Quote:


I do that a lot, Alan...there are so many boards where the populace (or some resident "guru" cult leader) feel that for some reason poets must undergo some baptism of fire, like Marines getting blooded, before they can create beauty.

It's a really bass-ackward view , to my way of thinking.  The creation of beauty comes from that inner sensitivity such sites try to burn out of you.  Growing an alligator hide really doesn't become necessary until much later...when the rejection slips start coming in (LOL).

As well, there will always be those who feel that their particular genre, be it minimalism, free-verse, strict adherence to form, whatever, is the be-all and end-all of poetry.  If you write a work in free-form structure, for instance, and a bunch of minimalists come in and try to critique it by minimalist standards, there's nothing more inappropriate that could be happening.

Dear Eric,

My reason for dropping in is that of all the people I have met on the poetry-web, it is YOU I have the greatest respect for ....

For others, I mean that Eric picked me up on some board that minimalists had shredded my poem on, and with great care and gentleness told them where to get off, while at the same time guiding me towards improvement that I was in need of. ALL his critting and his comments came with oodles of respect and love, as well as deep knowledge well expressed.

P'raps even better than our lovely Norm.

Love
Alan

Just never you mind what I mean, young man!  Go on to the next assignment!


LOL

(I meant only that my prior experience of your poetry has shown more of a tendency toward the prose-poem and free-verse.  I hadn't expected you to catch on this soon that writing formal structures will actually improve your free-verse and other looser structures, and I find it most gratifying that this was your reason for dropping in.)

ALAN!

I didn't think you would, either...but I'm delighted.

And...pass, first try.

Oh...(Wheewww!)

Thanks...you threw me for a loop there!  This is a very nervous-making sitch for me right now, Norm; my head isn't what it should be (for reasons you know and that I think needn't be public).

No, it probably isn't going to be this easy; I didn't realize that was the question you were answering because it was pretty much rhetorical.

Anyway, flamingstar!  Please come back and, if not restore your line to its original form, at least add that original line to the window.

Oh, don't tell me YOU did it too?!

I was talking to flamingstar...who edited 'astray' to 'alone' while I was posting.

Guys..NO EDITING AFTER YOU ASK "PASS OR FAIL"?

There's a lot of stuff to cover, and just as first impressions are lasting ones with people, first assignments are revealing ones to any teacher! (YOU, of all people, know this, Norm!)  Just because you don't have to hand it to me on paper doesn't mean you get to change your answers after you hand in the assignment.

Now there are TWO topics I'd already marked for discussion that are gone.

Could you teach under those circumstances?

I SAW that!

Please put your original line in the window along with the amended version?  These first lines we're all doing will also be used for later discussions regarding word-placement and other aspects of construction, and you just made one of those discussions disappear.

Please?

Thanx