And All This Is Metaphore

"an artist that does not challenge the confines of society is a waste of an artist."

Only if that artist cares about the outcome of the society around him. What if an artist works make one person in the world happy? Is that a waste?

"Wht cry for those that often cry? Instead, help them smile, and smile for those that smile."

Maybe you're right, art is just a means of expressing yourself. The point I was trying to make was that why not make a difference in the world while expressing yourself? Aren't there a lot of things in this world that could use an adjustment?

"I try my best to be just like I am but everybody wants you to be just like them."
[  Edited by ChrisD at   ]

"an artist that does not challenge the confines of society is a waste of an artist."

Artists can provide learning experiences for their viewers on just about any concept or subject matter. They can challenge their imagination, build peoples imaginations, help people overcome issues in their life, inspire them to explore their own feelings about certain things or simply work as pieces that people can relate to and find comfort in. And of course, the maker could do it just for themselves as an experiment or as a kind of theraputic device. None of these intentions are meaningless or a waste. Not all art focuses on the broad social issues and not all art should be. Where is the vairety of life explored in that?

If they do not affect society through their art, that just makes their art irrelevant to society as a whole, but it may affect certain types of people or individuals, or even just the artist themselves. There are many types of progressions to make for each individual or group to aspire towards. Whether pushing for personal progression or social progression, both are equally as valid and both should be respected for their own importance, since both are just as important in their own right.

As for the selfishness - many artists do produce art for selfish reasons, but their reasons are their own. It seems to me that you should try to have a little more respect for the individual, instead of trying to shame their individualism and deem it as a "waste".

"http://yes-virginia.deviantart.com/"

Sorry I didn't make my edit fast enough, good points though. Hey, would you mind if I posted something I wrote a few days ago? I don't know if it's poetry, I think it is. I would like an outsider's opinion of it. If you'd like to keep this thread for your poetry alone, I'd understand that too.

"I try my best to be just like I am but everybody wants you to be just like them."

Sure, you can post here, but if you're looking for more opinions than just mine or maybe awakend's, it would be better to post a seperate thread.

"The point I was trying to make was that why not make a difference in the world while expressing yourself? Aren't there a lot of things in this world that could use an adjustment?"

I respect the overall point you are trying to make, but that you were trying to judge others' by that single ideal, was what I felt was innappropriate. No one has an obligation to do a certain thing just because they have the ability to do so and no one should be looked down upon more, just because they choose not to. If you're aim is to contribute toward social progression, that's a fantastic ideal to have, though it's not necessarily a pre-requisit to becoming a "great" artist.

"http://yes-virginia.deviantart.com/"

I'm not really looking for a whole bunch of opinions, just an opinion of someone who enjoys good poetry and you seem to fit the bill. Be harsh, be critical, be real about your response. If you think it sucks, then tell me it sucks. I'd much rather know it sucks than think it's gold.

Reality rarely just smacks you in the face. It usually gives you hints, small glimpses of its greater plan, all the while decreasing the intervals of its unconscious prodding. I had hoped it could never be me, but it’s always been me. Life is ultimate prankster, if I could grab it by the neck and beat the shit out of it I would. It threw rocks at my glass house too many times for me to remember. Every time it shatters one of my windows, it sees more of me, transiently satisfying its thirst to see me naked. Someone once asked me, “if it keeps throwing rocks at your house and there’s nothing you can do to stop it, why did you build the house in the first place?” I told them that a long time ago I saw a great storm cloud over the horizon, back then I thought it would pass by, but up until now it’s been the only thing that hasn’t changed. I have no pity for myself, I just wish I would have let it rain on me from the beginning. I do, however, have pity for those few, who saw the same cloud and built a fortress.

"I try my best to be just like I am but everybody wants you to be just like them."

I may enjoy poetry but I have really only studied it formally for about 3 months, and even then, we did not cover it in depth. I do not take much note of structure and technique, so I cannot give a formal critique of poetry.

This may be what is called prose poetry. But I am not so sure. So in my humble opinion, I think you've done well in relating the concept in this. I feel that whether you know it or not, you've left other people with enough freedom to attatch some of their own meaning to it, instead of making it wholly personal and attatching only your own meaning.

In all honesty, I do not like this nor dislike it. I do relate to the few ending lines and I like the concept that is presented within it, but it does not strike a strong chord with me, altogether. I think this is because it does not make any connections or allusions or metaphores that astound me and make me see things in a different light that I haven't seen anything in before. However because of the concept that I tend to percieve in it, it does remind me to reflect on how I myself have coped with things in the past, up until now, and this does lead to me re-evaluating my current coping mechanisms, so I do appreciate this aspect of it.

"http://yes-virginia.deviantart.com/"

Thanks for the critique and the honesty of your critique, I did intentionally leave it open so that the reader could relate to it. I think everyone has that defense that they built for something in their life, but life never allows it to stay up. That's basically what I wanted to convey and I think you at least got that part of it.

"I try my best to be just like I am but everybody wants you to be just like them."

Mankind,
even though one day
you may make the world fall from its place,
you at least should know
that despite your mistakes
I will always love you.
Although I've met many who have demonized you
and shut you out of their world,
denying their origin.
- But really,
I don't think it is in your intention
to be half as bad as they say.
I think the problem is that you are lost
and that everyone is evacuating this stage
because they are afraid of where it is
that it will eventually take us.
And they blame you
even though we are all the same,
because no one knows
where it is we're supposed to be going
or what it is we're meant to be doing,
or what it is that anything truly means
in this world.
And I've been thinking for a while now
that we may as well be brother and sister
for in the end we are all the connected
and we all came from the same dimension.

"http://yes-virginia.deviantart.com/"
[  Edited by vigil at   ]

Everyday
the world turns an iris
and examines herself
with a heavy heart.
Men toiling away with their
calculators and black jackets,
climbing empty stairwells
and trading their hearts
for the goods, the goods.

"Come!" they say
and cut off your legs
and fill your hands
with their dirty bills.
And you crawl around
with your heart in your pocket
entering office after office
building after building
to trade your mind
for a new sauna.

"This is how the world works!"
Say the cynics and crazies
and the sick all stand around
with their broken eyes yelling
"Here, here! how true!"
And all of the dreamers cry into
their new sealy pillows
and the 100% cotton Kleenex tissues
on special for $2.95.
And if they have the want for it,
there's always the heron
and the panadol
for $15 each
to soothe the emptiness.

"http://yes-virginia.deviantart.com/"