the "things you wish you could say" thread

[Larimar]

I've been attending a series of online poetry readings.

Good grief, is there any room in the poetry world anymore for poetic voices that do anything other than scream in protest or in trauma?

Such poetry can be powerful, influential, and well done, and I'm not saying it should be muzzled, but it seems to be drowning everything else completely out.

I feel unwelcome and my ears are ringing.

[ergative]

I've been attending a series of online poetry readings.

Good grief, is there any room in the poetry world anymore for poetic voices that do anything other than scream in protest or in trauma?

Such poetry can be powerful, influential, and well done, and I'm not saying it should be muzzled, but it seems to be drowning everything else completely out.

I feel unwelcome and my ears are ringing.

This is how I feel about all the literary fiction that gets awards and acclaims. Is it possible to write great fiction that is recognized for being about something other than trauma?

[Larimar]

I've been attending a series of online poetry readings.

Good grief, is there any room in the poetry world anymore for poetic voices that do anything other than scream in protest or in trauma?

Such poetry can be powerful, influential, and well done, and I'm not saying it should be muzzled, but it seems to be drowning everything else completely out.

I feel unwelcome and my ears are ringing.

This is how I feel about all the literary fiction that gets awards and acclaims. Is it possible to write great fiction that is recognized for being about something other than trauma?

Thanks for the solidarity. Glad to know it's not just me.

[Langue_doc]

I've been attending a series of online poetry readings.

Good grief, is there any room in the poetry world anymore for poetic voices that do anything other than scream in protest or in trauma?

Such poetry can be powerful, influential, and well done, and I'm not saying it should be muzzled, but it seems to be drowning everything else completely out.

I feel unwelcome and my ears are ringing.

This is how I feel about all the literary fiction that gets awards and acclaims. Is it possible to write great fiction that is recognized for being about something other than trauma?

Thanks for the solidarity. Glad to know it's not just me.

Count me in too. In the bad old days people who handled trauma and victimhood with grace were considered heroes worthy of emulation.

[lilyb]

I've been attending a series of online poetry readings.

Good grief, is there any room in the poetry world anymore for poetic voices that do anything other than scream in protest or in trauma?

Such poetry can be powerful, influential, and well done, and I'm not saying it should be muzzled, but it seems to be drowning everything else completely out.

I feel unwelcome and my ears are ringing.

This is how I feel about all the literary fiction that gets awards and acclaims. Is it possible to write great fiction that is recognized for being about something other than trauma?

Thanks for the solidarity. Glad to know it's not just me.

Count me in too. In the bad old days people who handled trauma and victimhood with grace were considered heroes worthy of emulation.

As one reviewer of student creative writing for awards in my department, our poetry submissions can be broken down as:

1) a traumatic experience not specified
2) bad breakups
3) alcohol and drug use/good and bad intoxication
4) sex
5) "no one gets me"

Agreed, there is nothing wrong with any of these themes, but students seem to think that these are the sole subjects for poetry.

We get ONE poem about a quiet epiphany next to a lake, that will win something.

[Economizer]

OK, I'M ON IT. A sonnet?
A limerick? A long rhyming Saga?
What should it be?

Something sweet? Perhaps neat?
Like my feet? They're a perfect match
For poetry!

Or questions that arise
As I gaze at the night sky
Like "Why do the Chinese
Want to investigate Mars?"
Why O, Why O. WHY?

[Economizer]

OK, I'M ON IT. A Sonnet?
A Limerick? A long rhyming Saga?
What should it be?

Something sweet? Perhaps neat?
Like my feet? They're a perfect match
For poetry!

Or questions that arise
As I gaze at the night sky
Like "Why do the Chinese
Want to investigate Mars?"
Why O, Why O. WHY?
Beats Me!

[ergative]

I've been attending a series of online poetry readings.

Good grief, is there any room in the poetry world anymore for poetic voices that do anything other than scream in protest or in trauma?

Such poetry can be powerful, influential, and well done, and I'm not saying it should be muzzled, but it seems to be drowning everything else completely out.

I feel unwelcome and my ears are ringing.

This is how I feel about all the literary fiction that gets awards and acclaims. Is it possible to write great fiction that is recognized for being about something other than trauma?

Thanks for the solidarity. Glad to know it's not just me.

Count me in too. In the bad old days people who handled trauma and victimhood with grace were considered heroes worthy of emulation.

I'm not even objecting to people who handle trauma and victimhood ungracefully. Grace and gracelessness are both worth exploring. But can't we have grace and gracelessness explored in some other domain than trauma? What about gracelessness in victory? What about grace in quiet disappointment? What about bold pagentry and heroism that is hollow inside because you're actually a Ferdinand and just want to smell the flowers? What about a tale of disaster averted, or witnessed, or ignored, because a Ferdinand looked and saw and stayed in the meadow, avoiding all the hullabaloo and making a quiet life for himself in the meadow? What about a tale of grinding persistence in the face of a million little setbacks, eventually ending in success--or never achieving success--or success being achieved but poisoned by the accumulated disappointment of a lifetime of setbacks?

