Greetings!
I was stuck when the PG registration form asked me what time zone I live in. Right now, and part of each year, I am in GMT -4/5. But most of the year I am in GMT, because I live in West Africa. I've had trouble on other poetry sites making myself understood; when I feel like I'm explaining too much to make a poem understood in another culture, people reading it tell me I'm not giving them enough background. So I'll be looking for help in how to transcend the barrier, and I'll be so grateful for whatever you have to say.
Jackie
Greetings!
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Ros
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Hi Jackie, welcome to PG! What other poetry sites have you tried? I guess poetry that transcends cultures can be difficult - sometimes you may have to accept that some people will understand what you're saying, and others won't. What culture are you coming from?
Ros
Ros
Rosencrantz: What are you playing at? Guildenstern: Words. Words. They're all we have to go on.
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Antiphon - www.antiphon.org.uk
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Antiphon - www.antiphon.org.uk
Thanks, Ros. There was one called Alienflower, and Poets Workshop at iVillage. As for cultures, I guess the usual problem for me is that I'm trying to express something that sprouted from Africa to readers from the West.
Jackie
Jackie
Thanks, Antcliff.
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bodkin
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Welcome!
For the cross-cultural thing you can take two approaches:
1) explain a bit where the poem comes from before presenting the poem. Poets at poetry readings often do this when they introduce a poem. For me, this is not the ultimate test of a poem. Ultimately/eventually it has to stand on its own, but it can be the fastest way for an audience to get into it (and the idea of a poem entirely without context is nonsense, there is always some sort of assumptions that the audience (and poet) are making...)
2) warn that there might be cross-cultural issues, but do not explain them -- then you can get the reviewer's feedback without pre-loading their conceptions -- and then you can explain what you really meant afterwards, and they can give yet more feedback on how close they got to your intent.
Good luck!
Ian
For the cross-cultural thing you can take two approaches:
1) explain a bit where the poem comes from before presenting the poem. Poets at poetry readings often do this when they introduce a poem. For me, this is not the ultimate test of a poem. Ultimately/eventually it has to stand on its own, but it can be the fastest way for an audience to get into it (and the idea of a poem entirely without context is nonsense, there is always some sort of assumptions that the audience (and poet) are making...)
2) warn that there might be cross-cultural issues, but do not explain them -- then you can get the reviewer's feedback without pre-loading their conceptions -- and then you can explain what you really meant afterwards, and they can give yet more feedback on how close they got to your intent.
Good luck!
Ian
http://www.ianbadcoe.uk/
Thanks, David. And thanks, Bodkin. I like the forgiving way you explained the alternatives. I tend to think there should be some universal plane on which the poem can stand on its own, but it is silly, isn't it, to think it even should be decontextualized.
Hey, Shadwell--thanks for the greeting.