The bolded part seems almost poetic for someone who claims to be missing the heartstrings that connect to the poetry muscle!
But this wasn’t so much what I meant.
My mum collects heart shaped pebbles and gives them to us, her three daughters. She always seems to find heart shaped pebbles, or perhaps the world is just full of them. It’s not a big deal. She just finds them, slips them in her pocket and hands me a little heart pebble when I see her. They’re outside amongst the flowers, housing woodlice.
This thread seems to me like asking: “Would you like it if someone gave you a special pebble they found that made them think of you”, and then lots of people respond “only if the pebble is a perfect miniature replica of Michelangelo’s David.” Which seems like people are missing out on the small stuff. That’s ok, it’s up to them what to enjoy. Just seems a shame to me is all. If someone writes me a crappy poem I’ll enjoy the sincerity, the intention and the spirit of giving. If someone writes me something half-way good I’ll enjoy the poetry. Either way, I’m a happy gracer and not about to turn my nose up at someone’s kindness.
I, as a woman, hate being asked if I, as a woman, like to receive a certain type of present. It’s just a slightly more refined way of asking “chicks dig this shit, right?”
I like poetry, enjoy it for the imagery and emotional impact with pretty much no interest in analyzing and critiquing it. I’m touched when someone throws part of themselves into a creative endeavor and gives me the results, even when the results are pretty lackluster. So yeah, I’d probably like it if a guy wrote me poetry and consider it a thoughtful gift. But that’s me. Not me as a woman, me as a person.Other people hate poetry, or like to read it in a critical sort of way, or don’t have that visceral connection to handmade stuff because they’re not creative types. For those people, writing a poem wouldn’t be a thoughtful gift. Just like flowers or candy or jewelry or Hello Kitty waffle irons, you have to think in terms of what your individual, specific recipient would like.
And what this individual recipient would NOT like is being given something, even something she’d ordinarily like, on the motive that chicks dig this shit.
When I like stuff I don’t walk around liking it as a woman. I just am. My SO liked receiving poetry from his grandmother and the way in which I like getting a little poem from someone is the exact same way. My vagina doesn’t change the way I like getting a poem, fuck that noise.
For you, poetry is apparently some effortless thing someone finds lying around.
For me, poetry is a craft about which I am serious and have dedicated years of my life to reading, understanding, writing, and sharing with a community of people who also take it seriously.
And that’s the operative word for me: seriously. If someone wants to jot down some funny doggerel, I have no issue with that. If someone wants me to take their attempt at poetry seriously, then they have to seriously attempt poetry. Nearly every teenager thinks they are deep and poetic and mysterious and lots of people carry that feeling forward and think all they have to do is arrange words like blood and soul and ghostwimperspiritpain on a piece of paper and they are a ~POET~ and that they are right up there with people who actually know, actually care, and actually work at the craft.
So yes, I take poetry seriously. It is my chosen art. It rewards hard work and dedication and, like every art form, not everyone can do it well. But if someone makes a serious attempt, I’ll be grateful for their serious effort.
Also, if my mom handed me a pebble every. damn. time., I would probably think, “what the hell am I supposed to do with all these damn pebbles?” One pebble is special. One hundred pebbles is another damn collection that we can’t ever get rid of. But that’s just me.
I see what you’re saying: as an actor I don’t like having to sit through painful am dram. But to me, it’s not about being serious about it, but rather about taking yourself to seriously. I have no problem with charades or people doing funny impressions. It’s annoying when people tell me they are “also” an actor.
So maybe we need better words for variations of poetry, because it’s not really common to say you wrote “a little rhyme.”
But I certainly don’t think people should stop being creative and expressive with their language just because they’re not as good at it as a poet.
Like I said, if someone wants to write funny doggerel, I’ve got no issue and will laugh if I find it funny. (It’s harder to write funny verse than people think.)
I don’t assume only women want poetry as a gift, or at all. Thinking about this one cute girl who read some of her poems to me, I think it would be pretty cool for her to feel inspired and dedicate a poem for me, at least when I knew her.
[QUOTE=Hello Again]
Actually, the OP specified “heartfelt” poetry given in lieu of a gift. So that’s why people are focusing on the cheesiness/frequent badness of amateur poems written to express deeply felt personal emotions, and written with the goal of evoking personal emotions.
[/QUOTE]
Don’t read too much into what I am “specifically” asking. I’m basically asking: what are your general thoughts about poetry as a gift. I am looking for a general idea of giving poetry as gifts, I was not intending to get overly specific.
