Ode to Displacement

Yeh - it's a balance between indulgence (pleasing yourself) and discipline (playing by 'the rules'). I'm finding the discipline part demanding, but also fascinating - having to manipulate ideas so that the form will accommodate and assimilate them without the finished article screaming 'contrivance' it's almost another language (and a kind of masochistic emancipation).

I've been guilty of that in the past, dismissing form poetry as 'unnatural' to the eye/ear, but since attempting to write this stuff myself, I've developed a healthy respect for both practice and practioners, and both eyes and ears (that is, both eyes and both ears - man, I'm so symmetrical, it's unnatural) have become more receptive and appreciative.

But then the starting point for perception is the recognition of regular patterns and shapes, so I guess meter and rhyme shouldn't be regarded as alien - it's just that exceptions to rules are more distinctive and therefore more 'memorable', which is where occasional divergence from the rules of a particular form can be so effective. In the same way, I think 'free' verse, written without any consideration for meter and other prosodic devices, can be so unmemorable - that kind of freedom of expression defeats itself - all exception is no exception, and with nothing 'familiar' to hook into, reading it can be an alienating experience.

Derma, you bastard - you've lulled me into a false sense of impunity. Can I really talk shit and get away with it? Whatever - you don't actually mis- [sic] anything - you see what I don't, and that's the value of comment/criticism.
I think you need something stronger than booze, if only to make your hole more hospitable - I hope you're not indulging in self-flagellation down there...