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Apologies, and Some Recent Worries.

So I joined a number of workshops, all very important, then I suddenly went AWOL.

I'll have to apologize to the workshop creators for not being active in any of them. I had exams at school and was behind on some projects. All's well now, and I'm back home, where I can concentrate on stuff I enjoy.

That said, I feel I'm losing my love for poetry.

It's been harder for me to write, and I guess I'm not taking kindly to changes I see around me. The more I read other people's works, and the more I hear those around me talk about poetry (and call themselves poets), the more I feel like I don't belong to the "image" they create.

Here, quite a lot of poets I see have taken to something that is a lot more like "rap" than what I used to call poetry. And I still have this disdain for Spoken Word.

I don't know what to make of all this. What do you think, Weirdelf? Wesley? Scribbler? Cloudthings? Anyone?

Comments

Thanks for dropping by, Beau.

I'll admit, getting off the computer is the hard part. I'm a Computer Science major, you see...

But yes. You're right. I'll need a vacation from writing and staring at LCD screens.

Thanks again. :)

No verse is free for the man who wants to do a good job. - TS Eliot

http://www.wsgeorge.com/

author comment

No need apologize for letting school work interfere with your participation in a shop. As to other people don't worry about us. You just continue to concentrate on the type(s) poetry You like. An occasional foray into the unfamiliar is all one need do. And NEVER feel like you Have to write something. Just relax and the words or inspiration will come on their own. Some of the worst stuff I've ever written was the result of forcing myself to write and some of the best just came naturally from the pen. There all all types poets and people here and it's impossible to please everybody so just try your best doing what you enjoy. This is a workshop site but that shouldn't preclude your having fun here..........stan

Thanks for the help Scrib.

I'll have to take it easy on myself. :)

No verse is free for the man who wants to do a good job. - TS Eliot

http://www.wsgeorge.com/

author comment

Well done that you put your work before anything else.
There are many things in this world that can distract you from the things you should do and then those that you like to do.
First rule is to look after YOU this is the prime directive..
This is not selfish it is correct, who can look after those you love, or walk with if you haven't looked after YOU.
As to writing, it is only a way of talking to others, so you are your own boss, and should you wish to learn more of ways of writing then that is your choice.
It is good to give us an insight to how you feel, or think about things, and gives all of us another facet to be able to assess the whole.
If you take one drop of water from the Ocean it will be missed, but is not absolute, though there is no way that you can stop that drop returning to its complete being, Yours Ian.T

.
There are a million reasons to believe in yourself,
So find more reasons to believe in others..

I'll take the advice Ian.

Thanks :)

No verse is free for the man who wants to do a good job. - TS Eliot

http://www.wsgeorge.com/

author comment

Also remember that all absolutists are absolutely wrong. I always cringe when I hear anyone condemn an entire genre in any artform, the rappers who insist that rap is the only valid form are as wrong as those who disdain all rap, or spoken word. The new formalists hate the freestylers and freeformers and vice-versa. It's just silly. Every form and genre can be used to create great art, just the popularity may vary, and we all know what an unreliable measure of art, music, literature or politicians popularity is.

The psychological profile of poets is called the adventurer pirate. Poets often need to struggle alone with their own vision. You need to get a thicker skin, while still allowing room for critical insight.

Ne illegitimatus carborundum [don't let the bastards wear you down]

cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry

Well now that's awesomely helpful. what you said about absolutists probably is absolutely right.

It probably is the very human need for coherence that drives some (myself included) to hold one genre high and ridicule another. It's not that helpful, though such stances make the environment much richer.

So yes, I'v got to live and let live (to a large extent) and grow a "thicker skin".

People like you make poetry worthwhile for some of us. Thanks :)

No verse is free for the man who wants to do a good job. - TS Eliot

http://www.wsgeorge.com/

author comment

*Sigh*. Where have I seen that before?

Don't forget we're human beings first, growing into our own skins. If we can shed them when the time comes,
we will have learned to shed them at will.

Life happens while we're looking for something else to do. And try to be happy. ;-)

~Anna

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