The inevitable Return of the Great White Dope
08/11/2008 07:01 p.m.
So, i've been thinking.

I can't exactly determine what role poetry has in my life anymore. Sure, i've moved on to making hip-hop, and i absolutely love it (not least of all because it's about the only legitimate shot i have at turning writing into a feasible career)- but the vitality that i once possessed is not the same. I guess i've matured quite a bit and don't think that every little scribble i churn out is worth publishing- i suppose the greatest thing i've learned is how to edit myself.

My writing technique has changed completely as well- so much that what i write as hip-hop no longer seems like it's poetry to me. It used to be that i'd just throw a shit ton of imagery on a page hoping that something would stick; but behind it, there was at least some semblance of a theme or an underlying idea; the way i write now (mostly) is much more dependent upon the sound of words and how they flow together. In other words, i've transformed from focusing on both style and substance to more or less exclusively rely on style. As a result, most of what i write sounds pretty cool, but is essentially meaningless. Because of this, writing is not the same cathartic release it once was; instead, it's an intellectual exercise, more than anything. for example, the following is completely meaningless, but pretty indicative of what i've been writing like:

amass amino acids at casinos as we cash in
and we ask when we can pass em to our children with our passion
but distraction seems in fashion and we're lacking in the action
so we smash whatever faction that is acting as our stand in

i've got pages and pages of shit like this. what i tend to post on pathetic are the things that make sense on some level, and really, there's not much of that left any more. i'm pretty sure this is because i've sort of come into the view that every idea and emotion that could possibly be expressed in writing already has been, and by people who are far more talented than i am. so instead i just try to come up with the most complex turns of phrase i can possibly imagine.

so, i guess this is a roundabout way of getting to a query:
how do you personally view yourself as a writer? what things are important to you as you write a poem?

peace to all. i'm going to start posting rap lyrics more frequently here in my journal. i honestly don't believe that they belong in my library as poems, but i want to share them and try to make some progress with them nonetheless.

later.