Freedom of expression in Poetry.

[Erthona]

Yes and sometime a cigar is just a cigar, unless it's stuck up your ass, then it's a dildo. See, things can have two meanings and yet be the same thing!

Sylvia stuck her head in the oven because she was getting plath, and was trying a fad diet! It worked, she diet.

Why do people who demand a concrete answer always assume there is one?

Dale

[NobodyNothing]

On a positive note, there are some very good signs that there will be all sorts of human tragedy for poets to write about in the coming years according to the new UN's Scientific Panel's report on global warming released recently. There's that.

[Erthona]

"Water, water, everywhere, and all the boards did shrink,
water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink!"

Oh wait, someone already wrote that...damn!

Dale

[Carousal]

Quote: As far as I am concerned, I am a translator for the muse, whether you call it God, the collective unconscious,

You mean writing poetry for you is a sort of an ‘out of body experience’ that you have trouble of recalling?
Fascinating!! Must try it sometime, sounds better than sitting around scratching my head trying to scramble a few phrases together hoping they will somehow add up.

I see that you are a Samuel Coleridge fan; a right one for quotes as well as poetry was old Sam including this one.
“Works of imagination should be written in very plain language; the more purely imaginative they are the more necessary it is to be plain.”
Well that’s a poke in the eye for the Post Modernists. I lost interest in that crap when one tried to convince me that because my two girls aged 6 and 8 went to ballet lessons they were the same standard as a Prima Ballerina because there is no good or bad in art.

Still we have to take on board that Sam liked his opium don’t we? I read somewhere he was on 2 quarts of laudanum a week. Christ it’s a wonder if he could stand up let alone write poetry, must have been a tough old bird a?


Apologies for including your name; I just stabbed the reply button.

[billy]

to equate good and bad in craft with skilled and less. more skilled is like comparing apples and pork pies. i've seen some bad poetry that was pretty good for a newb. good and bad is relative, i'd hate to round all the newb poets and tell them they're bad poets or that they write bad poetry. i see some of the best poetry come from those who are starting out. good poets tend not to improve anywhere near as much. for me the newb poet is the most precious, as far as vanity sites go they too serve their purpose, eventually those who wish to learn a bit more tend to move on to better more helpful sites. most of us here have at one time or another been a vanity site member.

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i keep hearing about the muse but have never seen it or know what it is people are talking about when they mention it. i'm not a translator, i'm not a poet per say, i'm not good enough to be the latter, i hear about the muse all the time and the word that comes to mind when i see it is 'pretentious' oh gawsh, i seem to have lorst me muse. milo made a lot of sense when he told me if you want to write, you will right. the muse is more often than not and excuse for be a lazy writer,

[ChristopherSea]

i keep hearing about the muse but have never seen it or know what it is people are talking about when they mention it. i'm not a translator, i'm not a poet per say, i'm not good enough to be the latter, i hear about the muse all the time and the word that comes to mind when i see it is 'pretentious' oh gawsh, i seem to have lorst me muse. milo made a lot of sense when he told me if you want to write, you will right. the muse is more often than not and excuse for be a lazy writer,


Some poets use the term for their inspirational source. There are certainly things, events, people, etc. that inspire me. Unfortunately, I am like you billy, with no little sprite on my shoulder whispering clever lines into my ear. The gods have forsaken me as well. I have to dig deep and work hard to produce a poem. I have never had what some refer to as writer's block either or 'lost their muse'. However, I can get lazy and lose my drive.

[billy]

i think i got a little bored. i'm trying to get back into it but it ain't easy being on someone elses pc and yeah i get what the muse is, i just struggle to give a fuck when it's mentioned

[Truerenigma]

My muse, meh fuck it. Who cares. Don't these people know to keep their gods and muses in cages and only let them out on a very short leash?

[billy]

for me the above is the real expression of freedom. not saying it's right or fair or anything else, but it's earthy enough to have so belief. what is freedom of expression in poetry does anyone actually know? i doubt it simply because we all have differing views. as far as this site goes certain things in a poem are not allowed. while poetry doesn't have to have boundaries. poetry sites do. are poets allowed to bully other poets here no. but they are allowed opinions. most poets are dicks most aren't that good but while we believe in freedom of expression their can be prices to pay

[Truerenigma]

I just think it's irresponsible to lose one's muse, considering the leash law and all. As far as gods, I wasn't talking about religion.

