I stopped posting poems out of fear of copyright laws, and having my work plaigerized, but I haven't been published in a while, so who's going to steal my stuff anyway...
This one is rather new, and hopefully moving.
Modern Music (Title subject to change)
By Andrew Moravick
The beat of this generation is irregular:
A metaphorical heart murmur,
An anxiety induced palpitation,
A necessary puff off an inhaler
Before singing a cough strained song
Written while high on whatever
We could buy on weekly allowances.
The overture was hopeful,
With sweet melodies of what could be,
But soon silenced by blaring confusion,
And mechanical choruses programmed
For profits and expectations.
Each voice tries to sing alone,
Tries to sing in harmony,
Tries to sing coherently,
Before that voice dies quietly
In a soft, frustrated moan
Amongst others fated for the same.
The epic symphonies of our grandparents,
The pointed impassioned oldies our parents,
Gentle background music still echoing
In faintly remembered melodies,
Yet unincorporated nevertheless.
Ours is a mix of powerful pulsing rhythms,
Flattened by fickle lines,
Loud impassioned yells,
Screaming for nothing but to be heard,
Gentle, enchanting ditties,
Made with more math than magic,
Lonely, low income laments
That turn to high-profit whoo-ees,
Songs against conformity
Sung in uniforms of black,
And more and more,
With just one understood undertone:
The unity in our confusion.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
State of My Union of Thoughts...
Or in other words... what's going on with me.
Well, I gave up Facebook for Lent so I now am using the internet for more productive ventures like blogging about absolutely nothing. Actually, I have started up a new blog called,"Intentionally Bad Criticism" to try to use my comedic talents (if any) to get some more writing exposure. The link is: http://www.intentionallybadcriticism.blogspot.com/
Anyway, I'm still writing, and I've submitted some new individual poems for publication. I have stopped posting new poems on here since I'm a bit woried about conflicts between publishers, but for anyone who is interested, I'm more than happy to share my work.
Also, I'm waiting to hear back from Emerson, and Notre Dame graduate schools to see if I actually have a future or not... Let's hope the answer is yes.
Well, I gave up Facebook for Lent so I now am using the internet for more productive ventures like blogging about absolutely nothing. Actually, I have started up a new blog called,"Intentionally Bad Criticism" to try to use my comedic talents (if any) to get some more writing exposure. The link is: http://www.intentionallybadcriticism.blogspot.com/
Anyway, I'm still writing, and I've submitted some new individual poems for publication. I have stopped posting new poems on here since I'm a bit woried about conflicts between publishers, but for anyone who is interested, I'm more than happy to share my work.
Also, I'm waiting to hear back from Emerson, and Notre Dame graduate schools to see if I actually have a future or not... Let's hope the answer is yes.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Professional Athlete Trapped in an Almost Professional Athlete's Body...
Yes, not only do I write, but I'm an athlete too. Aren't I a catch? Joking aside, the problem is, I've come to realize that I'd be happiest if I could just run track and write for a living, but both things don't exactly put bread on the table. Writing wise, I've paid my dues, refined my craft, and gotten to a point where I'm able to put my pen to paper with the best of 'em, but writing alone still isn't all that secure of an occupation. Athleticly speaking, I'm a world class runner... if you count those guys from the tiny countries who get smoked in the olympics (my times are on par with theirs, so yeah, I'd be the fastest guy in the country...of Kazakstan or Slovakia), and I pretty much just missed the cut off for being noticed by any colligate programs where I would get scholarships, extensive training, and a chance to really improve, sooo, despite enjoying the sport, there's nothing more I can really do with it. (So count yourself lucky Usain Bolt... for now)
Anyway, in both circumstances, in track, and in writing, I'm right on the cusp of being able to make a living out of it, but I'm not there. For writing, I'm planning on becoming a professor and making a steady income that way, but for track, I just have to face the facts that I'm faster than your average joe, but not fast enough to earn the money to pay for a cup o' joe. Although today, I spent about three hours promoting the track team I've been organising during my time here at St. Joseph's College of Maine, and despite doing nothing but posting flyers, taking names, along with thinking and talking track, I was just as happy as when I write a great poem. Figures, the two things I love doing don't pay a damn thing, so whoever said, "do what you love for a job" can bite me. However, should I turn around and find a way to make a stable income off writing and running, I will of course appologize to that sage speaker, and revoke the "bite me" declaration.
In summation, this was a rant. Nothing elaborate or cleverly designed, just me ranting away, and for that, I thank you, the reader, for spending (or wasting) your time reading this.
