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 |   All that remains: here in my afterlife as a 'mainstream' blogger, with what little I know. |
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The Idiotic Ideate?? Formerly: New Zenith To Hell…(all started with arc as writer here from the trials of Rising Stars to Preferred Author to WDC Quills Best Poetry Collection to the falling action I feel now that settles in a white case.) Got to hustle to preserve the best of me before fully fading on that virtual horizon glowing more brilliant with each passing day to permanent nuclear winter. if people don’t get it, I don’t need to explain it. We kill all that’s beautiful before we question it’s purpose. So many people find it easier to think in the black and the white. God forbid you get lost straying in the gray. "Whoever fights monsters should see to it…he does not become a monster.” I’ve been to the abyss and back. Not so bad. The loneliest happy person you'd ever meet, when not the saddest person who needs to be alone. In an ever-changing world, we need to handle topics at the ready. If you roll over and give in to the narrative without lending a voice of your own, you might as well hand over your civil liberties. We have voices that should connect to true conscience and spirit for honest and open discourse. Why feel so redacted? Unify on issues and put drama aside. Open minds require complete objectivity. If none need apply, question the unbendable sources for answer. If you knee-jerk react to every issue lurking out there that clutches your neck, you fall victim to your own ignorance born from a life of apathy (no doubt) in pathetic cries of injustice. Just writing what I feel without the narrative-altering mind f---ing with my head. [MY Chorus] In your house, I long to be Room by room, patiently I'll wait for you there, like a stone I'll wait for you there, alone "It amazed me how truth was often suffocated in minutes, but lies were given sufficient air to breathe indefinitely." "You are all better than you think you are, you are just designed not to believe it when you hear it from yourself." ![Merit Badge in Second Time Around Contest
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Congratulations on winning the Grand Overall Prize in [Link To Item #2164876] with your beautiful poem, [Link to Book Entry #933358]. This poem really moved me. Great writing!
Rachel *^*Heartv*^*](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Second_Time_Around_Contest-2164963_14.gif)    "...lasting art is never anything more than a mathematical expression of the relations that exist between the internal and the external, the self [le moi] and the world." -Jean Metzinger I'm in love with carefully chosen words, arranged just so, audible, edible, to inhale. I attempt to post new poems and epiphanies daily with some links to what inspires. I am legally blind with a rare, genetic form of glaucoma. I'm described as "end stage" after two successful surgeries, still subject to further vision loss. Cataracts complicating matters. Writing Can get strenuous but seldom deters what yearns to emerge, despite a documented history of depression and recently diagnosed ADHD and undefinable social disorders and/or PTSD. My recent poetry:
Sometimes epiphanies about my insights on writing and life and what goes on... Making sense of life is maddening. Why do I need to know, when truth may not actually exist? Learning to accept would be a better pursuit? Flailing about in my own mediocrity, hoping to bust out. I am visible. You can put a face with a name. I would like to see other writers, too. Fiction is what you write, not who you are. Reinventing myself. I couldn't continue on the path I was on and needed a fresh start. This time around I want to put the focus on writing and the world outside of this community as it affects my life. I realize now that I have been baring my chest a bit more, as when young. fake me much more boring and unliberated than the real me. A world arriving as silent as that blossom in your garden that I told you about... |
| It's always a joy to be featured in a WDC newsletter, even when the item chosen is not a personal favorite. I relate to the building theme this week that lead to the inclusion of one of my writes in the poetry newsletter: "Emotional poetry, the kind that digs clear through to the soul and wraps a fist around a heart, can be some of the best poetry. Why? Because it pulls at you, triggers emotions in the reader forging an instant connection between author and reader. It is different than commentary, storytelling or epiphanic poetry. It is one that works well for spoken poetry where the writer can add a vocal layering to the words building on the punch of the words themselves. I'm a big fan of poetry readings, where you've memorized your work and you lead with your heart, locking eyes with your audience and dragging them into your world. It gives an immediacy to the work, the sounds and shapes of the words forming a bubble where the feeling/events of the poem are in and of the moment and where the listeners are a part, become a shadow in that universe. Because the emotional poetry tugs at the shared emotions, similar circumstances and shared experiences, it can be terribly powerful, absolutely engaging and it can reinforce the importance of poetry in general in a world where it is often considered something one is forced to read in school and is generally thought to be incomprehensible. (Sad, I know!) Now, I am not saying that story poems or any kind (for that matter) don't work when spoken, because the same can apply to them as well, but the emotional ones really benefit. To this end, even if one isn't the sort to get up and read at a gathering, reading your words aloud is still beneficial. If you stumble over a line or word combination, chances are your reader will too. It helps you to see where a line should end or where punctuation would be helpful to guide both a speaker and a reader. For the reader as well, say, when reviewing, reading a poem out loud may give the reader both a deeper appreciation of the words and the way the poem sounds or resonates."
