When Titles and Poems are from Two Different Worlds

[WickedEve]

Have you ever seen a great, perhaps fascinating, title that beckons you to click on it? But when you read the poem, you're left confused, surprised, or disappointed?

For example:
Myrmidons of the Murky Midway (Sounds interesting, doesn't it?)

they tilted on the tilt-a-whirl
her skirt went up to twirl
his hand went down beneath
till she ch-ch-chattered her teeth

Yes, I've read poems, similar to the one above, attached to a really cool title. It always leaves me a bit perplexed. How can the poet come up with such an attention grabbing (in some cases, brilliant) title and then offer the reader such a poorly written poem?

It's the same thing with titles like "Passion" or "Lonely." Those titles occasionally lead to wonderful poetry.

So how much thought do you put into your titles? Do you have mismatched titles and poetry?

 

[fawnie]

oopsy

lol i just did that this morning..wrong title..i edited with a simple oops..haha
it had nothoing to do with the poem anyhow
poorly written, probably but i don't care anymore, i have 2 main ingredients of poetry, passion and depth..so i'll keep clicking away at the keys.

mornin eve

 

[WickedEve]

Re: oopsy

lol i just did that this morning..wrong title..i edited with a simple oops..haha
it had nothoing to do with the poem anyhow
poorly written, probably but i don't care anymore, i have 2 main ingredients of poetry, passion and depth..so i'll keep clicking away at the keys.

mornin eve

Hi
What poem and title have you mismatched?

The reason for this thread is the fact that I've noticed this sort of thing for the past couple of years. It's not often, but it seems so strange to me to find a great title attached to a really bad poem. It really makes me wonder about the poet. I'm thinking if they were able to come up with a clever title, then why can't they write a better poem.

It's a mystery.

 

[perks]

My mother always told me to save my titles for last. She described the body of work as "the cake" and the title as "the frosting". The title can give you an idea what's inside, but still needs to be attractive and delicious or no one will even get to the cake to find out about it's substance. Except for STCs of course, I usually follow this rule.

As to your topic, I've found this to be most definitely true. The title is alluring and has poetic elements like assonance or alliteration, or is just fantastic imagery, and then I get a singsong rhyme thing that camoflages any good thing that possibly occurred within the poem, or the poem has nothing to do with the title. <I actually got into a discussion about this with annaswirls recently in regards to her "think it's a turnstile" poem>.

Sometimes a title can be a great directional and move you into the mindset you're supposed to be in, and transversely if that power is wielded incorrectly it can leave you in the middle of nowhere scratching your ass and wondering what the fuck just happened.

 

[The Mutt]

Titles

I have the hardest time with titles for my poems. I know they have to attract the reader, but I don't want to give them pre-conceived notions. I generally feel that poems shouldn't have titles, just print the first line. But that doesn't work in this setting.
Since my Mistress lives in another city, she often sends me a picture and asks (nay, commands) that I write her a poem about it. I take the title from whatever she titled the email. That is where Dark Mistress, Jungle Lord, and Huntress came from.
On the other hand, To Roxanne, on Her Birthday needs the title, or the reader wouldn't know who I was talking about. Maybe they don't anyway. Is everybody else out there as big a fan of Cyrano as I am?
I just saw the Georgia Shakespeare Festival's production of Cyrano last weekend. The director did his own adaptation, drawing on both the Hooker and Burgess translations. He ripped most of the poetry right out of it.
Goddess, I love that play!
http://www.literotica.com:81/stories/showstory.php?id=149217

 

[WickedEve]

Re: Titles

Since my Mistress lives in another city, she often sends me a picture and asks (nay, commands) that I write her a poem about it.

That's something we have not done in a quite a while around here. You've given me a good idea for the next challenge thread.

Everyone loves big nose--for one reason or another.

 

[Angeline]

I have an awful time with titles. Poetry pours out of me like water from a well, but I get to the title and...nothing. I've never understood it--I mean if you're creative you ought to be able to come up with titles as easily as you write the poem, right? You'd think, lol.

So how do people do it? How do you get ideas for titles? I want Eve and jthserra to answer--their titles are almost always perfect lead-ins to the poem.

 

[Maria2394]

Oh Eve, that AV is just, bizarre, very distracting, I think the hats make it, make it, make it, LOL

anyway, I recently had a problem trying to find a title for a "perfect' poem, got terribly stuck and actually birthed a poem out of that quagmire, it ws called, Duel for a Title, by normal jean
the poem I was stuck on, was off to the pine woods, by maria

the title poem did okay, the pine woods stunk like fermented turpentine ona hot southern day

well, Idont know what to say, except that the titleusually just comes to me. The one poem I write that got the most Fb about the title was my Still poem and perks ( bless her heart) thought the poem was totally mismatched with the title and she was and is still right. I just never changed it cause I didnt know what to change it to!

( hey perks, if I leave my mean ol hubby, can I come visit you for a couple days? we could write some kick ass poems ad you can pick my titles for me, okay? )

okayk I ventured off the thread. I like choosing the titles almost as much as writing the poems. This is a good thread idea Eve..but that AV, it needs a title..how bout, weird hat hat weird, how the hell that penis get in there, weird, man

maria

 

[annaswirls]

I kind of asked this question on a thread, and I think Liar had a great reply..... let me go look for it---


I hate making titles. It is so hit or miss for me. I have people say they read my poem after seeing the title and I think well damn, that was the first good title I had in months, guess you will never read another one of mine!

