Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Gollum on
Fri Sep 26th 2003 at 10:35am
Posted
2003-09-26 10:35am
Gollum
member
1268 posts
525 snarkmarks
Registered:
Oct 26th 2001
Occupation: Student
Location: Oxford, England
Okay, so this idea will most likely flop. I certainly expect and deserve mass ridicule. Still, it's worth a try.
There are plenty of creative and artistic people at this site. I wonder, have any of you ever written a bit of poetry? Many people write a little bit when they are young, and then hide it away for fear that their friends might read it and laugh at them. It's a bit like singing in that respect - a fairly personal expression that is easily crushed by a few scathing remarks.
Few people continue to write, and few appreciate their abilities. Sometimes, though, a little group of embarassed and self-deprecating poets springs up from nowhere; what's more, these groups seem to have an enormous positive impact on their member's writing. One example, of which I know, is the "Balliol Scrawl" at my university.
Anyway, it usually takes someone to start off something like this. I thought I'd have a go, both because I'd love to read your poems and because it may stimulate me to write more myself.
So go ahead and post any piece of poetry you've written. It doesn't have to rhyme and it doesn't matter what it's about. It could be funny, deeply serious or just bizarre. It could be the lyrics to a song that you wrote. You could explain what it's about or leave us guessing.
To get things rolling, here's a few of mine. I'm very partial to rhyme and meter, and I have a rather old-fashioned lyrical style. No doubt many people will find them totally pretentious and cringe-worthy, but I couldn't care less about that. I encourage anybody else who has tried a bit of writing, to cultivate a similarly robust attitude.
This one is just a daft ditty I came up with:
Truth and I shall meet again
For we share the same worn track.
Save only truth takes every bend
Whilst I draw in the slack.
This one is to the tune of "Mud, mud, glorious mud":
Stress, stress, glorious stress -
Nothing quite like it for making a mess.
So come with me kindly,
And rant with me blindly,
Then get thee behind me!
Such glorious stress.
This one is somewhat darker:
I see myself again,
Through the twisted glass of mind.
Through the glass I see,
Ghostly masks and phantoms blind.
They will not laugh for me.
Through their lies I see,
To colder truth of liberty.
They will not follow me.
Through my eyes I see,
A bloodshot world of treachery.
It shall not capture me.
Through myself I see.
The pain is kind, it sets me free.
This one is longer; I wrote it for a friend whose patience and kindness have been a great help to me over the past few years. You might say it's a "thank you note". It's also about some of my favourite places, and in a more thematic sense it's about light, shadow, and the gulf inbetween:
I stood upon a distant mountaintop
Whose gold-tipped heights brushed the encroaching dawn
Whose honeyed blood drove back the creeping grey
Who is of passion and of fear forlorn.
I wandered through a hidden, silent vale
Whose thousand greens were all unknown to me
Whose stumbling feet were lost in cotton clouds
Who kissed the hills but sought the lowly lea.
I lingered by a rocky, ravaged shore
Whose shattered shell the yielding ocean caught
Whose deep refrains drew near a breaching whale
Who haply sang for me ? but I heard naught.
I slept beneath a dustless desert sky
Whose arch was flecked with stars, and flaming each
Whose lonely light with weary toil found me
Who tried to comfort them, but could not reach.
I ranged the world and all this beauty saw
Yet still I was empty and artless.
The lights I viewed could only serve
To deepen inner darkness.
For, fleeing from the sun, the creeping grey
Which in the hollows of my eyes retired
Settled, pooled, and coated over colour
Till with my gloomy words it was expired.
I chanced upon a silver, shining soul
Whose lucid light drove back my dusky doom.
He did not fear the creeping grey;
His eyes could see me through the gloom.
Now once again I range the world
But this time I am free.
I walk in clouds but do not lose my way;
I feel the breaking of the day.
And finally, just to prove that shame really doesn't matter, here's one I wrote when I was somewhat younger:
Some spiders are big and hairy,
With great big fangs, really scary!
Some spiders are thin and skinny,
Some spiders have deadly poison!
Some spiders are big,
Some spiders are small,
Do you like spiders,
At all?
Now it's your turn!