Anyway, in both circumstances, in track, and in writing, I'm right on the cusp of being able to make a living out of it, but I'm not there. For writing, I'm planning on becoming a professor and making a steady income that way, but for track, I just have to face the facts that I'm faster than your average joe, but not fast enough to earn the money to pay for a cup o' joe. Although today, I spent about three hours promoting the track team I've been organising during my time here at St. Joseph's College of Maine, and despite doing nothing but posting flyers, taking names, along with thinking and talking track, I was just as happy as when I write a great poem. Figures, the two things I love doing don't pay a damn thing, so whoever said, "do what you love for a job" can bite me. However, should I turn around and find a way to make a stable income off writing and running, I will of course appologize to that sage speaker, and revoke the "bite me" declaration.
In summation, this was a rant. Nothing elaborate or cleverly designed, just me ranting away, and for that, I thank you, the reader, for spending (or wasting) your time reading this.
Monday, November 16, 2009
I Can Stop Writing When I'm Dead...
I've neglected this blog for quite some time now, worrying about grad school applications, current classes, responsibilities, etc... but I'm a writer, a poet, or if nothing else, a guy with writing devices that he enjoys using, so why stop or refrain just to dedicate time to more pressing issues? After all, grad school means nothing if I don't continue writing, I'm an English major, so classes aren't all that hard, and sure, I have a ton of responsibilities, but my most important responsibility is to myself and my readers. So, I'm back. Hopefully you didn't miss me too much.
The idea of dedicating time to "more pressing issues," "more suitable endevors," or in blunt summation, "shit that will make me money in the long run," seems a little out of whack to the romantic in me, but strangely logical to the pragmatist portion. Sure, I could instead be pursuing love, passion, justice, nirvana, and all that jazz, but what good is it if I'm the broke, bearded, lunatic raving from his hut in the middle of the woods? Who would lend my voice an ear, or my writing an eye? Plus, if I were to find true love, first of all, how happy would my ideal, timeless beauty of a wife be married to a raving bearded bafoon? Fortunately, I'm not partial to beards, but all the same, sadly, but truthfully, to be happy, there must be some kind of success, and success, for the most part, is measured in dollars in this culture.
Honestly, I'd much rather be scribling smiles onto people's faces, erasing their tears, and printing passion within their hearts, and doing nothing else, and accomplishing nothing else, I'd be completely happy. The means by which that can be done, however, and to the degree I feel necessary, requires a decent amount of distribution, and that requires a decent amount of funding... which for an undergraduate college student, such things are in short supply.
But hey, I'm only 21 right? Sure, this would probably be where most people would be having a mid-life crisis a few hundred years ago, but now, I still have at least three more quarters of life left... unless the nut jobs are right about 2012, in which case, congrats to them in advance, cause if they're right, there will be no one around to hear them say "I told you so..." Anyway, the question is, to live every day to the fullest, despite sacrificing potential financial gains, or to put joy on the back burner, and till the fiscal field so that potentially greater joys can be harvested later? I'm neither a cook, nor a farmer, just a writer, so for now, I have no clue...
The idea of dedicating time to "more pressing issues," "more suitable endevors," or in blunt summation, "shit that will make me money in the long run," seems a little out of whack to the romantic in me, but strangely logical to the pragmatist portion. Sure, I could instead be pursuing love, passion, justice, nirvana, and all that jazz, but what good is it if I'm the broke, bearded, lunatic raving from his hut in the middle of the woods? Who would lend my voice an ear, or my writing an eye? Plus, if I were to find true love, first of all, how happy would my ideal, timeless beauty of a wife be married to a raving bearded bafoon? Fortunately, I'm not partial to beards, but all the same, sadly, but truthfully, to be happy, there must be some kind of success, and success, for the most part, is measured in dollars in this culture.
Honestly, I'd much rather be scribling smiles onto people's faces, erasing their tears, and printing passion within their hearts, and doing nothing else, and accomplishing nothing else, I'd be completely happy. The means by which that can be done, however, and to the degree I feel necessary, requires a decent amount of distribution, and that requires a decent amount of funding... which for an undergraduate college student, such things are in short supply.
But hey, I'm only 21 right? Sure, this would probably be where most people would be having a mid-life crisis a few hundred years ago, but now, I still have at least three more quarters of life left... unless the nut jobs are right about 2012, in which case, congrats to them in advance, cause if they're right, there will be no one around to hear them say "I told you so..." Anyway, the question is, to live every day to the fullest, despite sacrificing potential financial gains, or to put joy on the back burner, and till the fiscal field so that potentially greater joys can be harvested later? I'm neither a cook, nor a farmer, just a writer, so for now, I have no clue...
