a point arose about this is not poetry

[shemthepenman]

shem is a tomato

damn you [waves fist]

[milo]

shem, I adore you, but you are not getting chewing gum for dinner ever again -- it plays havoc with your bowels and the place is uninhabitable for days.

What makes a glass of water on a shelf into an oak tree? Context. I don't understand how this fundamental concept can have escaped entire generations -- probably thanks to the education system's relentless modernity and boxes and labels and standardised bigotry.

Taken in a vacuum, virtually nothing is anything but its most obvious elements. A painting is colours on canvas; dinner sustains our physical being; a dog whistle is a shiny silver object; and a poem is a selection of words on a page.

Context allows me to draw upon prior knowledge and understanding to recognise that Paul Klee's Flower Myth is not just variations of red to go with the decor; that Heston Blumenthal can charge £300 for a cucumber starter because it's gastronomical; that the dog whistle is the one that was used by that sick bastard down at Number 12 to control his daughters; and that a selection of words I've never seen before is a poem, because it's posted as a poem with the intent that it be read as a poem and it uses poetic devices, even though they're in an unusual pattern.

That's not a value judgment. It is not necessarily a good poem because it is new and interesting -- and it may be a terribly bad poem because the only reason it's presented that way is that the writer had no clue how to present a poem, therefore had no idea what other elements go into a poem other than the very basic and obvious element of structure.

But because it's presented in the context of being a poem, then as a critic we should read it as such, then make suggestions on how to make it a better poem, not how to alter its structure to make it what we've seen before.

So poetry doesn't exist unless it is presented as such.
That makes sense.

[billy]

so if i write a poem and don't present it, it's not a poem.
and if i write a poem and say it's an oak tree, is it a poem or an oak tree....what if i write a poem and someone else says it's an oak tree? stop confusing me shem

[rayheinrich]

Wow, so many interesting concepts to reterritorialize. Their immigration
to the territory of my brain-body-organ met the friction of my ignorance;
overheating, delirium, and sharp jabs of pleasure ensued.

[billy]

you love it....the oak tree told me so

[Erthona]

Billy,

An Oak tree can only theoretically be like a poem, but if you write a poem and call it an oak tree, it is still not an oak tree because you have not written a poem to begin with.

Dale

[milo]

Billy,

An Oak tree can only theoretically be like a poem, but if you write a poem and call it an oak tree, it is still not an oak tree because you have not written a poem to begin with.

Dale

You could cut down an actual oak tree, pulp it, make paper and then write a poem on the paper . . .

[Brownlie]

Billy,

An Oak tree can only theoretically be like a poem, but if you write a poem and call it an oak tree, it is still not an oak tree because you have not written a poem to begin with.

Dale

You could cut down an actual oak tree, pulp it, make paper and then write a poem on the paper . . .

That would yield an interesting typographical analysis.

[billy]

it would be a big fuckin piece of paper

[tectak]

it would be a big fuckin piece of paper

Madmen theorise and wise men feel obliged to listen...wise men theorise and mad men wisely say it's a crock of shit. I know where I stand.
Best,
Quercus robus

[ChristopherSea]

Quercus berberidifolia, a Greek tree hugger queried: If a poem were read in a scrub oak forest and no human or Ent listened, was it really poetry? Or, was it just prose with bad line breaks?

[abu nuwas]

it would be a big fuckin piece of paper

Madmen theorise and wise men feel obliged to listen...wise men theorise and mad men wisely say it's a crock of shit. I know where I stand.
Best,
Quercus robus

''robur'' ?

[rayheinrich]

Can hemp replace trees as a major source of art?

[ChristopherSea]

Can hemp replace trees as a major source of art?

I am sure it could be developed as a watercolor support medium. I have used a few bark papers before, but nothing is a good enough substitute for 100% cotton rag for my tastes.