MADNESS IN SEARCH OF

[SpermFactory]

IN YOUR FACE

Fuck you forehead worry lines laughing crows feet dancing until I smile

 

[Angeline]

@Angeline you write with the level of creative control I aspire to. A lot to unpack here. Reading with a specific focus never entered my mind.

Thank you. I feel I've been less successful than in past years, but I do believe reading poems to do more than appreciate/experience them helps inform my own efforts.

I was trained as a line editor and while it does, in some ways, ruin reading lol (my first mentor warned me!), it takes you out of the world of content and forces you to look at sentences (or lines in a poem) word by word, to consider the necessity of punctuation, to think about how space around and between words and lines affect meaning and impact.

I think those are pretty good guidelines for reading a poem *after* that first read just to experience it. So you can go back multiple times and question the word choices, the words used to break and begin lines, the use of things like rhyme, alliteration, assonance. What images are really working, what metaphors? Why punctuation or not, same with space, margins, anything that can affect your perception as a reader.

It sounds like a lot of work huh? It is when you start doing it. And fortunately with great poems there's a lot of analysis already available online and off that can help you understand (and decide whether you agree). The more you do this when you read, the easier it gets. It's always about practice lol. But the biggest payoff is that it gets you thinking about your own writing that way. For me that begins happening at the editing stage: the first draft is just getting the basic ideas down.

Hope I haven't rambled too much! But being methodical in these ways I've described really help me both as reader and writer.

 

[SpermFactory]

Thank you. I feel I've been less successful than in past years, but I do believe reading poems to do more than appreciate/experience them helps inform my own efforts.

I was trained as a line editor and while it does, in some ways, ruin reading lol (my first mentor warned me!), it takes you out of the world of content and forces you to look at sentences (or lines in a poem) word by word, to consider the necessity of punctuation, to think about how space around and between words and lines affect meaning and impact.

I think those are pretty good guidelines for reading a poem *after* that first read just to experience it. So you can go back multiple times and question the word choices, the words used to break and begin lines, the use of things like rhyme, alliteration, assonance. What images are really working, what metaphors? Why punctuation or not, same with space, margins, anything that can affect your perception as a reader.

It sounds like a lot of work huh? It is when you start doing it. And fortunately with great poems there's a lot of analysis already available online and off that can help you understand (and decide whether you agree). The more you do this when you read, the easier it gets. It's always about practice lol. But the biggest payoff is that it gets you thinking about your own writing that way. For me that begins happening at the editing stage: the first draft is just getting the basic ideas down.

Hope I haven't rambled too much! But being methodical in these ways I've described really help me both as reader and writer.

Yeah I do all that too

 

[SpermFactory]

@MrMrsMrsMr, I can’t work out whether your poem The Rib is a piss take or some seriously kinky Kirker s#it?

Since I’m being annoying, midway through The Rib there is a weird idk twist in it? The pov changes somehow? idk I can’t put my finger on it

 

[MrMrsMrsMr]

@MrMrsMrsMr, I can’t work out whether your poem The Rib is a piss take or some seriously kinky Kirker s#it?

Since I’m being annoying, midway through The Rib there is a weird idk twist in it? The pov changes somehow? idk I can’t put my finger on it

Thanks. I edited it. I think it reads clearer now.

 

[Hotcoffee123]

Do you have an example?

 

[42BelowsBack]

Mind maps, images and poems. I have been making mind maps out of images. Then ordering the extrapolated words to create a poem. As you would expect early results have been a jumble sale. Generating poems from objects in my surrounds seem to work in this way also.

I have also been reading creative non fiction opinion pieces. Sometimes I take a paragraph or a sentence and ask myself what it looks like as an image, or how could it be translated into a poem?

 

[42BelowsBack]

Most of all I have been working on a collection of poems (on and off). I haven’t figured out a way of being more disciplined as a writer.

 

[Angeline]

Mind maps, images and poems. I have been making mind maps out of images. Then ordering the extrapolated words to create a poem. As you would expect early results have been a jumble sale. Generating poems from objects in my surrounds seem to work in this way also.

