https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/category-861-feb. en 2005-2012 shakespearesmonekys@gmail.com 42.65593 -71.33391 Wed, 10 Jun 2026 18:12:17 GMT yacs http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 70 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7376-some-thoughts-on-the-fertility-of-turtles https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7376-some-thoughts-on-the-fertility-of-turtles Not being conversant in 'critique', I accept the notes below may constitute utter bollocks - but they may also reflect the extent to which poetry can capture the imagination of the reader. I've recently read a host of comments in the discussion thread regarding 'bad poetry'. For me, bad poetry is stuff written and published for the exclusive benefit of the writer, to fulfill a personal need, with no regard for the reader. How do you identify a writer's motives? Well, I have no idea - that's as far as I got :> Perhaps it's a gut feeling, although the comment process usually proves to be a solid indicator of attitude. So, anyway - a personal appreciation/exploration of... The Futility of Turtles - Austin Gorsuch  Title - two aspects...does it make me want to read the poem? The Futility of Turtles? Why? I have no idea, but I care because it's a statement, and I'm a sceptic - so that's a 'yes'. Does it say something meaningful about the poem? How should I know? Revisit... The car did not stop. Wheels continued to spin as my father and I looked to the curb - the struggling turtle attempting to work its way back onto its feet. "The car did not stop." Classic first line delivery - monosyllabic, abrupt. Impact - the importance of first impressions/primacy. A line with consequences, preceded by caesura/endash. "The struggling turtle" - (intention behind the use of) definite article (i.e. not a/any old struggling turtle, but the/this one) - implying that the turtle in question has been noted/noticed prior to the reader's attendance, an integral part of this story. So, was it struggling before the (assumed) incident with the car? Or is the car incidental, yet also relevant in metaphoric terms? Does this epitomise the futility of turtles? Did it merely fall off the pavement and tip over into the road, onto its back? If the result of an RTA, wouldn't this have been 'the turtle, struggling, attempting to...'? So perhaps - turtle struggling, car doesn't stop = life goes on, wheels continue to spin, and the reader constructs a drama to accommodate meaningful interpretation? Its legs, splayed to the sunlight, flailed in the crisp breeze of a day just beginning. Observation - no intervention, no interpretation, attitudes or feelings expressed, purely (superficially) descriptive (detached?), with no indication as to where this is going, beyond 'a day just beginning' (there's more to come..) Suggestion of assonance (splayed, flailed) and onomatopoeia (crisp breeze) Contrast (re. 'Later') - sunlight, crisp breeze = a fresh, new day Later, I went out with Mother. She told me stories about how she had been dreaming of being raped, of shooting her husband, and as I tuned the voice of convolution into a studded white noise, Mother capitalized, no 'possessive' pronoun. Formal/impersonal? Alien? Contrast between 'my father and I', + two stanzas of shared experience - and 'Later, I went out with Mother.' - stark, unembellished one-line event. Stories - fantasies/self-indulgence, emphasised by combining 'stories' with 'dreaming' (intentional redundancy). Contrast 'dreaming' with violence of rape and shooting. Joined-up writing ...tuned/voice/white noise. Convolution (compare revolution/evolution - progress/outcome) Studded? Sardonic allusions to...? Ornamental? Hard (rivetted, but not rivetting?). Star-studded? (many connotations e.g. poetic aesthetics & media) Also, interesting (re. discussion thread on use of commas) to see end-of-line comma combined with double line break - says 'this is connected, but' (?) (hesitation - example of the art of manipulation?) And finally (yeah - right)...'being raped, shooting her husband'. The relationship, or not (and the relationship) - repression/distortion > inverse displacement & aggression - fantasy/futility. I began to imagine her, on her back, her arms reaching in futility for the sky from the dark recesses of her verdant shell. The turtle metaphor doesn't appear out of nowhere, we've already 'seen' the 'real' turtle, so this readily paints a picture and forms a strong impression. "I began to imagine" - where/how far would this have gone? Sentiments of (unknown) depth. The 'Mother'/turtle pose - portrays helplessness/hopelessness, but also consistent with a 'rape' scenario and even suggestive of someone having been shot? (irony/poetic justice? - hmm) But the BIG one - 'verdant'. Verdant?! That's a flag - ambush ahead :] Too clichéd to be anything else? Perhaps, but also marked as lush, fertile . Considering implications of 'lush', but probably too far removed. Verdant qualifying shell - no, too involved for my limited resources. I laughed (foolishly). Why foolishly? Shame? Embarrassment? Indifference towards the plight of the turtle? Applying the turtle metaphor to Mother? The mocking of Mother's dreams? Painting the shell green? Or was it foolish to laugh - Mother is looking at me like I'm weird/stupid/disrespectful. Pay attention! More misdirection? Ha! How stupid is that - making such an elementary error. (which one?) After all, her shell has no color. "After all" - seemingly innocuous, but replete with overhanging meaning here. Conclusion, whether explicit or implicit - as important as first lines even when misunderstood, or a complete mystery, as long as it looks/sounds/feels like a