The General Commentary Thread

[lc69hunter]

Poetry does not get the love and attention it deserves her on Lit. I have several authors as favorites who do nothing but poetry, erotic or non-erotic. It is an art that I envy.

 

[Bigtitsbitch1000x]

I agree. I have been criticized here for not posting stereotypical smut.

My poems receive few if any comments.

My poetry is my main literary area of achievement.

This site is deceptive. I, a transwoman with a Wikipedia page, who ran for office in San Francisco, was and still am consistently described here in weird vocabulary of which I know nothing, but which presents me as someone faking being trans. For Trumpist ends.

My pix were described as lifted from someone else and I was derided as ignorant of the internet. Yeah geniuses, I was at USIA when the WorldNet was created by DOS, I run a website, and at my site I am consistently tracked by the Russian Internet Research Agency.

Re my pix: they are processed by Madonna's publicity people. Madonna was a pop artist known before the arrival in the world of Trent Reznor, symbol of romantic eros and its fulfillment, as developed on this site

But of course I know little of the knowledge imparted by 4chan experience to those who dominate this site and legitimize gross hatred and genocidal comments about the trans condition, including calls for cutting the bodies of intersex people.

( O )( O )

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

A comment on one of my stories exercised me greatly. It said “I’d be happy to read [this] without the sex.”
So, was I writing a good story that didn’t need the sex? Or was the sex superfluous? Was the sex only for my own titillation?
In the end I found myself writing longer and longer stretches without erotica because it became harder and harder to justify its inclusion in the narrative.
When all is said and done, it’s the story that matters most (IMNSHO)
This is where a fault line opens up between those readers who want to get themselves off as efficiently as possible and those who want to read an engaging tale.

 

[AlinaX]

A lot of readers here love finding an actual story to sink into, and extended sex scenes very often distract from the plot - especially if the author has basically slotted a sex scene into a gap because they know it's an erotic story site and readers kinda expect a bit o' hanky panky like.

ETA: Whether reading or writing, I like to get into the sex quickly, but very often my stories just surf the waves of sex instead of diving deep.

 

[Angeline]

Hello poets. How's your July going? Is it horribly hot where you are? It is where I am. Hot as a crotch as I believe Bob Dylan sang in one of his songs. But I digress. I notice that there are but eleven days left in the month, which means it's almost August. We need one poet to volunteer to lead a challenge then. Who wants to do it? It's an easy task as you've seen: just come up with a prompt and post it between August first and fifth. Easy peasy. Maybe someone new is ready to give it a try. Remember if nobody volunteers you're stuck with me. So c'mon now. Someone...anyone, just let me know. The poets will be most appreciative of your initiative.

 

[29wordsforsnow]

Since the heat is melting streets like butter, how about a 'melting form' challenge? We all have been frustrated with forms before, why not try to reshape them under the summer sun?

 

[Angeline]

All of August? Challenge: Write a poem using these words, 'As funny as a one handed man...' Example- As funny as a one handed man doing dishes, any form, extra points for an American sentence.

This is a good idea, especially for American Sentences imo. We already have a second challenge leader for August. You could put this in a separate thread and let it be an extra challenge if you want.

 

[Angeline]

Since the heat is melting streets like butter, how about a 'melting form' challenge? We all have been frustrated with forms before, why not try to reshape them under the summer sun?

That's an interesting idea. I was thinking of Melt as a same title challenge if no one volunteered, but puddle_girl came to my rescue and picked up the second challenge for next month. You could do the melting form for September or just post it now in a separate thread. If Harry posts his and you do yours, August will be busy with challenges lol. That's a good thing!

 

[29wordsforsnow]

Well, who says September won't be even hotter than August...
Enough time to polish that challenge.

 

[Angeline]

Well, who says September won't be even hotter than August...
Enough time to polish that challenge.

Thanks Snow! I'll put you down for September.

 

[HarryHill]

And Harry please

Ready to go ty @Angeline

 

[tristantrotsky]

This poem will end with a whimper not a bang...

 

[Bigtitsbitch1000x]

Excellent. Publishable. No change.

