sharing poetry

[wildsweetone]

why is it that i have this urge to share the stuff i'm writing? i think it's because when i get that zing of an accomplishment, i just want to share the feeling. it's not like putting myself Out There, for me, it's more simplistic, sharing something nice.

do you have the same urge to share?

what do you do with your poetry when you can't share?

 

[Lauren Hynde]

No matter what some people tell you, everyone writes to be read. At least, no one writes not to be read.

Communication is what poetry is about - it is its essence - and that urge only shows you're in touch with it. Congratulations.

The only poetry that I can't share is the one that isn't written yet. Or, the one that isn't really yet. There are a few of those.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I felt the urge earlier to steal cymry's lines

waiting
like the empty bones
of a predator​

run away with them, and write a poem of my own. That's a form of sharing, right?

 

[Lonelypoet]

The Urge To Share

why is it that i have this urge to share the stuff i'm writing? i think it's because when i get that zing of an accomplishment, i just want to share the feeling. it's not like putting myself Out There, for me, it's more simplistic, sharing something nice.

do you have the same urge to share?

what do you do with your poetry when you can't share?

I keep my poetry in a binder, so that when I get "hungry," I can always go there for a little morsel of poetic nourishment, then I can move on with my day! ~ Lonelypoet

"If there is a magic in story writing......(it) seems to lie solely
in the aching urge of the writer to convey something he feels
important to the reader." ~ John Steinbeck

 

[PatCarrington]

why is it that i have this urge to share the stuff i'm writing? i think it's because when i get that zing of an accomplishment, i just want to share the feeling.

nah...you're just an exhibitionist.

 

[Remec]

why is it that i have this urge to share the stuff i'm writing? i think it's because when i get that zing of an accomplishment, i just want to share the feeling. it's not like putting myself Out There, for me, it's more simplistic, sharing something nice.

do you have the same urge to share?

what do you do with your poetry when you can't share?

Mostly it sits in drawers and notebooks and computer files until I've long since forgotten that I wrote them, and then are discovered and either savored anew, rewritten/edited, or groaned over with much gnashing of teeth and self-flagellation at the very effort.

But, I try to avoid setting things aside just to set them aside. My freshmen comp professor in college was rather opinionated, but he had some ideas that I still try to take to heart. One of them was that if we were going to write, then write--but to always remember that words written down without input or reaction from another person are just words. Art demands readers.

 

[wildsweetone]

nah...you're just an exhibitionist.

just because i have a digital camera in one hand does not make me an exhibitionist.

right?

 

[flyguy69]

just because i have a digital camera in one hand does not make me an exhibitionist.

right?

That depends upon the other hand....

 

[wildsweetone]

it was pushing the button, and, stuff.

 

[Remec]

it was pushing the button, and, stuff.

Hmm, speaking of poetry waiting to happen....

 

[wildsweetone]

i never said i was stuck for finding things to write about. lol


are you?

by Remec - One of them was that if we were going to write, then write--but to always remember that words written down without input or reaction from another person are just words. Art demands readers.

that could be part of the urge-to-share feeling too. maybe to tempt somebody else to dare have an opinion on what i've said - though i 'feel' that's more a sub-conscious thing.


edited to add... maybe it's more of a 'do you see what i see' thing...?

 

[BooMerengue]

why is it that i have this urge to share the stuff i'm writing? i think it's because when i get that zing of an accomplishment, i just want to share the feeling. it's not like putting myself Out There, for me, it's more simplistic, sharing something nice.

do you have the same urge to share?

what do you do with your poetry when you can't share?

I throw mine away. Really. I have a notebook I use. If I don't finish a poem and like it out it goes. If I don't like it I don't want anyone else reading it. I tried keeping it for later inspiration but all that happens is that I look at it and mutter well this was pretty stupid.

 

[annaswirls]

I throw mine away. Really. I have a notebook I use. If I don't finish a poem and like it out it goes. If I don't like it I don't want anyone else reading it. I tried keeping it for later inspiration but all that happens is that I look at it and mutter well this was pretty stupid.

Boo, I think this is the most influential of all of your posts to me....

I really should do this. I should. Because that is exactly what I say...

ohgod I can't throw anything away!!!

what ever happened to the poem-a-thon thread? I can't find it anywhere andI ahve a poem on my clipboard waiting to be pasted.

grrr

 

[twelveoone]

I throw mine away. Really. I have a notebook I use. If I don't finish a poem and like it out it goes. If I don't like it I don't want anyone else reading it. I tried keeping it for later inspiration but all that happens is that I look at it and mutter well this was pretty stupid.

I was told I should keep a notebook, my thought was if I can't remember it, who else would want to. When I finally do start to write it goes through countless tranformations until I am reasonably happy with it.

mutter well this was pretty stupid.

and Boo my respect for you just went up tenfold, found myself saying pretty much the same thing over and over again.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

ohgod I can't throw anything away!

Did you know that Michelangelo, as he neared 89 and began preparing for death, burnt half of his drawings and poems, the ones he didn't think were good enough to be remembered for?

 

[Angeline]

I was told I should keep a notebook, my thought was if I can't remember it, who else would want to. When I finally do start to write it goes through countless tranformations until I am reasonably happy with it.

and Boo my respect for you just went up tenfold, found myself saying pretty much the same thing over and over again.