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Gwil on
Fri Sep 26th 2003 at 11:20am
Posted
2003-09-26 11:20am
Gwil
super admin
2864 posts
315 snarkmarks
Registered:
Oct 13th 2001
Occupation: Student
Location: Derbyshire, UK
i have some somewhere, i just lean more toward creative writing myself (or used to).. ill have a look when im back from the shops on the ol' grocery run :smile:
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Leperous on
Fri Sep 26th 2003 at 11:47am
Posted
2003-09-26 11:47am
Leperous
Creator of SnarkPit!
member
3382 posts
1635 snarkmarks
Registered:
Aug 21st 2001
Occupation: Lazy student
Location: UK
In Memoriam
So. Farewell
Then
My forum l337ness.
People would misspell
'You'.
And play "Last Person
Who posts in this thread
Wins."
Some clever git had
To
Come along and make
It highbrow and intelligent.
But we did have
'Post ure hot PiX
Heer'.
(apologies to E.J. Thribb)
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by DocRock on
Fri Sep 26th 2003 at 12:37pm
Posted
2003-09-26 12:37pm
DocRock
member
367 posts
929 snarkmarks
Registered:
Mar 24th 2002
Location: U S of A
Me and a freind toss stupid poems back and forth to each other all day on emails, just for laughs. The workers were banging around pretty loud one morning outside, and I came up with this:
MORNING DUES
Beautiful sunrise
Children playing
Birds are signing
And an old man saying
"Shut your trap
ya stupid kids
quit your damn banging
those trash can lids!"
Then he reaches
down under his bed,
grabs a shotgun
and blows off the bird's head.
And with a sigh
he pulls down the blind,
falls into bed
and sleeps to the silence so kind.
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by KoRnFlakes on
Fri Sep 26th 2003 at 10:14pm
Posted
2003-09-26 10:14pm
1125 posts
511 snarkmarks
Registered:
Jul 3rd 2002
Occupation: Yus!
Location: Norfolk
I see myself again,
Through the twisted glass of mind.
Through the glass I see,
Ghostly masks and phantoms blind.
They will not laugh for me.
Through their lies I see,
To colder truth of liberty.
They will not follow me.
Through my eyes I see,
A bloodshot world of treachery.
It shall not capture me.
Through myself I see.
The pain is kind, it sets me free.
^ I love that.
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by KoRnFlakes on
Fri Sep 26th 2003 at 10:25pm
Posted
2003-09-26 10:25pm
1125 posts
511 snarkmarks
Registered:
Jul 3rd 2002
Occupation: Yus!
Location: Norfolk
My life I suffer,
Do I suffer needlessly?
Do I harm myself only to please
Those that hate my inner beauty?
Have I hung a noose around my head?
Only to find that I was already dead.
Can I fall further than the bottom?
a bottomless pit for which noone can stop him.
Is it worth the struggle back up?
when I know one day i'l drop.
With death I could set free,
But guarded by my sanity,
I suffer and see,
The man ive decided to be.
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Gollum on
Fri Sep 26th 2003 at 11:26pm
Posted
2003-09-26 11:26pm
Gollum
member
1268 posts
525 snarkmarks
Registered:
Oct 26th 2001
Occupation: Student
Location: Oxford, England
I'm pleased and impressed - though not surprised - by these replies.
Lep, that's an apposite take on the genre of Thribb parodies. You had me laughing out loud :smile:
Doc, this sort of day-to-day poetry is a great habit; I wish I wrote so regularly and easily.
Korn, I hope you keep writing this stuff. I can tell that poem is "written in blood"; often the best poetry comes from strong emotions. I particularly like:
"But guarded by my sanity,
I suffer and see,"
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Dr Brasso on
Fri Sep 26th 2003 at 11:48pm
Posted
2003-09-26 11:48pm
1878 posts
198 snarkmarks
Registered:
Aug 30th 2003
Occupation: cad drafter
Location: Omaha,NE
i see the talent really comes out when properly motivated.....well done mike, well done gentlemen...i see some flair in poems in this thread..... :smile:
Doc Brass..... :dodgy:
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Tracer Bullet on
Fri Sep 26th 2003 at 11:58pm
Posted
2003-09-26 11:58pm
2271 posts
445 snarkmarks
Registered:
May 22nd 2003
Occupation: Graduate Student (Ph.D)
Location: Seattle WA, USA
Hmm, poetry isn't really my thing. I'm actualy trying to write a novel right now though...
good stuff guys!
