In the Year of Our War 2012

[Jassy Melson]

There is no middle ground, no moderation;
each side left or right is intent on silencing
the other; intolerance rules the day.
Blinded by hatred, prejudice, and self-righteousness,
neither side will listen or even tolerate
the voice of reason. Irrationality rules.
Civility is a thing of the past. Rationalism
died a whimpering death. Now all we have
are demogogues spouting their poisen
into the already-poisend air.
Pilate asked the question of Jesus
“What is truth?” and Christ remained silent.
Perhaps even he didn't know the answer.
The deaf, dumb and blind rule this world
and there is nothing to indicate that it will change.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

This reminds me a lot of what I used to write when I was in high school.

[Jassy Melson]

No, it doesn't, and you know it, so why come out with such a remark

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

You don't know what I wrote in high school. The poem seems a bit juvenile. The very archetype of nasty youth rebelling against war. A trend I see a lot in the poetry of "artsy" young people, including myself when I go back and look at what I've written, is a common subject matter and common structure. Subject matter usually entails rebellion against one structure or another, be it government/politics, war, religion, authority in general, etc. The structure is usually free verse (the only time hip youngsters seem to write rhyming poems is when their creative writing teacher tells them to), but that free verse where it's just prose with line breaks thrown here and there so it looks like a poem. That's what this strikes me as.

I apologize if the former comment was glib. I thought its meaning would be understood, since I know you're not unfamiliar with glib commentary on people's creative writing.

[Jerrybaldy]

Amazing. In so far as my very first thought was then posted by Mutatis-Mutandis. Your reaction confirmed it.

[Jassy Melson]

Whatever..

[miyako73]

Instead of arguing, Jassy, why don't you edit your work? What is "poisen" or "poisend"? I thought you were a published writer. Weren't you just interviewed by one of the moderators?

[Jassy Melson]

Whatever...

[Jassy Melson]

Who's arguing? As for the misspelled word--so what? Every writer--even professional ones-- makes mistakes sometimes.

[hillwalker]

Whatever

Who's arguing? As for the misspelled word--so what? Every writer--even professional ones-- makes mistakes sometimes.

And people ask me why I can't be bothered to comment on this site any more. Morons like you are a disgrace to the term 'writer'.

H

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Holy ****! It's hillwalker. Even if it's just to make just one amazingly awesome comment like the one above, it's nice to see you posting.

[miyako73]

And people ask me why I can't be bothered to comment on this site any more. Morons like you are a disgrace to the term 'writer'.

H

Is this the Hillwalker who used to read and critique my short short stories? Damn, I miss those critiques. Come back, Hill, so the quality in the forum will be back too.

[Jack of Hearts]

Wtf. Out of everything we abide in this forum, what's so different about this contribution that there's no room for tolerating it or not reacting? Why are you all dropping the hammer on Jassy?

This poem isn't very good in this reader's opinion. But there have been worse (some of them written by yours truly). In the two years he's been here, this reader has never seen such a seemingly inordinate response to a work or, subsequently, an author's posture.

This ain't the way, man.






J

[hillwalker]

The polite response would have been to thank miyako73 for pointing out the typos (?) and to elaborate on the other responses with something rather more 'professional' than a 'whatever'.

When you post stuff on here - and also post another thread on 'how I write' in order to enlighten those writers who are so far unpublished - one expects more than the arrogant put-downs displayed to all 3 who gave feedback.

It wasn't a criticism of the poem - there's nothing I would care to say about that. It was a condemnation of the guy's unprofessional attitude to those who took the time and trouble to read his work and make a comment.

H

[Jack of Hearts]

Responses #2 and #4 aren't feedback and deserve immediate dismissal by anybody who has an ounce of self respect. If this reader were in Jassy's shoes he'd have been much less polite about it. #5 this reader just doesn't understand? #7 contains the only real feedback in the thread.

Anyways, we probably aren't going to see eye to eye on this. This poster actually likes most of you, and could do without butting heads over what seems like a moot point now (though, to his perspective, this thread still looks pretty absurd).






J