deepundergroundpoetry.com
PUZZLES OR POEMS
PUZZLES OR POEMS
Some poets look for the strange words
in lexicons or they have heard
and use them in lines most obscure
to make the readers quite unsure.
They use them in a way so quaint
that after some time, they don't ken
the sense they've meant as they forget
what they've intended that to mean.
They use test tubes of words and thoughts
and test the words and their effects
to see how they react and fit
to make the meanings hard to get.
They never care about the theme
or if the feelings have been maimed
by words that fight to make the sense
is known just by who write that verse.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
____________________________________
Some poets look for the strange words
in lexicons or they have heard
and use them in lines most obscure
to make the readers quite unsure.
They use them in a way so quaint
that after some time, they don't ken
the sense they've meant as they forget
what they've intended that to mean.
They use test tubes of words and thoughts
and test the words and their effects
to see how they react and fit
to make the meanings hard to get.
They never care about the theme
or if the feelings have been maimed
by words that fight to make the sense
is known just by who write that verse.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
____________________________________
Published 22nd Nov 2021
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
likes 2
reading list entries 1
comments 13
reads 415
Commenting Preference:
The author encourages honest critique.
Anonymous
23rd Nov 2021 1:34am
Poetry. It's either a means to an "end", or it's a hobby. 🤷♀️ Ever betwixt
23rd Nov 2021 5:18am
I totally get you. Some poets use such difficult words and such abstract complex themes that i feel only the poet home may comprehend them.
I use quaint rare words sometimes but the meaning is easily deducted. Kudos for an awesome poem, it does ssem to have a rhyme scheme.
Plz do read and comment my newest poem too
I use quaint rare words sometimes but the meaning is easily deducted. Kudos for an awesome poem, it does ssem to have a rhyme scheme.
Plz do read and comment my newest poem too
23rd Nov 2021 8:22am
Thank you very much, Em-ily, for liking my poem and choosing it for your reading list. It's very kind of you to give me such an encouragement.
23rd Nov 2021 8:33am
Thank you very much, Zaynab, for inviting me to read and comment on your poem. This will be the beginning of great friendship between us as we share similar points of view about how a poem should be written.
"Some poets look for the strange words
in lexicons or they have heard
and use them in lines most obscure"
Who are these poets? Where might I find their obscure lines? And is their obscurity due to the fact that these poets have deliberately used words whose meanings are not widely known and that they themselves did not even know existed until they heard someone speak them? Or is it due to something else?
I note that what you claim in these metrically bumpy lines
"Some poets look for the strange words
in lexicons or [that?] they have heard
and use them in lines most obscure
to make the readers quite unsure.
is hardly clear and it's not because you used "strange" words, but because you didn't say, as you needed to say to make your claim intelligible, anything about what it was in the already obscure lines that "the" [deixis] readers were made to be unsure about.
in lexicons or they have heard
and use them in lines most obscure"
Who are these poets? Where might I find their obscure lines? And is their obscurity due to the fact that these poets have deliberately used words whose meanings are not widely known and that they themselves did not even know existed until they heard someone speak them? Or is it due to something else?
I note that what you claim in these metrically bumpy lines
"Some poets look for the strange words
in lexicons or [that?] they have heard
and use them in lines most obscure
to make the readers quite unsure.
is hardly clear and it's not because you used "strange" words, but because you didn't say, as you needed to say to make your claim intelligible, anything about what it was in the already obscure lines that "the" [deixis] readers were made to be unsure about.
24th Nov 2021 9:18pm
The"THAT" which you have added is not necessary. It is optional because it is a relative pronoun/ objective, which can be omitted. And l have omitted it. What is wrong with that, Baldwin?
The"THAT" which you have added is not necessary. It is optional because it is a relative pronoun/ objective, which can be omitted. And l have omitted it. What is wrong with that, Baldwin?
Given that my added word is followed by a question mark, I did not say that the omission of "that" was wrong. I was asking whether using "that" where I placed it would eliminate any confusion as to what it was that was heard. There's also the fact that had you written
Some poets look in lexicons for the strange words
they have heard
you would have said what you were intent to say more clearly.
In any case, my implicit question of whether or not you should have prefaced "they have heard" with "that" was hardly a significant one or that deserved to be addressed as if it were. Far more significant were the ones that followed it (and that you have ignored). Perhaps now that I've answered your question on the issue of the propriety of using "that" before "they have heard", you'll do the honorable thing and demonstrate that my (much more important) remarks about (1) whether the use of "strange" words is what causes already obscure lines to be obscure and (2) whether you, in not saying anything about what it was that "the" readers (presumably of the word searching poets' poetry) were unsure about, caused the meaning of your lines to be obscure.
Was it what the word-seeking poets were trying to say? If so,
you needed to have stated this for your statement that
Some poets look for the strange words
in lexicons ...
and use them in lines most obscure
to make the readers quite unsure.
to be intelligible.
Given that my added word is followed by a question mark, I did not say that the omission of "that" was wrong. I was asking whether using "that" where I placed it would eliminate any confusion as to what it was that was heard. There's also the fact that had you written
Some poets look in lexicons for the strange words
they have heard
you would have said what you were intent to say more clearly.
In any case, my implicit question of whether or not you should have prefaced "they have heard" with "that" was hardly a significant one or that deserved to be addressed as if it were. Far more significant were the ones that followed it (and that you have ignored). Perhaps now that I've answered your question on the issue of the propriety of using "that" before "they have heard", you'll do the honorable thing and demonstrate that my (much more important) remarks about (1) whether the use of "strange" words is what causes already obscure lines to be obscure and (2) whether you, in not saying anything about what it was that "the" readers (presumably of the word searching poets' poetry) were unsure about, caused the meaning of your lines to be obscure.
Was it what the word-seeking poets were trying to say? If so,
you needed to have stated this for your statement that
Some poets look for the strange words
in lexicons ...
and use them in lines most obscure
to make the readers quite unsure.
to be intelligible.
24th Nov 2021 10:25pm
Why, Baldwin? Don't you see THE COORDINATING CONJUNCTION [OR]? What's the matter with you? I am not tired of you, but other poets are.
24th Nov 2021 10:33pm
Nobody says it is obscure except you. On the contrary they give me LIKES, and they add this very poem to their READING LISTS.
It is fallacious to conclude that because no one besides me has said that your piece is obscure that it's not. After all, those who like your pieces have shown that they concentrate on your message, not on the way you set it out, and are unable to be critically articulate about how and why your pieces are or are not well written. And as to the significance of the (2) likes you received and the fact that (2) people have added your piece to their reading lists, I remind you that thousands of people liked the TV programs "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" and "Duck Dynasty" and taped their various episodes to be watched again as well as placed them on their "to watch" lists, but that could hardly be taken as something that meant these programs were of high quality.
24th Nov 2021 10:51pm
I still want to know who the poets are whom you are castigating in your submission and where I may find the obscure lines you've said are theirs.
24th Nov 2021 11:00pm
Are you answering the questions which l have asked through the doubtful questions which you have raised, Baldwin? You are very strange, but not in a clever way, Baldwin.
What questions did you ask? And leaving aside that one does not answer questions with questions, you are claiming to be true something that you have not given any reason for anyone to accept as true, i.e., that I have posed "doubtful questions" even granting that there are such things.
