So, poems with swear words in them...what do you think about it? I've always avoided it, and I'm not entirely sure why...is it because they're the sign of a bankrupt mind -- if you can't come up with something more creative than "fuck," then why are you talking? But if you're trying to recreate the cadences and feel of spoken language, well, my speech is replete with them. It really doesn't shock me to hear the words; it only shocks me to read them. As though writing them down were worse. When I read, I turn into a total prude; I actually "tsk" over other people's swears.
Although maybe it really isn't the fact that they're written down that bothers me. I don't like hearing those words except from people I already know. Are swear words a form of intimacy...as though you and I both know we're being naughty, but we also know and accept each other, so instead of a blood oath, let us bond over this collection of obscene syllables!
I guess I could go back through the poem and change the words, but when I was writing it, I was really in a "shit" mood, not a "stuff" mood, and a "fucking" mood, not a "stupid" mood. Should I be true to that? I don't know. It's really such a toss-off poem, kind of like I Know a Man, but longer. I've been getting a lot of those lately.
posted by Reen |link| 0 comments
