Yesterday, 09:44 PM
i got over it
right now, i'm into form, so sometimes my work can sound "arch", but it's not really the same. it can sound "arch" because it *is* arch, because i've gotten too stuck in spenser or because i am deliberately hearkening back to him, and sometimes it's because folks just don't read or hear enough poetry anymore---they clock a piece for sounding different, ignoring the fact that it's actually any good. case in point, but in reverse: the most recent poem of the day, the one celebrating Dolly Parton, has a really "arch" verse in it with "Down from Dover", that if you just read it you might wonder why someone in the 60s/70s would write something like it. only, taking it in as it is, especially insofar as it's a folk song---only *hear* it, be immersed in it---and it works.
apparently that song, too, Dolly wrote when she was just 18. real spontaneous work. spontaneity can be key, but unless you're as prolific as Dolly, it won't work often enough to make one any good. after spontaneity, then there's just not caring. there's just getting over it. there's just writing (and reading) so much that every time you pick up the pen, you're no longer thinking about if your piece "sounds like poetry", you just think if it sounds any good for what you mean for it to do.
right now, i'm into form, so sometimes my work can sound "arch", but it's not really the same. it can sound "arch" because it *is* arch, because i've gotten too stuck in spenser or because i am deliberately hearkening back to him, and sometimes it's because folks just don't read or hear enough poetry anymore---they clock a piece for sounding different, ignoring the fact that it's actually any good. case in point, but in reverse: the most recent poem of the day, the one celebrating Dolly Parton, has a really "arch" verse in it with "Down from Dover", that if you just read it you might wonder why someone in the 60s/70s would write something like it. only, taking it in as it is, especially insofar as it's a folk song---only *hear* it, be immersed in it---and it works.
apparently that song, too, Dolly wrote when she was just 18. real spontaneous work. spontaneity can be key, but unless you're as prolific as Dolly, it won't work often enough to make one any good. after spontaneity, then there's just not caring. there's just getting over it. there's just writing (and reading) so much that every time you pick up the pen, you're no longer thinking about if your piece "sounds like poetry", you just think if it sounds any good for what you mean for it to do.