Sunday, August 07, 2005
Arse Poetica
This is a thing I've been thinking about sporadically for quite a while now. Apologies to Justin, who made me think of it again. I'm gonna keep adding to it.
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Ars Poetica
Never write something called "Ars Poetica."
A cow perching in a tree is much better than a crow doing the same.
"You'll never make it to the bigs with fungus on your shower shoes. . . . If you win twenty in the show, you can let the fungus grow back and the press'll think you're colorful."--Bull Durham
Get the fuck out of Plato's cave.
The punchline should come at least one line after you end the poem.
You know how agonizing it is when that one friend of yours tells you in great detail about the random dream she had last night and you can't figure out why in the world it matters to anyone but her?
That river may hold the secret of life, but it's already packed with people fishing shoulder to shoulder.
All poetry is loss.
-----
Ars Poetica
Never write something called "Ars Poetica."
A cow perching in a tree is much better than a crow doing the same.
"You'll never make it to the bigs with fungus on your shower shoes. . . . If you win twenty in the show, you can let the fungus grow back and the press'll think you're colorful."--Bull Durham
Get the fuck out of Plato's cave.
The punchline should come at least one line after you end the poem.
You know how agonizing it is when that one friend of yours tells you in great detail about the random dream she had last night and you can't figure out why in the world it matters to anyone but her?
That river may hold the secret of life, but it's already packed with people fishing shoulder to shoulder.
All poetry is loss.
Comments:
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No apologies necessary. I am the first to admit my ars poetica is a hard sell. I like the 'punchline' one quite a bit. It's really sharp, and actually sound advice.
BTW, I liked your album suggestions. I have a couple of them. Never listened to Husker Du, though, so I will have to check them out.
BTW, I liked your album suggestions. I have a couple of them. Never listened to Husker Du, though, so I will have to check them out.
Hey, before I saw Justin's comment I clicked in the comment box to post about how much I liked the "punchline" line...excellent.
Glad you like that line. The whole thing isn't meant to be taken in any serious way as an ars poetica. Just some things about poetry writing that amused me enough to write them down in my notebook.
I also think the punchline can occur several lines before the end of a poem too. Just almost never in the last line. :-)
I also think the punchline can occur several lines before the end of a poem too. Just almost never in the last line. :-)
Steve,
I wrote out some rules for myself a while back and posted some over at Muse of Fire:
http://museoffireblog.blogspot.com/2005/06/myths-to-live-by.html
They sem pretentious in retrospect, but I have a bad habit of taking myself much too seriously!
Jeff
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I wrote out some rules for myself a while back and posted some over at Muse of Fire:
http://museoffireblog.blogspot.com/2005/06/myths-to-live-by.html
They sem pretentious in retrospect, but I have a bad habit of taking myself much too seriously!
Jeff
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