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Dr Brasso on
Fri Sep 26th 2003 at 11:59pm
Posted
2003-09-26 11:59pm
1878 posts
198 snarkmarks
Registered:
Aug 30th 2003
Occupation: cad drafter
Location: Omaha,NE
my contribution to this thread....its pretty self explanitory :heee:
woke up today, the same old way,damn the ole lady's got something to say...
about late last night or maybe fifteen years ago.....
its the same ole thing on the end of the string, too much fun and not enough bringin' in the money,
she says im a loser, i dont know.....
broken my back and ive broken my bones and ive broken my spirit......clean
i hear nothing more than excuses, as far as the aye can see...
i cant hold on to yesterday, i cant bring em back to me...
gimme just a little mental break, and let the bygones be....
the nine to five will just keep us alive, day to day is rougher, gotta fight to survive
im exhausted to the point i cant tell the night from days...
with ten minute tickers, and 60 yard kickers, the money keeps movin' as the light bulbs flicker
and the reverend is hoping he can help me change my ways....
just a ditty....as you say... :heee:
Dr Brasso... :dodgy:
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Orpheus on
Sat Sep 27th 2003 at 12:23am
Posted
2003-09-27 12:23am
Orpheus
member
13860 posts
2024 snarkmarks
Registered:
Aug 26th 2001
Occupation: Long Haul Trucking
Location: Long Oklahoma - USA
wayward friends they seem to say,
all of them presume,
that orph was born only yesterday,
humming songs and tunes.
adjacent to his pc desk,
are all his movie disc's,
if only he had bought them all,
there wouldn't be no risk.
over on his other side,
you'd never think to see,
his photo's of his wayward friends,
pointing and laughing at me..
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Cassius on
Sat Sep 27th 2003 at 1:28am
Cassius
member
1989 posts
238 snarkmarks
Registered:
Aug 24th 2001
In ancient japan the true warrior would
sleep with his back to the wall and his sword in his hands so
that he would never fail to protect what he loved.
On the other hand, when those same warriors went to battle
they put spice under their helmets so that
if their heads were cut off
it'd smell sweet.
So then I guess that
pride, honor, love; these things are as
far apart from chaos as
the split-second song of a blade.
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by DesPlesda on
Sun Sep 28th 2003 at 11:09am
Posted
2003-09-28 11:09am
204 posts
30 snarkmarks
Registered:
Feb 14th 2002
Occupation: Student
Location: Tasmania, Australia
Here are a few songs that I wrote for you lot a while ago.
The Alien_Sniper Fan Club Song
to the tune of Jingle Bells
refrain:
Dave Kelly
Dave Kelly
Texturally impaired
He's nuts on all the forums
So now we're really scared
Nonsensical nick-name
Spouts wisdom every day
At least he likes to think it is
So we not and run away
Dave's a mapping man
Slaps hammer in his hand
He's never really done a map
But we all understand
So here's to our main Dave
Not smart but kinda brave
The only one who Orph likes
He's our favourite forum slave
Tribute
To the tune of Tribute by Tenacious D
This is the greatest and best frag in the world.
dm_tribute.
Long time ago, me and my clan [Kyle]^, here
We was lagging down an old and dusty map
When all of a sudden
There shined a shiny railgun
In the middle of the zone
The noobs said:
'Play the best shot in the world
Or I'll ban your host'
So me and [Kyle]^
We looked at each other
And we said: 'Okay.'
So I aimed the railgun right at his head
And the whole group managed to see
It was the best frag in the world!
It was the best frag in the world!
You looked into my sights and it was easy to see
You were doomed, had no chance, before you turned to flee
It was your destiny
Once every hundred thousand rounds or so
When the fragcount's reached and the hours are slow
And the ping is low
Needless to say
The newb was stunned
A quick flick from his whippy nick
And the beast respawned
He asked us:
'Be you wallhack?'
And we said, 'Nay,
We are but l33t!'
Owned...
Was that not
The best frag in the world? No?
STFU newbie!
You didn't deserve
The best frag in the world, no,
STFU newbie!
It was the greatest frag in the world, oh right
It was the greatest frag in the world, oh right
To the greatest frag in the world!