Written during a time when I fully felt an outcast in this writing community. Bittersweet. It's important to share our journey as writers, not only to leave sign posts to our past, but reveal our human nature and common relevancy in an otherwise dehumanizing, indifferent world. As we have voices, people need our words to (in)form voice. Forever be in the shadows here with a limited voice, shouting firm and clear as need -- coalesce true with beauty as a writer, without bending to indifference, manipulation and forms of hate that restrain expression as a writer purifying a lost soul. A black heart is strong, not dead. |
| Updated: 3:20pm So, interesting tidbit from my wife at work today: Her hospital is out of COVID tests, "so we are treat everyone like they are positive." That doesn't tell me they are ceasing operations in Green Bay, but proceeding with caution. Interesting note, something I've been observing. Pro sports return has reaped nearly two million tests for the rest of the year. They generally test daily and have locked down designated testing facilities. News stories report that the number of tests is a mere fraction of what constitutes total daily tests in America. Maybe, that's changed. No hard figures to report on that. What this makes me wonder is if someone is lying. Hospitals running out of test kits while pro sports hog an insane number of test kits only tells me the numbers do lie. Now, hopefully it's not a lack of kits but mismanagement at my wife's hospital. I don't think so Pro sports are a billion dollar industries and there is the associated betting that goes along with it. Add in that sports will distract our country, maybe keep more people at home, it can somehow shift the focus. I think it benefits the economy, but at the risk of the safety of those in hospitals or needing tests? It stands to reason why the president is downplaying the virus and wants the country to move forward. Let's see where this goes from here. Added: It appears this hospital's employees have to go to N95 masks for all procedures (for some, the less effective PAPR, if your face doesn't fully conform [wife]). ..just like when the COVID19 concerns began. Which means, N95 shortage can be expected shortly. Would imagine and unwelcome added cost, but also wonder if hospital will go back to eliminating elective procedures. My surgery managed to get in between the crests of this wave. I noticed my physical therapists were wearing face shields in addition to surgical masks last week, but they did not offer a reason why. It might be suspected the hospital knew of the upcoming test shortage. I will also note, rural areas like my home Upper Michigan was finally allotted a large number of tests to get a cross section of regional residents to isolate areas affected by the virus. If rural areas throughout the country were finally getting massive testing, it could help explain a draw down in coronavirus kits. It could mean the country knew all along it had to mete out tests, following that wave into the more isolated areas last. Hopefully, the limited tests will be temporary and unaffected by other large resources sucking down the supply demand. We can't count out major corporations and more in the public sector securing the welfare of their employees and businesses in a strategy to ride out this wave for economical fitness. Unfortunate, if the rest of the country, especially low income areas, are hardest hit. It can only be assumed. |
| I was inspired by Charlie's blog post based on a prompt about virtue today. Here's what I responded: The goal is to be virtuous. Christianity teaches us to ask for forgiveness if we fail. True belief in something starts with oneself to do what feels right, as in 'do unto others...' It's easy to lose focus, falter and get back. Christians can be examples of some of the most virtuous people, because they have a guide book to follow. Most people just follow their whims, rather than their hearts. They stop listening to the nagging little conscience. Probably why we are divided rather than unified at this time in history. Americans especially do not get it. Talk to some Europeans or Canadians who know we were raised to be selfish, callous people. Is it systematic? Whatever it is, it's destroying Christianity. Doors have been open to all kinds of beliefs and lifestyles by people who cannot comprehend how to follow anything but their own desires. We all could use some time to step back and evaluate how important it is to be a good neighbor, contributor to humanity. Instead of being part of a system that preys on people's weaknesses, we could build strength through something more honorable...like the pursuit of virtue over happiness. I'm capable of being selfish. I'm capable of great love. Whatever gets rewarded the most is most evident. When virtue goes unnoticed, unrewarded, we are hurt. Pride suffers and we might rampage, hurt the wrong people. The divisive nature of our current condition has man fighting with man than taking a step back, cool off and realize the true rewards of not letting the manipulation of our free will destroy the fabric of our lives. Great blog post and very worthy subject to tackle. My two cents. 