JOHN ASHBURY- "Self-Portrait of a convex mirror"
7:42 on the dot! (Tompkins 123)
Friday, April 7


Come on out for the most unique poetry reading you have ever experienced.. QUARANTEED!

Attractions: 1. Mexican wrestling
2. Puppet monologues

4/6/2006 10:10:33 AM

no ty.

4/6/2006 10:15:30 AM

4/6/2006 10:23:56 AM

I would come check it out, but isn't that in the middle of the Backyard Bash?

4/6/2006 10:36:25 AM

^^hey Jon Guthrie why dont you visit that thread where you get pwnt...i think its right at the top of chit chat

4/6/2006 10:39:01 AM

What?

4/6/2006 11:05:30 AM

Please, please, please stop shitting on poetry, nmdenman.

4/6/2006 11:14:00 AM

mexican wrestling?

7:42?

good grief

4/6/2006 11:17:49 AM

Quote :

"QUARANTEED"

You know, a lot of readings at Tompkins end up PACKED, standing room only shit. I have a feeling this will not be one of those.

4/6/2006 11:18:44 AM

I'm still trying to figure out if TreeTwista is stupid enough to think I'm jonhguth.

4/6/2006 11:43:47 AM

never trust somebody named jon without an H

4/6/2006 1:07:22 PM

i do like poetry, but i hate people reading it to me.

4/6/2006 1:10:48 PM

Then you don't really like poetry. It's an auditory medium predating written language.

4/6/2006 1:15:30 PM

There is plenty of poetry written with presentation on the page in mind.

4/6/2006 1:29:31 PM

nonsense.
I'm not a fucking native american frosh, learning about cultural taboos..........

I don't think Wasteland or Renascence have to be read aloud to an audience to be enjoyed...

and as introspective as robert frost's poems are, i think it would almost be a shame to do so.





[Edited on April 6, 2006 at 1:55 PM. Reason : tre]

4/6/2006 1:35:56 PM

"Self Portait" is a fantastic collection by an amazing poet, but what's with the schtick? Is there some kind of reference I'm not getting?

4/6/2006 2:00:58 PM

I'm having trouble putting into words just how bad of an advertisement this is.

If it's a reference to anything, it's how to drive people away from your reading at all costs.

4/6/2006 2:05:59 PM

It's not poetry if it isn't heard. I mean, you might as well be saying, "I like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, but I hate watching it on TV. I'd rather read the transcripts." You don't really like the show if that's the case.

[Edited on April 6, 2006 at 2:15 PM. Reason : ...]

4/6/2006 2:14:58 PM

so if you get books on tape

you dont like books?

[Edited on April 6, 2006 at 2:23 PM. Reason : OMG 9000]

4/6/2006 2:22:30 PM

^^ You've probably never heard Bukowski speak...

[Edited on April 6, 2006 at 2:24 PM. Reason : ^^]

4/6/2006 2:23:38 PM

Bukowski reading his work is awesome.

That being said, FroshKiller's last post is on the verge of retarded.

4/6/2006 2:27:56 PM

No, I didn't say that. If you like Moby Dick on tape, then you like Moby Dick on tape. Since the tape is derived from the book, you may very well like the book, but you won't know until you read it. Reading poems silently to yourself is just like that—you're enjoying an adaptation, not the original work. Besides, there's an awful disconnection there. You don't go around listening to paintings, do you?

4/6/2006 2:29:55 PM

There's a program for OS X that makes music in real time by moving the cursor over an image.

4/6/2006 2:31:22 PM

Hey, that's great.

4/6/2006 2:31:35 PM

you can read/listen to a book

you can read/listen to a fucking poem

4/6/2006 2:32:40 PM

You can transcribe lots of media. That doesn't make the transcription equivalent to the original work.

4/6/2006 2:33:46 PM

Let's say we have a written work. It isn't prose. Its intent is to convey some emotion, narrative, or whatever. The structure on the page is integral to appreciating this work. The author did not intend for it to be read aloud. What would you call this?

4/6/2006 2:34:11 PM

Mixed media, visual art.

4/6/2006 2:34:57 PM

I normally agree with you frosh, but you are very much wrong on this point.

you are making some wild generalizations and an even worse analogy (ATHF is intended by its creators to be viewed. I would image many authors of poetry do not expect their works to be read aloud to be enjoyed........ for example: Emily Dickinson was a prolific reader of poetry, but with her wildly introverted nature I doubt she went out to public readings very often. Now you are gloing to tell me she was missing the point??)

frosh, when you read poetry do you not 'hear' it in your mind. The meaning of many poems is in the words and their arrangement, not in the performance.

if what you say is true, then why would anyone bother reading poetry to themselves at all.

yes, poetry did begin as an 'auditory medium predating written language'.... however, it is certainly not limited to that, particularly in this age.