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by gimpinthesink on
Sun Sep 28th 2003 at 6:27pm
662 posts
176 snarkmarks
Registered:
Apr 21st 2002
Occupation: student
Location: Forest Town, Notts
Here's a good one for you
Ode to a Goldfish
My wet pet
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Leperous on
Mon Sep 29th 2003 at 9:08am
Leperous
Creator of SnarkPit!
member
3382 posts
1635 snarkmarks
Registered:
Aug 21st 2001
Occupation: Lazy student
Location: UK
Why do people think you go green with leprosy? You get skin lesions (among other things) which looks like bad rashes... and it has an incubation period of 5 years or so, so YOU could have it right now and not know.....! :razz:
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by ReNo on
Mon Sep 29th 2003 at 2:43pm
ReNo
member
5457 posts
1991 snarkmarks
Registered:
Aug 22nd 2001
Occupation: Level Designer
Location: Scotland
LOL Des, I'd read the Tribute one before, but that one about A_S is new to me. I miss him now : :sad:
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Gollum on
Mon Sep 29th 2003 at 2:47pm
Gollum
member
1268 posts
525 snarkmarks
Registered:
Oct 26th 2001
Occupation: Student
Location: Oxford, England
That reminds me - whatever happened to Dave?
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Leperous on
Tue Sep 30th 2003 at 9:07am
Leperous
Creator of SnarkPit!
member
3382 posts
1635 snarkmarks
Registered:
Aug 21st 2001
Occupation: Lazy student
Location: UK
That's a good question. With a long and witty answer.
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Gollum on
Sun Oct 12th 2003 at 11:09pm
Posted
2003-10-12 11:09pm
Gollum
member
1268 posts
525 snarkmarks
Registered:
Oct 26th 2001
Occupation: Student
Location: Oxford, England
Delete this please....silly Word HTML-type formatting weirdness :rolleyes:
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Gollum on
Sun Oct 12th 2003 at 11:13pm
Posted
2003-10-12 11:13pm
Gollum
member
1268 posts
525 snarkmarks
Registered:
Oct 26th 2001
Occupation: Student
Location: Oxford, England
I don't normally write free verse, but tonight I felt like it so....
At last I fade away
At last I fade away;
My ingenious mind can no longer plug
These gaps inside the image of myself
With palatable platitudes.
The world leaks in, and by degrees
I must abandon hoarded vanity,
As each encrustation of my character
That once did glitter in protection
Is taken by the flood.
My domain decreases, and with each ripple
Of implacable reality
Another vulnerable flame will be extinguished.
I spread them out too thin, it seems;
I lit too many, seeking light
Yet not knowing how to build a lasting fire.
I should have stoked it for the warmth
Instead of for the flame.
And so the water rises;
And it is getting darker.
I will have to drown myself
Before I can breathe again.
My good advice, so well received,
By others who had more sense than I,
Is useless in my own defence.
I should never have taken up this armour
That whispers for enemies to come.
It looked so strong at the time, and how it shone!
It dazzled me with false stoicism.
What then shall I become,
Who had not more than distant promise
Endlessly postponed?
Shall I now submerge myself
In these chill waters?
There is a kind of peace at least ?
Ablution in mediocrity.
Or shall I find some meaner board
Upon which to cast myself adrift
Until I reach another fertile island of the soul
And burn it down to watch the inferno dance?
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by blu_chze on
Mon Oct 13th 2003 at 3:51am
112 posts
61 snarkmarks
Registered:
Sep 2nd 2003
Occupation: Student
Location: Perth, West Australia
great poems guys... grr creative people-envious
bleh... i failed the poetry section in me Literature exam... badly... anyone a Frost fan or does everyone ignore poets like the Metaphysicals (john donne and crew) and other oldies?
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Gollum on
Mon Oct 13th 2003 at 10:50am
Posted
2003-10-13 10:50am
Gollum
member
1268 posts
525 snarkmarks
Registered:
Oct 26th 2001
Occupation: Student
Location: Oxford, England
I've only read a little John Donne; some good stuff though nothing that completely thrilled me.
I don't believe failing a poetry literature exam has much bearing on whether you can write good poetry. If you genuinely envy the writers here, that means you'd like to write something - so why not give it a go? Don't let bad measures of failure put you off :smile:
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Gollum on
Mon Oct 13th 2003 at 4:48pm
Gollum
member
1268 posts
525 snarkmarks
Registered:
Oct 26th 2001
Occupation: Student
Location: Oxford, England
I've found free verse quite refreshing just recently. So long as I don't get completely stuck on it......Anyway, here's something that occured to me today when discussing threads a little like this one (though really, we had in mind threads whose contributors were less mature and whose poetry was more ropey). I was surprised at the response of some of my friends, and it prompted this:
Fragments of beauty
When I see verse from a fellow writer
Offered up in bashful eagerness ?
