Poetry Forum

Doug Vinson - all messages by user

11/19/2016 5:27:51 PM
Knowing what form a poem is	Keith, yes, that's what it says - for PoetrySoup sponsored contests, you have to choose the correct form. I found it pretty daunting when I first saw the whole list from which you choose - over 140 types. I knew about 5 of them.
11/19/2016 5:57:43 PM
Length of Epic Poem	I don't think so, Tom. There are some general but vague things like "an epic poem is a type of 'long poem'"... Or "book length" or "shorter poems are accepted as epics in this modern age." Not much help.
11/19/2016 6:07:39 PM
Who said: "Only the shallow know themselves"?	Hi Robert. Oscar Wilde, and while I can see a principle at work - that those who are without depth are easier to know - I don't think the shallow are paying attention in the first place. They're rarely introspective and don't even like such talk.
11/19/2016 6:31:48 PM
Just saying hello	Hi Sarah, Like Charles Bukowski said, in his poem 'So You Want To Be A Writer' - "if you have to sit there and rewrite it again and again, don’t do it." I think the best things often come fully-formed, perhaps bursting out of us so fast that we have to struggle to get it all written down, before words are lost.
11/19/2016 6:47:28 PM
swearing in poems	Daniel, I like raw, gritty, truthful real-life stuff, and certainly swearing is part of real life for many people. I agree with you that "the odd swear can make a poem better." But where to draw the line? I think the website's operators are looking for maximum viewership, and they're going to want kids included, as well as people favoring a "family friendly" place, even at the risk of a very few adults leaving because of the censorship. I've changed some of my poems a little, to comply, and I don't think there was any real harm done. For what it's worth - I looked at many poetry websites before choosing PoetrySoup. No, it's not perfect, but all in all and for what I wanted, I think it's the best one.
11/19/2016 6:58:59 PM
Rhyming woes	Hi Caroline. Nothing beyond basic stuff here, and I've struggled with rhymes too. If you have word X, a rhyming dictionary (many are free, online) will show you what other words rhyme with it. If no success there, a thesaurus will give you synonyms for X, and that may suggest a rhyming word that fits, or - back to the rhyming dictionary again for another look. If things are still not coming together well, sometimes it's good to just walk away from the poem for a bit. Or delete a given stanza, or rewrite it, say things a different way. Or get a big hammer and just beat the crap out of something. Or have a few drinks; let the Muse be pleased, let Inspiration come. Okay, those last two - not for everybody.
11/28/2016 5:48:59 PM
Get Questions Answered	Terry, the forum is not very active. If your question is general in nature, you can just 'google' it, for example. If it's specific to PoetrySoup, then you may have to just be patient, try again later, pray, etc.
11/28/2016 6:07:34 PM
Prioritize Feature	When you click on "My Poems" on the left side of the webpage, in the "Member Area," and then on the "Edit" link by an individual poem, the prioritize or not option should again be there, right on top.
11/28/2016 9:08:56 PM
Entering a poem in the "high critique" section	I'm not sure what is going on, but the same is true for me - there will be no line breaks if I copy and paste a poem from somewhere else, even from the "My Poems" area on PoetrySoup. This is true when I have one space between lines, or two, or three. Each time, when I click the "preview" button, it will appear as one paragraph. If I type the lines into the "Add new post" box, rather then copying and pasting them, then they appear as intended, with line breaks and spacing between lines, if desired.
11/28/2016 9:18:47 PM
How do I contact a poet ...	If they are on Poetry Soup, and have Soup Mail enabled, you can do it that way. If not, there may some other organization(s) that they take part in, that may be able to contact them or forward your message.
11/28/2016 10:45:19 PM
How do I...	I don't think you can see who viewed your poems without commenting. There is a counter, which keeps the total of views - I am assuming this is different ip addresses that clicked on the given webpage. People can view your poems without logging in to Poetry Soup, for example, so there would be no identification beyond the ip address, there. I also don't see any visible record of Poetry Soup members who view poems, unless they leave a comment.
11/28/2016 11:59:26 PM
New member	Hi Roy. I'm new too, and agree with you that this is a nice place. I looked for poetry websites, and settled on Poetry Soup after checking into 20 or so.
11/29/2016 12:05:27 AM
Anxious to share some of my words	Hi Michael. Being online opens the world up for many of us, to a huge extent. For truly open-minded responses, there is a "High Critique" section in the forum; otherwise, Poetry Soup tends to be "nice," really uncritical. "Anxious to share some of my words" - that sounds great to me; you feel the need, and there's not much better than doing so.
11/29/2016 12:07:42 AM
Getting to know everyone- New Member! :)	Hey Sim, welcome. Your enthusiasm makes me smile. Being a writer is the best journey I can think of - go get 'em!
11/29/2016 3:41:48 AM
Rainy Days	Hi Terry. Very hard for me to come up with any real criticism, here. I like this poem very much; I think you did just what you set out to do, and exceedingly well. I've read through it several times, looking for what I would change or do differently, and I just plain have nothing.
11/29/2016 5:20:53 AM
Some missing masterpieces!	I see Shelley and Poe as brightly burning, and perhaps somewhere out there in the Aether there's a reason that thus were their lives shorter. Poe died at 40, Shelley at 29. Dang....
12/1/2016 1:12:49 PM
How do I...	Keith wrote: Problem is....no one comments unless you are part of their clique. Keith, I don't know to what extent that is true. Not saying it doesn't operate, but certainly the more one posts and the more one comments on other's poems, the more one is likely to get comments. And yeah - it matters how good your stuff is, to be frank. I'm glad you posted here - you have some really good stuff that I've just read. Put in a couple comments, too. Cheers, Doug edited by Doug Vinson on 12/1/2016 edited by Doug Vinson on 12/1/2016
12/6/2016 7:25:18 AM
Getting to know everyone- New Member! :)	Hi David.
12/10/2016 10:36:42 PM
Getting to know everyone- New Member! :)	Hi Greg. Welcome! I hear you on the many forms of poetry - it's daunting when you see the 140+ types when you scroll down the list when submitting a poem. I think the 6000 character limit is a hard one, necessitating that longer poems be broken up into pieces. I've seen some people do it like "Title I" and then "Title II," etc. Cheers, Doug edited by Doug Vinson on 12/10/2016
12/10/2016 11:27:07 PM
Elegy for a Knight	Hi Terry. Not much criticism from me here. I like your poem a lot. "Elegie" should be "Elegy," no? "Rise up Scion of La Mancha." My opinion here is that it reads better with a comma after "up," both places in the poem where the line appears. About the candles and the knight: "they peter and die." I realize that "peter" as a verb does not strictly have to be used with "out," but in my opinion most people are used to seeing it as "peter out," and at least momentary confusion will result for many. "Recantations of your Quixotic trials" - should that be "recitations"? You are talking about them being removed from history, and "recantations" are already disavowals, i.e. denying or repudiating it. "Such is the eye of irony that rests away your conquests." "Rests" should be "wrests," no? So, just some minor spelling, punctuation and grammar stuff. I like the call for him to rise up - after all, the world needs heroes, eh? I see fond and wistful remembrance, an appreciation of the story and Quixote's intent. Cheers, Doug edited by Doug Vinson on 12/10/2016
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