# Mina Loy: self-indulgent masturbatory cunt of a "poet" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 25, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585 "2006-01-25T19:00:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/1 "2006-01-25T19:00:47Z")
I’m sitting in my girlfriend’s room as she reads aloud a ten-page “poem” by a clearly schizophrenic woman named Mina Loy. She claims she needs to read poems out loud to understand them. I wouldn’t have a problem with that but this is no poem, it is an unending STREAM OF GIBBERISH. I can’t stand retarted, pretentious “modernist” poets who think that all the horseshit that was racing through their drug/syphillis-addled brains was clever or deep. It’s not poetry, it’s SHIT. Rises from the subconscious Impression of a cat With blind kittens Among her legs Same undulating life-stir I am that cat Rises from the subconscious Impression of small animal carcass Covered with blue bottles — Epicurean – And through the insects Waves that same undulation of living Death Life I am knowing All about Unfolding The next morning Each woman-of-the-people Tiptoeing the red pile of the carpet Doing hushed service Each woman-of-the-people Wearing a halo A ludicrous little halo Of which she is sublimely unaware HORSESHIT. HORSESHIT. HORSESHIT. Nobody should subject people to horrible “poetry” like this!!! ---
**Author:** ![George\_Kaplin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3e96dc/32.png) [@George\_Kaplin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/George_Kaplin)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/2 "2006-01-25T19:04:30Z")
Well _I_ liked it. [sub]then again, I like dental injections[/sub] 😉 ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/3 "2006-01-25T19:05:04Z")
> [@Argent Towers](#): > > Nobody should subject people to horrible “poetry” like this!!! She’s not, by any chance, a Vogon? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/4 "2006-01-25T19:06:59Z")
Now come on. There is no objective way of measuring the quality of art. Does your girlfriend like it? That said, in my _subjective_ opinion, it’s not just horseshit, a big steaming pile of self-indulgent adolescent horseshit. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/5 "2006-01-25T19:10:10Z")
**Why??** by jjimm If I die Will anyone Care? Why does nobody Love me. Love me! Love me. Please? They think they’re So cool. Too cool for school. Call me a dork. Dork. I shelter My sensitive face From the laughing eyes. Nobody knows the Pain Behind my smile. But one day They will Learn. I’ll show them. They’ll be sorry One day. When I’m dead. Then they Won’t laugh Anymore. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/6 "2006-01-25T19:10:32Z")
I wanna meet the woman-of-the-people. She sounds constipated to me. (the poet, not TWOTP). I call this kind of stuff snivelly drivel. Hey, it rhymes! ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/7 "2006-01-25T19:12:42Z")
Stream of consciousness stuff. It’s an amusing peek into the rattling’s of the poet’s mind. I like it! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/8 "2006-01-25T19:12:34Z")
I love cats and I hate bad poetry. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/9 "2006-01-25T19:14:54Z")
Hmm, a little Google reveals she was writing this stuff in The Old Days™, which makes it historically interesting, since she was probably one of the people who invented the form. Doesn’t make it any better, though, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/10 "2006-01-25T19:15:38Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > **Why??** by jjimm > > If I die > Will anyone > Care? > Why does nobody > Love me. > Love me! > Love > me. > Please? > They think they’re > So cool. > Too cool for school. > Call me a dork. > Dork. > I shelter > My sensitive face > From the laughing eyes. > Nobody knows the > Pain > Behind my smile. > But one day > They will > Learn. > I’ll show them. > They’ll be sorry > One day. > When I’m > dead. > Then they > Won’t laugh > Anymore. Dork. You just wish you had blind kittens flitting around your legs, admit it. ---
**Author:** ![abbeytxs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@abbeytxs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abbeytxs)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/11 "2006-01-25T19:18:34Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > She’s not, by any chance, a Vogon? LOL - thank you for that! ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/12 "2006-01-25T19:24:55Z")
Eh, at least it’s short. I think it would be funny if it was printed on a poster with a bunch of Anne Geddes-style cats wearing haloes and hiding inside blue bottles. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/13 "2006-01-25T19:25:09Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > She’s not, by any chance, a Vogon? Check to see if you’re hemmorhaging anywhere. Then you will know for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/14 "2006-01-25T19:27:08Z")