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Poetry vs Music & Prose
All too often, when I tell people I'm a poet, the response usually is "theres no money in that," or sometimes just a simple, "why would you want to do that?" Some say poetry is extinct- dissapeared like the dinosaurs. Others may suggest, like others suggest with dinosaurs, that poetry has just evolved. The rhythm of words was not enough, and poetry needed to adapt taking to music as dinosaurs took to feather and flight. So then if people want poetry, modern music should suffice, and if anyone should want writing, nothing is more necessary than prose. So of course, poetry is useless, and dinosaurs like me only find audiences in museums, right? Afterall, what can poetry possibly do that music can't do in expressing emotion, and what prose can't do in conveying a message, information, or a story?
Since the most pressing argument for music and prose being more useful than poetry is made by sales instead of people, it only makes sense to address the cold hard facts first. Music sells, and everyone loves it. It moves us, gets us through hard times, allows us to celibrate the good times, and excites the senses through pulsing rhythms, and melodic sounds. Yes, you can tell from my diction I do love music. As for prose, it gets right to the point. It's simple, clear, easy to understand, and accessable to everyone. Thus, music and prose sell very well, and poetry... poetry takes a special convergence of marketable aspects and talent to even push moderate numbers. If poetry is as important and influential as I intend to prove, "why then, doesn't it sell," would be a logical question.
The truth is, poetry has changed. It has split to appeal to two different audiences. First, after becoming something studied mostly by high level scholars, and well learned intellectuals, one variety of poetry has become a labarynth of literary, historical, and biblical allusions, references to known and unknown contemporaries and predecessors, and dizzying variations on form, rhyme, diction and syntax. This variety of poetry is undeniably thought provoking, and masterfull writing, but is highly inaccessable to the average reader. Though poems of this sort do attempt to convey feeling and emotion as well, these sensations can be lost in the segways to footnotes, or hurried searches for second meanings.
The other main division of poetry is the highly emotional, dramatic, and rhytmic slam poetry. Slam poetry is meant to be preformed, not necessairily read, so aside from those who are in the audience, or seeing a video of the performance, the effect of the poem can't be mass distributed. Furthermore, this kind of poetry becomes more and more theatrical, and not as refined. It is an amazing way to convey emotion, feeling, and thought, but it does not translate well to print, and doesn't always warrant credibility to the scholarly crowd who, for the most part, is responsible for publication. The other difficulty slam poetry faces, is that it is highly similar to hip-hop and rap, only without a beat, and if people want a good rhyme, why not get it with a catchy tune as well?
The great poets of the past, and some of the ones still writing today, however, are able to combine the strengths of the mind igniting scholarly school, and the emotional volitility of slam poetry. These poems are accessable marketable, but still don't sell very well, simply because of the stigma of being poetry. The poems written by a true master have something that music and prose can never offer. The music of a poem is stronger than anything that can be created with an instrument, and the meaning is far deeper than anything plainly stated. A good poem is active. It strums the strings of the soul instead of requiring ears to hear the struming of a guitar. Its meaning is not concrete like prose, but is alive, and is whatever the reader wants it to be.
Since poetry doesn't sell well, being a poet doesn't really mean money falling from trees, and as a poet, that means... I don't really have all that much money. So I have a few other jobs to pay the bills, one of which I need to be at in an hour. I plan to continue this topic afterward, but for now, I've got to bolt. Not to be cliche' but...
To be continued...
Since the most pressing argument for music and prose being more useful than poetry is made by sales instead of people, it only makes sense to address the cold hard facts first. Music sells, and everyone loves it. It moves us, gets us through hard times, allows us to celibrate the good times, and excites the senses through pulsing rhythms, and melodic sounds. Yes, you can tell from my diction I do love music. As for prose, it gets right to the point. It's simple, clear, easy to understand, and accessable to everyone. Thus, music and prose sell very well, and poetry... poetry takes a special convergence of marketable aspects and talent to even push moderate numbers. If poetry is as important and influential as I intend to prove, "why then, doesn't it sell," would be a logical question.
The truth is, poetry has changed. It has split to appeal to two different audiences. First, after becoming something studied mostly by high level scholars, and well learned intellectuals, one variety of poetry has become a labarynth of literary, historical, and biblical allusions, references to known and unknown contemporaries and predecessors, and dizzying variations on form, rhyme, diction and syntax. This variety of poetry is undeniably thought provoking, and masterfull writing, but is highly inaccessable to the average reader. Though poems of this sort do attempt to convey feeling and emotion as well, these sensations can be lost in the segways to footnotes, or hurried searches for second meanings.
