Thanks Richard. I have been to a few very good poetry readings, but also a lot of bad ones! (Including a few of my own). I'm still mustering the courage to record a reading of some of my work here on Substack...
After the comet, here comes the car and the driving. Dave, you seem to have a particular talent in turning your whole theme into a single metaphor or vice versa. Kudos!
I was curious about why you stayed away from publishing and was tempted to ask why but refrained so as not to be impolite. But the two poems poetry and this post gave me a better understanding. I enjoyed reading it. Not that I enjoyed what you had to go through but that you now have the openness to share.
Why did I stop publishing? Well, I don't have space for a full answer here. There were a few reasons. The short version is: I found the process arduous and alienating. I could win poetry and short fiction awards - which were judged "blind" - but getting anything published in a literary journal seemed much harder. It was almost impossible at first - until I started winning the awards. Then doors opened, and people wanted to know me. But that made publishing feel more like networking, and I didn't feel comfortable with all that. I also worried that it was changing what I wrote, and interfering with how and why I wrote. For a while, it stopped me writing almost entirely. On top of that, my personal life was going through a convulsion, and I was juggling a busy job with busy parenting....
Hi Dave. The reasons listed above is understandable. It sounds like something that would suck the joy out of writing. Also, we can get busy with work and family, which can be a wonderful thing but it does take a lot of space. I am glad you now seem to be enjoying writing here. It is very encouraging to hear stories of people who went through periods of "silence" or "creative slump" and witness how they have come back from it. There must be much more to this because life is complex But I don't expect a full explanation in such a small comment section. Thank you for your answer.
That's what I love about poetry, David. You really capture that. I'm also partial to the desert, so if I'm going somewhere/nowhere with words, it's going to be in a landscape where each syllable is like a spiny plant on a plain people think is nothingness. But that plain has already/actually been sown an infinite number of times over.
Ohhh... well.... some more of my desert poetry will tun up at my Substack Poetry Shack.... Spiny plants!! I may make "Spinifex" my next post....
I illustrated The Poetry reading with pics from one of our USA desert country road trips, just because I had the car pics. Also - a lot of my Australian desert photos are kind of buried away at present. But yes ... deserts say so much, with so little....
I wish i had thought of this when I taught kids poetry ...
I wanted to see what the poet saw
but the windscreen
had not been cleaned for years.
Thanks, Dave.
Thanks Richard. I have been to a few very good poetry readings, but also a lot of bad ones! (Including a few of my own). I'm still mustering the courage to record a reading of some of my work here on Substack...
D :)
Drive on !!
After the comet, here comes the car and the driving. Dave, you seem to have a particular talent in turning your whole theme into a single metaphor or vice versa. Kudos!
Ah friend Nikos!
I think maybe
all of life
is a metaphor.
I just haven’t
worked out what
It is a metaphor for….
Dave :)
“What poetry reading..?” Oh, the awkwardness….
I was curious about why you stayed away from publishing and was tempted to ask why but refrained so as not to be impolite. But the two poems poetry and this post gave me a better understanding. I enjoyed reading it. Not that I enjoyed what you had to go through but that you now have the openness to share.
Hi Mai. Oh God yes, it was extremely awkward....
Why did I stop publishing? Well, I don't have space for a full answer here. There were a few reasons. The short version is: I found the process arduous and alienating. I could win poetry and short fiction awards - which were judged "blind" - but getting anything published in a literary journal seemed much harder. It was almost impossible at first - until I started winning the awards. Then doors opened, and people wanted to know me. But that made publishing feel more like networking, and I didn't feel comfortable with all that. I also worried that it was changing what I wrote, and interfering with how and why I wrote. For a while, it stopped me writing almost entirely. On top of that, my personal life was going through a convulsion, and I was juggling a busy job with busy parenting....
Hi Dave. The reasons listed above is understandable. It sounds like something that would suck the joy out of writing. Also, we can get busy with work and family, which can be a wonderful thing but it does take a lot of space. I am glad you now seem to be enjoying writing here. It is very encouraging to hear stories of people who went through periods of "silence" or "creative slump" and witness how they have come back from it. There must be much more to this because life is complex But I don't expect a full explanation in such a small comment section. Thank you for your answer.
“… and scraps of verse like used discarded tissues.” This poem is simply one of a kind! Bravo! 😊
Thankyou, friend Ronnie :)
Poetry can be so many things ….
I felt like posting something a bit more lighthearted this time….
Best Wishes - Dave:)
☀️
'I guessed we were going
somewhere, but
it wasn’t too clear
where that would be.'
That's what I love about poetry, David. You really capture that. I'm also partial to the desert, so if I'm going somewhere/nowhere with words, it's going to be in a landscape where each syllable is like a spiny plant on a plain people think is nothingness. But that plain has already/actually been sown an infinite number of times over.
Ohhh... well.... some more of my desert poetry will tun up at my Substack Poetry Shack.... Spiny plants!! I may make "Spinifex" my next post....
I illustrated The Poetry reading with pics from one of our USA desert country road trips, just because I had the car pics. Also - a lot of my Australian desert photos are kind of buried away at present. But yes ... deserts say so much, with so little....