Monday, May 18, 2009

a procrastinator's ponderings....

how can you write poetry on a computer? how can you pull from the universe for the one true word to fill the spot, capture the essence... how can you find that and feel it and acknowledge it's perfection without the physical connection of ink and paper? or lead and paper... crayon, lipstick, eyeliner, what have you - just the physical connection between you and you words. Something so dry, so impersonal, so void of emotion as a keyboard, an automated machine, little bits of electricity and ones and zeros - whatever it is that translates the push of a key to the corresponding figure on your screen. How can that capture your heart? Your head? Provide solace? It can't. But it can help me finish my homework a bit faster.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

u touch a pencil, you touch the keyboard keys. I assume you arent denying the fact that some immmortal poems have been written on pcs, laptops etc...or maybe you are?

could you pass the peace please said...

of course not. i was hating the computer at that moment. really hating it. i hated the pens in the house as well. picky and particular. hating my paper too. it happens. no matter how i may have tried i wasn't going to write a thing. unfortunately, that's what i had to turn in today. stuff i hated.

but at the same time i do like seeing my emotional state and level of concentration reflected by the indentation of the pen on paper or the light stroke of the ink on the page. sometimes it's the doodles i appreciate most.

Unknown said...

jen-i have been reading your rantings ravings and thoughts since we were teenagers. I have thoroughly enjoyed most of them, and even been awed by some. Though its been some time I cant imagine anything that you write(and I use that term loosely typing can be included) can lack heart. As someone who writes frequently - even though it is mostly for myself now - I find the keys to be just as therapeutic as the ink, especially if you can get lost in the rhythm of the keys clicking under your hands like a song. My doodles are still there i just have to look between the lines for them, they reside somewhere between all that typing and backspacing :P

Anonymous said...

Hi, I was at a reading you were at last week, and although we didnt chat i recieved this link from my friend. Your doodlings and rantings are very amusing. Maybe more amusing that the poets who read at the reading...well with the exception of one or two.....and one who was brilliant.do you write short stories or poetry? I am new in town and wonder what is the state of the poetry scene in Prague?Are there any good poets in town? any scene? D

could you pass the peace please said...

@ Maureen - thanks sweetie!!! it's been a while, but I really appreciate what you had to say. really, a lot more than I'm conveying at this exact moment.

@ Anonymous #2 - would love to know who you are... and who the heck sent you a link to my blog! =) i used to write a lot but don't anymore... however that may change, starting next week, when the summer writing class at AAU begins. i am unfortunately totally unfamiliar with the writing scene in prague - if it were theater you were interested in i could connect you to a few people, but writers - haven't met many other than people like me... lame-ass bloggers who just screw around. i'd like to get back in to writing more so if you should happen to make some connections please pass them along.