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Theme Changer

 Topic: Poetry and Prose

 (Read 9599 times)
  • 12 3 Next page « Previous thread | Next thread »
  • Poetry and Prose
     OP - March 08, 2009, 07:15 AM
    So what are the favourites on this forum? Any good poems worth posting? Maybe even some of your own  Smiley

    My favourite Poets are so far Lord Byron, Baudelaire, Poe, Keats.. Verlaine and Nelligan are excellent as well.


    Quod est inferius est sicut quod est superius,
    et quod est superius est sicut quod est inferius,
    ad perpetranda miracula rei unius.
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #1 - March 08, 2009, 07:29 AM
    I love this poem by Rabindranath Tagore.

    Where The Mind is Without Fear

    WHERE the mind is without fear and the head is held high
    Where knowledge is free
    Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
    By narrow domestic walls
    Where words come out from the depth of truth
    Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
    Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
    Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
    Where the mind is led forward by thee
    Into ever-widening thought and action
    Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

    Considering this forum's about religion or lack of it, this is a beautiful spiritual poem again by Tagore.

    Leave This


    Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads!

    Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut?

    Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!



    He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground

    and where the pathmaker is breaking stones.

    He is with them in sun and in shower,

    and his garment is covered with dust.

    Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!



    Deliverance?

    Where is this deliverance to be found?

    Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation;

    he is bound with us all for ever.



    Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense!

    What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained?

    Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.



    This is just so spiritual, strikes a chord with me-its not about narrow religious dogmas.




    World renowned historian Will Durant"...the Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precious good, whose delicate complex order and freedom can at any moment be overthrown..."
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #2 - March 08, 2009, 09:11 AM
    I hate Blake, Betjeman and Larkin. 3 asswipes who apparently must be studied at A level.

    My favourite poet is Benjamin Zephaniah. I just think he's cool but never read any poem of his. He did write this poem though, about an immigrant kid. Twas good.
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #3 - March 08, 2009, 09:57 AM
    Some of my favourites are Poe, Alexander Pope, Shakespeare (poetry and sonnets) and recently Edmund Spenser. I adore Blake's paintings but his poems... I don't know. And of course, I love the Classics... Ovid, Homer, Hesiod, etc.

    Here's a poem I wrote a while ago. 18+   grin12

    The Whirlpool

    Hearken heavens desolate, let I supplicate.
    This cruel, green-eyed Lady took me her thrall:
    I know that her I adore, but more I know not.
    True friend, or fickle paramour? What, if neither?
    Bleed I, for her face is full of thorns: I impale
    Mine own lips, dying afresh to steal each kiss.

    When I bleed, drained of red liquor
    Which do stain my cheeks instead,
    I beg her warm embrace, request
    The proffered cure, no matter the cost:
    Splaying my shape on her tepid temple-bed,
    Spraying naked limbs with tears and sweat.

    My fair, blasphemous Lady.
    An eddy be thou, some whirlpool,
    With eyes of green or blue,
    Sucking the hapless sailor, whose
    Sails flutter, with mast erect,
    To the grinding depths.

    Neither the Greek sculptors, nor God herself
    Without error could depict our merged splendour,
    As we together laze, of all deceptions stripped:
    Bites after bites, conquest after conquest,
    Black-and-blue our necks, hands exploring
    Hair of gold-and-ginger, pressed against
    Chest of ivory, honey-dripping belly.

    True friend, or paramour fickle?
    Chaste dove, pigeon licentious,
    Or lovesick cormorant,
    Who desires all and all?

    This or that, thee I adore
    Friend beyond compare,
    Green-eyed Lady,
    Lover profane.

    Islam: where idiots meet terrorists.
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #4 - March 08, 2009, 10:49 AM
    Quote from: Zaephon on March 08, 2009, 09:57 AM
    I love the Classics... Ovid, Homer, Hesiod, etc.


    The poem's contents apart,you have quite a flair for writing & thats' evident from your posts too! Afro

    I haven't read the Greek Classics unfortunately, I'll hopefully do them someday. All my knowledge of Homer comes from the movie, "Troy" I've read the Indian Classics-the Ramayana & Mahabharata, I'm not particularly fond of the Ramayana but I simply adore the Mahabharata, its huge, complex & the characters are in varying shades of grey, rather than all good or all bad.
    World renowned historian Will Durant"...the Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precious good, whose delicate complex order and freedom can at any moment be overthrown..."
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #5 - March 08, 2009, 11:19 AM
    Quote from: Rashna on March 08, 2009, 10:49 AM
    Quote from: Zaephon on March 08, 2009, 09:57 AM
    I love the Classics... Ovid, Homer, Hesiod, etc.