You seem to hold a very antiquated view

4/6/2006 2:39:53 PM

It's not a question of limitation. Transcription is a very efficient way of transmitting poems, and it's a very efficient way of transmitting music, too. How much sheet music do you read?

4/6/2006 2:41:01 PM

apples and oranges frosh.

4/6/2006 2:43:06 PM

Is this a contest to see who can come up with the worst analogies possible?

4/6/2006 2:43:52 PM

Maybe you should write a program that will convert shitty analogies to sounds.

4/6/2006 2:44:49 PM

YOU CANT READ A PAINTING SO WHY WOULD YOU READ A POEM

[Edited on April 6, 2006 at 2:45 PM. Reason : speaking of shitty analogies]

4/6/2006 2:45:15 PM

Frosh's reasoning is digging a hole into the earth of analogies and dumping the dirt of confusion onto the backs of poets.

4/6/2006 2:47:51 PM

i would say my Emily Dickinson refrence is poignant.

I can't imagine someone with an English Degree from NCSU telling one of the world's greatest female poets that because of her nature she would never really like poetry.............

[Edited on April 6, 2006 at 2:49 PM. Reason : rrr]

4/6/2006 2:48:16 PM

Music is an auditory medium. Before the development of any standards for transcribing it, music was transmitted through performance, instruction, and repetition. It was the same with poems.

Then we developed written language and conventions for transcribing music, too. Now we can write down poems and music. Reading music off a page isn't actually appreciating the work as music. Reading poems off a page isn't actually appreciating the work as poetry. What about this is so beyond you? Is it the fact that your only acquaintance with poetry has been printed material in your textbooks?

[Edited on April 6, 2006 at 2:51 PM. Reason : Demathis1 is putting words in my mouth, too.]

4/6/2006 2:48:46 PM

once again, an antiquated view.

but im not gonna bother arguing with you anymore.

4/6/2006 2:50:03 PM

I wasn't aware you'd started, beyond saying I thought a lot of stuff I didn't say and attacking my degree ad hominem and shit.

4/6/2006 2:50:40 PM

what words???????/

after saying i don't like poetry read to me, you said,

Quote :

"Then you don't really like poetry."

now I'm not going to say i am an expert, but I have read a bio on Emily Dickinson, and considering how she lived her life, you would pretty much have to say the same thing to her.


Dude, frosh.
Like I said, I almost always agree with your posts.... just not this time. And i wasn't making fun of your degree, I'm a history major at state for christ's sake

BTW, I have been to many a poetry reading before, I generally just don't like them. Especially if the author/reader has a piss poor reading voice. It's like watching bad acting.



[Edited on April 6, 2006 at 2:57 PM. Reason : ttt]

4/6/2006 2:52:29 PM

What distinguishes poetry, based on the views you are presenting, from prose? Telling stories, true or untrue, has the same roots in time long before the development of a written language. Is reading a novel off a page not actually appreciating the work as a story?

4/6/2006 2:54:04 PM

You're assuming that Dickinson intended for her poetry to be read silently, which is a pretty big assumption. Now, I don't know what she intended, and I don't know that her intent necessarily matters.

What distinguishes poetry from prose is poetry's emphasis on the aesthetic quality of the language.

4/6/2006 3:04:50 PM

that was a bit unclear, what i was saying is that she read a lot of poetry, and mostly to herself (which i happen to prefer to do)..........


but this is all just getting pointless..........

g-damn this arguing on the internet.......

4/6/2006 3:08:59 PM

There is plenty of prose--some of the best, in my opinion, or at least some of my favorite--that has a very strong focus on the aesthetic quality of the language. There are, surely you know, writers whose focus is not on characters, not on story, but on language in their writing.

4/6/2006 3:10:06 PM

emily dickinson lived in a time where if you DIDNT read poetry out loud, you were look at as if you were a freak. reading silently meant you were a witch. i exaggerate, but you get my point. everyone read aloud. dickinson didnt have to intend anything, she already knew people were going to read her stuff aloud.

4/6/2006 3:12:19 PM

WTF??????????

4/6/2006 3:13:26 PM

spöokyjon said:

Quote :

"There is plenty of prose--some of the best, in my opinion, or at least some of my favorite--that has a very strong focus on the aesthetic quality of the language. There are, surely you know, writers whose focus is not on characters, not on story, but on language in their writing."

Yep! Did I say there was a hard and fast distinction? Nope! The line is blurry. Look at Joyce vs. Stein.

4/6/2006 3:13:55 PM

p.s. i gotta agree with frosh. talk to any poetry professor at state. they'll say the same thing too.

4/6/2006 3:17:01 PM

I would really doubt that^

4/6/2006 3:19:22 PM

im in thompkins hcl right now....i'll go up and ask dr. lisk if you want.

4/6/2006 3:20:41 PM