Quotes (again)

“To be a poet is a condition rather than a profession.”
-- Robert Graves

This made me smile

Thank you

Larry, I love that. I wrote a quote a while back that reads 'A true poet is not defined by his ability to write well; rather, his ability to feel profoundly' and your post reminded me of that. There is so much truth in it, and not altogether happy truth either...

In some ways it takes away the sense of free will. It's like we are hardwired to be poets & may have no choice in how we perceive the world. Then the choice we are left with is whether to write.

A thoughtful insight, Larry, and I have to agree.

And there again, the categorizations. . .We always seem to want to categorize. Sometimes to the point of making others feel excluded. "You are a poet. According to this definition. You are not a poet. According to this definition. You are a dancer. According to this definition. You are not a dancer. Etc

You know, sometimes that pisses me off.

Especially, when people use the words "real" and "true". A real poet... a true poet... a real woman, a true woman, a real man , a true man etc

I can't help it. its as if those words alone are saying, "you're fake, you are a fantasy, you are dishonest. Stop lying to yourself. Moving forward, you are not this. Or vice versa, feel excited you are this. Welcome home my child!"

Whenever I read something like that, I think:

I'm a poet because I write poetry. I'm a writer because I write. I'm not a professional writer nor a professional poet because I don't do either one for a living. The same goes, I'm a cook because I cook. I'm a woman because ... well, that's how I've been defined ever since I remember. Even though, I preferred playing with cars and in the mud and I was told by other people girls don't do that. But I'm a woman because... well, I am into men? Or because I feel like a woman? Lol (but then again, what's a woman?)

I do see the why of the need to categorize or define, though. It's helpful most of the times. For keeping organization and for aiding in the process of communication.

by the way Ben, I have nothing against you. Probably, as you may have notice, I have something against the word "true" in your quote. I can't help it. Sometimes I feel profoundly, and that feeling diminishes my ability to reason until my will takes charge (which takes a long time) and somehow I start assimilating that feeling and then ... I either start feeling sorry for humanity or I move on. I Say "sorry for humanity" because we are extremely ignorant. We don't exactly know what it is truly true. It's saddening and frustrating at the same time.

Lucero, forgive me, but I think you've overplayed this one and missed the mark entirely. The point was simply, no one has to be able to write well to be poetic. And I stand by that firmly. You are over complicating things for the sake of it and have ended up well off target. In fact, what you say and what my quote means are in accord: you don't have to write poetry to be a poet - things cannot be boxed so neatly.

Take care

Luce,
For myself I am a poet because I perceive myself to be a poet. [Internal categorization]
I am a man because my biological and psychological self-perceptions coincide. [External and internal categorizations agree]
I am an old fart because my progeny accuse me of such. [External categorization.]
I've been waiting years for the Library of Congress to notify me of poet laureate status. [External and internal categorizations disagree]
It does not matter to me whether others categorize me as one thing or fail to recognize a category to which I feel I belong.

I'm probably I'm over complicating things. It's just that whenever one sees those words "true" or "real", it can create those feelings to certain people. In this case, me. I'm tired of seeing or hearing people feel excluded.
Like I said, I have nothing against you. As far as your quote, in my opinion, the word "true" it's not needed. A poet is defined by its ability to feel profoundly. I agree with those words to certain extend and I do see your point.

But I can't simply not say anything about that word "true" in front of "a true poet" because I usually see sentences like:

a real woman wears dresses and make up.
Real men don't cry. Etc True man don't hug each other.

The "true" in front of it, makes your definition at least for me, to lose meaning.

Unfortunately or fortunately, the way words are arrange can create different meanings. Hopefully, whoever does write as a profession may know how to get their point across without creating misunderstandings. It is hard to write and deliver a message exactly as it was intended. ( not necessarily the writers fault, readers intepretations)

Anyhow, see ya.

And take care. Disregard my comments. As you pointed out, I'm probably over complicating things.

Hopefully, whoever does write as a profession may know how to get their point across without creating misunderstandings.

^^

Full of little barbs tonight, aren't we, Lucero?

As for the 'true', that's the point: it makes up the crux of the quote simply because we cannot be boxed. We are not poets simply because we write.
Anyway, I'm done.

It does not matter to me whether others categorize me as one thing or fail to recognize a category to which I feel I belong.

^ the same applies to myself . I know what I am and who I am and where I'm going. But sometimes I can't help but think about how categorization affects other people.. the mention of "what is a woman" just came to mind because I was thinking about woman who don't feel like woman because either they lost a breast due to cancer, or their uterus, or problems with infertility.. ah,

I guess I am over complicating things.

Full of little barbs tonight, aren't we, Lucero?

^ not really. Ironically, pointing out what i think is the truth. How many times has anyone have gotten the same interpretation from several readers? Or from all the readers that have commented?