conclusion. So, even metaphorical turtles have shells & shells have colour - which leaves a further metaphor... shell = no life = no colour? And the title...The Futility of Turtles...that's a 'yes'. Final note: If you're still awake - really, you should get out of your shell more often :> Final, final note: I always attempt to approach every poem as being entirely fictional, irrespective of what I may or may not know (if anything) about the writer. Assumptions lure, attribution theory rules... ... more aphasic Aphasic's athenaeum of illiteration Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:57:40 GMT /section-519-aphasic-s-athenaeum-of-illiteration#comments 10 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7376 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7376 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7376 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7716-which-monkey-breed-is-your-favorite https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7716-which-monkey-breed-is-your-favorite If you could have a pet monkey which would you choose? Laurie Open Forum For Discussion Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:15:41 GMT /section-546-open-forum-for-discussion#comments 19 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7716 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7716 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7716 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7413-scratch-n-sniff https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7413-scratch-n-sniff At the risk of repeating myself, allow me to reiterate the above/below gripe of wrath aphasic Limericks Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:48:29 GMT /section-523-limericks#comments 1 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7413 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7413 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7413 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7639-mundane-child-like-pome https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7639-mundane-child-like-pome Though I modified the publication date to match the original submission date, this appears at the top of the 'Latest Comments' listing; how do I make it behave the way I want it to? aphasic Limericks Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:10:31 GMT /section-523-limericks#comments 4 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7639 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7639 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7639 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7414-precious-stone https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7414-precious-stone on the road to creating a riff Fender Chevrolet lit up a spliff when his thrash of invention succumbed to pretension he christened it 'Das Leitmotiv' aphasic Limericks Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:05:08 GMT /section-523-limericks#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7414 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7414 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7414 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7689-something-remotely-having-to-do-with-resembling-or-functioning-like-a-drinking-fountain https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7689-something-remotely-having-to-do-with-resembling-or-functioning-like-a-drinking-fountain This, I suppose, is what we call the epiphany; a flash-bang grenade laid waiting until its slow uncoiling of an explosion. I have lived upon the backside of a whiplash. These boys and men sit strewn along a renovated corridor; they swap nickels and dimes and wisdom and wine – they know that there is no time like the present to ensure that a future without regrets will never come. I lay with them, but am not one with them; an outsider who comes around to play every once in a while: a negligible distraction. There is a resonance to their laughter. They speak with the same voice and body of experience, and they could never know what awaits them around that corner, unless, of course, we are talking about this corner, in which case, they all know what awaits them; namely, a drinking fountain. They want me to spit knowledge and truth like they know I can supply. They want answers when I offer only questions, and there is a metaphor (a simile, at least) in that drinking fountain, somewhere, but I’m not looking for it, so I will never find it. I guess there it is. This moment is lost to me forever. ... more Aesthetic Psychosis Aesthetic Psychosis Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:04:49 GMT /section-391-aesthetic-psychosis#comments 1 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7689 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7689 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7689 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7658-a-race-by-the-graveside-to-learn-what-s-wrong https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7658-a-race-by-the-graveside-to-learn-what-s-wrong Lawdy, Lawdy, Langston Hughes ain't ya white yet since ya paid your dues? Them black kids down the street today don't seem to ken the price you paid Lawdy Lawdy Langston Hughs now your just ol' dead bones  all hard with truth Them white kids up the park tonight might never know that you was right Lawdy Lawdy, Langston, dear without you the world's more black i fear  anstey Cats with Opposed Thumbs, Chalices of Mucus, and Several other Oddities to Avoid Whilst Poeting Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:24:40 GMT /section-509-cats-with-opposed-thumbs-chalices-of-mucus-and-several-other-oddities-to-avoid-whilst-poeting#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7658 