And that doesn't even begin to describe the narrative tools available if you start delving into genre: mysteries, romances, invading Martian zombies, spies, dragons, witches---There are so many stories to tell that don't depend on trauma as motivating force.

[marshwiggle]

And that doesn't even begin to describe the narrative tools available if you start delving into genre: mysteries, romances, invading Martian zombies, spies, dragons, witches---There are so many stories to tell that don't depend on trauma as motivating force.

Bill Maher noted this about the Oscar-nominated films as well.

In a culture that celebrates victimhood, is it really surprising?

[apl68]

I've been attending a series of online poetry readings.

Good grief, is there any room in the poetry world anymore for poetic voices that do anything other than scream in protest or in trauma?

Such poetry can be powerful, influential, and well done, and I'm not saying it should be muzzled, but it seems to be drowning everything else completely out.

I feel unwelcome and my ears are ringing.

This is how I feel about all the literary fiction that gets awards and acclaims. Is it possible to write great fiction that is recognized for being about something other than trauma?

Thanks for the solidarity. Glad to know it's not just me.

Count me in too. In the bad old days people who handled trauma and victimhood with grace were considered heroes worthy of emulation.

As one reviewer of student creative writing for awards in my department, our poetry submissions can be broken down as:

1) a traumatic experience not specified
2) bad breakups
3) alcohol and drug use/good and bad intoxication
4) sex
5) "no one gets me"

Agreed, there is nothing wrong with any of these themes, but students seem to think that these are the sole subjects for poetry.

We get ONE poem about a quiet epiphany next to a lake, that will win something.

Why do you think I write haiku?  Never won any awards, though.

[ergative]

As one reviewer of student creative writing for awards in my department, our poetry submissions can be broken down as:

1) a traumatic experience not specified
2) bad breakups
3) alcohol and drug use/good and bad intoxication
4) sex
5) "no one gets me"

Agreed, there is nothing wrong with any of these themes, but students seem to think that these are the sole subjects for poetry.

We get ONE poem about a quiet epiphany next to a lake, that will win something.

When I was a teenager,  I woke up in the middle of the night to see a full moon shining in my bedroom window. It looked pretty nice. 'Maybe I can write a poem about how nice the moon looks,' I thought. Then I thought, 'Tchah! Silly Ergative, your poetry ideas are so derivative. As if that's not been done already.' Then I went back to sleep.

It gives me comfort to know that I was actually on to something original. Let's see . . .

There once was a moon that looked rad
It looked good. It didn't look bad.
It shone in all aglow
Through my bedroom window
And lit up my rug, which was plaid.

(My rug wasn't actually plaid, but that's what poetic license is for, right?)

[Puget]

As one reviewer of student creative writing for awards in my department, our poetry submissions can be broken down as:

1) a traumatic experience not specified
2) bad breakups
3) alcohol and drug use/good and bad intoxication
4) sex
5) "no one gets me"

To be fair, that's pretty much a list of the most important preoccupations of adolescents/emerging adults, and one that probably hasn't changed much in generations, possibly millennia. They say write what you know, right?

[marshwiggle]

As one reviewer of student creative writing for awards in my department, our poetry submissions can be broken down as:

1) a traumatic experience not specified
2) bad breakups
3) alcohol and drug use/good and bad intoxication
4) sex
5) "no one gets me"

To be fair, that's pretty much a list of the most important preoccupations of adolescents/emerging adults, and one that probably hasn't changed much in generations, possibly millennia. They say write what you know, right?

Except that it's all about how it affects MEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Traditionally writing about the world around, etc. was common without having to explicitly relate it to the author.

Just like people used to take pictures of scenery WITHOUT having to have the photographer's face in the frame!!????

[dr_codex]

As one reviewer of student creative writing for awards in my department, our poetry submissions can be broken down as:

1) a traumatic experience not specified
2) bad breakups
3) alcohol and drug use/good and bad intoxication
4) sex
5) "no one gets me"

To be fair, that's pretty much a list of the most important preoccupations of adolescents/emerging adults, and one that probably hasn't changed much in generations, possibly millennia. They say write what you know, right?

Fixed that for you.

[ergative]

As one reviewer of student creative writing for awards in my department, our poetry submissions can be broken down as:

1) a traumatic experience not specified
2) bad breakups
3) alcohol and drug use/good and bad intoxication
4) sex
5) "no one gets me"

To be fair, that's pretty much a list of the most important preoccupations of adolescents/emerging adults, and one that probably hasn't changed much in generations, possibly millennia. They say write what you know, right?

Except that it's all about how it affects MEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

write what you know + know thyself = MEEEEEEEEEEEEE

It was inevitable, I'm sure.