Ten Things
1. I read this post yesterday at the Y while Sam was having his swimming lesson. I found it compelling. Pretty much, every time I read something Polly Carl writes, I think about it for weeks.
2. I know that the perfect workout pants exists. They are made by Lands End. I have the capri version. Every other workout pant pales in comparison. But I am cold. And I need long ones. And they do no have them in my size. I am so very disappointed by this. Freakishly disappointed.
3. I am being consumed by enemy voices in my head lately. They are mighty. Last night, I hid my head under my pillow to escape them. When that didn’t work, I busted out a pen and got writing. That did the trick and I slept pretty peacefully.
4. My friend went and volunteered at the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee and then wrote a show about it that I was lucky enough to act in. This was years ago. Lately, I can’t stop thinking about those elephants. Yesterday, I read all about their one male elephant, Ned. And today, this video popped up in my Facebook feed. And I am just thinking about elephants a lot.
5. I find this man’s disdain for his own work insulting. He wrote the poem. People liked it. And then he decided that, not only was it bad, but we were all stupid for enjoying it. Like the dude who reminds you the beauty in a sunset is all from pollution.
Nevertheless. It is a good poem. It touches me. I wish I did not know how he felt about it. A lesson for me then, as an artist. Do the work and shut the hell up about it.
Oh for crying out loud. Not only is #5 insulting, it’s extremely self-indulgent. So you wrote a poem in the 80s that–surpise!–you don’t agree with or particularly like anymore. So what. It was 30 years ago and sometimes people change their minds after three freakin’ decades. WHO CARES. And who cares how a reader interprets a poem? Isn’t that the beauty and mystery of poetry–that it can engage the reader in various ways? The dude might as well write a technical manual instead. Or a list of bullet points.
Wow, I’m surprised how mad this is making me, heh heh.
And wait…why is this Five Things instead of Ten?
Genevieve Thompson Reply:
November 2nd, 2011 at 2:05 pm
:) I need to proofread better. I wanted to do 10, but then my mind ran out and I was all pissed about that poet. SO it should be five things. Let me come up with a bullet point list about how people are allowed to react to this post now.
Addendum: I can understand his being annoyed by people “adapting” the poem by changing the wording. But the rest of it? WHO CARES. I remember liking the poem when I read it in Good Poems. A pity.
1) We like such different things…I can’t get past the title of the article and couldn’t read it. It’s good to know that there’s a whole target audience out there who would like the article. In case I ever write something that other people feel that way about.
2) The perfect workout pants do exist. And I have them. They are from Nike, and the XL fits perfectly, and they have this zippy pocket in the back waist, and vents at the knee, and zippers at the ankle. They are super long and comfortable, and good for the winter. Check them out.
5) That poet is an ass. Also, I’d expect a writer to have a better blog than that. It looked lame. I call lameness!
Genevieve Thompson Reply:
November 3rd, 2011 at 5:22 pm
Well what the hell are these pants. God! Link them, dude.
OK! Here they are. I got them at a store and they were way cheaper than this though.
http://www.nike.com/nikeos/p/nikewomen/en_US/clothing?hf=10001^12002^4294962511&p=PWP&t=Women%27s%20Bottoms#?ll=en_US&ct=US&pid=414698&cid=101101&pgid=416107&p=PDP