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|    Message 499,906 of 500,551    |
|    NancyGene to HarryLime    |
|    Re: Will Dockery's "Shattered" (3/5)    |
|    17 Feb 25 23:04:40    |
      [continued from previous message]              >>> recalled/recollected/remembered, but you wouldn't just use "traced" to       >>> signify that. Your sentence appears to be bemoaning the fact that no       >>> one ever traced their image on a piece of transparent paper.       >>>       >>> And what's with the "never ever"? People stop saying "never ever" at       >>> the age of 5 or 6.       >>       >> That was Mr. Dockery's mental age at 22 in the 11th grade. He was doing       >> the best he could with what he had.       >       > Well, Will is to be congratulated. He's since progressed to the mental       > age of a 10-year old.       What is a 10-year-old capable of learning? Supposedly logic, but we       don't see that. Coming into puberty at the age of five hindered Will       Dockery. (They do things differently in the deep South).       >       >>       >>>       >>>>>>>> If some morning I wake       >>>>>>>> here for you       >>>       >>> Again, this is torturous prose. It should be "If I awake some morning."       >>> In your line, the speaker is pondering the consequences of his waking       >>> up a morning.       >>>       >>> "Here," again, is superfluous -- where else would you be expected to       >>> wake? "There"?       >>       >> Maybe "on" or "at?"       >       >       > I've got it! Will woke up lying here at the floor over there!       All things for all people.       >       >>>       >>>>>>>> trying to find some reason to return       >>>       >>> At this point, your speaker is babbling incoherently. One doesn't wake       >>> up in the middle of attempting to find a reason for doing something.       >>> One wakes up from sleeping.       >>       >> Maybe he was trying to return something at Walmart without a receipt?       >       > You know, if he had a credit card, he wouldn't have any difficulty       > making returns. Walmart's always been very good about that sort of       > thing.       >       > Of course to get a credit card, he'd have to get a job...       He could probably get a job at Walmart, checking receipts.       >       >       >>> And, you have yet to identify who this person being addressed is.       >>       >> Probably the principal, after Mr. Dockery got kicked out of school.       >       > I've been thinking about Will's poem, and I've come to a similar       > conclusion.       We think that the principal also killed himself.       >       > The speaker is lying "shattered" on the floor, with his life having       > passed him by, because he'd just received notice that he would have to       > be repeating his senior year again.       And he heard the voice of "GED" in the sky, telling him that he was       special, that he "don't need no education."              >       >       >>> This is another earmark of a Will Donkey poem -- addressing various       >>> pronouns (you, he, she, it, they) without identifying them to the       >>> reader.       >>       >> It was all a dream, and he had forgotten their names, although they had       >> told him twice. "Hole in one"       >       > In this particular poem, it turns out that he has simply lost his       > marbles.       Such a lack of awareness in a 22-year-old llth grader.       >       >       >>>>>>>> if I see things denied       >>>       >>>       >>> It's impossible to tell if this line relates to that preceding or       >>> following it. It doesn't make sense either way.       >> Not surprising.       >       > That's one of the problems with Fragmentist poetry -- the individual       > thought fragments aren't required to correspond to any of the other       > thought fragments.              Therefore, any thought fragment can be pulled out of the can of thought       fragments and be used at random without affecting the logic or flow of       the poem?              >       >>>       >>> Is he seeing things he once defined denied? What did he define? For a       >>> person to "define" something would mean that he was the perfect symbol       >>> of that particularly quality or characteristic (Joe was the definition       >>> of courage).       >>>       >>> Or is his waking contemplation of the possibility of returning to...       >>> some unidentified thing (a relationship?) being denied by the       >>> unidentified someone's actions?       >> All of those things.       >       > No... I'm convinced that he's lying on the floor (excuse me, at the       > floor) having gotten drunk and stoned out of his mind, upon learning       > that he'd been left back yet again.       Where was he getting the money to buy the drugs? (or was Barfly       supplying them?)              >       > It all makes perfect sense.       >       > Well, maybe not perfect sense.. and maybe not all of it... but at least       > it's got some semblance of a plot.       Not an interesting or publishable plot, though.       >       >       >>> You need to learn how to convey information to your readers. Language       >>> is about communication. It is the means by which we pass on       >>> *information* to others. When your poetry hints at vague relationships       >>> with unidentified pronouns, it is failing to express anything.       >>       >> That's a theme in Mr. Dockery's attempts at writing.       That's unexpressionism?              >       > It's also indicative of his laziness. Why bother to think up a word for       > something when you can just use a handy-dandy pronoun?       Or use the same words over and over and over, like "tizzy," "troll," and       "obsessed?"       >       > "I told you it was good       > But you said it was bad       > What was it that we had?       > I've never understood."       >       > I've just written a Donkey style stanza in 3 seconds flat!       But it rhymes! Dockery poems don't rhyme, or if they do, it is in       random lines.       >       >       >>> Vaguery can be used to a poem's advantage -- but the *entire poem*       >>> should never be incoherent.       >>       >> At least he is consistent.       >       > True. Let's give him credit for that.       But no credit cards. He couldn't even get a pre-paid one.       >       >>>>>>>> I once defined       >>>>>>>> a life just passed me by there       >>>       >>> Where's "there"? If the life "just" passed you by, it would have done       >>> so just a few seconds ago, so "there" should be "here."       >>       >> That was Sydne's wrong left turn with Stinky G.       >       > So Sydne turned here when she should have been there, and now only a       > broken Stinky G is left.       And where is Stinky G, since he's neither here nor there?       >       >       >>>       >>> But earlier in the poem, you'd said that someone else's life had just       >>> passed by.       >>       >> Sydne's ghost.       >       > No, it couldn't have been Sydne's ghost. Will wrote the poem in 1976       > when he was a high school senior. Perhaps the ghost was that of his       > future upon learning that he'd been left back another time?       Time travel is fluid.       >       >>>       >>> Which life was it? The speaker's life? Or the unidentified "you" he is       >>> addressing?       >>       >> The ghost of Dan Barfly.       >       > Dan was still alive then, too. I believe he'd been thrown out of school       > for sleeping with underage students, but he was still hanging around the       > local bars.       Because that's where the underage girls and boys were.       >       >>>       >>>>>>>> slipped through my fingers       >>>       >>> This is just another way of saying "passed me by." If a line doesn't       >>> add anything to the poem, you should cut it.       >>       >> Perhaps the whole poem should be cut? Not just perhaps.       >       > Perhaps the collected works of Will Donkey should be cut. With the       > exception of "When the Mill Shut Down" (or whatever it was called).       So one poem is passable in 50 years of writing?       >       >>>>>>>> everything here now is real       >>>       >>> WFT?       >>>       >>> Was everything not real a moment ago?       >>>       >>> More importantly, *what* has become real?       >>       >> "The Real Housewives of Atlanta?"       >       > The real housewives of Will Donkey's Atlanta don't really have houses.       > They squat in abandoned "mansions" and do their doody in the back yard.       More hole references.                     >       >>>>>>>> so wait.       >>>>>>>> That portion of the finish       >>>>>>>> never comes.       >>>       >>>       >>> I'm guessing that you were stoned out of your senses when you wrote       >>> this, and that it all made perfect sense to you at the time?       >>              [continued in next message]              --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05        * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)    |
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