7.22.20 This post is inspired by my feeling that I could be a great contributor to any community I join. It's unfortunate that I am diminished by self-serving systems that do not honor virtue but condemn and punitively diminish participants who've had setbacks, but have also lent great support and virtuous acts along the way. The failure to recognize the balance struck only means that the machine does not feed you, but itself. Once your gifts have been harvested, it moves on. The whole notion of nurturing a society starts with honoring all who take part in it. The idealistic should not seem threats to the narrative forcefully applied to rhetoric the machine spews, but part of the balance and truth (however subjective) needed for fairness. Because, it is also witnessed by those who are not participants who could also contribute to 'the cause.' Unfortunately, the goal is more totalitarian than socialist in our little republic. Democracy is not recognized or honored, though patronized as a measure of softening the harsh voices. What does that mean?!  It means people pretend to tolerate me (this) when they would rather I roll over or go away. They either shun you, act indifferently, or find little ways to diminish you through offerings connected most personally to your pride. Or, the feign an amen but never return to support your cause. When they've exhausted all rhetoric and resources to guilt, shame or silence and you still stand? They ironically became the divisive, while I stand whole because I am alone and do not need anyone to hold me up. There are no expectations other than more ill will. I can remain guarded, but knowing they cannot do any more to reduce me is knowledge enough. |
| It was said that amongst you the person without sin could cast the first stone. Bluff called, right? Cancel culture world? You just cancel each other out with ignorance. But how would you know, religion was one of the first things on the list to get the axe. Read something other than social media. There are stories as old as time. Historically predictive. 7.10.20 |
| red, white and blue -- too faded pink and pastel blue for you a fruitless journey of a life misdirected you sit for an anthem, hat on like Holden Caufield, ready to take aim -- snipe ignorance on social media in a post-modern world of internet warfare where cancel culture shaming forms opinions from the shallow pool of ignorance -- formings about the feet of the frozen who cannot swim to save themselves -- from a puddle of rhetoric clinging father taught you in the wading pool. in this sea of life, you are cast adrift with other capsized passengers in floaties, drowning in virtual waters. you could close out the window, go home. but a new family lives there now. 7.10.20 five minute poem. reconsider later. |
| https://quillette.com/2020/07/02/america-exports-cancel-culture-to-the-world/ Drawing a circle around racism like truth. You can't argue because it's a trap. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/community/comments/3c4yrz/can_some... #DeSeanJackson will be the latest example. |
| Love him or hate him, he's right about totalitarianism and a movement afoot to get people to hate their country....so much so, they'll want to adopt a new form of government... https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-south-da... I guess burning the American flag outside the White House while Trump was in SD is emblematic of the ignorance and idiocy that is going to kill a good thing in our country. You realize that groups who want to see America fail are manipulating your emotions in a way that corrals you into a corner where you have to act in a way that supports a plan to destabilize a dominant country. Conquer from within? Get knowledgeable about history. Racism existed among every nation, it's just not about blacks or Hispanics in our country. There are people far off worse than us, but we are so focused on ourselves rather than having a world view, we are going to do more than just shoot ourselves in the foot. It's going to take time to uproot our democracy. I'm not saying Democrats are the devil. There is an element that is manipulating greed in our country, to take away fair paying jobs, freedom of speech, entitling others over Americans who already live here (to take low paying jobs) so we will eventually have to accept less (while the Billionaires keep raking it in) than what we had before to survive. They talked for years about ending Social Security. Look how much money was just doled out in a pandemic. Yeah, deficit. Tell it to the U.S. leaders who put troops in strategic locations throughout the world, as a super power, to maintain peace and order on this planet and know no bill collector is rapping at our door, unless the liberal element that has been manipulated and eroding, for whatever reasons, makes us roll over like the French during WW2. You can HATE politicians all you want. Dem or Pub they are all on the take. We can fight for democracy by not giving up on the principals and ideals that founded this country. If you let them Animal Farm our Constitution and laws to acquiesce, we're opening the door to something much bigger down the road that will tear the fabric of a once great nation. Wall Street doesn't care about you. They'll do business with China. You want to get paid less, live in a socialistic community with little to no freedom, keep it up. Hate is divisive. Hate is not what politicians do, but manipulate your ignorant emotions to act on it. Need to get yourselves educated. Get tough. Get street smart, or take it in the behind. And really, it's your children that are going to suffer because we have been spineless rather than strong in the face of adversity. Yeah, Trump can make me cringe, roll my eyes, think he should keep his mouth shut. Scramble his damn Twitter account. He's not a diplomatic leader. If he's smart, he'll get someone who can do it so he can focus on what he does best: keep our country economically strong. If we had a better alternative to Joe Biden, maybe more like Bernie Sanders, I'd consider flipping. I have to do what's right despite an arrogant type who is hard to support. But, you have to consider the lesser of two evils at this point. I don't want our country to plunge into darkness. 