STRESS FREE SUMMARY.

[Mal McLean]

Musta missed a lota thingoes while i bin crook, agin.

Very well put Glenny

Fond Regards

Mal

[Neville Briggs]

Exactly right Glenny. I'm with you there, Bravo, Bravissimo.

I see a parallel with jazz, for those more familiar with music. Jazz must be written in the proper musical form ( the musos call this the charts ) but in the playing of the music there is a lot of room for interpretation , in fact departure from the strict musical writing is required to get the feel of the jazz.

However...but... there is a big but,
The playing of the jazz MUST be done according to accepted conventions and must follow in structure the main form of the written music. It can't be anything goes, and it cannot be done by, say, a person who has had three lessons on the trumpet and now thinks they are a free and creative spirit and who can naturally transcend all the keys, scales, dynamics, accidentals etc as if they were obstacles to the good old spontaneous talent.

I'm all for variation, and stretching the boundaries of so-called rules. But creative innovation or deviation has to look like that, it shouldn't just look like mistakes.
And I hate to say it folks, but the difference really can be seen quite easily.

And all of the above, I argue, applies equally to the art of poetry.

I say these things, not to drive a jackboot into the face of people who are struggling with technique ( I struggle always ) but to encourage our poetry people to get passionate about all aspects of the art of poetry and that includes the hard slog of sweating over the foundations and frameworks.

[Mal McLean]

Ah the struggles we have with the Muse...especially in the wee hours.

STANDING STILL AT MIDNIGHT.

I am standing still at midnight,
then, I slip outside of time
and the world goes out of focus
while I readjust my rhyme.

Carefully
I slit my eyes
lest
the cosmos
dazzle me
and see
from the first
moment
to the last
stars die
and novas
blast.
I realize
it is not
my eyes
that see,
but only,
that my
consciousness
is free.
Connecting.
Interconnecting.
The intercourse
of the
universe
reveals itself.
Pure
ugly
and
perverse.
I step back
and hear
the first
and
last chime
of
midnight
and resume
my blinkered
rhyme
and welcome
back
time.


MM Beveridge July 2011

[warooa]

That's an interesting analogy you've drawn with jazz, Neville. Very well put - as a child who grew up surrounded by (traditional) jazz musicians I can see your point. In that parallel with poetry, I guess I'm still the kid at the back with the washboard and thimbles, playing along while trying to work out how everyone else does what they do

Marty

[Robyn]

Neville I think your analogy with jazz has hit the nail on the head! Very well put.
Robyn

[Bob Pacey]

I'm here next to you with my chopsticks Marty !!!!

Bob

[Dave Smith]

In this post I am aiming to summarise the advice re poetry structure, that I gave on another thread, (‘Lunch Time’) that has unfortunately become somewhat unpleasant. I am hoping that the following will contribute to easing that air of conflict, and clear up some misunderstandings.

The author on the abovementioned thread noted that he was ‘appalled’ at how I had adapted his poem,

Dear Glenny

I feel contrite and am quite upset that my small nonsense poems “Lunch Time” lead to such conflict.

I was very pleased to receive your critique of “Lunch Time” and thank you for it. Also that it was not myself, as the author of this thread who was ‘appalled’. It was in fact a different poem that was introduced into this thread by a third person.

I am hopeful that when I need advice in the future I may still call upon your help.

Regards
Dave Smith.

[Maureen K Clifford]

Dave don't get your knickers in a knot I am sure Glenny is well aware of that.

[Glenny Palmer]

Dear Dave. I hogtied on roadside @ pres with only I phone. Mega difficult machine. NO WORRIES RE YOU. U did NOWT wrong at all. I b home soon & catch up then. PLEESE don't stress. NO NEED. Fond Regards.

[Mal McLean]

Glenny. Are your glasses still holding together? I am worried that you have been squinting a lot given your last post and that might cause a STRESS fracture............



Fond Regards

Mal