    The poem's contents apart,you have quite a flair for writing & thats' evident from your posts too! Afro

    I haven't read the Greek Classics unfortunately, I'll hopefully do them someday. All my knowledge of Homer comes from the movie, "Troy" I've read the Indian Classics-the Ramayana & Mahabharata, I'm not particularly fond of the Ramayana but I simply adore the Mahabharata, its huge, complex & the characters are in varying shades of grey, rather than all good or all bad.

    Thank you Rashna. I have read the Hindu epics too, but just the shorter versions I think, the epics being very long and all. I also read the Gita separately, with philosophical commentaries, etc. It had a great impact on me when I was in my teens. I tried to read the Upanishads too, but I had other books to read so I got carried off. It's true that Ramayana is more simplistic, Rama trying to retrieve his perfect and righteous bride from evil Ravana, etc. I like good old Hanuman, though. Mahabharata is simply fantastic, the mythic landscape that Mahabharata explores is so radically different from Greek or Judeo-Christian mythology, for me it was like exploring another planet.

    You will probably have a similar experience reading Homer. You'll be surprised to see that the most upright character in Iliad is Hector, for example, not the hubristic Achilles. Trojans are depicted as more civilised than Argives/Greeks, they are outnumbered and they are defending their homeland, as opposed to the Greek army who wants violence and plunder. There's no white-and-black morality in Homer.
    Islam: where idiots meet terrorists.
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #6 - March 08, 2009, 11:41 AM
    Cheetah knows all about my poems.  Cheesy Cheesy Cheesy
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #7 - March 08, 2009, 12:13 PM
    Some of my favourites

    Quote

    A man said to the universe:
       
     
     A man said to the universe:
    "Sir I exist!"
    "However," replied the universe,
    "The fact has not created in me
    A sense of obligation."

    Stephen Maria Crane


     
     
    Also

    Quote

    Creator of Wrongs
     

    If criminals are fated,

    It's wrong to punish crime.

    When God earth's ores created,

    He knew that on a time

    They would become the sources

    For sword blades dripping blood

    To flash across the manes of horses

    Iron-curbed, iron-shod.

                                         Al-Ma'arri



    and

    Quote



    I Heard a Thrush Sing

    I heard a thrush sing
    and I trembled for the world.
    I watched the morning break;
    I saw a law unfurled.

    A stone once cried to me
    for all the unborn dead.
    I thought I spied a swallow;
    it was a muse instead.

    Rivulets give wisdom
    out of ancient throats.
    Butterflies pontificate
    more than Moses spoke.

    Whose voice is this I hear
    too full for verb or noun?
    His blood's beneath the
    lilies upon Golgotha's crown



    "I am ready to make my confession. I ask for no forgiveness father, for I have not sinned. I have only done what I needed to do to survive. I did not ask for the life that I was given, but it was given nonetheless-and with it, I did my best"
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #8 - March 08, 2009, 01:10 PM
    Quote from: Zaephon on March 08, 2009, 11:19 AM
    Mahabharata is simply fantastic, the mythic landscape that Mahabharata explores is so radically different from Greek or Judeo-Christian mythology, for me it was like exploring another planet.

    You will probably have a similar experience reading Homer.


    It'll be great to read Homer simply, coz its set in a radically different socio cultural mileau. Its amazing- the Greeks & Indians were so geographically apart, yet produced some terrific literary works on similar themes & around the same time. Both Greeks & the Indian Aryans are supposed to have some common Aryan ancestry, although they'd been cut off from each other for a pretty long time by the time they pened these Epics.

    Both my parents have a monotheistic background, but I find these non monotheistic faiths pretty fascinating.  They don't have a One God who's supposed to be all good but is often qute the opposite of good nor do they have an all evil Satan-their gods as well as their heroes & heroines have moral foibles-just like the rest of us.
    World renowned historian Will Durant"...the Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precious good, whose delicate complex order and freedom can at any moment be overthrown..."
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #9 - March 08, 2009, 01:31 PM
    Quote from: Rashna on March 08, 2009, 01:10 PM
    It'll be great to read Homer simply, coz its set in a radically different socio cultural mileau. Its amazing- the Greeks & Indians were so geographically apart, yet produced some terrific literary works on similar themes & around the same time. Both Greeks & the Indian Aryans are supposed to have some common Aryan ancestry, although they'd been cut off from each other for a pretty long time by the time they pened these Epics.