7.4.20 7.5.20 7.6.20 Addendum: I'm also inflicted. I have known pain from discrimination. I also know that I will never be acknowledged alone. Without a moral majority there is (can be) no law? I'm not good at correctly recalling philosopher's quotes. Sir Thomas Aquinas? Anyway, if the people get fully behind the movement, government and politicians will bend to it. Look how the Republicans caved just recently on wearing masks during this pandemic. Even Trump got behind it. It's because when we make our feelings known, unified, we are undeniable. The apathy in country comes from indulgence in all the distraction that Ayn Rand pointed out. Simple as sports to social media. We have a new generation that will essentially not know how to survive without their parents. Who did that? Parents? Life got a lot harder by making it easier, somehow. And we are becoming more ignorant of history and our rights as citizens as long as we have convenience stores with overpriced coffee on tap and streaming media to take us away from all the ills we cannot solve alone. Driverless cars over mass transportation?  Apathy. Long knew of it. Have watched it envelop a jaded nation. You and I will leave this world with our idealistic visions, as they dumb it down for future generations who'll be satisfied in a virtual, meaningless existence. Maybe, we're headed toward socialism. I'll take that over a police state. But, I will not stand by the corruption of our freedom of speech. Which, if used ignorantly, will convince future morons they can do without, as long as they can blather on about their feelings in pointless social forums. Now, I have to write more meaningless words in this realm, hopeful and starving, to be discovered through some serendipitous fantasy by a greater audience, as I'm plagued by the complacency within. I love input, keeping it real. We need more honesty and wisdom, as I value civil discourse above all. It purposes me here, at least. |
| Yes, COVID_19 has not been as tragic as the Spanish Flu of 1918. Consider: history teaches, global advances in approaches to infectious diseases, best practices of medicine today, more prepared to handle these outbreaks and lots of government dollars to throw at cures. Where are we at? 130,000 US deaths and only four months in. Spanish Influenza took 20 months and roughly 675,000 lives. What's our over/under now? And, you're worried about wearing a mask. It's life or death, you dehumanizing, ignorantly prideful people. They got the message about masks in 1918. Ignorance today makes it worse. Get off the damn bar stools and go grill in your backyard. Do I have to tell you what to do next? Get creative without your precious routines of sports and alcohol. |
| https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/toxic-relationships/201704/forms-emotional-and-verbal-abuse-you-may-be-overlooking This article is what I have been searching for and describes everything I struggle with on the home front. It has only one assertion I disagree with and one realization for me that makes me empathize with my abuser, that they also suffered childhood shame. And what the article doesn't fully realize, my abuser has employed my own offspring against me effectively. I see the patterns now and what I can do to approach these flaws in our relationship 25 years plus... What I learned from the article is the relationship reached a new dynamic after we we're married, after we had kids. Things were said that saddened and worried me that made me feel we were losing a grip on a fun, unfettered relationship that was strong before our vows. In retrospect, there have been sign posts along the way that make me openly wonder about events that are new mysteries to me. Too personal to share here. I'm just putting it out there, in here. You get to see my warts. I'm trying to help you see why I feel disenfranchised, angry, and act out toward authority because of my past and how it still haunts me now. I think you take too much credit for what you think being a part of this community has done to me, rather than for me. Being held out as a lowly black case has allowed me to process all that I've experienced through writing and putting it in perspective. Using whatever guilt, shame or indifference you employ to keep me out of your clubhouses only inspires me to investigate further. I would love to expose all the manipulation to the world. All I have is this blog to warn others who have been abused that people in your life lurking may be using your kryptonite against you, employed for their own gain. It's okay to question their methods, their game, if something doesn't smell right to you. If they shame you or make you feel bad for these feelings, it's another sign that they are only kicking the dog and not the angels they proclaim themselves to be. 7.3.20 7.12.20 edited for one word (why can't original post date just appear at top?) |
