Vera City

[Tzara]

It's a noun.

ve·rac·i·ty(v-rs-t)
n. pl. ve·rac·i·ties
1. Adherence to the truth; truthfulness. See Synonyms at truth.
2. Conformity to fact or truth; accuracy or precision: a report of doubtful veracity.
3. Something that is true.​

Do you write truth when you write poems?

I'm not sure how this applies to writers who write poetry. Nor am I sure, for that matter, how it applies to writers who write prose, though I am more comfortable guessing at the answer in that case. As part of my current creative writing course, I am writing fiction, where I think this is a more salient concern. I... fudge a lot when trying to write fiction. This is easily explained. When you write what you know and you don't know a lot, you make things up. That is why we call it FICTION, Louis!

Sorry. Venting.

But, oh my dear, poems. They are different, as in how close they connect to the soul. Or the sole. Or just Sol.

So I'm askin'. Do you guys make this stuff up (even a little bit), or is it your actual life and feelings you are spraying across the page (or screen)?

Mine are kinda sometimes, mostly, not me or, more to the point, me style and made-up theme. Which means they are often mostly often that other thing.

Aw, shit. I'm confused, as usual. Help me out.

 

[The_Fool]

Interesting topic.

There are times when I write about my own life and experiences. There are times when I write "blurts" that are composites of experiences, that might be wholly mine or may be mine and others. Then there are times when I just make shit up. But even our memories are fiction. Influenced by a large number of factors. Have you ever seen the tests where they stage a situation and then ask people questions who witnessed the action? So many conflicting stories. This happens in real life as well with witnesses to crimes.

I dunno. I just show up here and look fooolish....

 

[champagne1982]

That sounds like angst! Don't let it get ya down; write it down instead.

Since I deal with emotion when I'm writing some poems, of course they're all about how I want my audience to experience the same feelings I have/had/will have. For instance, that Arguments With Fate poem I'm fiddling with... That's about feeling, definitely. Since I'm usually teared up by the part I'm talking about crying I think it's a successful poem. It's truth, for real.

But then, I make things up and hope that what I'm writing will, again, garner an emotional response. Poetry, I have determined, is a lot of things and almost everything has a feeling associated with it. Does that make it it truth? Maybe not, but feelings don't lie ...

 

[Liar]

So I'm askin'. Do you guys make this stuff up (even a little bit), or is it your actual life and feelings you are spraying across the page (or screen)?

Mine, or others. Or metaphors of actual life and feelings.
But truth either way.

 

[normal jean]

sadly, mine are my own thoughts, feelings and memories.

sorry, Im just a wild weed in a manicured garden

 

[normal jean]

That sounds like angst! Don't let it get ya down; write it down instead.

Since I deal with emotion when I'm writing some poems, of course they're all about how I want my audience to experience the same feelings I have/had/will have. For instance, that Arguments With Fate poem I'm fiddling with... That's about feeling, definitely. Since I'm usually teared up by the part I'm talking about crying I think it's a successful poem. It's truth, for real.

But then, I make things up and hope that what I'm writing will, again, garner an emotional response. Poetry, I have determined, is a lot of things and almost everything has a feeling associated with it. Does that make it it truth? Maybe not, but feelings don't lie ...

oh god...I had a feeling someone loved me once and that was a lie. I think...

I love that poem Carrie. I dont know what else you can do to it (to make it better.)

 

[champagne1982]

oh god...I had a feeling someone loved me once and that was a lie. I think...

I love that poem Carrie. I dont know what else you can do to it (to make it better.)

Ahhh, but the feelings you had in response were truth in a package tied up with a heart string.
Thanks for your compliment, I'm hoping to submit it to some high flying journal sometime soon, so I really want it to be as wonderful as I can get it.

 

[twelveoone]

Vera City Blues

Key of C
Stuck in a blind alley
potholes in the road
Stuck in Vera City
jes writtin' what I was to'd

Just the facts ma'm
you make 'em up as fast as I can

Surely you jest with this question, O Tzara, Truth as viewed through a pathology catalogue? Anything viewed on an angle appears as something else. Why do you think "slant" is such a great poetic cliche.

