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IS YOUR POETRY A CONFESSION? - Brian Strand's Blog

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English experiential poet of open verse& creator of the FOOTLE (singular form)&EMAGI digital reverse ekphrasis.A regular @PS since 2007 ,with 9500+ poems posted&sponsor of 1260 contests ( Amazon books- (500+) reviews)GOOGLE my POETRY BLOGS @https://www.blogger.com/profile/02166493604739619406.Read an Ekphrasis e-book for free @ http://free-ekphrasis-ebook.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

IS YOUR POETRY A CONFESSION?

Blog Posted:4/3/2017 10:21:00 AM

I just read a film  review which quotes the writer James Baldwin as saying:

'All art,is a kind of confession ,more or less oblique.All artists ,if they  are to survive are forced ,at last ,to tell the whole story ,to vomit the anguish up'

Is this you? do you recognise the gist in your need to be poetic here on PS ?

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Raynes Avatar
Lewis
Raynes
Date: 4/6/2017 4:34:00 AM
Some is truth though some I want to pretend, my muse goes in the real to surreal to fantasy completely. The real is my anxiety and hurt more often than not. Sort of therapy.
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Raynes Avatar
Lewis Raynes
Date: 4/6/2017 4:36:00 AM
My paintings are of my loves
Puddifoot Avatar
Charlotte
Puddifoot
Date: 4/4/2017 7:53:00 AM
art is creative expression of any kind, be it writing, painting, dance, music, even cookery, as chefs very much see their creations as art...but there's a lot of emperor's new clothes art - observing what isn't there...left-brained people will say 'observation', right-brained people will say 'creative self-expression', and those with equal left-right brain split like me have split personalities and will say "both!"...but i'm often to be found in the confessional; i have many sins to confess, both those i have committed and those i have yet to commit...lol
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Strand Avatar
Brian
Strand
Date: 4/4/2017 3:15:00 AM
The other aspect of James point is 'how compulsive the creation impulse bcomes in the life of the poet or artist' .Clearly for some it is greater than others but for me there has some times been a need to create that satisfies ,whether or not that is ultimately 'shown' to another.To me that impulse is because of whose image in which we are made and whose poiema we are
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Vinson Avatar
Doug Vinson
Date: 4/4/2017 4:49:00 PM
Huge range, there, Brian, from "feeling like being creative" and sitting down with a piece of paper, canvas, etc., and beginning to write or paint (for example) and having a poem or painting inside you and you're gonna die if you don't get it out.
Strand Avatar
Brian
Strand
Date: 4/4/2017 3:07:00 AM
The mere act of putting a pen to paper is a unique (and often oblique ) and deliberate decision to make a comment and posting it here on this workshop communicates your thoughts to another.I would leave it to the professional 'freud like analysts ' to say the extent it is an 'anguished confession' , that would depend upon anyway on how reserved we are and open to sharing publicly the intimate within
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Chircop Avatar
Charmaine
Chircop
Date: 4/3/2017 3:50:00 PM
Some secrets will always be unveiled..but yes many times there is a piece of me in my poetry...Many times...Other times its not about me..but about someone close..or something that somehow has a connection with me..Its my heart..Its my soul..So yes...many times a confession..:)
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Puddifoot Avatar
Charlotte
Puddifoot
Date: 4/3/2017 3:19:00 PM
i'm always in the confessional
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Vinson Avatar
Doug
Vinson
Date: 4/3/2017 3:09:00 PM
Baldwin made many broad, wide-ranging statements. Fascinating reading, though he did make some incorrect generalizations. He gives himself a lot of leeway with "more or less oblique" here, but I'd still have to disagree - in no way does "the whole story" have to be told - many good and great writers have secrets they never put in print. Anguish is a powerful thing, and may resonate with readers, but I don't think a given piece of artwork, or an artist's whole catalog, has to be reflective of the artist's anguish - that can exist as a separate thing. The above said, I think writings of a confessional nature can be among the most compelling.
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Dietrich Avatar
Andrea
Dietrich
Date: 4/3/2017 3:00:00 PM
I kind of agree with that quote. He should have stopped short at "to tell the WHOLE story" I think some of us do not reveal ALL but the things that interest us or that dwell the strongest in our subconscious are what often can rise to the surface through our poetry, whether fictional or true.
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Vinson Avatar
Doug Vinson
Date: 4/4/2017 5:01:00 PM
"I think some of us do not reveal ALL but the things that interest us or that dwell the strongest in our subconscious are what often can rise to the surface through our poetry, whether fictional or true." Oh heck yes, Andrea (and the way you said that really rocks : ). You are describing what happens when a poem "comes to us," IMO.
Vinson Avatar
Doug Vinson
Date: 4/4/2017 4:54:00 PM
I'm not sure what is meant by the artist "surviving" - is this staying alive, staying creative, staying marketable? I'd say it's obvious that some of the "whole story" can remain hidden while satisfying all of those.
Ward Avatar
Julia
Ward
Date: 4/3/2017 2:58:00 PM
Art is observation, not confession. If it were confession, it would wilt on the bough of narcissism.
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Ward Avatar
Julia Ward
Date: 4/4/2017 4:55:00 AM
First of all, thank you, Ruben. To Keith - Please note that I said that art is observation. If it is anything else, it cannot be called art.

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