Thursday 25 November 2010

Which "box" does a poem fit into? Ethics & Moral issues

Which "box" does a poem or lyric fit into?
Afer completing the editing of the next two anthologies of  Blues poems lyrics, I realised that some are in fact already in the Kindle books on Love; the reason being they were more romantic and lyrical compared to the other pieces in the Blues collections, hence a better fit to the love selection (don't worry I'm checking to avoid duplicating pieces in the collections - no poem lyric will appear in more than one collection).

In the upcoming collection Blues Hung Up to Dry we have "Lady Luck" really a sort of Torch song, but with a Blues feel aspect so it fits with the other Blues pieces. The Blues is after all broad Church, there's room for all aspects and styles.

Love poems lyrics collections now out for reviews to place later on Amazon Kindle. Also reviews calls for the Blues anthologies: Blues hung Up to Dry and Brand New Highway Stretching On.

Patterns of anthology themes so far: Love, Blues, next?...Faith, general.
working title of the faith/general one: That Brightening Glow

Moral issues.
I usually sift out from anthologies all poems lyrics falling into the categories of: -

Funny but too vicious or cruel, Pieces where any person can be identified as the poems subject (safeguard against libel actions), Too sexual, graphic. Violent. Anti faith, religion. Too crude, coarse language. Bad taste. Strong language. Open to negative misinterpetation. Too much bitterness, "Rant" Bleakness. Too little content (no point made, too brief) Poetically lyrically weak - not to standard. Vague or confused - where is the message/point?

This follows my ethos of not giving offence gratuitously, you can make your points, say what you want without using the above listing. It's also inline with my Christian Faith.

Someone once said really bad language was OK to include since "you hear it everyday on the bus" however most people don't like to hear it - "keeping it real" is one thing but why erect a barrier to your work being read/heard?

What is the aim? (what does he include?), these:

Things to raise the spirit, human condition: Love, care of others, nature, beauty, critique of modern modes & thinking, music, humour, faith, ridicule, satire, anger (to some degree). 

Other poets lyricists of course are not bound by these rules, but looking over my work to date they seem to be the ones I apply.

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