So, I've attempted to spread word about my writing, two books in particular (Seasons Come, People Grow and The Kind-Hearted Smartass), to 11 difference social networking-type sites: 1) Facebook, 2) Google, 3) Blogger, 4) DirectFolk, 5) Kiwibox, 6) Tumblr, 7) Lafango, 8) WattPad, 9) WritersCafe, 10) All Poetry and 11) GS Poetry. All of the commentary I have received thus far, mainly regarding my poetry, has been very positive. I did receive one strange comment on GS Poetry. The poem this person commented on is called "The Shield" and he/she didn't comment on the poem at all, but went on a tangent about what love is. Yeah, that was strange. I wanted to ask, "Soooo...? Did you like it?" However, I did just receive my first criticism and it's with regard to a poem I wrote recently, entitled "Fear in Question". The person critiqued it as having not clear enough a concept. I then discovered this person to be 15 years old and after reading some of his/her poems, I'm starting to wonder if the site is geared more toward the teenage crowd, much like WattPad is as I've learned.
Well, first off, here is the poem in its entirety:
“Fear in Question”
Standing in front of the mirror,
Practicing my lines,
Looking straight ahead,
Trying to get things right,
Appearing confident,
Feeling ready,
Due to get the part,
Tired of waiting,
To the set I travel,
Tensions begin to mount,
My confidence suddenly waning,
Debating if I should back out,
With the lines memorized,
Persistent to the end,
Before I arrive on set,
And begin my audition,
Fear suddenly comes over me,
As I forget my lines,
Being unable to concentrate,
As I look into her eyes,
Seemingly perfect for the part,
She appears ready to give things a chance,
Having waited for so long,
I can’t stand the thought of rejection,
So close to my goal,
Yet unable to finish,
Letting her get away,
All for fearing the question.
Alright, so, in this story, I take the concept of love, of pursuing a woman, of winning her heart by taking a man through a journey in the acting world and showcasing similar thoughts and emotions as he would in the first scenario until the two intertwine.
What this "question" is can be debated, I suppose. Perhaps that's not too clear in concept, but that was intentional on my part, because the central theme is the fear of rejection. This man has been practicing his lines, seems to exude great confidence when leaving for the audition, but as his destination draws nearer, he begins to think of all possibilities and not just what he was hoping while earlier practicing in front of the mirror. He then realizes that there is a chance he won't get the part and doubt begins to creep in. He's been through this before, has waited a long time and if he doesn't make this work soon enough, he may have to give up on his dream and pursue another career. From this very fear, he begins to wonder if he even wants to audition, in knowing full well it could be the final stamp on his dream.
On the other side of things, the lines the man practices, what he feels so confident about is his asking a woman a question, likely being either to date or marry him. He knows what he wants to say, feels confident about it and leaves the house with a smile on his face. Like in the above paragraph, this man feels nervous upon driving to his destination and that confidence begins to wane. He's always envisioned this woman being his. His dreams are pleasant ones, where the two continually embrace one another, the romance seems never-ending and the love they share can't be compared to anything else they've ever experienced previously. So, when he admits that rejection is a possible outcome, he begins to have second-thoughts about going through with it. If he were never ask the question, while he'd never experience his dreams in reality, they wouldn't be dashed from his memory either.
The two stories meet in the end, where this actor is on stage with a potential co-star, the woman of his dreams, and everything he had worked on for so long was vanished from memory. He couldn't remember his lines. His fear had gotten the best of him, both in auditioning for his dream job and asking the woman of his dreams out. The poem then attempts to make a point at its finale that while rejection inevitably hurts, it hurts more in the long-run to look back at a job/woman of your dreams and never know what could have been due to that very fear of rejection.
I hate feeling the need to explain my poetry, because I think one of the neat things about it and poems in general, is the fact they can be interpreted differently. I've heard a multitude of different interpretations on poems of mine and I think that's great. I may have written a poem with a certain vision in mind, a certain point to make, a certain interpretation/thought/feeling I hoped to generate from my reader(s), but it's quite a rarity for both the writer and reader to be on the exact same wavelength with regard to the writer's vision and the reader's interpretation. In any case, I hope my elaboration helped the commentator a bit, if he/she is reading it, and anyone else whom may have been puzzled as well.
Well, first off, here is the poem in its entirety:
“Fear in Question”
Standing in front of the mirror,
Practicing my lines,
Looking straight ahead,
Trying to get things right,
Appearing confident,
Feeling ready,
Due to get the part,
Tired of waiting,
To the set I travel,
Tensions begin to mount,
My confidence suddenly waning,
Debating if I should back out,
With the lines memorized,
Persistent to the end,
Before I arrive on set,
And begin my audition,
Fear suddenly comes over me,
As I forget my lines,
Being unable to concentrate,
As I look into her eyes,
Seemingly perfect for the part,
She appears ready to give things a chance,
Having waited for so long,
I can’t stand the thought of rejection,
So close to my goal,
Yet unable to finish,
Letting her get away,
All for fearing the question.
Alright, so, in this story, I take the concept of love, of pursuing a woman, of winning her heart by taking a man through a journey in the acting world and showcasing similar thoughts and emotions as he would in the first scenario until the two intertwine.
What this "question" is can be debated, I suppose. Perhaps that's not too clear in concept, but that was intentional on my part, because the central theme is the fear of rejection. This man has been practicing his lines, seems to exude great confidence when leaving for the audition, but as his destination draws nearer, he begins to think of all possibilities and not just what he was hoping while earlier practicing in front of the mirror. He then realizes that there is a chance he won't get the part and doubt begins to creep in. He's been through this before, has waited a long time and if he doesn't make this work soon enough, he may have to give up on his dream and pursue another career. From this very fear, he begins to wonder if he even wants to audition, in knowing full well it could be the final stamp on his dream.
On the other side of things, the lines the man practices, what he feels so confident about is his asking a woman a question, likely being either to date or marry him. He knows what he wants to say, feels confident about it and leaves the house with a smile on his face. Like in the above paragraph, this man feels nervous upon driving to his destination and that confidence begins to wane. He's always envisioned this woman being his. His dreams are pleasant ones, where the two continually embrace one another, the romance seems never-ending and the love they share can't be compared to anything else they've ever experienced previously. So, when he admits that rejection is a possible outcome, he begins to have second-thoughts about going through with it. If he were never ask the question, while he'd never experience his dreams in reality, they wouldn't be dashed from his memory either.
The two stories meet in the end, where this actor is on stage with a potential co-star, the woman of his dreams, and everything he had worked on for so long was vanished from memory. He couldn't remember his lines. His fear had gotten the best of him, both in auditioning for his dream job and asking the woman of his dreams out. The poem then attempts to make a point at its finale that while rejection inevitably hurts, it hurts more in the long-run to look back at a job/woman of your dreams and never know what could have been due to that very fear of rejection.
I hate feeling the need to explain my poetry, because I think one of the neat things about it and poems in general, is the fact they can be interpreted differently. I've heard a multitude of different interpretations on poems of mine and I think that's great. I may have written a poem with a certain vision in mind, a certain point to make, a certain interpretation/thought/feeling I hoped to generate from my reader(s), but it's quite a rarity for both the writer and reader to be on the exact same wavelength with regard to the writer's vision and the reader's interpretation. In any case, I hope my elaboration helped the commentator a bit, if he/she is reading it, and anyone else whom may have been puzzled as well.
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