Lord Steve's pretentious Own Zone

[Kurokami]

guys i'm bored as heck and i'm going to be up all night writing about homeric themes in "the rape of the lock" and studying.

give me something to doooo

You could try explaining to me why I read the word "homeric," as "homoerotic," the first three times I looked at it in that sentence. I mean, I've got a theory, but...

Failing that, I hear that the internet is full of porn.

 

[Loverskitten]

I read "homoerotic" too

 

[DeepGreenEyes]

guys i'm bored as heck and i'm going to be up all night writing about homeric themes in "the rape of the lock" and studying.

give me something to doooo

Write a poem about Rick Santorum, that Emily Dickinson might have written, had she witnessed him on the campaign trail the past six months.

 

[Lord_Steve]

You could try explaining to me why I read the word "homeric," as "homoerotic," the first three times I looked at it in that sentence. I mean, I've got a theory, but...

Failing that, I hear that the internet is full of porn.

hmm

I read "homoerotic" too

the sexual tension between belinda and clarissa would make a fun topic! too bad i abhor the modern literary movement to insert homosexual undertones in every major work written before the 1900s.

nothin' against homosexual undertones, understand, but there's a time and a place.

 

[Kurokami]

nothin' against homosexual undertones, understand, but there's a time and a place.

I certainly haven't been living my life by those restrictions

 

[Lord_Steve]

Write a poem about Rick Santorum, that Emily Dickinson might have written, had she witnessed him on the campaign trail the past six months.

oh okay yes perfect.

ahem.

I know nothing of a man
who speaks so wide-
that the beteeming winds ask
surcease from carrying his voice
and beg Almighty leave
to pierce his sweater vests
and steel his nipples in the public eye.

When two men sublimate themselves
to each other's breath and
look lovewounded at the other-
Santorum is there at their
windowpane, careful flowers wilting
at his tread.

And the womb he
infiltrates to peep
at inchoate fetuses
and cry "Murder!"
to the rebellious spring
which undoes his shouts
with simple green everything.

 

[Kurokami]

Lord Steve, that was almost unspeakably cool.

Almost.

 

[Lord_Steve]

I certainly haven't been living my life by those restrictions

hahaha.

my point being that a good critic looks for evidence first and interprets later- approaching a piece with an agenda, no matter how well-intentioned, is a seductive option but ultimately destructive to the purity of the analysis!

also a lot of the time it simply doesn't matter. are hamlet and horatio in love? who gives a fuck, it ain't a love story.

 

[DeepGreenEyes]

oh okay yes perfect.

ahem.

I can see her at her Chippendale desk, looking out over the New England winterscape, penning these frothy lines.

Good show, sir. Good show!

 

[Kurokami]

hahaha.

my point being that a good critic looks for evidence first and interprets later- approaching a piece with an agenda, no matter how well-intentioned, is a seductive option but ultimately destructive to the purity of the analysis!

also a lot of the time it simply doesn't matter. are hamlet and horatio in love? who gives a fuck, it ain't a love story.

Oh, I certainly agree with that. I'm doing a lot of literature-based courses for my degree, and having to divorce myself of the things I'm interested in writing about, and writing about what's actually in the text is sometimes quite hard. I got away with that shit a lot in high school, possibly because it all came out of left field, but now it's time to challenge myself. Which means writing about what's actually in the books

However, my point was simply that, for a married guy, I'm pretty queer

 

[Lord_Steve]

Oh, I certainly agree with that. I'm doing a lot of literature-based courses for my degree, and having to divorce myself of the things I'm interested in writing about, and writing about what's actually in the text is sometimes quite hard. I got away with that shit a lot in high school, possibly because it all came out of left field, but now it's time to challenge myself. Which means writing about what's actually in the books

However, my point was simply that, for a married guy, I'm pretty queer

i know! that's why i laughed.

the other stuff was just me rambling, it wasn't directed at you, broseph *daps*

 

[Lord_Steve]

I can see her at her Chippendale desk, looking out over the New England winterscape, penning these frothy lines.

Good show, sir. Good show!

gimme another one!

but no rhyming please.

 

[Kurokami]

i know! that's why i laughed.

the other stuff was just me rambling, it wasn't directed at you, broseph *daps*

Hey, it was interesting rambling, at least. And not "screaming homeless person" interesting rambling. "Nodding-in-agreement" interesting rambling.

