Poetry Forum

I think a two poem limit per week is a reasonable rule for PAT.
For example, one poem posted in Experienced and one poem posted in Beginners, or two poems posted in Beginners.

So, Phil, what is it that prompts you to suggest this limit? (and post it twice!)

I think it may restore a balance between frequent and infrequent posters of poems Caleb.

Posting two poems a week will be easy for me -- my output isn't that high.

I would like to make a point, though, Phil. The forum has very few participants. It seems to me that a person like John, who posts so many poems, is at least showing enthusiasm.

I'm now involved in two forums, each having very few active participants. In the other forum, days pass without any posts, and the place seems dead.

Perhaps you feel like I do, that it is wrong to let any poem go by without at least one response, and so frequent posts may feel burdensome to you. As a moderator, you may feel obliged to respond even if you don't care for a poem.

John, to you I say, at your best your poems are superb, but it also seems like writing is a therapeutic tool for you, which may be why you are so prolific. Not all of those therapeutic poems achieve a high level, though all of them are at least good in some respects. A lot of those poems are very dense, and critiquing them takes time and work. If this new rule is aimed at you, I do think you should post fewer poems.

Hi Caleb,

It's natural to assume poems were or are largely therapeutic for me. In actual fact, though, I post mostly older poems, from the ten-year period in which i wrote a poem a day, generating some 3,500 poems, of which I've discarded or shelved maybe half. So it's not therapy, but discipline, that generated this corpus.

The point really is moot - who cares how or why these poems came into existence? What matters is the work they impose on readers, at least those who do more than sit on their hands for 80 poems and then drop the f bomb to express their somewhat tongue-tied limitations as commenters. But it takes all kinds after all, and that makes the world more diverse, if not more interesting.

I continue to write a couple of poems a week, but anyone curious about Japan and Korea is just going to have to wait. Sorry folks, them's the rules.

Cheers,
John

and then drop the f bomb to express their somewhat tongue-tied limitations as commenters

I'll take that on the nose, probably deserved! That said, I'm a huge fan of profanity. I find the snobbishness and pretensions in poetry almost unbearable sometimes, and certain poets do tend to take themselves a little too seriously.

I once went to a reading (at our local uni, not the most prestigious seat of learning) and Andrew Motion, the poet Laureate at the time was reading. I managed to grab his attention at the bar and I asked him "Do you think your class and education limit your opportunities in poetry and writing in general? " He glanced me up and down, then answered "Obviously" I loathed him from that moment. Conversely I've seen Dr John Cooper Clarke a number of times, had a beer with him and he even signed my tote bag " Middle class festival, working class wages." A total gent and he swears like fuck! I think those two approaches speak volumes about the elitism in poetry.

Could I have chosen my words better? Could I have laboured over a considered, tactful and more sensitive approach? Probably. Would it have had the same desired effect? I doubt it.

As for the Posting Limit, I think it's the correct thing to do. That said "a two poem limit per week" might be a little excessive? as Caleb rightly commented - The forum has very few participants and at least the people posting are showing willing.

I just look after the mechanics of the place really, I'll leave it up to you regulars to decide between you what you think is the best approach.

Cheers
Kris

I once had a beer with my mate Andy. Nice bloke, doesn't write a lot of poetry.

Cheers,
John

Facetiousness really suits you John.

Cheers
Kris

You should hear me cracking jokes.

Facetiously is one of just two words in English to contain every vowel in correct order.

Cheers,
John

jisbell00 wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:27 pm

Facetiously is one of just two words in English to contain every vowel in correct order.

Cheers,
John

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category ... ical_order

You should hear me cracking jokes

Yes, that would be preferable.

I'll have to record an audio.

Ah! Well Phil, now I'll have to go through that list and say which are not in fact English words. Abstenious for instance.

Abstemious is a good word though. And it's nice to have a y at the end.

Cheers,
John

I checked a couple for scrabble

I'll have to record an audio.

If you do, please record your own version of my favourite joke, it goes something like this, in fact it goes exactly like this:

What did the 0 say to the 8:

Nice belt.

I look forward to it.