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Poetry Emotion
17 years ago
Feeling-- emotion-- is one of the indispensible parts of poetry. Poetry without emotion is like a furry without the yiffy bits.
Why does Furry poetry often get ridiculed for being "emo" then? Well, olympic swimmers are known for swimming. BUT they do not try to live underwater. Emo doesn't mean "emotionally open," it means gratuitously emotional for the sake of getting attention. But let's not look too deeply into the motives of the average furry poet, or blame poetry for enabling attention-seeking in the fandom.
Sometimes, furry poets talk about their emotions before they're really ready. Poetry is NOT a way to make emotions go away. And while I wish everyone had a paw to hold onto when things are rough, expecting writing poetry to help you make bad feelings go away is like expecting that all pretty girls want to take care of you when you're sick. It's not like that in real life.
So don't do that with poetry. You need to be on your best footing with her, not pathetic. She's demanding, and can be as cold as uncertainty about whether all of this-- life-- means anything.
If I say: "playful seriousness," most people think that's an oxymoron, but it's not. Children are playful in a very, very serious way. Sharks in the carpet, when the couch is a pirate ship, are very real. Playful seriousness is key. Playful seriousness is to a poet or daydreamer what muscle tone is to a track star. If you can't be playful with poetry, which is what she likes best, then you shouldn't be hanging aroud her.
And emotion alone is not enough-- just like rhyming and meter and Important Ideas are not enough, by themselves. And too much rhyme, or too strict a meter, or ideas that are too grandiose, can kill poetry just like too much emotion. An swimmer can drown from a thimblefull water! For the same reason that (Doug Winger notwithstanding) yiffy art with gigantic tits and cocks is just stupid, much less simple drawings of disembodied tits and cocks.
And if emotion isn't enough, then TELLING us about emotion is definitely not enough. Don't state emotions-- that's something you do to mess with a girlfriend you want to ditch. Hungry people want to eat, not look at a menu. If you're going to deal in emotion, *reveal* it. Don't label it and put it on display in a glass case. Surprise us with it's revelation. Don't part the clouds and sound the chorus. Don't announce the arrival of the King-- if he were important, people would bow and fall silent as soon as they saw him.
Why does Furry poetry often get ridiculed for being "emo" then? Well, olympic swimmers are known for swimming. BUT they do not try to live underwater. Emo doesn't mean "emotionally open," it means gratuitously emotional for the sake of getting attention. But let's not look too deeply into the motives of the average furry poet, or blame poetry for enabling attention-seeking in the fandom.
Sometimes, furry poets talk about their emotions before they're really ready. Poetry is NOT a way to make emotions go away. And while I wish everyone had a paw to hold onto when things are rough, expecting writing poetry to help you make bad feelings go away is like expecting that all pretty girls want to take care of you when you're sick. It's not like that in real life.
So don't do that with poetry. You need to be on your best footing with her, not pathetic. She's demanding, and can be as cold as uncertainty about whether all of this-- life-- means anything.
If I say: "playful seriousness," most people think that's an oxymoron, but it's not. Children are playful in a very, very serious way. Sharks in the carpet, when the couch is a pirate ship, are very real. Playful seriousness is key. Playful seriousness is to a poet or daydreamer what muscle tone is to a track star. If you can't be playful with poetry, which is what she likes best, then you shouldn't be hanging aroud her.
And emotion alone is not enough-- just like rhyming and meter and Important Ideas are not enough, by themselves. And too much rhyme, or too strict a meter, or ideas that are too grandiose, can kill poetry just like too much emotion. An swimmer can drown from a thimblefull water! For the same reason that (Doug Winger notwithstanding) yiffy art with gigantic tits and cocks is just stupid, much less simple drawings of disembodied tits and cocks.
And if emotion isn't enough, then TELLING us about emotion is definitely not enough. Don't state emotions-- that's something you do to mess with a girlfriend you want to ditch. Hungry people want to eat, not look at a menu. If you're going to deal in emotion, *reveal* it. Don't label it and put it on display in a glass case. Surprise us with it's revelation. Don't part the clouds and sound the chorus. Don't announce the arrival of the King-- if he were important, people would bow and fall silent as soon as they saw him.
(jk don't be mad)