tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post8551070741151101496..comments2023-10-03T11:41:21.191+01:00Comments on The Truth About Lies: #639Jim Murdochhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-50683681313254059712016-05-09T02:38:01.031+01:002016-05-09T02:38:01.031+01:00You make a good point, Ken. Just because we’re wil...You make a good point, <b>Ken</b>. Just because we’re willing to open up doesn’t mean we should expect our readers to, at least not publicly; that was never a part of the contract. I suppose it’s like saying to your spouse, “Was it good for you too?” It’s a loaded question. It could suggest that we’re concerned about our partner’s pleasure. It could just as easily reflect our concern about our technique. Before Carrie there came a point when I stopped showing certain people what I’d written because I didn’t get the sort of feedback I expected. Carrie doesn’t give me the feedback I’d like either. I’m not sure anyone ever could. I suppose the closest I ever got was watching a grown man tear up as he read one of my poems—I think it was ‘Making Do’ about my mother—but I suspect that had more to do with his relationship with his mother and less to do with my ability as a poet. Of course I don’t write poems <i>for</i> people; I write them to get them out of my head. Sharing is something else. Like reading a poem aloud. I never think of my poems as things to be recited but of course there’s no reason why they <i>couldn’t</i> be read aloud but when they are they’re changed. You must feel that with every line you’ve ever written but that’s part of the contract you have with your audience; they realise when they sit there they’re only even going to see a version of your play. I guess that’s why people keep watching Shakespeare’s plays over and over again, waiting on someone getting it right.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-45248784390552976312016-05-08T17:33:43.730+01:002016-05-08T17:33:43.730+01:00I reckon I *do* know where you're coming from....I reckon I *do* know where you're coming from. <br /><br />I think we have to find our own peace with what we write and, and we say over here, we'd be 'kilt waitin' for somebody else to give it to us.<br /><br />Poems such as this one will have touched people and evoked feelings in them but they will have been reluctant to say these feelings back to you. (I know that you know all this, I'm just saying... :) ) <br /><br />One small reason is a fear of getting it wrong. That the feelings evoked by the play are somehow the wrong feelings that were intended to be evoked. Poetry is *so* personal, *so* close to the bone, that people are wary of what they might reveal about themselves if they ever honestly reveal how they reacted to the poem.<br /><br />Also, of course, there are some people who don't read 'em... what can we do? :)Ken Armstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.com