How To Write Like Largo

[rayheinrich]

Let me clarify, while the title is an inside joke (many of my titles are; I think this is a valid practice;
we may have to agree to disagree on this one)...

I should have been more specific. My complaint wasn't so much about inside jokes in titles
or poems. My poems, intentionally or unintentionally, certainly have them. Actually,
in some sense, ALL of my poems are inside jokes.

What I object to is forcing your inside joke on the reader without giving her/him a clue
as to how to "get" the joke.  It's particularly frustrating when even Google doesn't help.

I try to give my reader a path (or two, or three) through my poem that does not rely on
interpreting or even being aware of my inside jokes.

One of the great things about poems is that you are free to do anything you want with them;
if you want to piss readers off and distract or even prevent them from reading your poem,
you're certainly free to do that. And as critics, of course, we're certainly free to point that out.

I am aware of how strange and difficult this piece is.

I don't think of it as "strange" or "difficult" or  "contrary to the popular aesthetic". I think
it's a string of clichés that, of themselves, are not that interesting. But, you're right, it's
possible that I'm not "getting it". It has happened too often for me to be able to deny it.

I will admit that this being my first poem posted here, it was to some degree a testing of the waters.

Yes, and I must apologize for not taking that into account in my remarks.

The poem has a great deal of meaning to me and I am currently rather enamored with it but,
if history is any lesson, in a month or two I'll read it again and just groan. It is a persistent
problem of mine that I fail to get my thoughts fully onto the page, my artistic gesture too often
gets stuck somewhere between what I write and what goes through my mind when I read it. In this
sense your critiques were quite helpful, as they showed me just how impenetrable my gesture was.

I feel EXACTLY like that most of the time. One of the reasons this place exists is to "help" resolve a bit of this.
I think the rest is the inescapable price we pay for having this much fun with words.

Looking forward to your next poem,
Ray