 

[DeepGreenEyes]

gimme another one!

but no rhyming please.

Find a manual for a product you own, preferably something mechanical. Find a passage in the assembly or troubleshooting sections and write a vaguely (or overtly) dirty poem by using the original text, modifying only the structure and the punctuation, not the words themselves.

Can you do it?

 

[ruby_my_dear]

Find a manual for a product you own, preferably something mechanical. Find a passage in the assembly or troubleshooting sections and write a vaguely (or overtly) dirty poem by using the original text, modifying only the structure and the punctuation, not the words themselves.

Can you do it?

Well...I can't very well go to sleep now. Gets a drink while Lord Steve searches for the dirt devil manual.

 

[Lord_Steve]

Well...I can't very well go to sleep now. Gets a drink while Lord Steve searches for the dirt devil manual.

oops! sorry, fell asleep. here we go

Find a manual for a product you own, preferably something mechanical. Find a passage in the assembly or troubleshooting sections and write a vaguely (or overtly) dirty poem by using the original text, modifying only the structure and the punctuation, not the words themselves.

Can you do it?

i liked this idea! each line of the poem is a complete fragment from a different part of the ipad user manual (i don't have one, i just looked it up) with modified punctuation.

Use your fingers to pinch.
For best performance,
Touch and hold your
date as
people from around the world
watch on a TV or projector.
Switch between the front and back;
you need to enter
from another angle.

 

[ruby_my_dear]

oops! sorry, fell asleep. here we go




i liked this idea! each line of the poem is a complete fragment from a different part of the ipad user manual (i don't have one, i just looked it up) with modified punctuation.

Lord Steve and DGE
this post saved me from a premature death at an unbelieveably tedious day long meeting. It was a very close call on account of being sleep deprived to start with ( ref. Above quote.) I am in your debt gentlemen.

 

[satindesire]

Write a three-paragraph tragedy about a couple, and the first line and last line of the story are the same.

 

[Lord_Steve]

Write a three-paragraph tragedy about a couple, and the first line and last line of the story are the same.

hmm, maybe later tonight!

 

[DeepGreenEyes]

oops! sorry, fell asleep. here we go

i liked this idea! each line of the poem is a complete fragment from a different part of the ipad user manual (i don't have one, i just looked it up) with modified punctuation.

Nicely done. I like "found poetry." And this reminds me of a mixed media visual work, where pieces are taken from familiar forms, but when arranged, assume an different meaning. I also love that it came from an iPad manual, for some reason.

I tried starting a found poetry thread on the poetry boards, but it never went anywhere and I abandoned it.

Lord Steve and DGE
this post saved me from a premature death at an unbelieveably tedious day long meeting. It was a very close call on account of being sleep deprived to start with ( ref. Above quote.) I am in your debt gentlemen.

I'm always gratified that assigning a task can bring someone satisfaction.

 

[Lord_Steve]

Nicely done. I like "found poetry." And this reminds me of a mixed media visual work, where pieces are taken from familiar forms, but when arranged, assume an different meaning. I also love that it came from an iPad manual, for some reason.

I tried starting a found poetry thread on the poetry boards, but it never went anywhere and I abandoned it.



I'm always gratified that assigning a task can bring someone satisfaction.

haha

that's sad as heck about that thread you tried to start, though.

it's funny because i find that a lot of poets are afraid to expose themselves to public scrutiny without hours of preparation, which imo really devalues inspiration and spontaneity. show me a poem that you've worked on for days and i can critique it but show me a poem that you wrote in five minutes and i can tell if you've got the Wright Stuff (tm)

writing poetry is a profoundly communicative and therefore vulnerable act and it sucks that so many people are scared to just write a thing. i wish we could make a thread for 5-minute poems.

everything i've posted in this thread is not Great Literature or anything that i'm going to send out for publication but it's honest and reflects simply what i can do with a prompt, a few minutes of spare time, and this weird brainmeat of mine.

