Poetry Telephone Complete!

[milo]

...well now I've read though this great glob of quotes on quotes and comments on comments I'd like to offer two observations as I feel I've earned it now, that is should we do this again type observations, also known in some regions as suggestions, but I would not be so bold as to offer suggestions, so I will only offer observations: they are two:

1. Regarding content: It appeared that not everyone was playing by the same rules, and I know I was uncertain exactly as to what they were, so I took my cue from the game itself, where you repeat what you heard with the idea that it will become somewhat muddled in the telling, but you don't just take the last telling as a springboard for a completely different story as did the one that followed me. I'm not saying the were wrong, or I was right, however I'm fairly certain I could have put forth a better effort had I not written under the (self-imposed) constraints, as the person did who followed. If a person is allowed to write practically anything they wish then this should not be called "poetry telephone". I'm not saying this because I am trying to win. It's about fairness and playing by the same rules. If it were only me I wouldn't say anything, but as I read through the comments this idea about playing by the same rules seem to come up often, and that is simply human nature; we don't want to play if someone is going to cheat by not heeding the rules. I'm not saying someone cheated, I am saying because the guidelines were unclear it felt like someone cheated, because it was obvious we were not all operating under the same guidelines. So if we are are going to do this again let's make the guidelines clear, and for my part, let's make this like telephone. Sure it's more difficult, but being constrained by that is most of the fun. If we are only going to use a few words from the last piece as a springboard it's really not worth my time. I did notice that someone called Billy's poem a piece of shit, which I figure must have been a non-pig pen person, since we have called Billy's poems shit for years.

Observation #2: Time. I noticed several comments about feeling they did not have enough time, and the least that should happen is that one should get the full amount of time by knowing when to check in like May 8th at 7:00pm GMT. Each poem could be sent to the moderator who would not post it until the correct time. Each person would know in advance when the poem they were to follow would be posted, rather than missing a day or more, because they check in that long after the message that it was there turn, was sent. This would allow the person to print out a copy and take it to work, allowing them to consider it, even if they couldn't start until later. Again it goes back to our sense of fairness, everybody gets the same amount of time and everybody plays by the same rules. It's human nature to want to compare your effort with the other participants effort, and this can't really happen if the (I hate using this cliche) playing field is not level.

A final request: I know it's a gesture of goodwill and all that shit, but I'd just as soon keep it on site because I will generally know the people on this site, and I know how they write, whether they are serious or more joking, can they roll with the punch, or are they oversensitive. Listen I edited a university literary magazine for two years, and one of the jobs was to critique each piece that came in, and give a rationale for why it was or wasn't going to be in the magazine. Really! I got quite enough hate mail to last me for a lifetime. No one pays me for critiquing here (and most would agree it's not worth any pay), but I prefer to take the more easy way out, which is not to say I'd lie, or humor anyone, but I do like being able to mold my critique in such a way that they will be most able to here it, rather than just take offense. I mean sure they were spot on about Billy, but that's like shooting fish in a barrel (ah, it must be cliche day).

I'm tough so I can take it, but if any of you would like to get on the bus rather than throwing me under it here's your chance.

Oh yeah, I just wanted to point out I followed a guy who opened in German, paraphrasing a play/opera (forgot now what it was) that had been written in German. I got the message it was my time about four hours before my time was up (or so I remember it). First I had to go find out about this piece by Strauss that I had never heard of, mainly because what the guy wrote made little sense to me, and even though I can read a little German, the quote left me clueless. Then after doing all of that I had to write a poem that mimicked this other "poem". After that I see the person after me wrote something that basically had nothing to do with what I had written. Was I a little pissed...

Dale

Yah, I still remember the first time I played, too. It can be a little strange. You get used to it pretty quick, though.