046: Sounds Forced

“Don’t ever force it,”
They say about the arts, meaning
for this,
for me in the right here right
meow,
don’t force poetry.

DON’TFORCEPOETRY!!!!!!!!!!!

!

But forced times
call for
forced measures.

Like the way Spiderman’s
forcing you to think:
DR.PEPPERDR.PEPPERDR.PEPPER
when he shoots
DR.PEPPERDR.PEPPERDR.PEPPER
webs across his room at a
DR.PEPPERDR.PEPPERDR.PEPPER
can.
that’s more than “placement”
as in
filling platea = “open space.”
Nah.
That crap’s being forced into already
closed space.
Spiderman was
a Jones soda kind
of guy
at the time that film was made.

Or…

What if Iran or North Korea or [insert modern apotheosized foe]
obtain a NUCLEAR or [insert modern doomsday] device?!

“That’s missing the fact that—“

YES, but WHAT if Iran or North Korea or [insert modern apotheosized foe]
obtain a NUCLEAR or [insert modern doomsday] device?!

“Well, I guess that’s always possible, but we should really be asking—“

IKNOWIKNOWIKNOW, BUT! What if Iran or North Korea or [insert modern apotheosized foe]
create a NUCLEAR or [insert modern doomsday] device?!

“You’re really not listening to a wor—“

I hear ya, I hear ya, but what if Iran or North Korea or [insert modern apotheosized foe]
gets a NUCLEAR or [insert modern doomsday] device?!

“Talk about not getting a word in edg—“

Edgy? I’m not edgy, you’re edgy. I’m just trying to ask the following: What if Iran or North Korea or [insert modern apotheosized foe]
gets a NUCLEAR or [insert modern doomsday] device?!

sigh

Forced speech,
forced hand.

all
verbal bets count
at certain
poker tables.

So let’s force some things,
because they’ve reduced us
poets
to shouting,
and we’ve run out of ways
to use
this lame excuse for
emphasisthathas
2
do
with:the:[i]way
w’ere framing
are
metre.

Here goes
nothing
like the governmental
signs of Rome:

IF YOU CONTINUE TO BANISH OUR METAPHOR, EXILE OUR REASON TO CORNERS OF EMPIRE, RUIN OUR PLATFORMS, SEGREGATE METER, NEUTER RHYME’S PURPOSE AND HIDE THE PHONETICS, IF JAIL YOU OUR BARDS AND YOU CASTRATE OUR LYRICISTS, TURN ALL OUR TROUBADOURS INTO YOUR MARKETERS, DIVERSIFY VERSIFIERS, BURN UP OUR SONNETEERS, RUIN OUR RHYMERS AND LYNCH ALL THE LAUREATES

~then ~

one day
you’ll wake
to world
without

compass
map
watch
swatch
schematic
reference section
shelter
hammerfell
nail
starsign
clothesline
amplifier
billboard top 40
trumpet
code or codex
camera
thresholds
barefoot walk on sunset-lit beach
telescope
microscope
stethoscope
word processor
thesaurus
laxative
immodium
purgative
antacid
cardboard box
} and the rocket it resembles {
external hard drive
barometer
odometer
thermometer
pedometer
tachometer
glucometer
vaccometer
insomneter
neurometer
cardometer

or song

for these too come
from poetry.


[i] supposedly modern and supposedly clever

}{

For newcomers — a note on 50 @ 25:

Once upon a time, I read that the perfect age for writing quality poetry is twenty-three.  Apparently most of T.S. Elliot’s stuff came out then, the rest of his work being supposedly non-poetic. This resulted in 46 poems written at 23

These poems came out exponentially faster and faster before my 24th birthday on April 30th – and I had to write in genres spanning from epic ballads to limericks to get 46 in on time. I guess that means, for better or worse, that’s the best poetry I’ll ever write. Sad day.

READ NEXT:  You Are Not An Idolatrous Creature of the Earth

Who was I kidding?

Milton was blind and oldoooooold—when he publishedParadise Regained. Emily Dickenson was dead when her stuff came out. My favorite stuff from T.S. Elliot came out after his conversion. So yeah, old age is good for poetry too. Look at Burns and Berry.

(Side note: the name “Berry Burns” sounds like a shady car salesman).

