Teach-in Pantoum

[Wintermute01]

And there was I thinking that poetry was a vehicle to convey the human condition in written and spoken form, with all of the vagueness that being human entails. When all the time it's actually quantum physics. Oh wait QP is based on probability, not certainty and so has scope for error. Well maybe it's classical mechanics, oh wait that's just an abstraction of the underlying analogue nature of things that gives the appearance of accuracy, while actually masking the true uncertainty at the universal heart.

Call me a foolish illiterate engineer, but I quite enjoy having to work at reading poetry. I like trying to make a metre fit, especially if the author is a native speaker of another language. I find it fascinating that my reading of a poem, and that of another person, could be so different; has anyone heard Dylan Thomas read his own, 'Death Shall Have No Dominion'?

What a drab old world it would be if all readings of a poem were exactly the same.

Poets of the world, write your words using whatever, words, forms rhymes, metres, etc., you feel work best, and then I will use my personal copy of the most complex arrangement of atoms in the known universe, which occupies the volume above my shoulders, to turn those words into thoughts, pictures, emotions, and anything else that they may convey.

You write the words, and let the reader take it from there.

I do have to thank UYS though, for taking the time to run these teach-ins. I'm learning a lot from them.

Having contributed very little to this 'discussion', I will now back away from it and let those of you more versed in the subject continue.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

And there was I thinking that poetry was a vehicle to convey the human condition in written and spoken form, with all of the vagueness that being human entails. When all the time it's actually quantum physics. Oh wait QP is based on probability, not certainty and so has scope for error. Well maybe it's classical mechanics, oh wait that's just an abstraction of the underlying analogue nature of things that gives the appearance of accuracy, while actually masking the true uncertainty at the universal heart.

Call me a foolish illiterate engineer, but I quite enjoy having to work at reading poetry. I like trying to make a metre fit, especially if the author is a native speaker of another language. I find it fascinating that my reading of a poem, and that of another person, could be so different; has anyone heard Dylan Thomas read his own, 'Death Shall Have No Dominion'?

What a drab old world it would be if all readings of a poem were exactly the same.

Poets of the world, write your words using whatever, words, forms rhymes, metres, etc., you feel work best, and then I will use my personal copy of the most complex arrangement of atoms in the known universe, which occupies the volume above my shoulders, to turn those words into thoughts, pictures, emotions, and anything else that they may convey.

You write the words, and let the reader take it from there.

I do have to thank UYS though, for taking the time to run these teach-ins. I'm learning a lot from them.

Having contributed very little to this 'discussion', I will now back away from it and let those of you more versed in the subject continue.

You're very welcome I've enjoyed doing it (for the most part) I would say learn the basics and from there you can take whatever liberties you feel are needed to produce your poem. Nothing is set in stone that you must write only in one set way and never deviate, in fact the fun comes in the deviation making it work for you rather than the other way round.

 

[Wintermute01]

You're very welcome I've enjoyed doing it (for the most part) I would say learn the basics and from there you can take whatever liberties you feel are needed to produce your poem. Nothing is set in stone that you must write only in one set way and never deviate, in fact the fun comes in the deviation making it work for you rather than the other way round.

Can't resist. UYS, I agree completely. Rules do need to be learned. However, once learned they are, in general, for the guidance of the wise and the adherence of the foolish.

 

[Angeline]

Can't resist. UYS, I agree completely. Rules do need to be learned. However, once learned they are, in general, for the guidance of the wise and the adherence of the foolish.

I'm off topic here but I've been wondering if you are the same Wintermute who was here in early forum days.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

*Wondering what next I can inflict upon you* evil grin

 

[Angeline]

*Wondering what next I can inflict upon you* evil grin

Be nice now! Remember what I voted for. (<----- unsure what that means but wanted to see it.)

 

[todski28]

Don't Overstate
Here goes, the problem with the pantoum is it so strong a form it can carry weak material as long as you don't fuck up the swing lines. You do an admirable job with the swing lines*.
and there is more, and as for you tod. kudos, you are putting teeth in comments (I saw on Tess's)
swing lines = the english got the pantoum from the french who got it from the malays who adopted it from the ourang-outangs, hence the term "swing lines"

didn't realize such a haphazard comment would degenerate into what just happened. go away for a day and whoa. I would first like to say it was an afterthought to throw 1201 into my comment which is probably why it came out under done r and completely wrong, will rescind without any problem, as it was a stupid thing to do.

I threw out a pantoum that was rough as hell with no thought in it, just wrote a lineal story with out too much effort on the lines that repeat and it still came out reasonable, due to the repetitions. yes I overstated, but it was meant in jest, and the final line was meant as some back slapping. i.e. we did a good job. The pantoum is actually in here the one about clouds and depression. if it was written any other way it would probably be worse than it sounds now. I was expecting a comment on it, but apparently it was sooo bad it wasn't worth that,

Verbal stoushing and sparring with words on this is silly.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

I beg your pardon for not commenting it was probably because I couldn't find anything wrong with it! Neither would I get upset about comments from one whose only purpose in life at the moment seems to be coming in this thread to disrupt and unsettle without making any attempt to contribute. So to such a one I would say 'Put up or shut up'

 

[todski28]

I beg your pardon for not commenting it was probably because I couldn't find anything wrong with it! Neither would I get upset about comments from one whose only purpose in life at the moment seems to be coming in this thread to disrupt and unsettle without making any attempt to contribute. So to such a one I would say 'Put up or shut up'

All good teach, we all experiment in different ways with different things I don't expect running comments on everything I post, I just thought since it was the worst one posted that maybe some one would pick up on it. which is where the basis of my claim regarding the strength of the form came from. A simple test without thought reveals that it is strong enough to carry a lot of weight without much effort.

 

[Angeline]

All good teach, we all experiment in different ways with different things I don't expect running comments on everything I post, I just thought since it was the worst one posted that maybe some one would pick up on it. which is where the basis of my claim regarding the strength of the form came from. A simple test without thought reveals that it is strong enough to carry a lot of weight without much effort.

I hope you're also focusing on your successes. I see your practice with that poem as a huge success because you now understand about enjambment and looking at sentences, if necessary, instead of a line at a time, to help you figure out the best place to break a line. That is big.

 

[todski28]

I hope you're also focusing on your successes. I see your practice with that poem as a huge success because you now understand about enjambment and looking at sentences, if necessary, instead of a line at a time, to help you figure out the best place to break a line. That is big.

I always focus on my success I am normally self validating hahaha
As a general rule with most things I do, I pick up a lot in the first three months and then plateau, it is then that you really have to start working hard at improvements different angles and experimentation. I may not be covering new ground but it is all new to me. Thanks for the kind words.

 

[Angeline]

I always focus on my success I am normally self validating hahaha
As a general rule with most things I do, I pick up a lot in the first three months and then plateau, it is then that you really have to start working hard at improvements different angles and experimentation. I may not be covering new ground but it is all new to me. Thanks for the kind words.

You're welcome. I think we all do that: learn and then appear to plateau but if you keep reading and practicing you're still absorbing and eventually you recognize you've made a leap in understanding. At least that's how it works for me.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Have we finished practicing our Pantoums? ok Onward and upward the next Teach In is by special request. I've only done a couple myself but think I can point you in the right direction! What will it be ........... all will be revealed soon

 

[todski28]

Bump for trix