A question of interest to me about about tempo is whether she is a good poet. Last I knew, she hadn't posted much poetry. The first time she did was a memorable event for me since I was somewhat deceitful in response. I was treating her as sane at the time and she repeatedly asked me to respond to her poem, so I implied I liked it and said I'd get back to her after thinking about it. I have, in fact, thought about it. I think I am a poor judge of poetry. I am also mindful that people deranged in many areas can still possess specialized skill/talent. Tempo, I believe, also used to comment on poetry, and I'd be interested to know her competence in that area as well. I suppose I find it hard to believe from her posting that she can write anything well, but as I've been muttering lately: people can be surprising. If we didn't have many counterexamples, it'd also be nice to believe a person as unselfconsciously scummy as Tempo couldn't exhibit talent in any area.

So, generally:

Comments on Tempo's poetry?

Comments on Tempo's analysis of poetry?

Comments on her writing?

Comments on any connection between general writing ability and poetry (doesn't need to be specifically on Tempo)?

to interfere on my monarchy with such easy targets? Twice in one day?

Actually, Connie has posted some pretty good poetry, though I don't ever check any board but this. Seem to recall she had one on the Preakness that was rather evocative.

And poetry does indicate intellect, as evidenced by my mad limerick and captioning skillz.

I've read a couple of her poems. I thought they were good, but not memorable or great (caveat: I'm not a good judge of poetry, so they could be genius or they could be hideous).

I've never read her ananlysis of a poem.

She has a way with words, when she wants to. You have to admit she's developed a distinctive style. Sometimes pretentious, but not in an amusing way.

You have to know a lot of words to write well, but not too many. Same with poetry. It's OK to send your readers to the dictionary once per poem/chapter, but no more.

When plying the judicial
ignore the superficial;
with earnest introspection
you may find self rejection!

blech..... Can you really care this much? denny your next target? (If the order, here is measured by your dislike, I guess appolonius is next....)

P.S. What would it say about poetry, if the answer to either of your first two questions was "good"? Would you be more inclined or less inclined to read poetry and/or Tempo?

re the PS: I'd be more inclined to read Tempo. Indeed, Schad's and Urq's "good"-ish responses already have that effect on me. It wouldn't say much about poetry to me since I have no thoughts about poetry.

re: your opening question. I have written posts about denny and app in the past (and Tempo too, of course), along with even less deserving targets. I think lunacy is a good portion of my interest on the fray, and so it is fair to say that I really do care this much (which isn't that much, ultimately).

All of her poetry is good. Some of her poems, of course, are much better than others. This is true of anyone who writes anything; some work is better than other work.

Jack

than non-fray loons.

I think you should write all your top posts and replies in rhyming iambic pentameter. That way we can compare your brilliance to that of Tempo.

Yeah, yeah I know. You don't "have any thoughts" on poetry. Well, think of this as an easily surmountable intellectual challenge--you know--a real challenge not the kind you're used to presenting that starts out something like:

I'm thinking of a number.

Is it 54?

No. You're an idiot. Why would I be thinking of 54? Never mind. I already answered that.

Gosh you're smart!

I'm sure you could exercise a little truth in advertising, couldn't you?

Try conveying every reply as a limerick. For instance, inspired from the top post:

While bashing Tempo it occurred to ghost
That ghost writes the real intellectual posts
And the poems of Connie though cute and some naughty
Seem to evade the fool specter the most

(So sue me for the near rhyme in the third line.)

Come on ghost. Whip it out and let's see whose is bigger.

Sometimes involve the crime of stealing,
We rather think that we're
Not altogether void of feeling.
And though we live by strife,
We're always sorry to begin it,
For what, we ask, is life
Without a touch of poetry in it?

and you will find quite a few examples. I thought you were a researcher, no? Let me find one of my favorite posts about subjectivity in poetry and try to post it here. Also, you might look under the subject line, "San F. is not about the skyline," for a post in the architecture Fray, ref.some 'light crit' on the new Federal Building in San Francisco for more example.

I do have to wonder about your motivations in making this supposed inquiry a Top Post, however. Did it not occur to you to simply search as above? (Answer is obvious, of course.) If you posted this simply because I was teasing you about your spelling & writing (as did how many other posters in that post?) in your recent Top Post, well, that just confirms my assumptions. If you have a sincere, general interest in your questions posed here, why not simply pose them in the universal form? Rather than 'subtly' (ha) calling out a fellow poster by name in a Top Post? (Answer is obvious, of course.)

Last, before I find that post & put it here, I just had three poems published on-line in a fairly selective little mag. As did another poet I know from here, formerly of the Poems Fray. I chose to use a pseudonym for those poems because of the presence here of a longtime stalker & flamer but trust me, three were published, just this month.

Really, goaz, you can do so much better than this business. Or, can't you?

:-) Thanks, Kent. I'll try to come up with a limerick based on your last line, for sure!

While it was tempting to lead off with Dearth or Kent, I took another way out:

"Come on ghost, he challenged one day
Who's really the Best of the Fray?
Whose really is bigger?
the ghostess' ? you figure?
I simply would have to vote Nay."

Also on the theme of rate rather than state.

I don't know anything about poetry. I learn pretty quickly. Maybe I would be bad at learning about poetry in specific, but we don't know. Certainly, it would be difficult to judge by any present attempts at poetry.

What is worth knowing is that a surprisingly short period of training can make a massive difference. The question, I suppose, is how much do I need to learn to get past the initial steep learning curve (meaning: where change is rapid, not steep as in difficult).

"Well, it is one of the most subjective ...
by Contempo
07/29/2008, 4:05 PM Delete Favorites Reply of the arts, after all, right? I wonder if Ryan's behavior towards the two admirers on the plane might be chalked up to her apparent shyness. (Which has been mentioned in most of the articles I've now read about her.) I've only read ten or so of her poems, and most of those in the past week, so will not make any judgments -- but I do like your sentence about "somebody with a sense of line and a gnomic wit..." Could you please post some of your favorite poems by Rae Armantrout? I'm not familiar with that name. Many thanks. Good to see another take on our new PL, for sure. I just hope she will continue the outreach, participatory-type projects of Billy Collins & Robert Pinsky and not hide in a hole, somewhere up in Marin County."

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(That's just a short one; I used to write more Poems Fray posts of a critical (you would prob. say 'analytical' given your own field) nature but have turned my serious writing efforts elsewhere.
Or returned them, more accurately) I've always thought it interesting that some people on here tend to judge other posters' writing talents by their Fray posts -- since I live in a world where I've earned my living, for years, with my writing & related research skills, I wouldn't waste my (literally) profitable IRL time on writing for a free site. Would you?