writing poetry

[billy]

Leanne, that is very sound stuff. Your first and last points made me think a little.

I have been struck by the degree to which I have been misunderstood, when I have thought that what I have written was as plain as day. I do not mean that people have taken things badly; I mean that sometimes I have simply given the wrong idea, even if people think -or say they think - it is wonderful. A glaring example was one which I did regarding a touching affair of the heart, and readers thought I was describing a woman on the game! When I re-read, it became obvious -- I knew what was in my head -- I simply had failed to consign it to paper.

i think most people have done or do the same thing. on both sides. i've often read a poem and after giving my feedback get told, it wasn't about that but about this, and it all becomes crystal clear.

Your other point (1), about reading and layers triggered my usual Philistine gut-reaction, but finessed slightly. My thought was this. If one begins with the proposition that poems should be written at least as if to be spoken and heard, how many people, ever, have possessed sufficiently quick minds to pick up layers at the speed of the spoken word, even assuming that that spoken word is a clear as a bell? It seems to me that it would require the poetic human equivalent to Big Blue. Of course, I accept that there are those who live on a higher plane.....

personally i think it's possible and not only possible but instinctive. i see inuendo in everything (almost) while i take what i hear at face value i often think, they're actually saying... one of the things about a poet reading their own work is the added bonus of body language. comedians use it a lot for emphasis, usually it's use is slapsticky and way over the top. normal people are more subtle but they use it, the intonation of the voice, a bent knee, a smile, often it's one of the reason the audience laugh in unison, most because something was funny but because they were queued to. again they're usually queued to at the point of double meaning. jmo