Well, I evolved too recently to recall any previous spontaneous poem posts, but, while I have just very recently actually "workshopped" a poem to a bright sheen, it occurs to me that putting up something one is pretty happy with might be a good idea too, since a good no one sees our faults like others do.

On the general subject of his thread, I'm opposed at present.

Allen wrote:
(((By the way --- what's the problem with things going to the top of the stack? I'm not so mechanical that I can't bypass something that reappears once I have determined it's not my kind of thing rhythmically or otherwise. I use my mind.)))

Terry, apologies for another digression, but the question comes up every so often and might as well be answered.

Allen, the thread at the top of the stack on each board is the one highlighted on the main page, and when it's had a lot of posts it's also marked in various ways as something needing/deserving to be looked at. So every additional bump is another bid for attention, and it's considered bad manners for the poet to bump his own poem too often. It's also considered bad manners to push newer poems down while bumping up older ones.

And every additional thread on the board pushes an older one off the front page and into something-like-oblivion. (After a while, that's a good thing, but it needs to be thought about when the boards are very active.)

The problem is that it is contrary to the purpose of workshopping to post something you view as being "complete." That way lies "vanity" posts...

I'm sure that if many of the greatest poems of the past few centuries were posted in a workshop, they'd receive a bevy of suggested changes. Which is fine, of course, but the buck stops with the poet's happiness with his or her work. For the sake of artistic integrity, that has to be the final litmus test.

Maryann, I understand your reply, it's always a judgement call. No problem.
Shaun, I was not speaking of vanity posts --- no way.
Best.

I vote Nay. Terry's idea is what the current forums do; if you're neurotic enough to want to post but not to want any of the rest of us to think you think what you've posted is much good, put a disclaimer up. Janet's idea is what Drills & Amusements is for. Surely Erato ought not to encourage shoddiness when its whole reason for being revolves around quality and polish? If you want to chat in verse, go to D&A and start a thread called Poetic Conversation. I say.

Chris

Spontaneity was the core of my suggestion Chris. I'm sure you don't equate that with "shoddiness". Set topics are not spontaneous. Useful and amusing yes. Spontaneous, no.

While I'm not sure either Terry or Janet intends to "encourage shoddiness," I think Chris articulates the most sensible point of view in this thread, namely that everything proposed in this thread already has a home somewhere in the Sphere.

David R.

See my post above yours David.

I don't want to labour the point though. It seems that spontaneity might lead to ballroom dancing.

Re: shoddiness, you can surely see the very short line from encouraging spontaneity by enshrining it in a forum to the poet who defends his crappy poem on the grounds that every line is spontaneous, i.e., not much thought about, but what he was "feeling at the time." While spontaneity is often lovely and delightful, I think it a bad value on which to bestow our institutional imprimatur.

institutional imprimatur

Ah yes, that.

Actually I just wish we could relax in verse occasionally on GT. I'd hate a special place for it.