my own truth

[Erthona]

"Dale --What side of bed did you get out on?"


Ed. I was only replying to Ray's assertion that something which was obviously prose could be called a poem because the writer choose to do so. Obviously definitions will always be morphing into something new. Usually the way it happens is the word gets a new connotation and gradually that connotation becomes the most prevalent usage. The same thing is true of vowel and consonant shifts in the language, such as the d to t, and a t to d in English. Which is why we say "That is good", instead of "Das ist gut".

I always get out on the wrong side of the bed when someone takes exception to something I say that is not only reasonable but factual by rebutting it with an authoritative sounding comment which is in essence non-supported nonsense.

I started my comments with "As this is not a poem" as an explanation of my response.

Ray started his comment with:

"If the writer calls it a poem, it's a poem."

As no one had said anything about the piece being a poem or not, and as Ray's was the first comment after mine, this was obviously directed at what I said. There was nothing controversial about my comment, especially as the piece was obviously prose. I even acknowledge, which I needn't, that certain parts had a poetic overtone, thus I called it "poetic prose".

Where I am from this sort of thing is called "Trying to blow smoke up someone ass." It is generally done to puff up one's ego at the expense of trying to make someone else appear foolish, either by pretending to be an authority and spouting made up gibberish, or by taking something out of context and pretending it is saying something that it is not. Generally I try to put it off to the person misunderstanding, and making an honest mistake or having erroneous information. However, if it occurs repeatedly, as it has in this case, yes, I start getting a bit peeved. However, I have found that this type of moderated response is much better than waiting until I am really pissed. That is when I can get most unpleasant. However if the general consensus is that this sort of thing is perfectly fine, and should not elicit a response my choices will be informed by that in the future.

Dale