It takes a lot of skills or luck (may be? Idk) to write and make everyone feel or get the intended message across without one single people getting it different.

Edit: Ben, I do see your point and if I didn't see it completely, I see it now. But I think you haven't seen mine, nor taken the time to see that I'm actually in pain.

Edit: Ben, I do see your point and if I didn't see it completely, I see it now. But I think you haven't seen mine, nor taken the time to see that I'm actually in pain.

^^

Look at how you started this conversation tonight, Lucero. Something along the lines of 'there we go again'. And then poking at my writing skills (and that's what you were doing). Now read your comment above. You have been insensitive from start to finish tonight and have taken things entirely out of context. 'pain' is something i'm not sure you have been aware of at all.

Anyway, this is a quotes thread, why don't we stick to that?

*edit - I try to stay off the more controversial threads these days because I hate confrontation; it really doesn't sit well with me. I thought I'd be okay in here, so I really would rather leave it there.

I do apologize for how I started the comment, "and there you go again, with the categorization" that was actually not intended for this thread. Lately, I've been seeing lots of categorizations happening. I originally came to share a quote. "Be impossible to be misunderstood" by Quintilian. (Irony) Then, i read your quote and the word "true" And " the concept of categorization as a whole" created some strange feelings...

As far as critizacing your writing, that was not my intention. I was Attempting to add more meaning to your quote (at least with what I believe would make it more meaningful) by removing the "true" out of it but my mixture of feelings got in the way and my inability to comprehend of why I've been seeing some patterns, as a result I failed to expressed myself eloquently and in the end, I ended up hurting you too. I'm sorry..

I agree. Let's stick with quotes.

I for my part apologise too if any offense has been caused.

Take care.

First non-Hellon controversial thread on the new site & it's between two of the nicest people on the site & you're both apologizing.

What would the rough housers of the old PnQ think?

"We are all broken, that's how the light gets in" Ernest Hemingway

"I do not believe in religions because I believe in God."

(I posted around 2010 in facebook. Now so many claim it as their own)

The very fact that something is determined as a limitation implies that the limitation is already transcended.

By Hegel

WOW, Hegel has the deepest claws of thoughts

I love you because you are the supporter of my works
not because you support my works
but because you support them
when they are really good.

"Destiny is
not a matter of chance; it's a
matter of choice." By William
Jennings

Can't agree more dear Fairy Merry Poppins.

Behind every soul is a soul who recognises it.

They border us to make us fight. When we are separated we must war to hold onto our given identities!

Excellent
Your own?

Yes, thank you Larry. I am glad you liked it.

"If you do not allow true artists to have attitudes
you're breading a generation of robots,
you're not letting your own soul to stretch,
you're allowing stiffness to spread.
If you really need navigators
you must allow them to navigate you!"

This is by Frank too.

Thanks mossgirl2020, like I said , you are a lady of substance

====

Listen to the echoes
of your question
in the silence
of all the answers.

A limitation equals its very own limit.

If everything we see is real, and has been real forever from the beginning, then how did our eyes learned to lie?

translation
-From an inconsequential writer in Facebook that I have been privileged to come across. -

If nothing could rescue us from the dying
at least love could rescue us from the living!

- same writer -

"In every marriage more than a week old there are grounds for divorce. The trick is to find, and continue to find, grounds for marriage."

Robert Anderson, English barrister

Unless they make bad coffee!

I'm which case you may as well just cut your losses there and then,

Don't care how beautiful a person they may be, no one should haven't suffer bad coffee.

Giggles

Craig

However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there's life, there is hope...

Stephen Hawking.

"The day you were born, a ladder was set up to help you escape the world." Rumi

"Think of ourselves not as human beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a human experience. We climb the ladder leading back to Source by recognizing our own divinity and aligning ourselves with the divine love that created us.
It is love and service that bring us along our path and lift us to the top of Rumi’s ladder. "

Dr. Wayne Dyer

Larry, I have been thinking about that marriage quote since you posted it. I really do love it.

No one with soul ever could be racist!

As to the roundness of the world, the farthest point from yourself is also the closest one of all: yourself!

Your job is not to figure out how it's going to happen for you, but to open the door in your head and once the door opens in real life just walk through it.
Don't worry if you miss your cue because there's always doors opening, they keep opening.
.
.
.
You will only ever have two choices: Love or fear.
Choose love and don't ever let fear turn you against your playful heart...Jim carry.

No one with soul.....

Frank, Is it yours?

Yes dear whatever is not signed otherwise, is from my own.
But I wonder why you're asking because it is a very straightforward ( unsophisticated) thought.

"the way I see it, if you want a rainbow you got to put up with the rain" by Dolly Parton

"I don't consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin." by Leonard Cohen