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Kieran Nelson Co-Director - Newsletter
Jonathan Moore Co-Director - Newsletter
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This piece is a private rumination and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Trustees or anyone else at NeoPoet.
One of the things, I truly love about this place is that it is a nest of anarchist ratbags. Well, to be more accurate, anarcho-syndicalist ratbags, ohh ok, anarcho-syndicalist poets. The site is truly run by the members for the members. Positions such as Advocate, AEC and Trustees reflect a proven willingness to serve the needs of the members, not to control them.
Everyone can have a say through the forums and by voting. We strive to make all decisions as consensual as possible, resorting to majority voting only after all other options have been explored.
Consensuality is the ultimate form of civilized behaviour, far surpassing democracy “just a bad idea that the majority agrees on”. It is however difficult to achieve, the difficulty rising exponentially with the number of people involved (it’s automatic with one person) (no it isn’t) (oh shut up, comrade). Hence syndicalisation instead of pure anarchy and the presence of positions as mentioned above. For those who get fearful or emotional about the word anarchy remember it really means “without rulers”, it is based on the premise that no one has the right to have power over anyone else. Especially poets, teehee.
Syndicalisation is a form of organised anarchy where individuals carry the message of others to smaller groups to facilitate the decision making process.
So have your say. Never feel that as a newbie to the site or perhaps as a less experienced poet you don’t have the right to be heard. You do. If you disagree with a decision, speak out. Check out the forums and site announcements regularly. Bring it up in chat. Once your voice is heard you will probably find you are less alone than you thought.
cheers,
Jess Weirdelf (mmm. Like the look of that, better than Tapper, might change it officially)
Forums and Blogs – Current conversations and observations:
Along with poets and poems and stories and commentary, we have a great selection of blog and forum posts. Here's one of each that caught our eye:
"While we all know this month honors Poetry, do we all realize that tomorrow, April 17, is Poem in your pocket day"
Blogs are available via your General Dashboard link on the right side navigation bar.
Have you seen the forum discussion about voting?
"I’ve been giving some thought to the voting process on this site. I think it’s getting ignored or is not even seen by many. People only seem to be voting as an afterthought. While for me, it is the commentary that I value, I think the voting—awarding of stars—is also important and valuable."
And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.
II
Steel chambers, late the pyres
Of her salamandrine fires,
Cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres.
III
Over the mirrors meant
To glass the opulent
The sea-worm crawls -- grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.
IV
Jewels in joy designed
To ravish the sensuous mind
Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind.
V
Dim moon-eyed fishes near
Gaze at the gilded gear
And query: 'What does this vaingloriousness down here?'...
VI
Well: while was fashioning
This creature of cleaving wing,
The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything
VII
Prepared a sinister mate
For her -- so gaily great --
A Shape of Ice, for the time far and dissociate.
VIII
And as the smart ship grew
In stature, grace, and hue,
In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.
IX
Alien they seemed to be:
No mortal eye could see
The intimate welding of their later history,
X
Or sign that they were bent
By paths coincident
On being anon twin halves of one august event,
XI
Till the Spinner of the Years
Said 'Now!' And each one hears,
And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.
Editor’s Commentary
Convergence of the Twain
(Lines on the loss of the 'Titanic')
Commentary by Kieran Nelson
I've decided to pick this poem as it's one of my favourites, possibly the very one. Before I get into things in earnest, a little background for you.
I done a bit of research on the web, to see other people's views on the poem, and was pleasantly surprised to find that a lot of other people select it as one of their favourites, either in Hardy's work, or in general. Most point out the theme and feel or the piece; very defeatist and sullen in parts, which I agree with but will be adding my own point of view (As if I'd have it any other way)
Now I'm not going to go into huge detail, as that's not what I'm here to do, at least with this poem, I'll just tell you what I like about it, and why.
The first thing that would jump out at you, is the form: 3 lines to each numbered stanza, each end syllable rhymed and a simple yet not always identical syllable structure. If you've read Hardy's other work, particularly his large amount written
while he stayed in a church, he can tend to have a repetitive quality to it. Many of
his poems are written in ABAB rhyme scheme, in a very simple way. This stands out therefor.
Stephen Fry wrote about it in his book, “The Ode Less Travelled”, and talked of how the stanzas are formed to look like the titanic itself, floating on the waves. I'd agree with that theory myself, most probably because I can't think of any reason for the structure other than that.
The next thing I enjoyed was the rhythm throughout. Even though the piece is quite melancholy, the rhythm I found in it was rather jaunty! I found this the most in stanza 8, it always makes me smile. Try reading that as you would and classic ballad and you might see what I mean.
what I also loved about this piece was the way that everything starts out so small, quiet and insignificant, slowly rising and getting larger and larger until at the end you can clearly hear and see the smashing of the ship and the iceberg. I felt drawn in, and reading faster and faster to end, right up to the word “Now!”, and was hooked every word of the way. And to think, it took the film over 2 hours to have only part of that effect.
In short, for anyone who loves poetry, or has only begun to plunge it's depths, this is a stellar piece of wordsmanship which shows off what the writer and the art form can do.
The Week’s Most Popular Poem (by votes)
Submitted by Amaranthine on 17 April 2008 - 9:30pm.
Each issue we will highlight a new member whose work has caught our eye. This issue we have selected Liamb who resides in Scotland and joined Neopoet.com on the 13th of April of this year.
Here is the first poem Liamb submitted for the community to review.
The Passing of Today
That crimson sunsets should kiss our brow On the death of this day now past Unto this future that is our now And golden rays the morn shall cast Deciduous dreams then to nightmares cede Perpetual visions of times since gone Resurrection found in those tears we bleed Succour awaits us in the coming dawn
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