I've written, conservatively speaking, over a thousand poems in the past 2-3 years. There's no way I can possibly remember them all. I keep a master file in Excel of all my poems, and categorize them by title, type (form or free verse), date written (and dates(s) revised, if it was), publication status, theme, and first line.

I do this because even though I think many of these poems--at least half, probably lots more--are not very good, there are lines or even phrases in most of them that I might be able to use elsewhere or that become the stimulus to write something new. I like to be able to go back and refresh my hazy memory of a poem that may have somethng in it that I can rework. The file helps me find them.

 

[BooMerengue]

I've written, conservatively speaking, over a thousand poems in the past 2-3 years. There's no way I can possibly remember them all. I keep a master file in Excel of all my poems, and categorize them by title, type (form or free verse), date written (and dates(s) revised, if it was), publication status, theme, and first line.

I do this because even though I think many of these poems--at least half, probably lots more--are not very good, there are lines or even phrases in most of them that I might be able to use elsewhere or that become the stimulus to write something new. I like to be able to go back and refresh my hazy memory of a poem that may have somethng in it that I can rework. The file helps me find them.

Isn't this called anal retentive?

Just kidding, Sis! lol I wish I was that organized. I have all mine that I've actually shown to others organized on disks, but I still have to read everything on the disk to find something.

Lauren- he was pretty stupid. Wasn't he already getting top dollar for his stuff before he died? If I was to ever get paid for a poem I would be so obnoxious with all my stuff. It would be everywhere. Like stink on a Junebug!! LOL

 

[BooMerengue]

and Boo my respect for you just went up tenfold, found myself saying pretty much the same thing over and over again.

wow

*nods head

*sings "Yeah, I'm cool!"

High praise, 1201. TY.

And you, too, Anna. Maybe I should quit writing poems and start spouting Philosophy and Ten Ways To Simplify Your Life.

lol

 

[Tzara]

I think of my writing as play. It's kind of fun, usually, and I experiment a lot with different kinds of ideas. I don't really think of it as poetry, but that seems to be a convenient term for what it looks like.

So why share? Well, I am curious sometimes as to what other people think. For some of the experiments (and for some of the jokes) it's checking whether they work at all. Often they don't, which is OK. They're all things I had fun doing, anyway.

I keep both computer files and paper backup. For poems, I usually keep all the revisions as well. It is not uncommon for me to "back up" to an earlier revision of something when I get dissatisfied with how it's going.

Periodically I go through and throw things away.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Lauren- he was pretty stupid. Wasn't he already getting top dollar for his stuff before he died? If I was to ever get paid for a poem I would be so obnoxious with all my stuff. It would be everywhere. Like stink on a Junebug!! LOL

I don't think it was a stupid thing to do, Boo. He didn't destroy any of the things he had been paid to do - or else he would have gone down in history as a thief, instead of an artist. What he destroyed were his sub-par poems and sketches, his notebooks, his drafts. He didn't want to be judged, as sometime happens to Shakespear and other great poets, by any half-arsed attempts at poetry and art - but only by the real deal.

 

[BooMerengue]

I don't think it was a stupid thing to do, Boo. He didn't destroy any of the things he had been paid to do - or else he would have gone down in history as a thief, instead of an artist. What he destroyed were his sub-par poems and sketches, his notebooks, his drafts. He didn't want to be judged, as sometime happens to Shakespear and other great poets, by any half-arsed attempts at poetry and art - but only by the real deal.

Ohhh! Thanks, Lauren. I hadn't thought of it that way. Smart guy. See? Now I knowI'm right getting rid of my old stuff.

Learn something new every day or soon it'll be your day to die. Thats what I tell my G'kids.

 

[Angeline]

Isn't this called anal retentive?

Just kidding, Sis! lol I wish I was that organized. I have all mine that I've actually shown to others organized on disks, but I still have to read everything on the disk to find something.

Lauren- he was pretty stupid. Wasn't he already getting top dollar for his stuff before he died? If I was to ever get paid for a poem I would be so obnoxious with all my stuff. It would be everywhere. Like stink on a Junebug!! LOL

Yeah it is, lol. I'm very organized with my poetry and my work. Otherwise, um not really at all.

 

[BooMerengue]

Yeah it is, lol. I'm very organized with my poetry and my work. Otherwise, um not really at all.

I miss you...

 

[Angeline]

I miss you...

Ditto that. I sent you a pm.

 

[bogusbrig]

I don't think it was a stupid thing to do, Boo. He didn't destroy any of the things he had been paid to do - or else he would have gone down in history as a thief, instead of an artist. What he destroyed were his sub-par poems and sketches, his notebooks, his drafts. He didn't want to be judged, as sometime happens to Shakespear and other great poets, by any half-arsed attempts at poetry and art - but only by the real deal.

If I had a reputation my sub-terre reputation would be even lower if I suddenly keel over and give up the ghost and don't clean out all the crap I've written, drawn or made. My life is a positive monument to garbage and I have positively so much creative excrement, to find anything half decent amongst it is a real chore. I have so much embarrassingly bad, crude and vulgar creative waste floating around it's a wonder I haven't already died of shame. However, a few times I've been inspired into creating something new that has turned out half decent by some waste so I'm reluctant to clear it out.

Hmm...and why do I write? To be rich and famous and have beautiful nubile females fawning over me. Can there possibly be another reason?