The other main division of poetry is the highly emotional, dramatic, and rhytmic slam poetry. Slam poetry is meant to be preformed, not necessairily read, so aside from those who are in the audience, or seeing a video of the performance, the effect of the poem can't be mass distributed. Furthermore, this kind of poetry becomes more and more theatrical, and not as refined. It is an amazing way to convey emotion, feeling, and thought, but it does not translate well to print, and doesn't always warrant credibility to the scholarly crowd who, for the most part, is responsible for publication. The other difficulty slam poetry faces, is that it is highly similar to hip-hop and rap, only without a beat, and if people want a good rhyme, why not get it with a catchy tune as well?
The great poets of the past, and some of the ones still writing today, however, are able to combine the strengths of the mind igniting scholarly school, and the emotional volitility of slam poetry. These poems are accessable marketable, but still don't sell very well, simply because of the stigma of being poetry. The poems written by a true master have something that music and prose can never offer. The music of a poem is stronger than anything that can be created with an instrument, and the meaning is far deeper than anything plainly stated. A good poem is active. It strums the strings of the soul instead of requiring ears to hear the struming of a guitar. Its meaning is not concrete like prose, but is alive, and is whatever the reader wants it to be.
Since poetry doesn't sell well, being a poet doesn't really mean money falling from trees, and as a poet, that means... I don't really have all that much money. So I have a few other jobs to pay the bills, one of which I need to be at in an hour. I plan to continue this topic afterward, but for now, I've got to bolt. Not to be cliche' but...
To be continued...
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Is my life interesting yet?
So, in the past three months of me not writing on here a lot has changed. So I suppose it's only fair to make up for my lack of posts with a complete update.
1. After posting a personal on craigslist, complete with a picture and a catchy title, I didn't really find any romance. However, because of the picture I was discovered by a modeling talent scout, who by some turn of luck, was actually not only legit, but local, successful, and just plain nice guy to work for. I've done four photo shoots so far, and I'm starting to dig the whole modeling thing... as maybe a hobby, or a potential side job. I don't really know how far I can go with it, but as continue to build my portfolio I can't help but feel that I might have a decent shot at something.
2. Somehow I became a lacrosse player. Don't ask me what caused it, I have no idea, but I ended up scoring three goals this season as a long stick mid fielder, and for those who aren't familliar with lacrosse, its actually pretty uncommon for an LSM to score. The game just gets more and more fun for me, and somehow, I was able to win a college award for most improved player...
3. Speaking of awards, I also ended the academic year winning the St Joseph's College Poetry Award for my work on A Taste of the Sublime. So now I'm an award winning poet. My sales have jumped as a result... ok a jump is pretty easy when it goes from one to four, but still, I've actually sold a few books on Amazon.
So those are pretty much the top three highlights of the past three months, and hopefully there will be more to come. Maybe I'll start posting regularly, and people might start reading again, and things will just keep going up.
1. After posting a personal on craigslist, complete with a picture and a catchy title, I didn't really find any romance. However, because of the picture I was discovered by a modeling talent scout, who by some turn of luck, was actually not only legit, but local, successful, and just plain nice guy to work for. I've done four photo shoots so far, and I'm starting to dig the whole modeling thing... as maybe a hobby, or a potential side job. I don't really know how far I can go with it, but as continue to build my portfolio I can't help but feel that I might have a decent shot at something.
2. Somehow I became a lacrosse player. Don't ask me what caused it, I have no idea, but I ended up scoring three goals this season as a long stick mid fielder, and for those who aren't familliar with lacrosse, its actually pretty uncommon for an LSM to score. The game just gets more and more fun for me, and somehow, I was able to win a college award for most improved player...
3. Speaking of awards, I also ended the academic year winning the St Joseph's College Poetry Award for my work on A Taste of the Sublime. So now I'm an award winning poet. My sales have jumped as a result... ok a jump is pretty easy when it goes from one to four, but still, I've actually sold a few books on Amazon.
So those are pretty much the top three highlights of the past three months, and hopefully there will be more to come. Maybe I'll start posting regularly, and people might start reading again, and things will just keep going up.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Its been a while...
Its been a long time since my last post, but I need to vent. I'm pretty much losing my mind at the moment. I'm taking 5 classes, playing varsity college lacrosse with a schedule of 3 games a week, I've been getting notheing but rejection letters back from publishers I've submitted individual poems to, and I have absolutely no free time to write anything new. I've heard people say "theres no money in poetry" so many times, and yet its what I love to write. I don't even know what TO write anymore since everything has to be marketable, targeted, formulated, and yet trivial, empty, or worthless. I'm just venting, but I have no idea what I need to be focusing on right now. I also have an option to make some money in modeling, but I have no time for that right now, and I might not have enough pictures to put together a substantial portfolio by the time I do have free time. I need some kind of relief.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
