Janet wishes
And in the brief time it takes to read the GT sticky, her wish comes true.

Not quite what Janet had in mind, but thanks.

Pssst, Janet--About once a year or so, when I write a bit of humorous fluff and would like to share it without having it critiqued, I open a new thread on the "Drills and Amusements" board, inviting other poets to post their own fluff on a similar theme. It's a more social form of vanity posting: sort of a beat-your-writer's-block potluck. This might be close to what you're suggesting. (It does get pretty humiliating, though, if no one else participates and the thread sinks like a stone, so it's best to choose the topic and word the invitation carefully. And it's also best, as I noted, to use this option sparingly.)

This has been tested and tried Julie. Thanks. I'll try to join in next time. What I miss is those zany moments when a poem happens spontaneously during an ordinary discussion and someone (usually one of the better poets) picks the ball up and runs with it and out of the blue and simply from exuberance an amazing string of interacting poems is created. That won't happen if these moments of sinful self-indulgence are to be counted as some sort of seven-day penance and are treated as showing off and stealing the thunder of others. I thought it was delightful and despite his protestations Michael Cantor was one of the stars of this particular form of communication. Roger Slater was another dazzling perpetrator. Our institutional imprimatur was glorious.

Janet, I was trying to permit such exchanges when I wrote

If you use a poem as part of a conversation, it's a good idea to use prose too.

How much would it cost to add a sentence of prose to those tossed-off poems?
We do have to be conscious of the seven-day rule, but we're trying to allow for spontaneity and fun.

Janet,

The guidelines say
that it's O.K.
to use a poem in GT

as long as you
display a clue
and don't post verse for vanity,

or post a poem
you wrote at home
for critical consumption,

but I don't think
the mods would blink
if someone dashed off sumpthin'

like this thing here
to make a clear
point in a conversation

as long as they
can see it's play
and not self-adulation.

David R.

Maryann--so you did ;-)
I'm running to stay in the same place at the moment. My apologies for misreading you. Great adjustment. Thank you!
Janet

PS: David, that was the sort of thing. I'm too rushed to answer in kind but your poem cheered me up.