I have also been reading creative non fiction opinion pieces. Sometimes I take a paragraph or a sentence and ask myself what it looks like as an image, or how could it be translated into a poem?

Are you familiar with ekphrastic poetry? We did a challenge for it (from the ever inquisitive mind of Tzara of course) that may interest you.

 

[42BelowsBack]

Are you familiar with ekphrastic poetry? We did a challenge for it (from the ever inquisitive mind of Tzara of course) that may interest you.

Yeah. I wrote as part of that challenge. I forgot about it of course, however as I wrote my comment I thought hmm this idea rings a bell

Here’s the bell lol Inspired by Titian’s painting of Flōra and Florentine festivals.

It Rained in Florence

Your face is the sun
You place its golden coin

In my broken body
My engine is in parts

In your pink shaded mantle
Oil spills across my canvas

to melt the pure wool of winter
from my wind leathered sinew

the lean bone of winter
perennial as your sacrifice

I am at once your
Flamen and Flaminica

singing to the fecundity of life
singing with your husband

the Wind in Florence
you are a Titian

Flōra forever.
Leaves turned into spring

 

[Angeline]

Yea. I wrote as part of that challenge. I forgot about it of course, however as I wrote my comment I thought hmm this idea rings a bell

Here’s the bell lol Inspired by Titian’s painting of Flōra and Florentine festivals.

It Rained in Florence

Your face is the sun
You place its golden coin

In my broken body
My engine is in parts

In your pink shaded mantle
Oil spills across my canvas

to melt the pure wool of winter
from my wind leathered sinew

the lean bone of winter
perennial as your sacrifice

I am at once your
Flamen and Flaminica

singing to the fecundity of life
singing with your husband

the Wind in Florence
you are a Titian

Flōra forever.
Leaves turned into spring

Ok. I remember the poem. We discussed it a while back. I'd forgotten you did it after reading the ekphrastic thread.

 

[42BelowsBack]

A theory on workshopping poems.

Workshops facilitate self development; A maxim I learned from another poet, teach others to teach themselves so that they in turn teach you.

The purpose of a dedicated reader.

Workshops provide poets with dedicated readers. The reader provides feedback to the poet. When we write poems we are blind. We already see, feel, and know the poem. Because of this we unconsciously fill holes and make connections that others cannot see. In a sense the reader poet relationship is the blind, guiding each other. Personally I like availing myself of another’s eyes. To see through them is always of great value.

A good reader doesn’t intrude. They simply say, hey this is what I can see. The poet at all times has right of refusal or right to accept. Feel misunderstood. Validated. Or be inspired.

A, purpose of feedback includes the reader self identifying what they can see, and what they like.

By reading analytically we teach ourselves. Especially when we read to give feedback. I often read other poets and make my own set of notes.

Workshops allow poets to inspire each other and experiment with ideas.

When I post a poem, I often rewrite said poem post posting. In a sense I am yet to complete a single poem. This is a solo act. Workshops supercharge this process via the mechanism of a group.

Workshops have: Challenges, Goals, Outcomes.

Invariably: Write. Read. Give Feedback.

Post or submit. Substack (not promoting it) versus traditional publishing routes; Ss removes all associated costs. But if you want to win awards gain notoriety or scholarships traditional publishing is a good way to go about it. Submit, submit, submit, publish or perish. Get out there poet. Poets are born not taught.

Poets believe they have something to offer the world.

 

[SpermFactory]

Hey 42, I appreciate you. Lot’s of love buddy.

You never beat anyone down. You don’t think that you are a better poet than everyone else. You stick your neck out. Always try to contribute to this space. You theorize stupid shit. Fall on your face. It’s very entertaining. And well intentioned. Best of all you dust yourself off. Get back on your motorcycle and ride hell for leather.

Best of all you’re a genuine guy. I hope you’re okay buddy. Thanks for posting your ideas. They are always interesting reading.