 

[annaswirls]

all I know is that I cannot concentrate while you are wearing those panties.

and I keep thinking you are Tess for some reason which is also very distracting.

I like 1201's answer.

At the poetry festival, there was a poet from Japan, he was hilarious between poems, but his poems were pretty dead serious for the most part. Most of them were from the point of view of others, one was a prostitute. But what is truth? We do not have to live something for it to be truth. The truth underneath his poem-stories was universal. Only a very talented poet can be empathetic to find the truth and relay it to us though other's voices.


Sometimes it is painfully clear when a poem is written by someone who is without experience in the "field" -- especially of the sexual nature, but also of war, AIDS, suicide, etc) I am not sure why people jump into situations that might appear to be "bigger" or more important than their own lives, anything can be a poem. It is difficult to do successfully, without over-glorifing the topic or situation. I think of poetry night in middle school where kids would write about drug related gang violence and lord bless them but they could not pull it off because all they had experienced was in video games and movies.


um. I should go out and write a poem or something, damn it.

 

[Angeline]

As my therapist would say "there are no facts; everything is a preferred narrative." I write from experience, but poetry is fiction so I'll embroider, extrapolate, fold, spindle and/or mutilate if it makes the poem better.

 

[Tathagata]

reality (truth) is what ever you believe.
Rastas think Haile Selassie was god
If he writes a poem ( or more likely a song) about it, I don't have to take it as truth to understand or enjoy it.

Universal truths, that Anna mentioned, are a whole different matter
They convey a feeling of empathy or compassion that remains true no matter how much guild or crepe you hang on it.

Anything I write is true so far as I remember it, felt it, saw it etc.
Sometimes I'll string together different events, or combine characteristic of 2 or 3 people into one person.

I never sit down blank and " make something up"

 

[WickedEve]

So I'm askin'. Do you guys make this stuff up (even a little bit), or is it your actual life and feelings you are spraying across the page (or screen)?

Some of it is the god's honest truth and some of it is bullshit. Part of the fun is figuring out which one it is.

 

[Remec]

[/indent]Do you write truth when you write poems?

That depends on what sort of poems I'm writing.

Just as with prose writing, the level of autobiographical details involved in the subject matter at hand varies; and, likewise, the truthfulness of those details is coloured by emotion, time, memory, and the purpose I'm putting them to.

 

[wildsweetone]

you've given me food for thought Tzara...

i used to just make stuff up and intermingle it with a little reality, as i perceived reality. nowadays, i tend to write what i feel (so that's a 'truth' for me) and what i see. sometimes i mix in a little imagination; is a poet a poet without imagination?

 

[twelveoone]

As my therapist would say "there are no facts; everything is a preferred narrative." I write from experience, but poetry is fiction so I'll embroider, extrapolate, fold, spindle and/or mutilate if it makes the poem better.

Laughs, I wrote two poems about some idiot ridiing into town chasing Ezra (Pound) and Pyscho Billy (Yeats) ~ I told some one ~ that is exactly how it happened, I filed it on the police report.
Autobiographical? Well some idiot rode into town....
One of the coolest things I ever wrote - The lone Ranger appears, The only named American(US) was a traitor.
Ah, fuck it, it was true, it happened, I swear to it

 

[Angeline]

Laughs, I wrote two poems about some idiot ridiing into town chasing Ezra (Pound) and Pyscho Billy (Yeats) ~ I told some one ~ that is exactly how it happened, I filed it on the police report.
Autobiographical? Well some idiot rode into town....
One of the coolest things I ever wrote - The lone Ranger appears, The only named American(US) was a traitor.
Ah, fuck it, it was true, it happened, I swear to it

I'd like to see that poem.

 

[normal jean]

reality (truth) is what ever you believe.
Rastas think Haile Selassie was god
If he writes a poem ( or more likely a song) about it, I don't have to take it as truth to understand or enjoy it.

Universal truths, that Anna mentioned, are a whole different matter
They convey a feeling of empathy or compassion that remains true no matter how much guild or crepe you hang on it.