Or prose perhaps, which lilts less rhythmically
Yet frees its master to explore ?
What then is my reaction?
I have friends who, once poetic,
And cruelly blessed with wit beyond their use
Would scorn upon a fledgling scribe;
Oh how we love to clip the wings
Of those who dare to fly!
Of course they never will attempt
To gloat so meanly on my abortive stuttering;
They know full well I can defend my words ?
But more, that I have access to some of theirs
That they do not wish demolished.
But how much easier it is to rubbish
Someone who does not live next door.
We are all brave at a distance.
I am capable of the most damning intellectual rebuke,
The most crippling dissection of personality;
I know where to place the knife and how to twist it.
Oh, it is a grim and bloody passion
That calls to me from its morbid lair,
Offering a pact of strength.
Shall I listen? Will I be thus great?
No.
When I see halting, imperfect verse
With garbled grammar and muddled meter
And lines I would have phrased differently,
Or rambling prose, which loses its coherence
By trying too hard to say too much,
I do not indulge the gruesome conceit
Of labelling them ?idiots? and ?plebs? and ?angsty teens?.
My friends see something they can dismiss ?
And use to feel superior
At some faceless author?s expense ?
Where I see fragments of beauty
And pray for them to grow.
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Gollum on
Tue Oct 21st 2003 at 8:38pm
Gollum
member
1268 posts
525 snarkmarks
Registered:
Oct 26th 2001
Occupation: Student
Location: Oxford, England
Back to my natural style again - that is to say, overly-fanciful and mired in pretension :biggrin: Still, it's a good message, I think...
Some Good Advice
Be mindful of your friends.
A stray remark, a scathing word
Though part in jest ? an outer garb
To hide some bitter fear repressed ?
May operate on thought unheard
And though you did not will the barb
It settles deep, and deeper rends
When later maudlin mind attends.
Then look you fast to make amends.
Be mindful of your friends.
But should you fear to do them harm
In some unguarded moment rash,
Thyself then mind; for fear of guilt
May make you like to be less kind
As well as cruelty abash.
Instead upon this mantra lilt:
Seek not salvation by retire
From sins unmeant and errors dire.
Dread yet the power that you wield
But know its complement revealed:
The self-same power lends you grace
To offer, as though in embrace,
Fond healing words, which shall protect
Your love from errors of neglect.
Though fell may fall a jealous slant
With wrath upon the innocent,
Fairer may bloom the honeyed plant
That grows from careless compliments.
Spread the soil with generous seeds;
Just one to thrive is all it needs,
For you can soothe much strife and pain
With balm from but a single grain.
The wise man thus his garden tends;
Be mindful of your friends.
And of those who are not your friends
Be mindful too; for friends unmet
Might bridge a path ?twixt me and you,
Where we may meet and sadness share
And in so sharing, joy beget.
Or yet might not; but still you?ll find
Some unexpected gem of care
In those you had not thought to mind.
And of those who inspire resent
Be mindful still; they are alike
To you and me ? they also thrill
To hopes and fears of fortune sent.
Though spite infests their face and form
It was not planned: they only meant
To carve some shelter from the storm.
Their lies are but the blacker part
Of shadows wherein all must dwell;
All evil was a child to start
Till innocence by hardship fell.
Though prudence wisely keeps you clear
Of these destructive spirits blind,
Do not dismiss the darkness drear
Of those who have no-one to mind.
For, separated but by circumstance,
We are all dreamers in a common trance:
A breath to fire each breaking day
And wind the witless world away.
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by $loth on
Wed Nov 10th 2004 at 9:23am
$loth
member
2256 posts
292 snarkmarks
Registered:
Feb 27th 2004
Occupation: Student
Location: South England
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I porn surfed weak and weary
Over many a strange and spurious pornsite of 'hot XXX galore'
While I clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning
And my heart was filld with mourning, mourning for my dear amore.
"Tis not possible!", I muttered, "give me back my free hardcore!"
Quoth the server...404
Re: SnarkPit poetry corner
Posted by Gwil on
Wed Nov 10th 2004 at 2:47pm
Gwil
super admin
2864 posts
315 snarkmarks
Registered:
Oct 13th 2001
Occupation: Student
Location: Derbyshire, UK
STOP RESURRECTING OLD THREADS GOD DAMNIT!
