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Poetry Is Doomed #25: More poems, fewer horror films
Poetry Is Doomed One of the things that really disappoint me are poems that attempt to strike my emotional chords with sledgehammers. Here's what I mean...




Horror movies all basically say the same thing and you can sum it up in one word: don’t. Don’t go in there. Don’t touch that. Don’t recite that ritual incantation. Just about every one of them is a cautionary tale. And with people’s tendency to want to be smarter than the person next to them, it’s no wonder they’re so popular. They are exercises in I-told-you-so, and who doesn’t love being the person who told you so?

Don’t stay in that house.
Don’t follow that sound.
Don’t answer that phone.

Poetry largely has a single statement of purpose as well: look. See. Observe. Note. Watch. Let me show you something, something you may not always notice, or have never noticed. “Sure,” the poet says, “it’s the same rose that’s in front of your house every morning, but look at it this way.”

Look at the curve of the rose.
Note its scent.
Observe how it makes you feel.

In every art some of the craftsmen are better than others. In poetry, some poets are very good at getting out of the way of their subjects, even when they are the subject. Whitman’s Leaves of Grass is very much a testimony to the human spirit funneled through a study of himself; a world view derived from using an inside voice. Conversely, I am unnerved when poems don’t show me things, or new ways to look at old things. How unnerved I am is largely dictated by how far the poem strays from showing me things as opposed to telling me things, or worse.

One of the things that really disappoint me are poems that attempt to strike my emotional chords with sledgehammers. The subjects are heavy (rape, molestation, incest), the imagery dark and loaded with triggers. The perspective is largely arms-length and the action hands-on. The narrator is sometimes the victim, sometimes not. There is something of the grotesque in its carriage, an almost earnest lack of metaphor in the interest of keeping things hyper-real. Almost all of them have a dreadfully clear, bluntly stated morality play that never seems to educate…only illustrate. This body of work subscribes to the poetic mission of “look”, but then attempts to make you turn away from what it’s showing you, all the while telling you that looking is a good thing; as if to look away is to do a disservice to the issue at hand.

It also bears noting that the educative element of these types of poems is practically non-existent. “Rape is bad”, they say, then proceed to deliver stanza after stanza to illustrate this point. Mind you, these are not merely statements vying to be proof – who needs proof that rape is bad? - but attempts to convey the damage of the acts in a way that captures their horror.

I’ve written a few rape poems; a molestation poem too. It was my job to ensure that they retained the mission of the poem: to show. I strive to show a different perspective, show a different motivation, show a different outcome. Unfortunately, some people’s idea of making a difference is to shock an audience, to conceive of ways in which people can be raped worse or molested in the eeriest way possible. Assuming all of them mean well, it is akin to using a horror film as an after-school special about talking to strangers. The poems look like they’re saying “look”, but they’re really saying “don’t”. They are the literary equivalent of being Scared Straight.

I’d be lying if I said I had a problem with this kind of poem simply because it doesn’t subscribe to the mission of “look”. I also hate being poorly preached at, being told things I already know over and over again, and being told how to feel about anything. I’m not trying to say a poem can’t teach or offer advice. I’m saying as artists we need to consider, when attempting to save the world, we’re using the right medicine in the right proportions. I’m saying we have to learn to do this better.

I’m saying we need to write poems and not snuff films.

Submitted by ScottWoods on Monday, October 19, 2009 (13:06:40) (575 reads)

"Features: Poetry Is Doomed #25: More poems, fewer horror films" | Login/Create an Account | 32 comments
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Re: Poetry Is Doomed #25: More poems, fewer horror films (Score: 1 )
by Tony on Monday, October 19, 2009 (10:12:33)
"The literary equivalent of Scared Straight." Heh.

I hear those programs don't work all that well either.


Re: Poetry Is Doomed #25: More poems, fewer horror films (Score: 1 )
by zan on Thursday, October 22, 2009 (05:59:34)
The antidote Wink


I hate poems

by zan

Poems That Are Written By And For People Who Don’t Like Poems.

I hate poems
Especially ones that don’t rhyme
Especially ones that are not my own
They are so serious
Why do they always have to be so morose
Why can’t we celebrate our joy through verse
In Barbados, I once heard a man gaily singing
About his broken lawnmower
Another on that same radio station
Happily sang about his ugly girlfriend
I wanted more
I want more
Don’t tell me you love me
Just make me laugh.


