be a flame or be a spark

[twelveoone]

I've seen ads for writer positions for Hallmark. They pay very well. I think I could manage to swallow my pride and stoop to cardery if I needed the money enough. I'd worry that everything I'd write would sound like a Hallmark greeting eventually, but it sure would be nice to be able to afford new living room furniture.

Maya Angelou I heard worked for Hallmark (is this true?)

 

[Tzara]

Maya Angelou I heard worked for Hallmark (is this true?)

Yes.

 

[Angeline]

Maya Angelou I heard worked for Hallmark (is this true?)

I'd feel better about that if it were a poet I liked more. That may disprove my theory that you can work there and still write great poetry.

 

[twelveoone]

I'd feel better about that if it were a poet I liked more. That may disprove my theory that you can work there and still write great poetry.

ahh. but think how rich you'd be, the OPRAH of poetry, that Maya. Probably richer than Yeats was.

 

[Angeline]

ahh. but think how rich you'd be, the OPRAH of poetry, that Maya. Probably richer than Yeats was.

Or maybe I need a benefactor like he had. That tower in the seven woods where he lived was quite nice for then.

My son and I had this conversation today that you can work for Hallmark (me) or write music for tv commercials (him) and not be a sellout as long as you keep producing your own art, but I think that's probably not possible. If you read Hallmark verse all day five days a week, you probably hit a point where that's all you can write. If you hear tv jingles all day, etc.....

 

[anniebug's man]

Or maybe I need a benefactor like he had. That tower in the seven woods where he lived was quite nice for then.

My son and I had this conversation today that you can work for Hallmark (me) or write music for tv commercials (him) and not be a sellout as long as you keep producing your own art, but I think that's probably not possible. If you read Hallmark verse all day five days a week, you probably hit a point where that's all you can write. If you hear tv jingles all day, etc.....

I disagree with your last paragraph. It's like saying you can't write poetry when you write briefs or ad copy or too many letters.

Bu I agree with the benefactor, maybe be independently wealthy? I have always wanted to be a King

 

[wildsweetone]

I disagree with your last paragraph. It's like saying you can't write poetry when you write briefs or ad copy or too many letters.
...

i think that there is a vast enough difference between writing poetry and writing briefs/ad copy or letters for those latter abilities to not affect the poetry.

however with the hallmark poet switching between hallmark verse and a poet's own perhaps preferred form/style, the difference is too close. it will affect the writing over time.

good grief, sorry, i hope some of that made sense. - one of those days.

 

[anniebug's man]

i think that there is a vast enough difference between writing poetry and writing briefs/ad copy or letters for those latter abilities to not affect the poetry.

however with the hallmark poet switching between hallmark verse and a poet's own perhaps preferred form/style, the difference is too close. it will affect the writing over time.

good grief, sorry, i hope some of that made sense. - one of those days.

I completely understand what you are saying. But many of the great ones underwrote their writing with bread and butter writing. And I would quit writing if my writing was too close to hallmark.

 

[JCSTREET]

I really really really liked it a lot Eve

The above poem would appeal to many literotica readers.
The above poem would appeal to most Americans.
Why?
It's from a Hallmark e-card. It requires no thinking on the part of the reader. And why should the reader think? Life is hectic, most readers are lazy, and other lame reasons. Readers want to be told that they can be lines 1, 2, 3 because they are line 4. End of poem.

Ever since I became serious about poetry nearly four years ago, I started to look at the world differently. Books, TV, movies, ads, what people talk about, etc. We live in a freakin' Hallmark world.

But God bless the Hallmark employee who jots down these jewels and gets paid for it. You don't have to be a good poet to get published.

Oh yeah. That's how this all got started. I recently read a published poet's poem and realized that it screamed "Hallmark!" or some clone. Maybe not that bad, but darn close. But a poet like that gets published and has an audience. I'd rather have one reader and make him use his noggin until it aches. But I bet he'll be thinking about my words long after he's forgotten he's a shining light.

I guess this was a mild rant.

Dunno Eve - it shows me what I'm up against and really tempted here to throw in the towel - maybe I would have been better off becoming a yak herder

Carl
(admiring you from afar and blushing like cwazy)

[always had a sweet spot for your sweet spot]

 

[JCSTREET]

Now I'm quoting myself - what a solipsist gambit

Dunno Eve - it shows me what I'm up against and really tempted here to throw in the towel - maybe I would have been better off becoming a yak herder

Carl
(admiring you from afar and blushing like cwazy)

[always had a sweet spot for your sweet spot]

notice how slim I got when I dropped off 40 pounds of beer and wine in 12 months - hope it gives you pause

(and the injections are working/Heh!)

Carl

 

[WickedEve]

notice how slim I got when I dropped off 40 pounds of beer and wine in 12 months - hope it gives you pause

(and the injections are working/Heh!)

Carl

I can tell you're thinner. You kind of look like Lee Marvin: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064782/

 

[WickedEve]

Dunno Eve - it shows me what I'm up against and really tempted here to throw in the towel - maybe I would have been better off becoming a yak herder

Carl
(admiring you from afar and blushing like cwazy)

[always had a sweet spot for your sweet spot]

Yak herders are virile men. I like yak herders.

 

[JCSTREET]

Well - that's a start !!!

I can tell you're thinner. You kind of look like Lee Marvin: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064782/

so, where do we go from here?

(PS - your current avatar is very beautiful and totally non-kinky - so I guess your secret is out. You're just a home town girl - right ???

JC - his heirs and successors
(way too shy to PM you - have had a Pauline conversion)

 

[WickedEve]

so, where do we go from here?

(PS - your current avatar is very beautiful and totally non-kinky - so I guess your secret is out. You're just a home town girl - right ???

JC - his heirs and successors
(way too shy to PM you - have had a Pauline conversion)

It's best not to contact me. I'd only hurt you. Crush you, actually. Though you may like that sort of thing.

 

[JCSTREET]

Maybe

It's best not to contact me. I'd only hurt you. Crush you, actually. Though you may like that sort of thing.

maybe not

JC - locking his heirs and successors outside the bedroom door