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Post by NonDylan on Jun 8, 2004 4:51:20 GMT -5
Yeah, reading something really good is great and terrible at the same time. It's great because you really like to read good stuff, and somebody was able to say something in a brilliant way, but it's bad because you didn't come up with it and feel inferior. But, that's how I've gotten better.
You have to figure that some people just have it. The Picassos, the Hemmingways... they just produce. The other 98% of us have to work our asses off and learn skills and tricks in order to piece together something that's hopefully smarter than we are.
The best way I've found to do that is reading. Honestly, my poetry was shit about four years ago. I never read a thing. Then, I started reading, things that would be applicable to what I wanted to do. Hicok, Hoagland, Jeffrey Harrison, etc... I've stolen from these people so much, but in the process, I've had little epiphanies of my own.
It's an awkward road to follow, but I think it takes those little moment of being ruined by "the greatest poem ever" to eventually help one's own writing.
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Post by NonDylan on Jun 8, 2004 4:53:02 GMT -5
And I hear you about the cliche stuff.
After awhile, everything seems cliche.
I think the thing that helps me most with cliche stuff is just being honest. I've found that if there are sections of cliche stuff in a poem of mine, it's usually in an area where I either tried to take a shortcut or I tried to say the thing that I thought most people would say and not really what I think.
There are always a hundred decisions to make in a poem, and sometimes, usually when I'm lazy, I'll make a rushed decision because the answer is something that I'm trained to say as a product of "society," if you will.
But if I spend more time thinking about it, and if I'm honest with myself, the true answer comes out and about always, it's not cliche.
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Post by 2Short on Jun 8, 2004 4:58:45 GMT -5
I'd rather live on a remote island somewhere and eat pineapples the rest of my life than deal with all of this shit. I'd make smoke-signal poetry. That'd be original.
My family is also less than stimulating. They look down on shit like reading and writing, which adds to me feelings of inadequacy. I think I may move to a small village in Ireland where I'll be known as the smart and handsome american lad. That kind of ego boost might work wonders.
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Post by NonDylan on Jun 8, 2004 5:01:41 GMT -5
I'm with you on the home thing.
Living here makes my mind creatively stagnant. Being in the college atmosphere with "writers" all around me was certainly more condusive of writing than this.
Even if I lived in a separate house, I think I'd do better. Even if it was across the street. I just need a place of my own.
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Post by 2Short on Jun 8, 2004 5:06:41 GMT -5
I know exactly what you mean. It was cool in the dorm because you were often reading or writing, and even if I wasn't I was still in that environment. There was that almost tangible creative energy that I'm really lacking here. I think I'm going to go on daily walks into the forest preserves this summer. The fresh air helps, too.
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Post by NonDylan on Jun 8, 2004 5:10:53 GMT -5
Yeah, I've tried to make a little writing niche in my room. I've got all my books of poetry on my desk shelf, I have my Academy award certificate above my desk, and on my shelf in my closet, I have all kinds of notepads and binders of my poems and even envelopes and stamps for mailing submissions.
So far, nada.
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Post by 2Short on Jun 8, 2004 5:18:19 GMT -5
Maybe when you come visit we can go chill in my "spot" in the forest preserve where only heterosexual behavior will follow. It could be condusive to what we need.
The park in town is also good for dumping your brain and reading/writing, so we could maybe spend some time there, too. Try to ignore the McDonalds that is right next to the park, though. "Run, play, swing, eat a quarter pounder" is not a good message to give to the youth of Barrington.
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Post by NonDylan on Jun 8, 2004 5:23:15 GMT -5
You should go down to southern Illinois, around Carbondale.
Hi. Bea-fuckin'-utiful. I was down there for awhile during spring break and couldn't believe it. I considered transfering then and there.
Well man, you've got me beat. I've got to hit the hay.
Hmmm, look like I won't be up until around 3 pm. Nice.
Try to get some sleep. And KEEP WRITING.
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Post by 2Short on Jun 8, 2004 5:25:17 GMT -5
Later. Do not dream about a female leprachaun sucking your dick. That's what I dreamt about last night and I wan't sure how to feel about it.
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Post by LTrain06 on Jun 8, 2004 8:17:10 GMT -5
Are the rest of us allowed to chip in on this thread? I wanted to commiserate with Warren about the whole graduation thing, and how the only reason anyone talks to you in the next year is to ask how the job search is going, and how ultimately anticlimactic the actual ceremony is, but I felt like I would be disturbing a beautiful thing.
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Post by Macha on Jun 8, 2004 17:56:53 GMT -5
gay.
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Post by Julie on Jun 8, 2004 18:12:51 GMT -5
Why is El's 'job' yellow and underlined in green? I know it is some form of ad, but why is it here? Why now?
I dont like this. I dont know if there is anything that can be done about it, but I would like for it to be known that I do not care for it.
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Post by ILaughAtSex on Jun 9, 2004 1:49:51 GMT -5
My family is also less than stimulating. They look down on shit like reading and writing, which adds to me feelings of inadequacy. Am I included in that? I hope not, and I would like you to specify that I am not, so as to make me feel as though I am not part of the cause of your inadequate feelings. |
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Post by sonshine76 on Jun 10, 2004 2:27:55 GMT -5
That is so true. I'll read a humorous poem like the Jim Daniels' one you posted, and then be inspired to write something funny. The same goes for different subjects (such as romantic, expanding on mundane things), or style of poetry, and it makes me think I am plagiarizing or someone will recognize someone else's work in my own. It helps to think that most poets and writers get their inspiration from reading others' work and are doing the same thing to a certain extent. Not copying per se, but being inspired until you create your own signature style to be known for. Am I making any sense?
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Post by NonDylan on Jun 10, 2004 2:36:00 GMT -5
Good writers borrow, great writers steal.
T.S. Eliot
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