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7658 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7658 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7745-a-serious-question-why-is-this-not-a-poem https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7745-a-serious-question-why-is-this-not-a-poem (No, i'm not kidding. I have my own answer, but I want a few thoughts before I state my answer.) anstey Versed, Re-versed & Unversed Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:24:40 GMT /section-113-versed-re-versed-unversed#comments 42 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7745 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7745 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7745 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7736-a-warm-february-evening-south-of-the-mason-dixon-line https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7736-a-warm-february-evening-south-of-the-mason-dixon-line draft 4 anstey Cats with Opposed Thumbs, Chalices of Mucus, and Several other Oddities to Avoid Whilst Poeting Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:24:40 GMT /section-509-cats-with-opposed-thumbs-chalices-of-mucus-and-several-other-oddities-to-avoid-whilst-poeting#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7736 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7736 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7736 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7654-almost-had-the-blues https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7654-almost-had-the-blues baby, i caught the train this mornin with my finger tipsyeah, today i caught train, just by my finger tipsi know it doesn't matterand i know you just don't carelong as i find my way back to you right there long as i get to you my baby in time to kiss your lips baby, i caught the train this morning just by my finger tipsyeah, i caught the trian this morning by my finger tipsi had to work my babyi had to spin some goldcause that is what i promised you, when i said to have and holdi do ... more anstey Cats with Opposed Thumbs, Chalices of Mucus, and Several other Oddities to Avoid Whilst Poeting Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:24:40 GMT /section-509-cats-with-opposed-thumbs-chalices-of-mucus-and-several-other-oddities-to-avoid-whilst-poeting#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7654 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7654 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7654 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7656-bad-morning https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7656-bad-morning a single shoe waits in the open her mate hides beneath the couch twenty minutes swearing two dirty socks no time for breakfast today. hungry and frustrated a single god damned shoe.  anstey Cats with Opposed Thumbs, Chalices of Mucus, and Several other Oddities to Avoid Whilst Poeting Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:24:40 GMT /section-509-cats-with-opposed-thumbs-chalices-of-mucus-and-several-other-oddities-to-avoid-whilst-poeting#comments 2 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7656 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7656 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7656 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7571-coping-with-scotland-s-loss-to-damned-italy-those-bastards https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7571-coping-with-scotland-s-loss-to-damned-italy-those-bastards there is no cool water here in the land of almost why there are no soft belly dancers nor ape-ish children, but oh there is just-barely  there is no salt in arid retching sands of what there are no wobbling waistless fatties nor coughed dread Drambuie  only sexless tears each mating loudly boldly in nameless puddles here in never me. anstey Cats with Opposed Thumbs, Chalices of Mucus, and Several other Oddities to Avoid Whilst Poeting Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:24:40 GMT /section-509-cats-with-opposed-thumbs-chalices-of-mucus-and-several-other-oddities-to-avoid-whilst-poeting#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7571 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7571 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7571 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7705-couple-of-things https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7705-couple-of-things hey Folks, Sorry for being sparse today. I really haven't felt great, just a cold, you all know how it goes. Anyways anstey Just a Nastey Journal Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:24:40 GMT /section-30-just-a-nastey-journal#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7705 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7705 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7705 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7655-dreams-variation-in-white https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7655-dreams-variation-in-white To curl into a ball In some sunless place, To bounce in darkness Til blackness is my face Then weep and weep Beneath a tall tree As dawn steals away my identity yes, that is my dream   To curl into a ball behind the jealous moon Bounce, Bounce Bounce rhythm with no tune Find myself in morning beneath that same tall tree broken tenderly another end to me anstey Cats with Opposed Thumbs, Chalices of Mucus, and Several other Oddities to Avoid Whilst Poeting Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:24:40 GMT /section-509-cats-with-opposed-thumbs-chalices-of-mucus-and-several-other-oddities-to-avoid-whilst-poeting#comments 