Comments | scottwoods: Self-censored poems hurt everyone

scottwoods

Self-censored poems hurt everyone

Jun 24, 2006 12:04

Something else I hate to see poets do, rant #115:

Self-censored curse words.

What I mean:

I'm listening to the new Les Nubians album*, Echos: Chapter One: "Nubian Voyager", which is a divergence from previous records in that it's not them singing so much as them featuring poets over music. Naturally, once I was made aware of this, I was drawn ( Read more... )

poetry advice, censorship

Comments 14

ebonygoddess9 June 24 2006, 17:44:21 UTC

Did you ever say how you got sick?

Doesn't matter--guess it's not the point here.

I agree with you about making a concrete choice when using curse words...I also feel I'd rather a person didn't that did, just because often some poets do it just to be sensational, when they really could have just said something else. As an example from my own poem, I had originally used "two pillows, one for breast and for ass". After I wrote it, I realized that it didn't take all that to make the point, because "ass" wasn't my point. I was able to make a change that was just as descriptive, that didn't take away from the original point, and that didn't make it seem like I was trying to evoke more response than was necessary.

Don't get me wrong--I do believe that there are times when curse words add to the emotion or the...life of a piece, but I also tend to agree with my old English teacher (who was an Oberlin grad, btw) who said that profanity is a crutch for those who lack vocabulary...or something similar to that.

dahled June 24 2006, 19:58:19 UTC

i don't buy the lack of vocabulary argument. i know too many uber-articulate poets (and regular people) who curse. a lot.

scottwoods June 24 2006, 20:46:45 UTC

HEar hear.

Would you buy lazy? ebonygoddess9 June 25 2006, 00:40:32 UTC

I could, because sometimes I think it folk can curse just because it's so much easier to be profane then to actually think about something more...uncommon to say.

Then again like I said, I can see that it depends on what point you're trying to make, because editing isn't quite a good idea if you're trying to evoke the image of one who uses profanity in everyday language, or even talking to someone who's more comfortable to using and hearing profanity in their exchanges with folk. But often times I don't think most folk are looking at it like that--it's like we're trying to either shock folk with how..."violent" or passionate we can be about a subject, or we can't think of something else to say about the subject, so we go there.

I should be fair and say too that a lot of how I've been looking at this is generally directed at most contemporary rap lyrics, but I think it can be somewhat brought over to poetry as well in some cases, particularly in slam.

Thread 8

dahled June 24 2006, 20:00:41 UTC

that's from a project that was recorded at and round the Transmusical (in Fance) in '99 or so. there's a lot of frustration behind it - we were just glad that it was finally (FINALLY!) released. and we have said stuff about it... not a whole lot (see frustration above) but we've upped it... or tried to anyway. Check folks MySpace - it's all over Naz's. I'll see if i can get the her to add her .02 when she gets back.

also - the selfsensorship issue dovetails nicely with a debate/discussion going on over in poetryslam's journal.

scottwoods June 24 2006, 20:43:27 UTC

I would love to hear some back story on this.

Also, I just finished going through this entry and it certainly has some great arguments in it. Me in a nutshell: teacher had a brain fart.

dahled June 25 2006, 20:06:24 UTC

i'm sayin! - you HAVE to respect your surroundings. There's certain words you can't really use in the classroom, certainly not in the middle-school classroom. (even if you're the teacher)

More when I see you in person, but... supernaz June 24 2006, 21:06:09 UTC

...this project is the result of a handful of big yet FREE shows (on my part, anyway), alot of empty promises, an utter lack of communication, no artistic support whatsoever & 1 spectacular paid gig, and, still, there has been NO CONTRACT. Not that I'm not down with self-promotion, but I'm sure you can see how promoting this album isn't necessarily promoting myself. I mean, come on - my fucking NAME IS MISSPELLED IN ALL PRESS AND PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL ( ... )

Re: More when I see you in person, but... scottwoods June 25 2006, 11:19:32 UTC

Naz, I'd LOVE to hear the story on this. Being on a similar mission, it's good to compare notes when we can.

just_smurfie June 28 2006, 01:07:35 UTC

Hope you're feeling better.