this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2023

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Poetry

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A community to celebrate published and OC works of poetry.

Welcome to !poetry

Guidelines & Community Rules

In addition to the general rules of lemmy.world:

Published Poetry

1a: Poetry posts should include the title and the author, when the author is known.

O.C. Poetry

2a: Sharing original poetry is encouraged, but it must be preceded by the tag "[OC]."

2b: If an [OC] post is requesting feedback, it should also follow with the "[FB]" tag. It would look like the following example:
[OC] [FB] Nothing Gold Can Stay

Feedback

All feedback should be given in good faith.

3a: All [FB] requests should be met with comments constructive in nature. It is okay to dislike parts of a poem, but make sure to explain why you feel that way.

3b: Feedback does not need to be extraordinary in nature. Simply expressing how a work makes you feel is often enough.

3c: Use the honor system. When you receive good feedback, return it in kind to another author. Everyone appreciates knowing their work is being read and appreciated.

As this community develops, these guidelines may be adjusted.

Formatting Help
Work in progress

To create a line break, use two spaces at the end of a line.

To create empty space, type  . Use four of these at the beginning of a line to create a standard indent.

UPDATE:
Some methods of access do not format markdown correctly. I am currently testing various apps and web interfaces to see what does and does not retain formatting.

In the interim, it is encouraged to post text poetry as you normally would, but to include a link at the beginning or end of the post with access to a website or image that retains the formatting as intended.

Other Poetry Communities
Poetry lovers unite! In the style of the fediverse, multiple poetry communities have arisen, and will continue to rise. I will try to keep a list here of communities across instances that are worth checking out!

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

Scaldart

[OC] The Pen Cuts Swiftly... (self.poetry)

submitted 1 year ago by FringeTheory999 to c/poetry

5 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The pen cuts swiftly across the page.
The pale white bleakness that is the poets flesh.
Words spill forth from open veins.
Assuming the semblance of ink.

We were giants then.
I with my brush and you with your words.
Amnesiac deities both.
Gods in winter.
Walking and trading secrets in the rain.

Said I to you, "Is this love?".
and you to I, "Is this love?"
Such a silly ill defined thing.

A steady hand excises the remnants of what once. perhaps may have been.
Gathered into syllables, words, and stanzas,
pressed into the shapes of thoughts and painful memories of happier times.

The water drops slake the thirst of fertile soil beyond the glass.
(The barrier between my world and that).
Protection for that greater realm,
containing stillness within.

Entropy and stillness.
For what else could come from half of duality.
There is no inclination to dance.

Lost are the edges of self.
A specter in a fog having neither light nor shadow,
with which to define a memory, that was once a man.

A stroke of the pen severs my pain,
separate yet still a part Troubling still,
Yet less troubling.

Bound now to paper, and bound in turn.
Imprisoned between leather covers.
Left to creep and sulk between the leaves.

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[–] Scaldart 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I know it took me a bit to get back and really read this, but I like it! I can definitely see myself in this as I struggle to write poems that simultaneously exorcise my soul and celebrate the life I am so gifted to live. There are several contradictions within it that really speak to that dichotomy of self.

I know you didn't post with the feedback tag, so I won't presume to give an unwanted opinion, but there is one line that struck me as odd: "We were giants then." I'm curious as to your intention with it, because its inclusion definitely makes me stop and consider it. If that is the intent, you succeed. If it is not, maybe there is a meaning I'm unable to dissect. It makes me curious.

[–] FringeTheory999 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hi, I’m always happy to talk about my poems. The reason I didn’t include a feedback tag is because it’s a very old poem and I consider it to have been finished years ago. It’s very coded to my circumstances at the time. If you were a person who’d known me back then it would probably make perfect sense. But for the general reader, the specifics of my circumstance when writing it are much less important than the personal reflection that it evokes in the reader. I believe that less is more, and that poetry readers like having puzzles to solve. They often find the answers to those puzzles in themselves more than they could find it in any explanation the author could provide. So, my intent was indeed to make you stop and consider. It wasn’t my only intent though, and some of those I’ll keep to myself.

Thanks for this community by the way. You’re very clearly working hard to drive it and populate it with art. Those efforts are noticed and appreciated. Now if only c/writing would do the same.

Formatting poetry to display properly is a little bit of an undertaking though. Not sure if there’s a way to make that easier considering the platform.

[–] Scaldart 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You know, that's fair. Quite a bit of my older stuff is in the same boat, so I totally understand.

And thank you for the kind words! I'm glad this community is growing. It's my hope to foster a community where people are actually engaged with the content that's posted in a natural and curious way. :)

As far as the formatting is concerned, I agree. It is a real pain, sometimes. There is always the option of including picture submissions, much like r/poetry did, to preserve formatting without all of the extra effort. I wouldn't be opposed to that! What do you think?

[–] FringeTheory999 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It would make things easier, but it would also make things less accessible for visually impaired readers using assistive technology. So I’m on the fence about that. It would be better if the platform would just stop messing with formatting and adding periods everywhere. I could probably just make a widget in Google Sheets to process my text and output a format that will display as intended when pasted into Lemmy. I’ll play with that idea later.

[–] Scaldart 1 points 1 year ago

That's true, too. Although, on the other hand, I'm concerned about that as it is. I'm unsure how well screen readers work with Lemmy in general, and aside from versions explicitly built with markdown in mind, some of them may not be too kind with the current formatting either.

It's something I'll have to keep in mind! As we grow, I'll try to look into that in more depth. If you have any insight on the subject, I'd love to hear it. Also, if you do develop that tool, please share that with me as well! I could link a community version in the sidebar to help others!