It's a poem, not a diary

[billy]

I think for new writers, it is so hard to step out of the first person, that they can't imagine anyone else managing it.

When I was 18, I learned George Eliot was a women. Still in therapy over it. -Paul

same here, once i found out i just masturbated.

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[quote='bena' pid='170875' dateline='1406935405']
...the first rule of poetry is to never assume the narrator of a poem is the author. It may be, it may not be. I have written poems about mutilating and marinating people--and I certainly haven't done that. This poem is about anyone who has self-doubt...meaning, everyone. But thanks for the support.

i;m with you and leanne on this one, it was always obvious to me that i shouldn't take a poem as truthful...even if it was. often i saw a poem as being about me or one of my life experiences. not always though.

if it were true that poetry was about the author, why aren't rape and, murder and pedo poets all imprisoned? and let's not forget the suicide poetry, who do those bastards kill themselves then write a poem about it

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does that mean i can never buy a can of food cos they may be lying on the lable

gawsh. that one never ends. it would be a neat trick if everything written became fact, but it's not possible. for instance, what I just said. nothing can become "fact", because "fact" is just an abstract noun. it can't even become /an/ abstract noun. it can be something labeled by an abstract noun, but the label doesn't really fully represent any specific thing, does it? i mean, it can't stand in its place. You can't eat the word "food". You can eat a piece of paper with the word food written on it, because you think that means it is actually food, but that would just make you an idiot.

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i once read a poem and thought "this is a really shitty piece of poetry" a few days later i came across it again and it had my name on, just glad i didn't give it feedback cos it would have been slaughtered.