| Assuming I'm not inclined to share any more poetry this month, an accounting of what I wrote in June: from "Life’s Little Misdirections 🥀🦋"  --"Barren Home of Fruitless Desire" "Your Beast" "Lavender Buttons" "Your Sunlight" "When Distraction Takes Hold...Suck It" "Of Your Shores" "Strength For Two (MV)" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Journey Of The Polarized Heart" ""Church" and Not What I Need" "Evaporation Point (newly edited)" from "SuperNova Afterglow: End Of Days" --"It's Not Me, It's You" "Harsh Dreams of Utopia and Winter" Poems mostly available. Some go on lockdown under revisions and more; or, if you are not a member yet and want to read just sign up for a free account on this sequestered little pond collecting internet truants. For all the links this year and previous..."Invalid Item" |
| People that call themselves winners don't realize there's a war going on Don't take into account that it's war out there? For those keeping score It's me zero versus Don't need to keep score Don't need to score #Fixed #life Acknowledging this does not mean to say give up It means play smarter Maybe, not to win but to enjoy the game itself Or find something that does reward Does give back Not in virtual honor But in virtuosity |
| I write lengthy reviews that are unaffiliated. I seldom see the need to participate in group reviewing goals. Though, it might be good for encouraging writing and the feedback process. But, we can say what we want without worry of who or what we represent when we go solo and unacknowledged by others, except the true author... Review of "River’s Parallel"  "Dear Foolish Consistency  ,Just a note before you read this very long review, I learn as I go. I take things in directions I don't see before I set my fingers to keyboard. I was enlightened by your poem in the process of writing and deconstructing what I read. I will find flaws and joys in what you shared. I hope you have not given up on sharing your visions as a writer because of the underwhelming appeal of what you revealed in this little corner of the internet world. My review: I had to contemplate this poem for awhile after reading because of the statements used to build imagery and emotion of a sunrise. But what got me googling first for answers was in that second stanza. Does a sunrise look like it is setting on the water's surface? I found no proof of this reversal, leading me to conclude that the expressions used in this poem overall do not bear fruit. I think this poem does wax poetic and uses some unique expressions that when analyzed by this writer/reviewer didn't make enough sense. I note a theme of nostalgia, holding on, perseverance within some feeling of loss. When I found fault, each phrase came to bear under scrutiny, after reading: We look to the rising sun, as it sinks into its last horizon... Now, if you are implying end of days, then I might suggest a turn of that phrase to mean "before it sinks into its last horizon..." Other phraseology looked smooth and well written, but logic was forcing me to look deeper and question if these nicely constructed words just randomly flowed from the mind that did not consider their actual worth. However, I feel an idea was forming and writing is a process to fleshing out something that does have a leg to stand on. I start from the beginning: The gentle green reflection brings forth its mirrored image, a world dwelt in shadow... I puzzled over this, 'gentle green reflection.' A sunrise was being described over what I assumed was water, which is nicely alluded to indirectly with images like 'wavering in the depths' or describing a 'world born in water' later on. And here, the 'mirrored image' added to my thought something earthly is reflected in this world at sunrise. I have to assume it is an expression, not of place in the world but a place described inside the narrator. This person is dawning on something, because the rest of the stanza describes turmoil in this watery place: "Beyond our ken is a light beyond sight a realm sunk deep in the waters of our prayers, the grief of our hearts and, the blood of our veins." This internalizing is projected into a world view, an opinion of a world that surrounds a place in one's soul arriving. This is a poem that a writer is developing in real time to describe rising feelings like that sunrise, but a feeling that it will be the last. Or, that it does create a sinking feeling. But, in stanza two the first line that stopped me brought it to a halt. I had to keep reading to figure out if in summation we could get a better understanding of what is being devised here in the remaining lines: "...We contemplate our image, wavering in the depths, and see a smiling face shimmering, fading, falling, only to rise again. A world born in water, birthed from its earthly counterpart, is not a farewell, but a parallel. For every fall is risen, and every tear a smile. There is no goodbye, only now and forever." The rest of stanza two reads like a relation to people in general who feel like we can see our own selves where we should be struggling as something bright and hopeful and yet 'fading' because we are 'falling' and