Ship of Fools: How was it for you?

Thread: How was it for you? Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

So. Farewell then
Verseworks
You were the first
Bulletin board in rhyme
For some time.*

*acknowledgements to E J Thribb

Posters and lurkers both, what did you think? Did it encourage you to read more poetry? Did you discover new poets/poems? Did it inspire you to scorn delights and live laborious days with a view to knocking out twelve books on fruit? (i.e. encourage you to write more?)

Any thoughts on the experimental boards project as a whole?

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

Is that it then?

I enjoyed it - I hadn't expected it to do as well as it did but it's been a pleasure to pop in and read some of the threads on this board, and in the course of playing the Poetry Association Game, to discover new poetry I hadn't heard of before as well as rediscover old favourites.

I've enjoyed trying out verse forms and wish I'd had a bit more time and energy to put into that.

Lovely idea altogether and thank you for starting it.

Posted by the famous rachel (# 1258) on :

I've enjoyed it a lot too. It's reminded me how much I like poetry, and I've read some different poets I would not otherwise have encountered. I'd also not heard of many of the forms people have been trying out. If I had more time, I would have joined in with more of those threads.

I will be a little sad to see it end so soon. (Partly, as I have been trying and failing to shoehorn "the Gruffalo" into the poetic association game and failing. I will continue to try until time runs out...).

Rachel.

Posted by the famous rachel (# 1258) on :

quote:
Originally posted by the famous rachel:

I will be a little sad to see it end so soon. (Partly, as I have been trying and failing to shoehorn "the Gruffalo" into the poetic association game and failing. I will continue to try until time runs out...).

Ha! Have just forced it in, only cheating slightly... go in peace verseworks, for you have now fulfilled my childish whim!

R.

Posted by Raptor Eye (# 16649) on :

I found it frustrating, for several reasons:

I didn't have the time to get into it. I'd have liked to spend an hour or two browsing and playing and learning, or trying to.......

It made me feel thick as I didn't 'get' most of them straight away and would have needed time to try to get to grips with them......

When I did contribute, I wasn't sure that what I put in was quite the ticket........

And as I feel as if this should be rhyming or scanning now, I've added the dots to each line so that you can't say it doesn't rhyme........ [Big Grin]

Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :

I wish I could have gotten into it more; RL issues hit m just when it started and I couldn't participate as much as
I wanted to.

But ut was wonderful seeing the deluge if creativity that the Shipmates are capable of.

Posted by Doublethink (# 1984) on :

We had a dilemma, wanting folk to feel free to contribute, and modelling that, without wanting it to turn into a critical forum. But I think the posters may have found lack of detailed feedback discouraging.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

That is both the plus and minus of the Board. It is much harder work composing verse than prose: the more you observe the rules - of metre, rhyme scheme, designated subject - the more demanding it is. But then the little endorphin rush of Yes! Did it! And the accompanying realisation that I Can Do It.

I speak to myself as much as anyone. Poetry is bloody difficult - but it's also the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

I have loved it - and wish I'd had more brain to play better (pneumonia is the pits). I've found the poetic associations frustrating but it's had me rereading and looking to find poetry. Often I've found what I was looking for did not include the word I thought it did but echoed the whole theme of the extract.

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :

I thought it would run until August 31? I liked it, but I also felt it was a bit more circusy than I had expected. Not that circusy things are inherently wrong, but they're not really my thing, and I'd like to have seen some more — if not Purgatorial then at least Heavenly discussions about poetry. There was some of that, but I'd have liked to see a bit more.

Having said that, I offer my thanks and congratulations to the Hosts who have taken this challenge upon them.

Posted by QLib (# 43) on :

I've really enjoyed trying various things out and reading what others have done. I think the collaborative stuff was most fun, but it was good for me to go out an do things on my own - aided by "The Ode Less Travelled" - I'm really grateful for that recommendation. Many thanks to the hosts especially, but also to fellow participants.

P.S. If this is going before 31st August, do we have an actual deadline?

[ 18. August 2014, 06:59: Message edited by: QLib ]

Posted by Doublethink (# 1984) on :

It is running until 31st August, but we couldn't run this thread after the board shut.

Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :

I have really enjoyed the board, particularly as it pushed me into identifying the authors of some stuff I remember from childhood. Many thanks to the hosts who worked so hard running it. [Overused]

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

The Board has 38 threads currently: excluding the two admin threads and this one, of the remaining 35, i think 7 could be classified as Games (Limericks, Tag Poem, Shorter Oxford Book of Verse, poetic association, and perhaps Cento, Inner 5 year old and Clerihews - though that last could come under verse forms). There were another 10 (ish) on specific verse forms - rondeau, villanelle, sonnet, sprung rhythm, pantoum, triolet, novel forms, englyn, ballade and renga. So that leave more than half the total threads as discussions on poetry generally, specific poets or genres or aspects.

Undoubtedly the game threads got more traffic - and the renga was popular - because it is easier to contibute a part than a whole. More discussion would have been nice, but it's not something you can generate in the same way as the next line/stanza/extract.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

And DP to add that we still have two weeks in which to expand or try out anything folk feel hasn't had an airing.

Posted by Garasu (# 17152) on :

One question for discussion might be why the Limerick is not seen as a verse form but rather as a game?

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

Probbly because it was imported from the Circus. A Verseworks specific Limericks thread would have had each poster composing an entire limerick.

You could say the Tag Poem was a verse form thread - decasyllabic quatrain - not strictly adhered to, it must be said.

On ageneral note, I can see several of the suggestions for upcoming Experimental Boards could import existing threads for the duration. Good thing?

And conversely, do you see any Verseworky threads happening elsewhere once the board itself is over?

Posted by agingjb (# 16555) on :

perhaps more on forms for specific poetic purposes.

I've never found a satisfactory forum site for verse - there must be one somewhere.

Anyway I'll miss this one.

Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Doublethink:
We had a dilemma, wanting folk to feel free to contribute, and modelling that, without wanting it to turn into a critical forum. But I think the posters may have found lack of detailed feedback discouraging.

Perhaps it might have been helpful to have had a critique thread devoted to those who wished for detailed feedback and those who felt they had a skill set to be helpful to the poets who brought their poems to be critiqued?

Posted by Doublethink (# 1984) on :

I think that was originally the idea behind "Ask a Muse" but people didn't really use it like that.

Posted by mark_in_manchester (# 15978) on :

I've had great fun - and was sorry to have been away for the last two weeks. I now have a copy of 'Ode Less Travelled' to get into...and a sense that I'm not likely to do much with it without a forum to splurge my stuff into. So...any recommendations for other places to go to have fun with this stuff? I have a sense that nowhere is quite like the ship...

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

I've not looked hard, but my impression is of waaay too much online publication of free verse.

It might be possible to nestle a few Continuity Verseworks threads in the Circus from the more popular ones. Any ideas along those lines?

Posted by mark_in_manchester (# 15978) on :

That sounds like a really nice way to keep this going in a manageable way. The threads focused on a certain form seem the most circus-ey - after all that's where the limerick thread came from - and as one dies, I guess another could take their place. I'd be keen to go on attempting to write, and learning from yous all. It would be nice to be able to ask each other questions and offer suggestions a little as we have here, rather than just blast each other with our outpourings - could that be tolerated in the circus?

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

I'm always wary of the dreaded Writer's Group syndrome. Public statement: 'That's very....expressive'. Private thought: What a load of pretentious drivel.

However, if we concentrated primarily on the technical aspects - scansion, rhyme, assonance, alliteration etc - it might be OK. After all, quite a lot of what poetry says is unoriginal, it's the skill in presentation which grabs you.

There are, too, loads verse forms we didn't get round to. Perhaps we could have The Great British Bard Off in which you have 3 days in which to produce the perfect cinquain.

Posted by QLib (# 43) on :

I would like to think that I'd be able to contribute occasionally to ongoing poetry thread(s) - but, please, not the 'within three days' thing. What about something a bit more like the book of the month thread? So one might suggest a verse form (and/or topic) that lasts a week/fortnight/month and people post their efforts?