1 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7655 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7655 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7655 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7570-for-love-and-poets https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7570-for-love-and-poets for a sliver of a blink i listened by the door for the sound of a dead frog creeping up the front step until the poet told me that is like waiting for love in the darkness around a whorehouse my pen whimpered a bit as i jotted down the note on a crumpled gas station receipt. but that's poetry, i told it cold hard nothing, like last month's frog carcass and doggerel from the lips of some stupid chick who thinks hers is the most broken heart in the history of hearts. the seat creaks under my thick thoughts and the rest, crease their eyes into the rotting corpse a smile's harbinger ... more anstey Cats with Opposed Thumbs, Chalices of Mucus, and Several other Oddities to Avoid Whilst Poeting Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:24:40 GMT /section-509-cats-with-opposed-thumbs-chalices-of-mucus-and-several-other-oddities-to-avoid-whilst-poeting#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7570 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7570 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7570 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7631-for-poets https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7631-for-poets for poets tonight i speak of words, the cold hard truths that poets paint with sweet pictures of pine and petunia this is my heartless howl, my clarion call, my crazed cry for an end to every despair O poets, stop your mewling for a better world, this one is quite good enough This sky dares dreamers to find more blue This sea declares eternities soft and deliberate This earth leaps up to weary feet and offers such gravity O Poets, find true voices amongst the tiny lies of peace without war This blood dries and scabs and these wounds heal This  bone shards and fossilizes into distant memory This flesh is consumed by touch, by faith by love. O poets, run away you are nothing. let man scour the stars for life. let man stomp out the rhythm you feign with empty thoughts let man speak the images you pretend to see let man be the artist of small victories, of large clanging bells, of proud death of monuments to clouds of erected phallusies to wide for the womb of the world to bear the children of his thoughts. O poet,  set aside your rage your song, your pity and your scorn you are not big enough for words ... more anstey Cats with Opposed Thumbs, Chalices of Mucus, and Several other Oddities to Avoid Whilst Poeting Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:24:40 GMT /section-509-cats-with-opposed-thumbs-chalices-of-mucus-and-several-other-oddities-to-avoid-whilst-poeting#comments 1 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7631 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7631 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7631 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7459-for-wisdom-s-sake https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7459-for-wisdom-s-sake draft anstey Cats with Opposed Thumbs, Chalices of Mucus, and Several other Oddities to Avoid Whilst Poeting Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:24:40 GMT /section-509-cats-with-opposed-thumbs-chalices-of-mucus-and-several-other-oddities-to-avoid-whilst-poeting#comments 6 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7459 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7459 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7459 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7606-help-i-can-t-comment https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7606-help-i-can-t-comment If you are using Internet Explorer 6 there's a chance you're going to run into a problem posting comments. The behavior of the bug is such that you end up in an infinite preview loop anstey FAQ for Membership Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:24:40 GMT /section-66-faq-for-membership#comments 0 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7606 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7606 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7606 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7372-hollywood-s-fast-and-furious https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7372-hollywood-s-fast-and-furious draft anstey Cats with Opposed Thumbs, Chalices of Mucus, and Several other Oddities to Avoid Whilst Poeting Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:24:40 GMT /section-509-cats-with-opposed-thumbs-chalices-of-mucus-and-several-other-oddities-to-avoid-whilst-poeting#comments 3 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7372 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7372 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7372 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7332-if-art-really-matters https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/article-7332-if-art-really-matters first draft -- this is not about being elitist or arrogant, it is about recognition of greatness and the search for the sublime anstey Just a Nastey Journal Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:24:40 GMT /section-30-just-a-nastey-journal#comments 15 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/post.php/article/7332 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/comments/feed.php/article/7332 https://dev.shakespearesmonkeys.com/links/trackback.php?anchor=article%3A7332