Will I keep up this twice-my-age regimen every few years? Who knows, but this year, here’s to 50 poems at 25 to be written exponentially faster until I turn 26 on April Thirtyish. I do it this the second time around as a way to say: “Here’s to living life well before it’s too late.”


Be sure to share and comment. And subscribe.

Comment early, comment often, keep it civil:

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. jeffreydaniel

    nice rant. which is infinitely more accessible and well received when disguised as a poem. Bravo. Still scratching my head about how laxatives owe their birth to poets…

    1. lanceschaubert

      haha, yeah. Some of them are far more ranty than others. This one I wrote because I realized in the midst of this journey when I needed #46 that whatever I wrote would be forcing it — I didn’t “feel” like writing poetry. That, in and of itself, reminded me how the “feel” like writing poetry is a product of how far our culture has obscured our artist. So I forced this out.

      As for the laxatives, it should be taken as a set:

      laxative
      immodium
      purgative
      antacid

      And they’re all symbols. It’s not that actual laxatives owe their birth to poets, but that poetry itself works as a laxative when we’re clogged, immodium when we’re running all over the place, a purgative when we’re poisoned and an antacid when we’re purging. Poetry is compass. Poetry is laxative.

      That sort of thing.

  2. Doberman

    Whoever said don’t force art was never a dancer. Hehehhehehe.

    1. lanceschaubert

      Haha. Nice.

Quick note from Lance about this post: when you choose to comment (or share this post with your friends) you help other readers just like you.

How?

Well, see, your comments & sharing whisper a few things to those who come after you:

The first is that this site is a safe place to speak up & stay curious. That it's civil. That discussion is encouraged. That there's no such thing as a stupid question (being a student of Socrates, I really and truly believe this). That talking to one another and growing together is more important than anything we could possibly publish. That the point is growing in virtue and growing together and growing wise. That discovery is invention, deference is originality, that we all can rise together. The only folks I'm going to take comments down from are obvious jerks who argue in bad faith, don't stay curious, or actively make personal attacks. And, frankly, I'd rather we talk here than on some social media farm — I will never show ads and the only thing I'm selling anywhere on the site or my mailing list is just the stuff I make.

You're also helping folks realize that anything you & they build together is far more important than anything you come to me to read. I take the things I write about seriously, but I don't take myself seriously: I play the fool, I hate cults of personality, and I also don't really like being the center of attention (believe it or not). I would much rather folks connect because of an introduction I've made or because they commented with one another back and forth and then build something beautiful together. My favorite contributions have been lifelong business and love partnerships from two people who have forgotten I introduced them. Some of my closest friends NOW I literally met on another blog's comment section fifteen years ago. I would love for that to happen here — let two of you meet and let me fade into the background.

Last, you help me revise. I'm wrong. Often. I'm not embarrassed to admit it or worried about being cancelled or publicly shamed. I make a fool out of myself (that's sort of the point). So as I get feedback, I can say, "I was wrong about that" and set a model for curious, consistent learning, and growing in wisdom. I'm blind to what I don't know and as grows the island of my knowledge so grows the shoreline of my ignorance. It's the recovery of innocence on the far end of experience: a child is in a permanent state of wonder. So are the wise: they aren't afraid of saying, "I don't know. That's new: please teach me." That's my goal, comments help. And I read all reviews: my skin's tough, but that's not license to be needlessly cruel. We teach one another our habits and there's a way to civilly demolish an idea without demolishing another person: just because I personally can take the world's meanest 1-star review doesn't mean we should teach one another how to be crueler on the internet.

For three magical reasons — your brave curiosity, your community, & my ignorance:

Please comment & share with friends how you prefer to share:

Follow The Showbear Family Circus on WordPress.com

Thanks for reading the Showbear Family Circus.
  1. "I think you can write about yourself without the vain, self-focused naval gazing. Good storytelling is a gift from writers…

  2. "His fans didn’t just write fiction about it. One calculated the tensile strength of the material it was made of.…

  3. My mother was the volatile Italian and my dad was the calming influence when things went awry. Dad was our…

  4. Lancelot, thank you, for that congrats, but I fear that continues my jinxed lament - that the late Andy Warhol…

Copyright © 2010— 2023 Lancelot Schaubert.
All Rights Reserved.
If we catch you using any of the substance of this site to train any form of artificial intelligence, we will prosecute
to the fullest extent permitted by any law.

Human children and adults always welcome
to learn bountifully and in joy.