 

[perks]

( hey perks, if I leave my mean ol hubby, can I come visit you for a couple days? we could write some kick ass poems ad you can pick my titles for me, okay? )


maria

hell, you don't even have to leave him permanently, I'll take you for a few days. Poetry conference at the beach! I'll get the beer, you know... for inspiraaaaation.

 

[Liar]

Ah yes, titles... They are odd buggers, aren't they? There was a thread about really good titles a while back. I can't seem to find it when searching though.... Thing is, I hardly ever remember a title, unless it really really stands out, but still it short enough to remember.

Lauren's recent Bathyl II is a good example. It grabbed my attention, and made me wonder WTF? I still know sod all what it means, but I'll be damned if I ever forget that title. And not because of the excellent poem hidden behind it, but because of that word itself.

I know I mentioned this in that thread I can't find, but So, by Linbido is another example of a title that made me stop in the list of new poems one day and wonder.

I have one poem up that I thought was pretty lame, but I found what I thought was a cool title for it, so I posted it anyway.

#L

ps. Anna, you must be confusing me with someone else. I don't do great replys.

 

[doormouse]

I did one

It's called 'Destiny'

It was actually written as a surprise for my fiance, but I intend to change it now he's accepted ;-)

Mine was deliberate.

 

[The Mutt]

The titles for the hypersonnets should be interesting. Most of the words I found are medical terms. Ick.
I posted a poem called To Roxanne, on her Birthday. It didn't get near the number of hits my other stuff does. Bad title? Or fear of sonnet cycles?

 

[fawnie]

The titles for the hypersonnets should be interesting. Most of the words I found are medical terms. Ick.
I posted a poem called To Roxanne, on her Birthday. It didn't get near the number of hits my other stuff does. Bad title? Or fear of sonnet cycles?

bad title mutt

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Lauren's recent Bathyl II is a good example. It grabbed my attention, and made me wonder WTF? I still know sod all what it means, but I'll be damned if I ever forget that title. And not because of the excellent poem hidden behind it, but because of that word itself.

I had missed this.

Bathyl refers to deep oceanic zones, outside the edge of the continental shelf. The Bathyal includes depths between 200 and 4000 meters. (Below that, there's the abyssal zone, which I'm sure you heard of.)

II, because there's a I.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

The titles for the hypersonnets should be interesting. Most of the words I found are medical terms. Ick.

You can always make up a new word.

I posted a poem called To Roxanne, on her Birthday. It didn't get near the number of hits my other stuff does. Bad title? Or fear of sonnet cycles?

I'd have to agree with fawnie. If I see something titled 'To Roxanne', I'll probably skip it (because I'm not Roxanne).

 

[The Mutt]

You can always make up a new word.

I'd have to agree with fawnie. If I see something titled 'To Roxanne', I'll probably skip it (because I'm not Roxanne).

Any suggestions on a new title? The poem is a sequel, of sorts, to Cyrano De Bergerac. It is about a boy who writes a poem to Roxanne when she is in the convent.

 

[fawnie]

Any suggestions on a new title? The poem is a sequel, of sorts, to Cyrano De Bergerac. It is about a boy who writes a poem to Roxanne when she is in the convent.

now how come i knew you were going to ask..i'll go look it over again and see if i can offer any suggestions.

 

[The Mutt]

now how come i knew you were going to ask..i'll go look it over again and see if i can offer any suggestions.

Because, lil whore that I am, I will use any pretext to make people read my mutt stuff!

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Any suggestions on a new title? The poem is a sequel, of sorts, to Cyrano De Bergerac. It is about a boy who writes a poem to Roxanne when she is in the convent.

HyperBergerac?

 

[The Mutt]

Suppose I was to post the same poem under a different title? Is that permitted? Is it considered bad form? Would everyone think I was a vote whore?
Roxanne actually has the highest score of anything I have posted, but also the fewest hits and the fewest votes.

PS... My name is Mutt and I'm a vote whore.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Suppose I was to post the same poem under a different title? Is that permitted? Is it considered bad form? Would everyone think I was a vote whore?
Roxanne actually has the highest score of anything I have posted, but also the fewest hits and the fewest votes.

PS... My name is Mutt and I'm a vote whore.

You can always have the title changed.

Submit the poem again, but title it: «To Roxanne, on her Birthday - TITLE CHANGE»

Explain in the notes section that you want to change the title of your already posted poem to something else.

That should be enough. It will keep all scores and views.

Or you can simply PM Laurel. Might be the easiest way.

 

[The Mutt]

You can always have the title changed.

Submit the poem again, but title it: «To Roxanne, on her Birthday - TITLE CHANGE»

Explain in the notes section that you want to change the title of your already posted poem to something else.

That should be enough. It will keep all scores and views.

Or you can simply PM Laurel. Might be the easiest way.

Thank you, Miss Hynde. Now I just have to come up with a catchy title.

 

[DeepAsleep]

Titles always seem to come easier than the poetry:

"Ill prepared to do battle with a coin-slot"

"Street Fox"

"Flowers In Your Hair Attract Wasps"

"Slamming the Long Arm of the Law in A Car Door"

Although my favorite title for anything is,

"Doctor Doom, A Man of Science, Doesn't Believe in Jesus, so Why The Fuck Do You?" by the band curlupanddie.

Whee!