rising. It's like an eternal struggle of self to be more than who we are, to be accepted. We rise and fall in that deep water that holds us down. It made me wonder, do we surface? I believe some do, feel that they do. This is where the poem in analysis is gaining enough introspect from me that I can see the sum of the parts, some coalescing while others fail to make the grade. It ironically mirrors what the poet is saying about how we can shine one moment and lose that grip to fall back down. And we had that first line in stanza three that stumbled again for me, getting me to reflect back on the first line of stanza two. Does the poet go for unique expressions at the risk of sounding illogical? Does the poem make sense when held up to introspection? I feel there is enough truth within that we can overlook a few overlapping errors to observe some universal truths. We have commonalities as a world, as a writing community even. However, not all will acknowledge the struggle like the poet of this piece grapples with. I find a writer trying to divulge while still learning from the flaw in our genealogy and ideology as a race put on this planet. I can only imagine that the summation to this poem is saying the earth bears more people like us to struggle. It might not be meant to be that broad. It could also be suggesting there are two parts to us. The parts this narrative wrestles with might be as simple as id and ego. The remainder of the poem discovers we are infinitely trapped to never really change in a process that seems like birth, death and resurrection. It could follow a biblical theme, but I don't think that was the attempt. I think religion is universal and has inspired most of the stories and cannot be separated from these simple, but revealing truths. I'll sum it up. Wherever you go, there you are. It's more than that, but that is the basis. As a writer, I came to this writing community like taking a leap of faith into its waters. I floundered, learned to swim. But, was I doing it right? Like the poem suggests, during this epic battle to find worth (in my case through writing in this forsaken community), we seldom surface. I seldom find I am shining. It is my struggle to break surface, emerge from the water and connect with that sun on the setting horizon. I feel anchored in the depths. Who or what is holding me down? That might be another question to ask of the writer. Do we hold ourselves down, or are we made to eternally struggle because we do not have some kind of super power to actually achieve. I think it might be the former. But, in this writing community there is another element that shuns idealism and the belief that one can move on from this realm into a larger perspective. Someone or something is holding our head under water. Fortunately, there are other domains and parallel universes in the internet construct. Unfortunately, we ascribe our worth to those we allow rule over us in this realm. I went beyond the scope of this poem in analyzing it with my comparative. I saw an opportunity personally to show others this poem has worth where many others don't even come close. But, a poem like this is forgotten, overlooked and sinks to the depths of time because no one noticed, was not incentivized to pay attention, or did not have the ability to comprehend, overcome the poem's shortcomings to see it's real value. I'm rating this poem five stars for it's potential. It can observationally be corrected, though I think it is cast in stone for time because this community does not value writers with scope for great potential in writing. It would rather manipulate the few that could fit into the domain's short-sighted goal to be self-reliant with the fear that acknowledging good writing over bad is not good for business. Delusional dreamers are greater than writers who figure out they don't need this place. Sorry again for using this poem as a tool to figure out as I review how this poem fits in a current spectrum that I call my world. There is enough in this review to see what I have discovered and what the poet could take away as feedback. There is a larger picture within a smaller world view about how we need to acknowledge one another as people and be treated with equal respect. We have this commonality within us that should bond us and make us stronger as a community without the manipulation and division within, sacrificing our personal ethos for some 'greater good' as it may be falsely ascribed. Brian Circumpolar Reviewer  (a review so long, I can't go back over it to edit, sorry)This review is not a middle finger to the man. It is a statement of beliefs from circumstantial evidence compounding over a decade of exposure to a separatist world falsely presented to manipulate well-meaning writers (especially the introspective ones) with ideals and intentions to purpose their words. If anyone is offended, they certainly need a little introspection -- valuate whether they have unfairly judged others in support of a hollow 'cause' in this exclusive world. It is a plea to respect writing first and foremost and stop milking a cow." I didn't even acknowledge the poem's title in my review.I do not write jibberish. I think you can acknowledge, but through indifference or tired of the same theme repeated... I have some new theories on this. It takes time away to develop introspective thought. |
