let's talk originality (shorter than the last)

Birds: "like the poets' LOLcats" says Carrie, currently in South Korea, who Tumblrs here, and who is publishing a 'zine As We Speak, and who is going to be featured in a publication with Tao Lin and other great things.

Another good talk. This time I took the time to cut out random "nod" and "heehee" and some bullshit no one cares about. What remains, bullshit four people maybe care about.

Carrie: hey if wisco got maya angelou to come talk to us about poetry which you being angry sad indifferent happy?
me: oh, I would be pretty happy, I think.
even though I've never read her poetry.
I liked her book
I think it was one of the first things I ever read about child molestation or homelessness, so the shock sort of cements it a bit in my head.
Carrie: my friends were asking me who was actually famous in poetry
and how we felt about it
me: hmm. well that's different
Carrie: it is but i sort of responded by saying that even though maya angelou is maybe the most famous living one or one of them a lot of younger writers might prefer someone else
to have as a speaker
me: Maya Angelou is exciting for a lot of reasons, but if I had to pick just one
and never speak to another poet again
it would not be her
Carrie: i think i'm thinking in terms of my own head too much again. i told them i thought most of us probably didn't identify a great deal with the more famous poets in terms of style and content
me: definitely
though sometimes occasionally I like billy collins, I mostly don't understand why people adore him.
Litany is pretty good
that famous one about the neighbor's dog is okay.
Carrie: ha i was just about to mention him.
even poor li young lee
who i like to pick on
me: he doesn't set me on fire
he's very pretty
Carrie: i'm sick of pretty
i'm trying to stop the pretty or at least twist it's ankle
everything i read is good. it's always good. but there really are lots of birds
and twilights
which i am equally guilty of
me: heh
I like birds myself.
Carrie: me too!
esp. teh cranes
birds are like the poets LOLcats
me: oh god. cranes
Carrie: we just can't get enough of them
me: I almost wrote something about cranes when I saw them in BRB the other day
I was all "swoon! sandhills! making crane noises and flying!"
then I was like WAIT.
no can has
so, I'm not sure how I feel about taking a strict anti-fancy/anti-metaphor approach the way Noah Cicero and the rest of Bear Parade advocates.
Carrie: word
i agree with that
me: like, I agree language is about communication
Carrie: too much
me: and I enjoy poems that don't mess around
but, the game of it and all the stretching and transposing and making things be other things
that's just too much fun.
Carrie: they have so many copy hipstercats too
me: yeah
Carrie: plus the sincerity feels endangered
tao is sincere
but not all of his followers are
me: they probably just see it as the cool new thing
I mean, movements are movements
Tao's famous for a good reason
but just because one person does that particular thing really well doesn't mean everybody should just start doing the exact same thing
Carrie: movements are fine with there is communication and more importantly conversation
wee yes
me: yeah. and I don't know. someone's always gotta be doing something new and exciting, but I feel like once they're doing it, there's no point in imitating just for imitation's sake.
just take it as Something Else You Can Play With and keep doing your own thing
Carrie: truthbomb
me: pow
that's just how I feel, anyway. but I'm more prone to thinking writers shouldn't give a damn about what other writers are writing just because I'm not in academia and have never read any criticism and am supremely lazy about the idea that maybe I should read some criticism and know more about how other people think things work.
and by "not give a damn" I mean "be in communication and share things and support each other, but still do what you want"
but see above about being all non-academic and lazy about that shit.
Carrie: i agree with that. i like to pay attention to what people are saying
cuz they tend to say smart things
but i poke what i find interesting
me: good word
agreement sandwich
Carrie: agreement sandwich on rye
me: extra vegan mayo
Carrie: SLEEP TIME
me: BYE
GOOD TALK