'Twould be nice to have a mix of solo and communal - the Renga was fun. Rengathon?

Having said that, I doubt I'll be contributing to anything much between early September and mid October. W*rk calls - start of term is always Hellish. In a good way.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

'Three days' was just a riff on TGBB '3 hours to produce the perfect sponge cake' sort of thing.

Verse of the Month sounds like a goer. There is a lot of utility in having a deadline to promote creativity (as many an essay can testify).

Collaborative is fun too. What other forms would lend themselves, besides limerick and renga? I think it works best when there is some quite strict criterion to be met, either in words or metre or format.

Posted by agingjb (# 16555) on :

I will admit I had hoped it might have been appropriate to link to my own verse site (stii available via the link in my sig) and ask for feedback.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

I think you might need to look more at the model of the blog with a comment facility for that.

I think why we've always turned away those who wanted to post their compositions is the inequality in reciprocity and participation. In a discussion - or a game - everyone has an equal chance to contribute: whereas in feedback, the only option is to react. This is why I think it only works in a declared writing group where the contract is that everyone gets their turn in the spotlight (in exchange for sitting dutifully through everyone else's).

Which is not go say it's impossible, but it has to be part, IMO, of a wider culture. It goes on - I'm struck, when I've dipped into LL courses on creative writing - how everyone else knows each other. The Ship is, I suppose, not really the 'droid you are looking for.

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

Thinking about continuing poetry options in the Circus, the Renga was fun because it was a variation on the Haiku thread, with a bit more discipline, and the Poetry Association thread has worked well, but we've struggled to keep the right number of syllables in the Tag Poetry thread,

Would it be worth having a favourite poetry thread in Heaven? Along the lines of the reading thread? So there's an ongoing discussion of poetry? Or the Shakespeare.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

I think a couple of poetry threads in heaven - one About and one for Doing would certainly be possible. The Circus will be getting its limericks back - it's for the Circus Hosts to decide if they want more verse/games. Anyone can come up with a good one, I don't see why not.

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

I've enjoyed it very much, but haven't participated.

My fear of words and writing was too great I'm sorry to say. I feel very exposed in print. A throwback, I'm afraid, to very cruel teachers of a dyslexic child.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

I'm sorry about that. It was meant to be fundamentally playful.

Maybe on one or more of the continuing threads? I'd recommend Flyting as a possible medium.

Posted by EloiseA (# 18029) on :

These threads were great reads. I did keep hoping someone would talk about more contemporary experimental poetry -- David Jones, Geoffrey Hill, Alice Oswald -- or the language poetry movement, the New York School etc. I've been very influenced by Susan Howe's work on the New England Puritans and various translations of Paul Celan (Pierre Joris and company.

I thought about raising this but didn't feel I know the posters here well enough to launch into a topic that might be either unfamiliar or of no interest.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

quote:
Originally posted by EloiseA:

I thought about raising this but didn't feel I know the posters here well enough to launch into a topic that might be either unfamiliar or of no interest.

You never know til you try. I hope you will consider discussing these poets on the upcoming (post 1 September) Heaven thread.

(And the other Hosts and I had little idea of who would be that interested in poetry before we launched this Board).

Posted by EloiseA (# 18029) on :

Thanks Firenze, I'll do that.

Posted by Adeodatus (# 4992) on :

I've very much enjoyed reading this board - and being awe-struck by Shipmates' talent and wit. (The "Very Much Shorter ..." thread is brilliant and hilarious and surely deserves a place in Limbo.)

I've always enjoyed reading poetry, but have never really tried writing it - not even as an angst-ridden teenager. My angst turned me nerd, not poet. But perhaps next time I see a copy of The Ode Less Travelled on a bookshop shelf....

It occurred to me this morning I'd have liked to start a "Poetry in translation" thread, mostly to indulge my liking of Aeschylus and Sophocles. (Favourite translations: Robert Fagles for the Oresteia and Paul Roche for Sophocles.)

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

If you had started "Poetry in translation" I'd have added Cavafy and Khayyam to it.

Posted by Doublethink (# 1984) on :

You could still do that Adeodatus, we haven't actually closed yet.

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