Freedom of expression in Poetry.

[Truerenigma]

Try figuring out the "meaning" in his poems. In fact, try asking him what they "mean". I don't think even he knows or cares. He's been quoted many times saying (although not in so few words) that meaning is meaningless.

I don't know. I personally think that's more affect than anything else. Which I can understand, because an artist (did I just say that?) wants their work to stand/speak for itself. I remember Picasso saying that he didn't know what his mural "Guernica" means, or is supposed to stand for (that pedestrian meaning thing). But I don't believe for a second that he wasn't chasing something down, going for something. The painting/mural was practically a modern myth unto itself.

And then there's one of the only mantras I've beaten into my own feeble little mind when it comes to poetry: Never explain, always express.

Anyway...

Yeah, I just don't think that there always has to be a moral to the story. It may mean one thing to you but another to me. Who cares what it means? All that matters is how it's said.

Dean Young
speaking to the centrality of misunderstanding in his poetry: “I think to tie meaning too closely to understanding misses the point.”

Actually he wrote an essay book on writing called the art of recklessness that was recommended to me and I bought it because I enjoy much of his poetry. I can't for the life of me figure out what it means. His prose is awful.

Gurus make me nauseous. But if I enjoy a poem I don't care who wrote it.