poet 4 life. Deluded?

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I'm probably a poet. I've been called part of the new wave of young Dunedin poets; older, established poets think I have talent etc; & I'm, heh, down with the scene (& published, snort). I'm also dropping out of uni to go to Melbourne to give myself to write full-time.

Still . . . I can't escape the feeling that poetry has been dead for a long time (or it has been turned by cunning new-agers into empowerment stuff BLARG), or not treated seriously as a living entity (see : the short story going/gone this way; also : death of the novel. Blah blah datapanik infosedation overload fecund productglut etc). & people give me funny looks when I tell them what I'm doing so I hedge & say I'm also working on a novel & looking to make music (well I AM, but that isn't my aim etc).

So . . . am I wasting my life/youth/etc in the service of something with less cred than, say, sculpture; or something people view as a hobby instead of a, er, profession? Am I an anachronism?

― Ess Kay, Saturday, 15 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

New "I would have been cool in 1790" answers.

― Ess Kay, Saturday, 15 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

sure it's dead. what isn't. big deal!

― unknown or illegal user, Saturday, 15 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i'm studying the reading of the future in animal entrails. i KNOW i'm wasting my time. fuck you! it's my life!

― unknown or illegal user, Saturday, 15 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

obscurantist activities seems to be the only ones worth persuing these days.

or, uh, what duane said.

― jess, Saturday, 15 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I hope it's not dead, I've only just started getting published. If you're going to argue that poetry is a dead form it follows that prose is also dying, communication via the written word, be it poetry, prose, whatever is still relevant. You just happen to be proficient in a form which is relatively minor. But judging from the turnout at the last couple of readings I went to, still alive and kicking.

― Matt, Saturday, 15 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I have started writing prose compensating for my love of writing poetry. I think that I am a very good poet, am well liked in my scene, been published nationally all that shit- but still feel the same way, as well my tastes in poetry and the poetry I write are not the free verse that is well loved but also isnt the reactionary formalism either. I dont know. *shrug*

― anthony, Saturday, 15 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm a creative writing student, been published as well... I think the problem is that poetry is seen as the soft alternative to prose. People think: prose = longer = harder to write = more valid. The fact that that the world's two major poet laureates (Motion and Angelou) are two media whores without a single ounce of talent between them isn't exactly helping our cause as well.

Arts don't die, anyway. They just become impossible to make money out of.

― Dom Passantino, Saturday, 15 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm not a poet, which apparently puts me in a minority here. I'm not knowledgeable about poetry nor even terribly interested, most days. Having said all that, fuck worrying about whether it's dead - of course it isn't. It's as worthwhile an activity (i.e. very) as any art form. On the other hand, it's less likely to make you rich and famous than being a pop singer, say, or even to make you a living, so may not be the best career in those terms. If those are important criteria to you, you're gambling on a real longshot, but if not, go for it.

― Martin Skidmore, Saturday, 15 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Even poets who supposedly write 'full-time' have to do other things: workshops/teaching/journalism/librarianship a la Larkin etc. So giving it a go as a real profession and not a hobby will still mean compromise. Alas, mourn the state of the arts etc etc. But I think/hope there is a middle ground between job and hobby where poets can still be taken seriously. As for the funny looks... yeah. Unless people actually know/care about contemporary poetry, the default assumption is usually effete, angst-ridden daydreamer. Sigh.

― Archel, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

To answer your question properly I shall need to see some poetry you wrote at the age of 15.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

All been burnt. Sorry.

― Matt, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

No apologies necessary, I'm sure.

― electric sound of jim, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What Archel, anthony & Dom said.

duane - but if poetry is my impulse to communicate/bear witness/fuck shit up/etc - the yawning chasm between the audience I would like to write for & the likely audience who will end up reading it is vast enough to make me weepz0r. (The whole "your audience are your contemporaries" vibe?)

― Ess Kay, Tuesday, 18 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah that shits problematic

― unknown or illegal user, Tuesday, 18 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

In the States at least, there is always someone grandly stating how poetry is coming back. Certainly there are more writing programs then ever before. (Whether this is good or bad for writing is another argument.)

My opinion, if you're worred about the lack of an audience is to write against that chasm, and work against it. If you're worried about recognition when you sit down to write, as in publication, awards, etc., you are already dead in the water. The important thing is to keep writing no matter what. And read read read. As for if the world takes poetry seriously? Pfft. The real question is: do you take yourself seriously as a poet?

― bnw, Tuesday, 18 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

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