May i recommend THE STORY OF O and a now rare book called BLAZE OF EMBERS by Pieyre de Mandiargues?

( O )( O )

 

[Deleted member 6789170]

https://www.literotica.com/authors/Elle4u2use2/works/poetry

 

[I_AM_ONE_OF_YOU]

scent: petrichor
sight: open fields
sound: cars honking
taste: rain drops
touch: hot


It's amazing how itchy
The tall grass is on my body.
It must be after 3pm.


I can hear the cars stopping,
At the end of the open field,
At the traffic light.
One angry car threatens another,
with a honking
to move along.



But I’m comfortable, yet itchy
Lying naked here.
In the wide-open field
where I undressed and
Let you.



When the clouds finally squeezed
Their last rain drops
And the rustling of the grasses
silenced after you finished.



I smell it now.
The petrichor,
Of the grasses
The fumes,
of the cars going by.
And your sex.
Our sex.
It all lingers upon me.

This hot September Monday.


scent: burnt marshmallow
sight: fire
sound: laughter
taste: sugar
touch: soft

This is so well written, and so apt for the literotica boards. Well done.

 

[Angeline]

Dear Poets,

Is this a misplaced love letter? Not really although it's tendered with . Thank you for all the great August poetry and for keeping the forum brimming with your words, rhymes, ideas, laughs and music. Special thanks to the new folks who chose to post here this month. We're glad you're here. The August challenges have gone really well so thank you Harry and puddle_girl for coming up with those. And thanks to all who've posted in my flash challenge. That's a lotta love!

We should be set for September with challenges on board from 29wordsforsnow and XMarilynX. Those will be posted no later than September 5th (but if either of you want to post between now and the 1st, go for it!)

There are a few spots open to lead challenges from October-December. If you're interested in taking one of them let me know. Post your interest in the Leader Sign Up thread or message me and I'll add your name. And if you haven't led a challenge yet and are thinking about it, please volunteer. It's easy and I'm always available to help out if necessary.

It's not too early to think about 2025! Anyone want to do a poem a week again or more challenges like this year? Ideas for themes? Something new? Drop your suggestions and opinions in this thread.

Thanks again. As Margaret Atwood said in her fine poem, Spelling ~

A word after a word
after a word is power.

 

[Angeline]

Ash I love your sweet nostalgia love letter.

I'll never forget the poets you've mentioned, especially dear Annie, (UnderYorSpell), who was always up for a challenge and a giggle. And since I'm sure she's watching over us from above, I'll not forget to note she is the only one to ever win a poetry survivor contest. As those of you who were around then recall it was a grueling contest, but she hung in there and wrote all those crazy form poems! Miss you Annie!

I also really miss GuiltyPleasure, an excellent poet and one of my favorite people here ever.

And I still miss smithpeter who I think of as the patron saint of this forum. To know him was to love him. Wicked Eve, too.

Anyway thanks Ash for the trip down memory lane!

 

[Tzara]

It's not too early to think about 2025! Anyone want to do a poem a week again or more challenges like this year? Ideas for themes? Something new?

I personally like the idea of going back to the poem-a-week thread--I think that worked very well and let people write whatever they wanted, yet it provided a target to shoot for in terms of keeping up with writing. I'd rather the specific challenges be posted by anyone at any time, separate from the overall challenge, as for me at least some of them appeal to me and some do not (for example, my apologies to puddle_girl, but I just don't have anything I want to say about my mother--though I suppose that itself could be something I could write a poem about).

Anyway, that's my vote/suggestion.

 

[Angeline]

I personally like the idea of going back to the poem-a-week thread--I think that worked very well and let people write whatever they wanted, yet it provided a target to shoot for in terms of keeping up with writing. I'd rather the specific challenges be posted by anyone at any time, separate from the overall challenge, as for me at least some of them appeal to me and some do not (for example, my apologies to puddle_girl, but I just don't have anything I want to say about my mother--though I suppose that itself could be something I could write a poem about).

Anyway, that's my vote/suggestion.