Religious poetry, like any poetry, is good if it's done well.

P.s. It can be also be quite inspirational

[p.s. Sponsored in part by Christian Mingle dot com]

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The question though, really, it's that if the poem is a translation of the voice of God (not to say that such things don't exist), or else some metaphysical muse, and can only be translated by it's medium (the poet), than what's the point in workshopping it? Who am I to suggest edits for spiritual entities? What am I to tell the poet, that it was translated incorrectly?

[ChristopherSea]

I just think it's irresponsible to lose one's muse, considering the leash law and all. As far as gods, I wasn't talking about religion.

Religious poetry, like any poetry, is good if it's done well.

P.s. It can be also be quite inspirational

[p.s. Sponsored in part by Christian Mingle dot com]

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The question though, really, it's that if the poem is a translation of the voice of God (not to say that such things don't exist), or else some metaphysical muse, and can only be translated by it's medium (the poet), than what's the point in workshopping it? Who am I to suggest edits for spiritual entities? What am I to tell the poet, that it was translated incorrectly?

Ha, ha. Always question those whispers from higher powers. Yes, even 'The Word' needs editing.

[Erthona]

What's pretentious is thinking that everything you write comes from your conscious mind. Call it being vs Being, the self vs the Self, egoism vs God conscious, or inspiration vs the mundane, I don't really care, but if you have read any philosophy from the last 3000 years or so, that is primarily what has been debated (except for Kant of course, who killed the muse, and then the modernist who killed it again, and then the post modernist who killed everything else because they don't want anyone to be better than anyone else). And no, I don't go into a trance and channel the muse. I am very conscious of when and what I am writing, but it is also true that I am not purposefully thinking up stuff to write about like an argument paper.

Like I said many times before you can call it what you want, but little pee-brains can only take pot shots at the word "muse" (humor excluded). If it was good enough for the Greeks, it's good enough for me (and should be for Billy since he likes taking it up the ass so much). Blake called it the "Imagination" a wellspring much larger than ourselves. But I understand. If you have no soul, the idea of muse would seem very foreign and other-worldly...like science fiction.

Dale

[Erthona]

TE,

What lofty claims would those be?

[Truerenigma]

I just think it's irresponsible to lose one's muse, considering the leash law and all. As far as gods, I wasn't talking about religion.

Religious poetry, like any poetry, is good if it's done well.

P.s. It can be also be quite inspirational

[p.s. Sponsored in part by Christian Mingle dot com]

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The question though, really, it's that if the poem is a translation of the voice of God (not to say that such things don't exist), or else some metaphysical muse, and can only be translated by it's medium (the poet), than what's the point in workshopping it? Who am I to suggest edits for spiritual entities? What am I to tell the poet, that it was translated incorrectly?

Ha, ha. Always question those whispers from higher powers. Yes, even 'The Word' needs editing.

I disagree to a certain extent. I believe
freedom of religion is just as important as
free 'expression'. And I have no interest in
telling other how they should experience their
own relationship with their god. And I'm
certainly not here to argue with prophets, or
bother questioning or trying to help them
rewrite their prophesies. If someone it's
simply trying to find the best way to say
something, and wants help with that, then
fine. I'm willing to help to the best of my
ability.

Nor do I want to censure by ridicule any type
of poetry, belief, or pov. I just don't think the
three of those are the same thing.

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TE,

What lofty claims would those be?

Meh, edited for clarity.

[Carousal]

When the God thing gets mixed up with nine Greek damsels I think its time to get off the bus.
Scruse me.

[Truerenigma]

When the God thing gets mixed up with nine Greek damsels I think its time to get off the bus.
Scruse me.

Lol, religious texts and myths have been getting mixed up for ages.

So has abstract expressionism.

[milo]

When the God thing gets mixed up with nine Greek damsels I think its time to get off the bus.
Scruse me.

The muses were not damsels, they were gods so there isn't really a mix up at all.

[Carousal]

Ooops sorry my mistake it was just that they are dressed in long frocks I suppose. Wait a minute though, Gods in frocks? Could be more going on than I thought.

[milo]

Ooops sorry my mistake it was just that they are dressed in long frocks I suppose. Wait a minute though, Gods in frocks? Could be more going on than I thought.

Man has always imagined his gods in frocks - Egyptian, pagan, right through to the now modern judeo-christian mythos.

[Carousal]

Oh Right.