| Write 500 times: If I'm not kind, I have been evil. Or: If I have not been kind, I must be evil. Or: Do not suggest someone else is bad, because then you are evil. Or: Be direct, or someone will mischaracterize your comments to mean you have said something evil. Are we ready for Propaganda 201? Words from my mouth taste bitter I did not want them there I did not want to have them form from thoughts gathering I want to believe in utopia, with a kind and gentle people who encourage and want to hear words from my mouth forming thoughts like beautiful flowers, hopefully not thorny rosebuds. yet, I would bleed for you if that is what you want to see until I am bled dry, as the dry air changes and petals flutter from my head to lawn reveal beauty lost to the collected ground. Pink, they melt and slide below the green blades to gather at my buried feet like winter slippers before I die to grow anew, sleep to dream and not utter again to you, until I recycle through another harsh season. Even in your pearly frost, I bear fruit. |
| 48 of last 64 reviews were for newbies over about a month's time. Not one newbie returned a review. I'm not sure what that is, but I remember returning reviews when I first started. Not complaining, just saying. I think if this community is to thrive, I hope new members are reciprocating. I can think of a few new members that I've given more than one review to. Not even getting friends from these review interactions. This is new, because I'm giving some of my best reviews. Usually, I form new associations out of this. I do think I traded some emails with some people on the Covid19 pandemic over a month ago, but that faded. Not going to overanalyze it. Just note and move on. Maybe, stop reviewing newbies. |
| Metaphors: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” – William Shakespeare “I am the good shepherd…and I lay down my life for the sheep.” – The Bible, John 10:14-15 “All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind.” – Khalil Gibran “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust “And your very flesh shall be a great poem.” – Walt Whitman “Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.” – George Orwell “Dying is a wild night and a new road.” – Emily Dickinson “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” – William Wordsworth Why good metaphors? How to turn stale language into smart metaphors... How to craft original metaphors beyond 'his love was an ocean.' Where a simile directly compares something to another thing by saying 'his love was as deep as an ocean,' you just imply it the other way. Cliché language usually derives from stuff that's already been uttered and so greatly reknown it's lost it's trademark in essence by being used in every day expressions that could go as far back as to Shakespeare's day. You want to get away from that and find unique expressions of your own to call metaphors in what you write. This way, you develop your own style. Readers will get a feel for who you are and what you like when you describe. Could call this class from metaphors to expressionism. How to paint a picture with poetic words. Start with: I'll write you sonnets, if you witness Vacuous, hollow words contained Restrained by structure Ever toiling to find meaning Or Run amok in a field of words Harvesting life's little treasures Unkempt, sprawling, falling out Of pants pockets before I shove In your tall glass with my water "Flowers" "Alone With My Lioness" 6.20.20 |
| You should know this, 101 regarding grammar: by Sandy Chung and Geoff Pullum What Is Grammar? People often think of grammar as a matter of arbitrary pronouncements (defining 'good' and 'bad' language), usually negative ones like “There is no such word as ain't” or “Never end a sentence with a preposition.” Linguists are not very interested in this sort of bossiness (sometimes called prescriptivism). For linguists, grammar is simply the collection of principles defining how to put together a sentence. One sometimes hears people say that such-and-such a language 'has no grammar', but that is not true of any language. Every language has restrictions on how words must be arranged to construct a sentence. Such restrictions are principles of syntax. Every language has about as much syntax as any other language. For example, all languages have principles for constructing sentences that ask questions needing a yes or no answer, e.g. Can you hear me?, questions inviting some other kind of answer, e.g. What did you see?, sentences that express commands, e.g. Eat your potatoes!, and sentences that make assertions, e.g. Whales eat plankton. Word Order The syntactic principles of a language may insist on some order of words or may allow several options. For instance, English sentences normally must have words in the order Subject-VerbObject. In Whales eat plankton, 'whales' is the subject, 'eat' is the verb, and 'plankton' is the object. Japanese sentences allow the words to occur in several possible orders, but the normal arrangement (when no special emphasis is intended) is Subject-Object-Verb. Irish sentences standardly have words in the order Verb-Subject-Object. Even when a language allows several orders of phrases in the sentence, the choice among them is systematically regulated. For example, there might be a requirement that the first phrase refer to the thing you're talking about, or that whatever the first phrase