I want to do a poem a week again, too (because I'm out of my mind lol). I love that if you persevere from January to December you have about a chapbook"s worth of poetry. I know from experience though that some weeks I'm lucky to come up with an American Sentence. Still it's great to practice developing the habit of regular poeming.

I know some folks will hate the idea and want to continue something like we've done this year or maybe something new altogether. We could do a poem a week plus monthly challenges or something else. I know though that if I commit to a poem a week i personally may not be up for additional challenges.

Obviously I'm a totally indecisive Gemini (really like two-thirds of my chart is Gemini: it's *hard* to make up my mind... y'all have no idea ).

So c'mon and weigh in with those opinions. I know you have them so please share your thoughts!

 

[XMarilynX]

Maybe we could have a monthly theme based challenge, a monthly forms based challenge and weekly write what ever you want threads?

That’s my Swish Swiss Franc opinion.

 

[HarryHill]

We have options?

 

[Angeline]

It has been a while since folks made suggestions for the forum in 2025. As usual y'all want it all (options, Harry, options ). I don't see why we can't have it all if we work together to make it happen . And by all, I mean:

~A dedicated poem-a-week thread, type of poem (form, etc) to be determined by the participants

~A monthly themed challenge thread. This could be done similarly to what we've done this past year OR as 42Below suggests, we draw on previous challenges. If we did that we could still have challenge leaders but instead of coming up with a new idea, they'd comb through old threads and pick one for a given month. So in March, for example, someone chooses the American Sentence thread and that's the month's challenge.

~42 also suggested a workshop thread. We've had them in the past with varying degrees of success. IMO they require dedicated participants with some shared understanding of how to give constructive critique. Otherwise (in my experience) one or two people end up doing all the work.

I'm mostly interested in the poem-a-week idea. If I do that with a theme (something I'm considering), I probably won't want to do a lot of writing to other challenges. But that's just me. And if I do that, maybe someone else can take on the monthly themed challenges and another could lead a workshop thread.

So. Whaddya think? Opinions? Anybody want to volunteer for any of this?

 

[Bigtitsbitch1000x]

How does one write a poem? How does one structure a poem?

One really good solution to this is to make a kind of story. It doesn't have to be elaborate, or showy, or linguistically frilly. It just needs to engage the reader with some basic narrative that he or she can relate to.

Like Angie's "Awakening." Twenty lines, very basic story, but interesting and compelling. The poem is more than a "I looked hot in that swimsuit" poem--it references older women's opinion, the narrator's uncertainty about how she looks, her growing confidence about how she looks, the whole thing about incipient sexuality.

It is, in other words, about the emotions experienced by the narrator, which is what makes it a poem.

Or, at least to me, a pretty good one.

Having participated deeply in Surrealism, I write poetry and fiction in a way that parallels my life as a hot ho.

I have my permanent sources: Provençal and Catalan troubadours, Sufis, German Romantics, Russians of the Silver Afe, Surrealists.

They are like panties and bras. I pick things up and out of them.

I have dictionaries. Like skirts.

News clips. Like tops.

Artworks. Like jackets.

Past pubs of mine. Shoes.

Writing a poem and assembling an outfit are the same to me.

And I mainly like traditional forms these days. White lace.

Etc.

( O )( O )

 

[Angeline]

If anyone wants to pick up that extra October challenge slot, feel free. I'm in the midst of moving and may not be able to pick it up myself if no one else does. Otoh seems like most everyone is currently on vacation from the forum, so maybe October is a one challenge month.

If you are able to pick it up, say so here or in the Leader Sign Up thread or message me.

 

[Angeline]

We have three open slots for challenges for the rest of the year. If anyone has an idea for a prompt this would be a great time to volunteer. I know it's a very busy time for many of us, but leading a challenge doesn't take much upkeep. It's not like you're adopting a puppy! I'll pick up one of the slots so that means only two brave souls need step up.

As for 2025 I'll start a Poem-a-Week thread and you're all welcome to join in. If you miss a week (or more) there will be no judgement: only love and understanding! If folks want other challenges, beyond all the ongoing ones, start them. This is an egalitarian kinda place!