 

[DeepGreenEyes]

haha

that's sad as heck about that thread you tried to start, though.

it's funny because i find that a lot of poets are afraid to expose themselves to public scrutiny without hours of preparation, which imo really devalues inspiration and spontaneity. show me a poem that you've worked on for days and i can critique it but show me a poem that you wrote in five minutes and i can tell if you've got the Wright Stuff (tm)

writing poetry is a profoundly communicative and therefore vulnerable act and it sucks that so many people are scared to just write a thing. i wish we could make a thread for 5-minute poems.

everything i've posted in this thread is not Great Literature or anything that i'm going to send out for publication but it's honest and reflects simply what i can do with a prompt, a few minutes of spare time, and this weird brainmeat of mine.

I find that the ones I ponder over and rewrite are usually better, but there's a benefit to the process of doing it as is. Process trumping product.

And there is the "All of a sudden passion suddenly..." poetry thread, which has no time limits, but allows no rewrites.

 

[Lord_Steve]

I find that the ones I ponder over and rewrite are usually better, but there's a benefit to the process of doing it as is. Process trumping product.

And there is the "All of a sudden passion suddenly..." poetry thread, which has no time limits, but allows no rewrites.

that's a pretty good thread, thanks!


yeah my "process" such as it is involves jotting something down in a single surge and banishing it from my mind until days or months later. then i'll go back, be embarrassed as hell by what i've written, and rewrite it better. usually the process involves careful simplification because my first instincts are always much too florid.

for example this:

oh god but i am the pulse of blue eternity

erupting from my self in the context of life

hated life hated life i hated life when i was

alive but as a ghost i am complex with it

i am growling with life in low tones you would

not speak of in polite company i am the son

of winter and how i hated being born near

as much as my mother hated having me and i am

the son i am the very son of winter and

he upon who my gaze falls dies hoary and

alone in my sharp frost that is forever

my harbinger; my look, my aspect, the killing

cold and on your neck i am written in teeth

and above your knees i am blushing you with

blood you cannot spare i hope you do not

die alone without chafing wrists and the

warm love of winter rushing through you.

became this:

oh god but i am the pulse of the blue forever

discovered in my self

in the context of

life i

hated life hated life i hated life when i was

alive but as a ghost

i am complex with it

i am growling at life in low tones

and with such words you would

not in polite company speak of i am the son

of winter and i hated being born near

as much as my mother hated having me and i am

the son i am the very son of winter and

he upon who my gaze falls dies.

and on your neck i am written in teeth

and above your knees i am blushing you with

blood you cannot spare i hope you do not

die alone without chafing wrists and the

warm love of winter rushing through you.

if you're interested i have a poetry blog where you can see some of my original drafts and re-writes.

 

[Curious_in_Cali]

Oh my....do I smell a tasking bromance blooming here in the cafe?

* sets up an intimate table for 2 complete with iPad docking stations, a stack of leather bound notebooks, sharpie pens, Doritos, an old stack of MAD magazines, 4 neatly wrapped lengths of rope, Chinese finger traps, chocolate body paint, & 4 boxes of wine then pops some Barry White on the boom box, dims the lights, flips on the disco-ball, and wanders out...

 

[DeepGreenEyes]

that's a pretty good thread, thanks!


yeah my "process" such as it is involves jotting something down in a single surge and banishing it from my mind until days or months later. then i'll go back, be embarrassed as hell by what i've written, and rewrite it better. usually the process involves careful simplification because my first instincts are always much too florid.

for example this:




became this:




if you're interested i have a poetry blog where you can see some of my original drafts and re-writes.

Aw, man. Great stuff. And I love seeing the working versions. I was reading an interview with a poet and she said she did 40 or more rewrites. Jesus. Of course, her poetry was wonderful, but I just just wonder, at that point, has one lost the passion that birthed the poem?? I mean, perhaps this is my transcendentalist side, but to me there is something about that spark that lit the fire in the beginning.

Unless the poem just sucks from the start. Then, well, better is better.

I like the simpler version of your poem above, but I miss the biting winter words from the first version. They chilled me as I read it.

Oh my....do I smell a tasking bromance blooming here in the cafe?

* sets up an intimate table for 2 complete with iPad docking stations, a stack of leather bound notebooks, sharpie pens, Doritos, an old stack of MAD magazines, 4 neatly wrapped lengths of rope, Chinese finger traps, chocolate body paint, & 4 boxes of wine then pops some Barry White on the boom box, dims the lights, flips on the disco-ball, and wanders out...

Nope. Nuh uh. Just a coupla guys drinking beer and talking poetry until football starts again.