is, the second must be the main clause verb. Not only does every language have syntax, but similar syntactic principles are found over and over again in languages. Word order is strikingly similar in English, Swahili, and Thai (which are utterly unrelated); sentences in Irish are remarkably parallel to those in Maori, Maasai, and ancient Egyptian (also unrelated); and so on. Word Structure However, there is another aspect of grammar in which languages differ more radically, namely in morphology, the principles governing the structure of words. Languages do not all employ morphology to a similar extent. In fact they differ dramatically in the extent to which they allow words to be built out of other words or smaller elements. The English word undeniability is a complex noun formed from the adjective 'undeniable', which is formed from the adjective 'deniable', which is formed from the verb 'deny'. Some languages (like German, Nootka, and Eskimo) permit much more complex word-building than English; others (like Chinese, Ewe, and Vietnamese) permit considerably less. Languages also differ greatly in the extent to which words vary their shape according to their function in the sentence. In English you have to choose different pronouns ('they' versus 'them') for Subject and Object (though there is no choice to be made with nouns, as in Whales eat plankton). In Latin, the shapes of both pronouns and nouns vary when they are used as subjects or objects; but in Chinese, no words vary in shape like this. Although we have identified some differences between syntax and morphology, to some extent it is a matter for ongoing research to decide what counts as morphology and what counts as syntax. The answer can change as discoveries are made and theories improved. For instance, most people—in fact, most grammarians—probably say that 'wouldn't' is two words: 'would' followed by an informal pronunciation of 'not'. But if we treat 'wouldn't' as one word, then we can explain why it is treated as one word in the yes/no question Wouldn't it hurt? Notice that we don't say Would not it hurt? for Would it not hurt?, or Would have he cared? for Would he have cared? In each case, the bad versions have two words before the subject. The syntactic principle for English yes/no questions is that the auxiliary verb occurs before the subject. If this is correct, by the way, then 'ain't' certainly is a word in English, and we know what kind: It's an auxiliary verb (the evidence: We hear questions like Ain't that right?). English teachers disapprove of 'ain't' (naturally enough, since it is found almost entirely in casual conversation, never in formal written English, which is what English teachers are mostly concerned to teach). But linguists are generally not interested in issuing pronouncements about what should be permitted or what should be called what. Their aim is simply to find out what language (including spoken language) is like. Even if you learned all the words of Navajo, and how they are pronounced, you would not be able to speak Navajo until you also learned the principles of Navajo grammar. There must be principles of Navajo grammar that are different from those of other languages (because speakers of other languages cannot understand Navajo), but there may also be principles of universal grammar, the same for all languages. Linguists cannot at present give a full statement of all the principles of grammar for any particular language, or a statement of all the principles of universal grammar. Finding out what they are is a central aim of modern linguistics. https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/grammar But, how apply it to poetry? Perhaps, lamely. https://magmapoetry.com/poetry-and-the-joys-of-syntax/ |
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In the Falkland Islands, internet is very limited and very expensive. The place I'm currently staying only lets me use it in the middle of the night, so when I have to get up at 3 am to check my texts (no cell service to the US here unless I'm on the internet) or WdC, I don't do nearly as much as I used to. 
I currently have 2 very long emails I still need to get to from several days ago. Anyway, I miss everyone, but I also miss sleep, so there's that. 
Have you spoken to the doctor about your vision problems lately? I know there are special glasses for it because I have to wear them to read much ever since the brain injury. It's part of why I now only listen to audiobooks instead of reading regular books. It took 8 years for anyone to diagnose it because I have a brain injury and while one might think it would be obvious to me that I see double, it wasn't. Partly, my brain does a fair job of compensating. But also, partly, you use your brain to realize and understand that the 2 images you constantly see are double vision and something you should mention to your eye doctor. Since my brain was damaged, even basic things like that can escape me. 
I never once thought to mention it, even with annual eye exams in the Army and an exam every 2 years at the VA. Though, in my defense, since it happens in something like 41% of people with a brain injury, it should have been discovered by an eye doctor much sooner. 
I know doing that activity is a CRAP TON of work. But you made a difference in lives, not just his, but for all the people he's reviewed since. 
Well done! 