Anything I write is true so far as I remember it, felt it, saw it etc.
Sometimes I'll string together different events, or combine characteristic of 2 or 3 people into one person.

I never sit down blank and " make something up"

hey Tath!!

hugs

You just hit my nail on its head.

Why I have a problem writing form poetry and doing challenges. If I try to sit down and make something up, I never get anything worth a damn. Never. In fact, the stress of trying to perform like that blocks me.

Writing form poetry is a skill I admire to the point of slight envy. i wish I could, Ive tried and havent done it yet ( to my satisfaction and failure always drives me to seek success elsewhere therefore I dont get much motivation towards trying something I know I suck at, lol).

anyway,

more hugs!!

 

[Angeline]

hey Tath!!

hugs

You just hit my nail on its head.

Why I have a problem writing form poetry and doing challenges. If I try to sit down and make something up, I never get anything worth a damn. Never. In fact, the stress of trying to perform like that blocks me.

Writing form poetry is a skill I admire to the point of slight envy. i wish I could, Ive tried and havent done it yet ( to my satisfaction and failure always drives me to seek success elsewhere therefore I dont get much motivation towards trying something I know I suck at, lol).

anyway,

more hugs!!

Hey sweet sis, I'll give you two tips for writing good form poems, and then you can try them. They're easier than you think--I had never written them either until someone from here (Judo) suggested I try them. Anyway here are the tips:

1. Don't try to make anything up. Write about the same things you would if you were writing free verse.

2. Use enjambment to let sentences run across lines. If you're writing a form poem that rhymes, don't try to make each line a full sentence. If you let your words run the way you normally would in a free verse poem your poem will sound more natural and it'll be easier to write (because you won't write a line and then think your next line has to meet the same perfect guideline--all you need to to come up with is one word that rhymes).

 

[TMV]

I am a friend of Jimi Hendrix

And if you read his stuff, you should know..., maybe everything we know, hasn't been pulled out of the filing cabinet yet! (Your brain) The human entity is far from being truly understood on any basis. But then to answer your question..., I have some ripe philosophy. (The good stuff) As it is, scientist work strictly through theory. It's not fiction. All the rules, conditions and structures by which they work, were created by people who think just like them. The proof is in "Quantum Physics" as it is mainly considered solid theory on some structures and principles that they supposedly prove mathematically. And one of thise theories is "Dimensional Universalism". In which it is considered possible that there is the effect in the physics of existence that there are many other worlds within a myriad of dimensions!

Now I thought long and hard on that one, (as well as many other intriguing ideas) and I came up with this. What if there are all these dimensions? How does one determine the nature of dimensional physics? Maybe some of these Dimensions even come in one and two dimensional aspects? Then television, comics, video games, tattoo's and even dreams, are truly living sentient worlds! Maybe we're even more arrogant than an amoeba on this thinking. I got a hint of this thought from the book "A Wrinkle In Time".

Can you feel the pressure yet? How about the thought that writing is even a dimensional aspect? "War Of The Worlds", "Lord Of The Rings" and "The Thomas Covenant Chronicles"...., need any aspirin? How about the magazines..., Science Fiction and Fact Digest. How many stories are in that alone? Is your nose bleeding?

Hold on to your WIG! Is there truly such a thing as fiction..., or are we blithely creating new worlds? Then it can' be fiction, can it? With that in mind..., How about one of my "Icons". My invention of writing after I tried to follow in Jimi's steps.



