Personal personal v Personal which leeches?

[abu nuwas]

When I began posting, I resolved never to disclose anything which related to my own private life. Then I realised that stuff did come out, even if I were writing about Parisian steam-lorries. Then, I wrote an actual thing touching upon things that had happened in the past -- and then a bit more. I still tend to pull away if someone else does the same; it has to be that much better. I fear they will be self-indulgent, or bosom-bearing ( not in a 'pics please' way), and I don't know what. I think I am reserved by nature.

Are you a leecher, or an 'anything goes' person? I assume that technique is not forgotten in either case.

[rayheinrich]

.
a leecher, or an 'anything goes'

Gee, give us a few more choices; there are others sizes of holes
besides square and round. I tend toward six-sidedness like cells
in bee hives and wireless antenna networks.

But, I digress: Though I do like writing poems about the problems
of writing poems, and stuff that tries to be funny, most of the
'serious' poems I have written, whether direct or disguised with
metaphor, are about what I've witnessed or what has happened
to me. I'm not very good at making things up (odd as that may
sound). See < heroin > which I just posted and < a visit to the park >
which I posted a while back for examples.

[Leanne]

I don't like poems* to venture too close to the very personal, but of course we can't help it as we're the only genuine frame of reference we've got. I tend to prefer a certain detachment, and I know that alienates those who enjoy the voyeuristic kind of read you get with the ultra-confessional stuff, but at the end of the day, I really just like to play with words and see if I can't get people thinking a bit. I suspect there's more of a personal connection there than most people would realise, since intellect is king for me.

*I mean I don't like to write them, I'll read them, but only if technique isn't sacrificed in the hope that people are sympathetic enough to forgive the lapse.

[abu nuwas]

I don't like poems* to venture too close to the very personal, but of course we can't help it as we're the only genuine frame of reference we've got. I tend to prefer a certain detachment, and I know that alienates those who enjoy the voyeuristic kind of read you get with the ultra-confessional stuff, but at the end of the day, I really just like to play with words and see if I can't get people thinking a bit. I suspect there's more of a personal connection there than most people would realise, since intellect is king for me.

*I mean I don't like to write them, I'll read them, but only if technique isn't sacrificed in the hope that people are sympathetic enough to forgive the lapse.

I think there are those who naturally turn to writing, to express their most painful feelings, whether as therapy or no. I think I think also, that there are those for whom the reverse is the case. Feelings or relationships for them are somehow devalued by being broadcast, and so they refrain from this. Yet something of our character does seep out, no matter how matter-of-fact some simple fun thing may be. Perhaps, in addition, those people, if they choose to write in layers (which always baffle simpletons like me) or other 'obscure' manner, quite naturally resent nose-poking enquiries as to 'what it means', as they perceive these to be v close to 'tell me all the stuff that's going down in your real life'. Voyeuristic indeed!

[billy]

i started poetry writing because of love, don't mock, i really did. while i have done a couple of self poems they were generally nostalgic ones about my childhood. usually i like to do funny shit with a twist. like most people i bring a little of my experience to the table and add a heap of imagination. being a bit world wise, i've tried my hand at most things and been in many out of the ordinary situations. that said the way i write; if i wrote solely of them my poetry would be more dismal than it already is

[abu nuwas]

Billy, I am sure all will have been delighted -as I was - to learn that you 'like to do funny shit with a twist'. You must have French blood in your veins. For them, poo is a serious business: having satisfied themselves that they have reached FIN, it is de rigueur to turn around and examine the precise nature of the stool just ejected--- it is important for medical reasons, but they must also be able to give a good description when the topic comes up, over dinner. And since one cannot come with half the story, it may be necessary to look v closely into the bowl, perhaps even give the object a little poke, to determine its softness. But you must know all that.

I think, on the topic, you are saying that you are half and half. Perhaps it is just a matter of degree with all of us.

[billy]

i think i'd be more 1/3rd persona; 1/3 humour and 1/3 sheer fabrication if i had to quantify it.

what is weird is that for me, some my most painful experiences are some of my best experiences and some of my funniest. i don't know if that's normal or not for others.

[abu nuwas]

i think i'd be more 1/3rd persona; 1/3 humour and 1/3 sheer fabrication if i had to quantify it.

what is weird is that for me, some my most painful experiences are some of my best experiences and some of my funniest. i don't know if that's normal or not for others.

Billy, I think one of the functions of humour is to make the painful, sad or miserable things palatable, so that we can live with them. My father spoke v little of his experiences in WW1 , but when he did, it was always as a funny story: like the rather selfish bloke brewing up some tea for himself in a dug-out; a shell lands; the only thing remaining is the metal cup! I remember laughing at it, the way he told it, yet in truth, my father had had to go around and pick up whatever remained of his comrade-in-arms. I fear I have become repetitive.

[billy]

life is indeed funny

back to the question.

i think it inevitable that something of us shows in our poetry.
even if its' all fabricated from the imagination