixed with fiction--not my experiences. Either that or they're sort of documentary, like my poems about music figures or pieces of music, but I think those poems say as much about who I am as the autobiographical ones.

yup yup yup! I love the term documentary to describe certain poems, btw, it's so fitting, I think.

 

[WickedEve]

...my thoughts mixed with fiction...

This reminds me, I have another thread I want to start. I may do it now and get it out of my system before I forget about it again.

 

[Tathagata]

I think you have to write your own " thoughts"
it may not be something you'd ever do...but it's something you've thought about
Maybe we attribute it to others because we don't want to admit we have a " dark side'
I think all people are capable of all thoughts
some screen them or suppress them better than others
other tap into it and use it in a creative way
I mean Stephen King ............
that's creepy shit
but it doesn't mean he'd ever DO that stuff
but it obviously fascinates him

I personally can't write anything I haven't at least thought about...
doesn't mean i've done it or craved it or whatever
may have been a passing thought but...it's there and

 

[Tathagata]

This reminds me, I have another thread I want to start. I may do it now and get it out of my system before I forget about it again.

is it about mushrooms??

 

[perks]

is it about mushrooms??

I so want her title to read "you can leave your hat on".

 

[WickedEve]

I so want her title to read "you can leave your hat on".

 

[WickedEve]

but it doesn't mean he'd ever DO that stuff
but it obviously fascinates him

I personally can't write anything I haven't at least thought about...
doesn't mean i've done it or craved it or whatever
may have been a passing thought but...it's there and

Sometimes, I just want to write something totally out of character. So, I sit here and type. I'm capable of coming up with all sorts of things that don't interest me or things that have never wiggled through my mind before. At least, I hope bob never wiggled through my mind before he became a poem. lol

 

[WickedEve]

Though, now that I think about it, I did have to become bob to write about him. I had to watch that little movie in my head, so I could describe it the reader.

 

[Liar]

Though, now that I think about it, I did have to become bob to write about him. I had to watch that little movie in my head, so I could describe it the reader.

...just like any fiction writer. The difference is that most do it in prose form.

 

[Tathagata]

Sometimes, I just want to write something totally out of character. So, I sit here and type. I'm capable of coming up with all sorts of things that don't interest me or things that have never wiggled through my mind before. At least, I hope bob never wiggled through my mind before he became a poem. lol

well yeah you can go into ' another space" but it's still comes from you..
You see what I mean??


nice AV

 

[WickedEve]

well yeah you can go into ' another space" but it's still comes from you..
You see what I mean??


nice AV

another space, like the spare room in my mind? lol hey, I didn't write about that guy. I was in the spare room when he wiggled through.

 

[Tathagata]

another space, like the spare room in my mind? lol hey, I didn't write about that guy. I was in the spare room when he wiggled through.

Was it the " laundry" room?


I mean I don't write with my ' every day" brain..
I have to stop and find that stillness and it comes out
of course I'm probably sounding like some kind of side show freak about now but..
That's what I meant by another space
The" consciousness" (sp) you use to write

 

[fawnie]

nice thread!

i've written plenty through the eyes of another..usually hard subject matters, but it's with empathetic eyes that i write it.
sometimes i write stuff that is sexual in nature but not anywhere near where i'd be..but it's still a great deal of me that gets reflected.

 

[Maria2394]

cool thread Eve

I know there are some women who will hate me for this, sorry sisters, but when I write stories, I try to write ( some of them) from a male POV. I have been told by so many guys over the years that women just dont understand them. I wont get into all that stuff ( they think with thier knob, or whatever, ) but when it comes to my poems, I write whatever pops in and sometimes I dont even recognize it a day later. I know how psycho that sounds and I cant help it

I guess if I had to choose any of my poems that are really from my POV I would have to say, a lot of nothing or elements of being and the urban sprawl series. The rest of I attribute to my flaky subconscious

thanks for reading and understanding , you all are good people

now, off to play in the rain

 

[WickedEve]

I know there are some women who will hate me for this, sorry sisters, but when I write stories, I try to write ( some of them) from a male POV.

That's okay. I do too. I just submitted Sue Ling that was once online at lit. I write from a male POV in this one, but when you read the poem, there's really no way of knowing. It's just how I saw the story play out. A man is having an affair with Sue Ling, but it also works from a female POV.

 

[Guest]

90% me and 10% who I wish to be.




- neo

 

[fawnie]

uhm eve...

nice av too!

 

[Tathagata]

Re: uhm eve...

nice av too!

tell her to move her hand

 

[fawnie]

Re: Re: uhm eve...

tell her to move her hand

oh hell no



hello tath