Re: Poetry Is Doomed #25: More poems, fewer horror films (Score: 1 )
by machaashado on Thursday, October 22, 2009 (09:41:39)
he must be tlkin bout.....me


Re: Poetry Is Doomed #25: More poems, fewer horror films (Score: 1 )
by BrokenWordsPoet on Thursday, October 22, 2009 (09:52:25)
Poetry to me is thoughts... Put together in a way... Especially on GP that makes a fellow poets say... I never heard it said like that... I wish I had wrote those word... Some people get turned of by style... Rap is a style... So I get turned off by rap... Big deal... I don't ditch it... I don't comment or rate it... There is some positive rap I find myself liking... But rap that is vulgar... murder... using ethnic slurs... Calling women whores and bitches... Telling women just how worthless they are to the writer of such_____... Fill in the blank...

Broken_ Finger is not my cup of teeeeeeeeea>>e..A>>AH... But I have an open mind... Our English Language is a master puzzle we are playing with... What I hate is poets trying to use every word in the dictionary to describe a Nat bite or any other situation... Where I have to have a dictionary in hand at all times... I say diddle that... GP is a big place... I'll find something a little less educated to read... Dr. Kings Father would say to him... Say it simple Martin... I love the power of saying things simple... In fewer words that gets the point across and does not leave the reader hanging...

I guess we all have our thoughts on what poetry should be... Each of us have our on style or one borrowed from some one else... Also each of us have styles we don't like... I have found that on GP if you cannot find poetry you like... You don't like poetry... BWP... James..........


Re: Poetry Is Doomed #25: More poems, fewer horror films (Score: 1 )
by butterflyzrfree on Thursday, October 22, 2009 (09:54:21)
I must agree with this and am grateful that you have so eloquiently(sp) wrote exactly what I have been thinking about all of this type of poetry. I have written a couple that are blatently about controversial topics, but believe in the soft touch and not the detailed descriptions. Soft touch works much better, as you say, particularly when you are dealing with the previously mentioned topics.


Re: Poetry Is Doomed #25: More poems, fewer horror films (Score: 1 )
by Beverly on Thursday, October 22, 2009 (11:15:40)
*shaking with laughter*

*wipes eyes* (directed towards comments)

You're evil, Scott Woods!


Re: Poetry Is Doomed #25: More poems, fewer horror films (Score: 1 )
by silent_lotus on Thursday, October 22, 2009 (12:55:28)
dear Scott

great to find you here

it was a pleasure to hear you read in Providence
a few weeks ago

a warm smile
silent lotus


Re: Poetry Is Doomed #25: More poems, fewer horror films (Score: 1 )
by sschubert on Thursday, October 22, 2009 (12:58:53)
I enjoyed reading this article and your perspective - It certainly offers insight and perspective into the art of dark poems and the different applications and styles an artist could be using to draw in the audience - thanks for sharing this...

Have a GREAT day!


Steph Smile


Re: Poetry Is Doomed #25: More poems, fewer horror films (Score: 1 )
by Nothingman on Thursday, October 22, 2009 (13:48:23)
Hi, a very well written and apt article. Some people just write about serious topics in such crass manner that its horrifying.
N


Re: Poetry Is Doomed #25: More poems, fewer horror films (Score: 1 )
by max on Sunday, October 25, 2009 (00:45:25)
curious, when one lays a page
and on this page asks others write
but finds their script don't match his sage
His page, their script, what says whats quite?


Re: Poetry Is Doomed #25: More poems, fewer horror films
by Anonymous on Friday, October 30, 2009 (12:20:22)
I'm going to cross post this on the Vancouver Poetry House Website.

Good essay.

RC


Re: Poetry Is Doomed #25: More poems, fewer horror films
by Anonymous on Friday, October 30, 2009 (14:14:01)
Hey Scott,

I assume that you might have heard about the group piece done by the Boise team down at the New Word Series in the Bay Area, and then again on the IWPS Finals stage. It was called "Rape is Bad: the Musical". It split the audience. Some people loved the satire of the rape poem and its overly obvious message, others were offended.

I liked it, because it made many of the same points that you have in this essay, using such great lines as "Hey Jacob, did you know rape was bad?" "No! I've been living in a hobo's armpit!" and "I didn't know until I heard it from a man / rape is bad in every way". Classic satire, and it made a good point.

What surprised me was the backlash. At one of the after parties, I ran into a pair of the judges who had given the Boise team a very low score for that piece. I was somewhat tipsy at that point, but I'm fairly sure they told me that Boise's irony "de-legitimized the sacred space" of the poetry slam. Which put a lot of things in focus for me, namely, that a lot of folks treat poetry slams as though they were church. Satire, irony, and calling out other poets on their shit is not welcome in their version of the slam.

To which I say Booooooooooooooooooo


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