Where are all the poets at?

Discussion in 'The Craft of Writing Poetry' started by Lewdog, Feb 25, 2014.

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  1. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Cringing in a corner because you ended a question with a preposition? ;)
     
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  2. Garball

    Garball Banned Contributor

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    Where all the poets is?
     
  3. Lewdog

    Lewdog Come ova here and give me kisses! Supporter Contributor

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    Where all the poets are? :confused:

    Where would all the poets be? :confused:
     
  4. JetBlackGT

    JetBlackGT Senior Member

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    Two sentences, ended in a total of three prepositions. I am willing to let that go. ;-)

    Almost.

    *were barely enough. :)

    *were never enough votes, I think, to anoint a winner in that contest. :p (parenthetical commas)

    *they're

    Ended the sentence in *two* prepositions. [insert the sound of a Grammar Nazi grinding his/her teeth]

    To be a poet [semicolon]

    "does is there"
    But I know, especially with cell phones, they tend to go to sleep for a second while we continue to type, then wake back up having missed several words. And the little bastards are too proud to say "Hang on! I was checking out that chick's butt while you were writing."

    "Where are all of the poets?" Or even "Where are the poets?" Good. :)
    I feel better. Like I just gave my inner Grammar Nazi an enema. He's a jerk anyway.
     
  5. Lewdog

    Lewdog Come ova here and give me kisses! Supporter Contributor

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    It's poetry! If there ever were a section of literature that one could take a grammar vacation, poetry would be it.
     
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  6. JetBlackGT

    JetBlackGT Senior Member

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    With my profile pic, I should rename myself "Blind Grammar Justice".

    Which sounds like a hell of a great Blues/Jazz musician!

    "Hi y'all. I be Blind Grammar Justice. My Momma always tole me ne'er to end no sentences with no prepositions and to keep mah dangling participles outta fast wimmin. And now... a grammatically correct song about mah cheatin' old lady. Sing alowng wif meh."
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2014
  7. JetBlackGT

    JetBlackGT Senior Member

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    *If ever there were a section of literature where...

    I'm just jerking your chain ;-) Eminem couldn't have said it better! :)
     
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  8. AsherianCommand

    AsherianCommand Active Member

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    I have come to beesch thee. But alas I am just a humble poet who likes to read others and criticize thine own works
     
  9. CrimsonAngel

    CrimsonAngel Banned

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    I'm here! I write poetry.
     
  10. Que

    Que Active Member

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    "When a line of poetry takes your breath away, a grammar lesson is absurd." ~Thomas Higginson
     
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  11. dbesim

    dbesim Moderator Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Well, here I am to resurrect this thread again.

    I’ve just come back from a cultural festival for poetry today that started at 11 am this morning and ended in the evening with Simon Armitage (yes the Simon Armitage)! The entire day was a plethora of poetry, poetry and more poetry. Then Friday the 13th made its presence known because while Simon Armitage was reading, a lady in the audience collapsed and had to temporarily stop the show. Then she said she was OK so Armitage started reading again. Lots of books on the table waiting for a book signing. He’s published an incredible amount of books. There were countless for sale. I didn’t buy any though so I did not come out of it with a fancy book that has his signature on it. I was still a little bewildered by the event at the auditorium.

    There was so much poetry today, you could almost complain about it: “the problem with poetry is there is too much of it.”

    Besides that, poetry is alive again! And so are this forum’s poetry contests. Please don’t hesitate to post yours.
     
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  12. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    You'll be very ashamed of me, because I was at a lit festival in December where Simon Armitage was one of the speakers, and I didn't make it to a single one of his sessions. Not sure why. Maybe because I'm not writing a lot of poetry these days. I used to, but too much time online dulls the soul.
     
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  13. Username Required

    Username Required Active Member

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    I’m here!
     
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  14. Que

    Que Active Member

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    I'm here too but busy as a nine-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs struggling to finish my novels so I can find an agent.
     
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  15. SocksFox

    SocksFox Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    I occasionally peek out from under my trusty rock. Had the absolute gall to not only attend a local open mic night, but actually shared a couple of pieces that didn't result in tangential fruit dispensation. I was mildly surprised by this.

    Forums are my primary medium and usually sole form of contact with the poetic world, but this was something I needed to push myself on. (I tend to be an extreme hermit if left to my own devices.) I'm glad I tried it because the insight it offered on a live audience versus the passive interaction of a screen is huge.
     
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  16. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Did you get a round of quiet Beat poet snapping?

    [​IMG]
     
  17. SocksFox

    SocksFox Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    No because I cannot count or distinguish syllables to save my life. I am the equivalent of a tone deaf musician. :supergrin:
     
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  18. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    How is this possible? If you don't mind my asking.

    Or are you just saying you don't bother to pay attention to syllable counts?
     
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2023
  19. SocksFox

    SocksFox Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    I'm autistic, a dysphonentic sight reader, with a visual recall bypass. I am missing large tracts of 'first skills' in math and reading. I can't sound out words or count syllables. I know the word as a whole, never its parts.
     
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  20. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Wow, that must be rough. But it does explain something you said earlier today too. Thank you for the explanation. So, I take it you do free verse?

    edit—No, I looked at a couple of your poems through your workshop page, and I see they rhyme (the ones I looked at, which were the first two at the top of the page). I don't know what that would be called, if it rhymes but doesn't have standard or regular meter.
     
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2023
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  21. SocksFox

    SocksFox Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    Simply free verse. Any non-standard, unmeasured type of verse is a species of free. Blank verse is iambic, non-rhymed.
     
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  22. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Ah, thank you. I'm currently trying to learn some things about poetry, and that helps.
     
  23. PiP

    PiP Contributor Contributor

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    I write poetry, but I am not a poet... if that makes sense,
    I've tried both. I found free verse less restrictive than working within the confines of a more structured form. I tried several structured forms when I signed up for an online course via Oxford University (UK). I completed the assignments but did not like the results. Now I write for me. I think more about how words sound in terms of silence, alliteration... enjambment, imagery ... metaphor etc. and the message I am trying to convey.
    But my husband is quick to inform me, that poetry isn't poetry unless it rhymes. Ho hum. Life's too short to argue the toss.
     
  24. Username Required

    Username Required Active Member

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    Actually, in many languages, poetry doesn’t rhyme. Ancient Greek and Latin poetry didn’t rhyme. Even in English, poetry didn’t always rhyme; it used to alliterate the stressed syllables. Even now, there are forms, such as blank verse and the sestina, that don’t rhyme.

    I find that writing in free verse, for me, is like trying to build a sand castle with nothing but dry sand. Without the constraints imposed by form, my poetry is no good. On the plus side, people tell me I use form very well. Of course, Susan Jarvis Bryant, one of my influences, is the absolute master of form. I don’t know of any poet who uses form as well as she does.
     
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  25. SocksFox

    SocksFox Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    One of my single biggest pet peeves in poetry is the rabid teeter-totter of demented Seussians who 1) use an inconsistent or unnecessary rhyme scheme 2)do not understand the historical function of rhyme 3) acknowledge that poetry is not defined by rhyme of any type

    Rhyme is simply a tool in a writer's kit that is often misused because of a lack of basic functional comprehension.
     
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