“Another Dimension”


As we jiggle an octopi flash pod, I kinda figure we had the cage ruffle your tiny uvula. It’s a pleasure seldom wielded without a kiss of ripple divine. “Hey, my crush paddles!” she coyly blew. I was hoping that my jet ride in Titans wake world let the rockets glare occlude my minds thought ‘o’ flesh raid the pantry and take a wash down “et al” basin. Kinda funky with the punky and which it’s a fusion of restoration to a swampy pony. As a finished product, a dense pocket of anachronistic pothole’s and the missing crow wasted his line on a cro-mag.
Miserly, punch-drunk, rabid little blue jay barks at the Kingston harbor stand. A foolish little style as a matter of heartbreak angst. If you saw the Empire State Building as a constant protein gel pack and find a wiggle and in its rain starved puck cart. When the trunk of a rail car, hides a regenerative obstruction upon its peach soaked noggin. So lay down a pristine avocado orchard to rake in a masterful checkmate. Would you find a plus at the struggling plant, I had the rust bucket sanded, but the owner is a lead footed osteo- pain. Ever the clean kid, Peter handed the olive mount, and guards the purification podium of the heart of final awakening.
I’ve got a friend, who lets the sentry of all combined life sync, trudge me to the freak on my yadda-yadda pincher cat. Maybe we were in the book because we were an integral part of the story.


Shiloh L. Augustine
2-11-2001

 

[twelveoone]

I'd like to see that poem.

p.78, Barking Dogs No. 1, I think you're in it, aren't you? You have a copy? I no longer have a soft copy of it. It was here once.

American Vigentte #1
aka Guano Town Justice

should have been followed by #0


Literary theory as Spagetti Western
send a copy to Senna Jawa for me, we're not on speaking terms. How is he BTW?


Well it was a nice visit, heartening to see the reaction to champagne1982's poem, nice to see some of the "oldies" still around.

as Rybka would say

POX

 

[ghost_girl]

Hey sweet sis, I'll give you two tips for writing good form poems, and then you can try them. They're easier than you think--I had never written them either until someone from here (Judo) suggested I try them. Anyway here are the tips:

1. Don't try to make anything up. Write about the same things you would if you were writing free verse.

2. Use enjambment to let sentences run across lines. If you're writing a form poem that rhymes, don't try to make each line a full sentence. If you let your words run the way you normally would in a free verse poem your poem will sound more natural and it'll be easier to write (because you won't write a line and then think your next line has to meet the same perfect guideline--all you need to to come up with is one word that rhymes).

Angeline!!



Thank you so much for the advice, I will keep it close to heart and up front in my head next time I consider trying to do one.

I just have to say, it truly surprises me that you had not been doing form poetry all your life, you seem so natural at it, youre so very good.



hugs!!

 

[Angeline]

Angeline!!



Thank you so much for the advice, I will keep it close to heart and up front in my head next time I consider trying to do one.

I just have to say, it truly surprises me that you had not been doing form poetry all your life, you seem so natural at it, youre so very good.



hugs!!

I didn't particularly know or like form poetry until I read it here. I'd read some in college, of course, mainly sonnets but I didn't have a clue about how to write them. I didn't understand about meter or the requirements of form. Judo was an excellent teacher.

And if you think it comes naturally to me, it's because I follow those rules. The one about enjambment especially makes a big difference in how smoothly form poems read.

 

[The_Fool]

I didn't particularly know or like form poetry until I read it here. I'd read some in college, of course, mainly sonnets but I didn't have a clue about how to write them. I didn't understand about meter or the requirements of form. Judo was an excellent teacher.

And if you think it comes naturally to me, it's because I follow those rules. The one about enjambment especially makes a big difference in how smoothly form poems read.

Hah!!! caught ya!!! Now go write three sestinas and a villanelle for punishment. If you are a good girl, you get to write a sonnet after supper...

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

I think this is a tempest in a teapot. What does it matter if what you write is the truth? Isn't that's what the imagination is for? I've said this before - for me it's like painting with words, some of my pictures are still life, others portraits and others still, abstract - although I admit I'm not very good at those. I don't always paint what I see.

Forms are a challenge - in painting terms - I'd liken writing in form as trying to paint in an established style, constricting yet satisfying.

[/burble]

 

[Angeline]

<snip>

Forms are a challenge - in painting terms - I'd liken writing in form as trying to paint in an established style, constricting yet satisfying.

[/burble]

That's it exactly. The best thing about writing is a form poem is knowing you've stayed within the form, but managed to transcend it because the poem is good.

And Fool, you know I'll write them anyway. And you know what? So will you.