    It isn't just the Greeks and Indians. The whole of Europe, including all the Celtic, Slavic Teutonic and Latin peoples, share ancestry with Indians and with the people between India and Europe.

    All the languages are in the same group: the Indo-European. Russian, Persian, Sanskrit and Irish are all closely related languages.

    Maryam's family name, Namazie, is a cognate for the Sanskrit "namaste".
    Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West. bunny
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #10 - March 08, 2009, 05:29 PM
    Quote from: MSinghK on March 08, 2009, 11:41 AM
    Cheetah knows all about my poems.  Cheesy Cheesy Cheesy



    Works of unadulterated genius.   Cheesy
    "Befriend them not, Oh murtads, and give them neither parrot nor bunny."  - happymurtad's advice on trolls.
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #11 - March 08, 2009, 06:13 PM
    Quote from: Cheetah on March 08, 2009, 05:29 PM
    Quote from: MSinghK on March 08, 2009, 11:41 AM
    Cheetah knows all about my poems.  Cheesy Cheesy Cheesy



    Works of unadulterated genius.   Cheesy


    I showed Berbs the first one but she didnt think it was that funny. Wait till she reads Flames of Olypmia.  Cheesy Cheesy Cheesy
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #12 - March 08, 2009, 06:17 PM
    Well I'll send you my brand new short story that I had to do for last weeks assignment (called the envy of othello) (the whole class loved it) if you send me the flames of olympia?  dance

    I write poetry, I wrote one for the last google ex muslim group we initially started out on.  Wonder if I can find it online, instead of writing it out all over again.  Hold on, I go look.
    Inhale the good shit, exhale the bullshit.
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #13 - March 08, 2009, 06:18 PM
    Quote from: BerberElla on March 08, 2009, 06:17 PM
    Well I'll send you my brand new short story that I had to do for last weeks assignment (called the envy of othello) (the whole class loved it) if you send me the flames of olympia?  dance

    I write poetry, I wrote one for the last google ex muslim group we initially started out on.  Wonder if I can find it online, instead of writing it out all over again.  Hold on, I go look.

    Can I read it too? *hides in a corner*
    Islam: where idiots meet terrorists.
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #14 - March 08, 2009, 06:20 PM
    Quote from: BerberElla on March 08, 2009, 06:17 PM
    Well I'll send you my brand new short story that I had to do for last weeks assignment (called the envy of othello) (the whole class loved it) if you send me the flames of olympia?  dance

    I write poetry, I wrote one for the last google ex muslim group we initially started out on.  Wonder if I can find it online, instead of writing it out all over again.  Hold on, I go look.


    Deal. A PM for PM
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #15 - March 08, 2009, 06:21 PM
    Quote from: Zaephon on March 08, 2009, 06:18 PM
    Can I read it too? *hides in a corner*


    OOh panic attack Cheesy umm, ok, but be honest, I sometimes wonder if the teacher just lies when she praises my work simply to help boost my confidence.

    Anyway the assigment was a 1000 word short story on Envy, the idea was my own and the teacher asked me if she could keep it and send it off to a competition for me.  mysmilie_977

    Ok, check your inbox in a minute or two. Embarrassed
    Inhale the good shit, exhale the bullshit.
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #16 - March 08, 2009, 06:23 PM
    Safe safe. But you first. I dunno whether I should send the crappier one first because Flames of Olympia is special. Me and my mate spent more time and made it longer than the others as well.
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #17 - March 08, 2009, 06:25 PM
    Ok, it's sent to the both of yous.  Cheesy

    I want the serious one that you and your mate put effort into, because I put an hours effort into mine.  Tongue
    Inhale the good shit, exhale the bullshit.
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #18 - March 08, 2009, 06:25 PM
    Quote from: BerberElla on March 08, 2009, 06:21 PM
    Quote from: Zaephon on March 08, 2009, 06:18 PM
    Can I read it too? *hides in a corner*


    OOh panic attack Cheesy umm, ok, but be honest, I sometimes wonder if the teacher just lies when she praises my work simply to help boost my confidence.

