coffeesp00ns posted our final poem here. If you participated, I'm wondering what you learned about yourself, poetry, or words. Did you craft something lovely, only to see it disappear the next day? Were you excited by what someone did with your words? Did you discover that you HATE editable poetry? or love it?
I only changed a few words throughout and missed the "bad" edits. I find it interesting how anonymity can cause people to say and do things they normally wouldn't. It's a fact that I've known for a while but this just proves it even further. Out of this group of people, I have a hard time imagining any of them doing such a thing. But I guess there is an underside to all of us that, when we remove our reputation, can be anything. Perhaps because I'm not a poet or a writer and wasn't overly attached to my words, I find it all in good fun and didn't really mind when it got shifted into something a bit darker. The editable poem is supposed to be ever shifting and dynamic and lost and regained.
I learned that this community has an ugly side. the whole poem was wiped at one point, and even though that went on to influence the final product in a positive way, the childishness and casual racism that had appeared was shocking. It was exciting to see how people moved, changed, and twisted words into new meaning and subtlety. little of my own work made it into the final poem, but i think the whole exercise in general was a lot of fun and very good.
While I haven't had many interactions with some on the list, I was surprised that any of the people included would write something like that for this kind of thing and honestly disappointed. Maybe it was a "joke" but I found it to be in poor taste.I learned that this community has an ugly side. the whole poem was wiped at one point, and even though that went on to influence the final product in a positive way, the childishness and casual racism that had appeared was shocking.
well, it ended up referencing the poem in a really great way. | Under the words that were omitted
lie the noise, work, and death
Missing workers walk slowly,
stop to take each breath.
Under the words that were deleted
I sit here with the few
Trying not be defeated
I move an inch closer to you.
|
I didn't want any evidence of it. We moved on. After it was deleted, aside from constant changes, everyone seemed aimed at the mutual good. At least, I'll choose to believe it that way. It's interesting to see how the words or ideas that we might be fond of mean nothing to others. I think the new green warned everyone not to get attached. But you are right about the lonely damaged people. In the end, we moved an inch closer to one another. Maybe.
I admit I'm responsible for two stanzas with alternating end rhymes which ultimately were kept, the weathervane and Roethke stanzas - which have been edited since, but the rhymes have been preserved. I think people saw the trend and kept it going. It's really the last stanza that it goes overboard for me. Also, geez, talk about someone who couldn't handle the prompt of an editable poem, it sounds like. The whole point is not to get attached to whatever you throw out into the waves. If you like it copy it and keep it.
As I'm sure you know, I am not the person that erased the poem. However, when I made my editable poem, I fully expected that at some point someone would erase everything and leave something minimal. I think that's part of the beauty of something like this, you cannot get too attached to a current form. It's temporary, and you need to enjoy each stage as it unfolds. Reminds me of Erasing De Koonig
I didn't have a problem with the erasure. Sorry if it came off that way. think that I agree with your statement that the erasure is part of the beauty of the exercise.
The thing I have found about the editable poem is you need to be zen about it. Sometimes you'll click it and it'll be amazing and you want it to stay that way - but it's not going to. Don't expect it to. If you really, really think it's so great, copy and save it somewhere, something akin to taking a snapshot. You can't be attached to the final outcome at all but that's a good thing because over and over again I have enjoyed not only the poem as it evolves, but usually the final product. I have to say I'm not fond of the last three stanzas in this final poem. Part of it's the rhyme and honestly part of it is the focus on the words that were deleted (that I didn't even see). It's a meta-poem but you don't even know what it's about if you aren't aware of the story of the editable poem, which in my mind makes it less strong as a poem - I don't believe in poems that need to be prefaced. But, honestly, the lines as they stand by themselves aren't bad. I think it is just the focus on something I didn't even see or experience and therefore couldn't possibly care about on an emotional level (on a theoretical level, sure) that makes those lines not as - well, typically awesome. Just my personal experience of course. I have to say I am surprised at how much of my additions were kept. Then again I did come in after everything had been deleted and I think there was not very much there, and I think I wrote it out into about 16 lines (four stanzas of four if I remember correctly). I think I caught the poem on the tailspin so not so many people edited afterwards, but of course there's no way to tell. And that is really what makes this fun! I know lil said she preferred tweaking to deleting or adding wholesale. But I think the ability to do that is part of what makes this exercise great. I think we need to be completely unattached to the lines of the poem as it edits. I think we should be able to burn it to the earth or add eight lines or completely depart from the topic. If you are attached to what you see take a snapshot and save it. Don't limit everyone's editing ability just because you like what's currently there.
I enjoyed it. It's interesting to see what parts of what you've added survive. There some sort of Darwinian feeling to it.
is what happened to part of my addition. It's better than what I started with. I'm game for another. I suspect that the same group of editors would find a groove. but it's bowties and trumpet tubing from here on out.
I've been asked to shout out all those who were editors, so... _refugee_ lil kleinbl00 doesntgolf onehunna Becoming_Betty Floatbox cW theadvancedapes mk insomniasexx steve beezneez delta AshShields sorry for the tagspam.
I don't think it's really tag spam if you're doing a follow up post to a post in which the whole tag list was previously tagged, and previously tagged because they had exhibited interest in the activity. I assume you are apologizing for it because you saw - who? - respond to the "best of" post complaining about tag spam, but no one had heard of the "best of" idea until that link when whoever is running it launched it. No one had heard of it or expressed interest. It was not the same situation.
I'm also Canadian. I apologize for everything. We get so much unsolicited content in our digital lives that it seems best to be as unobtrusive as possible. I inherited most of those tags from TNG's original editable poem, and I don't know for sure how many people participated or were even interested. If someone from the original tag was disinterested at the start, and is now getting more tagging because of it, how annoying is that? just trying my best to be a concerned and conscientious internet citizen.