> [@Argent Towers](#): > > Rises from the subconscious > Impression of a cat > With blind kittens > Among her legs > Same undulating life-stir > I am that cat Declawed? ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/15 "2006-01-25T19:28:29Z")
Oh, you haven’t seen bad poetry till you’ve seen bad Goth poetry. The Knife! Sharp smooth steel Slicing my wrists My tears mix with the blood That dries and stiffens in my black lace sleeves. Oh, sorrow, sorrow, The Knife, the Knife calls to thee! ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/16 "2006-01-25T19:35:58Z")
> [@Plynck](#): > > Declawed? Pussy. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/17 "2006-01-25T19:37:27Z")
A friend of mine gave me some poetry to read that she wrote when we were both back in high school. It was a seriously disturbing description of the tar and crap coating a smoker’s lungs and how it makes them sicker and sicker. It was actually pretty good and I complemented her on it. Her response? She called me an idiot, told me the poem was really about how her tortured soul was too pure for this world and then went on some idiotic diatribe about how tough her life was. (Trust me. Her life was cake and her “tortured soul” was so much attention whoring) So to this day I got nothing against poetry, it’s the poets that I can’t stand. 99% of them are twits. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/18 "2006-01-25T19:55:16Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > Oh, you haven’t seen bad poetry till you’ve seen bad Goth poetry. Thank you so much for putting me onto a new mine of amusement. [This](http://www.angelfire.com/poetry/alexischild/Poetry_Page.html) is a particularly rich seam. (On the subject, and for anyone who doesn’t know the works of Philip Larkin, [this](http://www.artofeurope.com/larkin/lar8.htm) is how to write proper angst.) ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/19 "2006-01-25T20:06:41Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by **Amazon Floozy Goddess** :_ > Oh, you haven’t seen bad poetry till you’ve seen bad Goth poetry. Sister, have you got that right! That made me think of this (unintentionally) hilarious song a friend of mine sent to me. Anyone else familiar with “My Ruin,” by Terror? It’s classic stuff. I just looked up the lyrics, and here’s a sampling: > [@](#): > > I am able to change so I live without regret, > without remorse, only a remix > I’m drunk, I’m sober, > heaven doesn’t want me and hell’s afraid I’ll take over > Don’t bother trying to censor me, or shut me up > because it won’t work > I am cold and distant, yet warm > and close to those who deserve to see that side of me, > part of me, the heart of me > You find me so hard to understand in your world, > the world you perceive to be so normal, > I am deformed, scorned, reborn > I am me and I know exactly who I am, what I am, > and the wrath I bring > The ugly beauty, the lying truth, the virgin whore, > the quiet storm, a lover, a fighter, a saint, > a sinner, a sister, a daughter, old school, a beginner > I have decorated myself with love, hate, truth, you, > all of you, both of you, none of you, more than one of you > > Fucker! “Fucker!” constitute’s the song’s refrain. It’s a masterpiece of high school goth narcissism. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585/20 "2006-01-25T20:19:16Z")
> [@Argent Towers](#): > > I can’t stand retarted, pretentious “modernist” poets who think that all the horseshit that was racing through their drug/syphillis-addled brains was clever or deep. Whatever you think about Mina Loy’s poetry, though, you can’t really call her a modernist-in-quotes. She was born in 1882 and died in 1966, and published mostly in the 1910’s and '20s. She wasn’t a “modernist”, she was a Modernist, a bonafide member of the early 20th-century Modernism movement. So if you don’t enjoy her poetry, whaddya think of her [art](http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/loy/artworks.htm)? Personally, I find _Consider Your Grandmother’s Stays_ kind of nifty, but I like that sharply-defined ink-drawing style in general. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mina-loy-self-indulgent-masturbatory-cunt-of-a-poet/341585.md?page=2)