    Anyway the assigment was a 1000 word short story on Envy, the idea was my own and the teacher asked me if she could keep it and send it off to a competition for me.  mysmilie_977

    Ok, check your inbox in a minute or two. Embarrassed


    I bet it is actually that good. You defo have the ideas for it. I really liked you last one but the problem is that they're short stories and not proper books. I want you to write a proper book. I know you can do it. There would be people willing to buy the stuff you write. I know I would buy it.

    I better get a mention in you book somewhere.  Tongue
    or else
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #19 - March 08, 2009, 06:26 PM
    Quote from: BerberElla on March 08, 2009, 06:25 PM
    Ok, it's sent to the both of yous.  Cheesy

    I want the serious one that you and your mate put effort into, because I put an hours effort into mine.  Tongue


    Took us 4 lessons so 4 hours and I dont like Othello. But you Morroccans can haggle.....Olympia it is then.  Afro
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #20 - March 08, 2009, 06:30 PM
    Quote from: belladonnasix on March 08, 2009, 07:15 AM
    So what are the favourites on this forum? Any good poems worth posting? Maybe even some of your own  Smiley

    My favourite Poets are so far Lord Byron, Baudelaire, Poe, Keats.. Verlaine and Nelligan are excellent as well.


    Love all those  Afro

    Ode to a Skylark, by Shelley is one of my faves. Here's a bit:


           We look before and after,
                             And pine for what is not:
                         Our sincerest laughter
                             With some pain is fraught;
    Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.

                         Yet, if we could scorn
                            Hate and pride and fear,
                         If we were things born
                             Not to shed a tear,
    I know not how thy joy we ever should come near.


    Smiley
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #21 - March 08, 2009, 06:31 PM
    Quote from: MSinghK on March 08, 2009, 06:25 PM


    I bet it is actually that good. You defo have the ideas for it. I really liked you last one but the problem is that they're short stories and not proper books. I want you to write a proper book. I know you can do it. There would be people willing to buy the stuff you write. I know I would buy it.

    I better get a mention in you book somewhere.  Tongue
    or else


    Yeah, learning to write a short story is messing with my head, I keep having to trim words off and cut back on ideas.  Anyway I still need to work on dialogue, I;m not that good at it.  I'm still not ready to launch myself into a book, but recently (since I started this course) I have been really getting in touch with me creative side again.

    So I know for sure I will one day write a book and it won't be that far away.

    Quote from: MSinghK on March 08, 2009, 06:26 PM


    Took us 4 lessons so 4 hours and I dont like Othello. But you Morroccans can haggle.....Olympia it is then.  Afro


    It's not like shakespeare, it's taking a shakespeare idea and giving it a fantasy twist.  Tongue
    Inhale the good shit, exhale the bullshit.
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #22 - March 08, 2009, 06:38 PM
    Quote from: BerberElla on March 08, 2009, 06:31 PM
    Quote from: MSinghK on March 08, 2009, 06:25 PM


    I bet it is actually that good. You defo have the ideas for it. I really liked you last one but the problem is that they're short stories and not proper books. I want you to write a proper book. I know you can do it. There would be people willing to buy the stuff you write. I know I would buy it.

    I better get a mention in you book somewhere.  Tongue
    or else


    Yeah, learning to write a short story is messing with my head, I keep having to trim words off and cut back on ideas.  Anyway I still need to work on dialogue, I;m not that good at it.  I'm still not ready to launch myself into a book, but recently (since I started this course) I have been really getting in touch with me creative side again.

    So I know for sure I will one day write a book and it won't be that far away.

    Quote from: MSinghK on March 08, 2009, 06:26 PM


    Took us 4 lessons so 4 hours and I dont like Othello. But you Morroccans can haggle.....Olympia it is then.  Afro


    It's not like shakespeare, it's taking a shakespeare idea and giving it a fantasy twist.  Tongue


    When that day come, when your book is released I gonna BUY it. With money. And I dont do that often.  Cheesy
    I personally think you dont need so much time but you have to feel comfortable with it, ya know?

    But you agree Shakespeare's a douche?
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #23 - March 08, 2009, 06:46 PM
    Shakespeare is fantastic.

    Good luck with the book, BerberElla. Yes, writing a book is not easy. It's nothing like a creative outburst --you have to plan it carefully, try to keep it consistent, and fix all the loose endings.

