The General Commentary Thread

[_Land]

We'll agree to disagree on that one Land. For me the reader is always my reference point. Otherwise why bother letting anyone else read what I write? But like I said you do you. Poetry is a big tent, plenty of room for differing opinions.

I love this.

This is why I still love poetry

There are so many reasons poetry is written.

I write for a multitude of reasons. I wrote because it's a way to express myself .... Regardless of audience or reception

Some of the best rage poetry wasn't written for me or the stage, it was written to give voice to the inner child who was silenced to long.

Some of the best imagery is very carefully crafted with audience firmly in mind...

There is room for both

I clearly write not just from the single perspective....

I think the perspective that I poorly relayed is that the perception of a reader is never going to be as in tune with the poem as the writer....

Poetry when written or read is refined within the heart, mind and experience of the one who is currently holding her.


Perhaps I can explain better in poetry

Written live....... Do forgive the mediocre imagery


Poem's Lovers

The pen was her first lover
it pressed into her blank,
slow,
trembling
with the burden of origin.

It gave her form
with every spill,
left her full
of heat and hesitation
a body built in stanzas.

Then came the glasses
first pair to see her,
more then creation
but a question.

They studied her folds
where ink pooled too deep,
found longing
in the pauses
her maker never meant.

now a softened jezebel
She is passed
from palm to palm,
each grip
a different gravity.

Each reader
a new tongue
pressed to her meaning.

They all claim to know her.
None of them lie.

She was born
to hold multitudes
to stretch beyond understanding,
to cradle contradiction
within her womb
and call it
truth.

 

[_Land]

So an intriguing question/concept

Do you ever intend for your poetry to offend?

Poetry can be beautiful but do you write ugly ?

 

[Angeline]

So an intriguing question/concept

Do you ever intend for your poetry to offend?

Poetry can be beautiful but do you write ugly ?

Interesting question. I don't write with an intention to elicit any reaction other than i hope readers like or can relate to the poem. I guess I don't think or plan that way when I write. I may choose a word or phrase or line break that I hope will have a strong impact, all in service or what I'm trying to say.

I've written about painful experiences so I guess if I write ugly that's where it happens. And if I write something that I'm satisfied with and someone is offended by it, so be it.

 

[_Land]

So I did a little research



The Fire in the Mouth: A Spoken History of Modern American Poetic Uprising

By Bear Sage


---

Introduction: Where There’s Smoke, There’s a Mouth Full of Fire

In America, the poet has often stood at the edge of the fire line mouth full of smoke and prophecy, daring to speak something dangerous into the nation’s sacred myths.

This isn’t a history of peace.

This is a catalog of friction. A montage of moments when language wasn't for hearts but for hammers. When the poet didn't beg to be heard, they dared the silence to swallow them whole.

These are not your classroom poets.

These are incendiaries.


---

1. Amiri Baraka “Somebody Blew Up America” (2001)

Poet Laureate. Truth grenade.

Baraka stood in the dust and rage of post-9/11 America and did what few dared, he asked questions. Not soft ones. Not safe ones. His poem didn’t just grieve, it accused. He pointed fingers at history, empire, and silence.

“Who? Who do you know
that’s been paid off to turn their head the other way?”



Baraka didn’t blame blindly. He ripped open the fabric of power and dared people to look at what was stitched underneath. In return, the state tried to silence him not with rebuttal, but erasure. New Jersey eliminated the entire role of poet laureate just to make sure he’d never wear the crown again.

That’s the power of a poem that doesn’t ask for approval.


---

2. Pat Parker “Womanslaughter” (1978, revived in 2010s)

Blood doesn’t lie, and neither did she.

When Pat Parker’s sister was murdered by her husband, the law called it “manslaughter.” One year in prison. A life reduced to a footnote in patriarchy’s book of excuses. Parker called it what it was.

“she died
because he loved her
he said.
loved her to death.”



This wasn’t metaphor. It was testimony. Her poem became a protest chant at feminist rallies, a battle cry against a legal system built to forgive men and forget women.

And it still echoes today, in courtrooms, on protest signs, in the mouths of those who refuse to let silence bury the truth.


---

3. Danez Smith “Dear White America” (2014)

Letter or Molotov? Depends who reads it.

Smith was done explaining. This wasn’t a poem written with hope that whiteness would understand. This was a departure. A galactic fuck-you to the gravitational pull of systemic racism.

“I’ve left Earth in search of darker planets,
a solar system that lets my body burn
the way it was born to.”



Some white critics called it divisive. Smith called it prophecy. It wasn’t written for safety. It was written for survival.


---

4. Julio Salgado “Undocumented and Awkward” (2010s–present)

Cartoon body. Real target.

Salgado's visual poetry doesn't try to ease you in. It laughs in your face, then asks why you’re laughing. Queer, undocumented, and loud about it he doesn’t want your sympathy. He wants your systems dismantled.

“I don’t want your pity. I want your damn policies to change.”



His art and poetry have been banned from classrooms. That’s not censorship, it’s fear. Because when the undocumented speak with beauty and fire, the system realizes how fragile its paperwork really is.


---

5. Andrea Gibson “Your Life” and the Gendered Body of War

Tenderness turned sharp.

Andrea Gibson doesn’t read poems. They exhale them. Grief, transness, cancer, suicide, rage, they carry it all in their throat, and somehow still speak gently.

“Your life is a prayer your demons can’t even touch.”



Their performances have been protested. Books pulled. Invitations revoked. Not because of violence but because truth this soft shouldn’t be allowed to hurt this much.

They remind us that sometimes the whisper is the sharpest blade in the drawer.


---

Closing: The Mouth as Matchbook

Every generation inherits both a microphone and a muzzle.

These poets refused the muzzle.

They chose to speak when silence was cheaper. They chose danger. They chose language that makes statues nervous and lawmakers sweat. They asked not for applause. but reckoning.

And whether through page, mic, or paintbrush
they lit matches.

Let this be the record.
Let this be the reminder:

Poetry doesn’t always soothe.
Sometimes, it sets the house on fire.

 

[SmokingFap]

a pencil
number two
a blank page
cup of black tea
house to myself
finding the right word
the perfect phrase
walk to the kitchen
remember a thought
a touch
a feeling
grabbing the pencil
writing it down
that line leads to another
not as good
but will do for now
pour some more tea
looking out the window

happiness

Hi sweetheart! So glad to see you again. I'm talking to our mutual friend now and she says that you're doing good these days. I hope you'll reach out to me directly.

Forever and no matter what, Jen.