    I'll visit the UK sooner or later, to try to get published. Difficult days ahead.  Cry
    Islam: where idiots meet terrorists.
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #24 - March 08, 2009, 07:11 PM
    Quote from: MSinghK on March 08, 2009, 06:38 PM


    When that day come, when your book is released I gonna BUY it. With money. And I dont do that often.  Cheesy
    I personally think you dont need so much time but you have to feel comfortable with it, ya know?

    But you agree Shakespeare's a douche?


    Nah man, shakespeare is cool, most likely my MBTI type too according to many sites I've seen.

    That's why I picked othello for the envy story, since his story is the one that touched me most.

    Quote from: Zaephon on March 08, 2009, 06:46 PM
    Shakespeare is fantastic.

    Good luck with the book, BerberElla. Yes, writing a book is not easy. It's nothing like a creative outburst --you have to plan it carefully, try to keep it consistent, and fix all the loose endings.

    I'll visit the UK sooner or later, to try to get published. Difficult days ahead.  Cry


    Why not approach some UK based agents first via email with the first three chapters of your book attached to see the interest?  that way when they offer, or have things they need you to change, then you can focus on coming to the UK to meet etc?

    Inhale the good shit, exhale the bullshit.
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #25 - March 08, 2009, 07:17 PM
    Zaephon, are you interested in writing novels too?
    "Poor human nature, what horrible crimes have been committed in thy name!"
    - Emma Goldman
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #26 - March 08, 2009, 07:18 PM
    Quote from: BerberElla on March 08, 2009, 07:11 PM
    Quote from: MSinghK on March 08, 2009, 06:38 PM


    When that day come, when your book is released I gonna BUY it. With money. And I dont do that often.  Cheesy
    I personally think you dont need so much time but you have to feel comfortable with it, ya know?

    But you agree Shakespeare's a douche?


    Nah man, shakespeare is cool, most likely my MBTI type too according to many sites I've seen.

    That's why I picked othello for the envy story, since his story is the one that touched me most.

    Quote from: Zaephon on March 08, 2009, 06:46 PM
    Shakespeare is fantastic.

    Good luck with the book, BerberElla. Yes, writing a book is not easy. It's nothing like a creative outburst --you have to plan it carefully, try to keep it consistent, and fix all the loose endings.

    I'll visit the UK sooner or later, to try to get published. Difficult days ahead.  Cry


    Why not approach some UK based agents first via email with the first three chapters of your book attached to see the interest?  that way when they offer, or have things they need you to change, then you can focus on coming to the UK to meet etc?




    I hate Othello. Im studying that muvvers. I fucken hate him and his story. Fucken violent wierdo.
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #27 - March 08, 2009, 07:30 PM
    Its wierd that so many manz are on the creative writing flex
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #28 - March 08, 2009, 07:31 PM
    Ok, this is the poem I wrote for the google ex muslim group (it's been changed a bit since then), it's not my best but I like what it's about.

    Quote
    The caged bride

    Bleakness descends upon me,
    Hope has long since passed.
    Life's game is almost over,
    The dice I long ago cast.

    A cage was built around me,
    It's bars constrained my soul,
    And the years of long confinement,
    Have begun to take their toll.

    The joy, the moon, the stars,
    You placed outside my cage.
    To tease and tempt with offers,
    And stir my heart to rage.

    The air you tinged with poison,
    It became so hard to breathe.
    Yet the cage you placed around me,
    Refused to let me leave.

    My hair a sexual temptation,
    My voice a deviant lure.
    A veil to shroud my splendour,
    My submission thus ensured.

    Servitude and submission,
    You gifted me this curse.
    A muslim female shadow,
    From birth, through life, to hearse.

    The self fulfiling prophecy,
    Of the low ungrateful wife.
    Is screaming out in anguish,
    "I'm not grateful for this life"

    My will begins to fail me,
    I long to see the light.
    So long have I been caged,
    That I no longer fight.

    My resistance at an end now,
    Tears my only lover.
    I lay my head down meekly,
    I will die under this cover.

    Death stands at a distance,
    A warmth to what I've known.
    I know it's almost over,
    I know I'm going home.

    Inhale the good shit, exhale the bullshit.
  • Re: Poetry and Prose
     Reply #29 - March 08, 2009, 07:33 PM
    Nothing out of the ordinary but I really love the romantics like Lord Byron, William Wordsworth and John Keats. Also dig Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde.
    "Poor human nature, what horrible crimes have been committed in thy name!"
    - Emma Goldman
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