"Go in fear of abstractions. Don’t retell in mediocre verse what has already been done in good prose. Don’t think any intelligent person is going to be deceived when you try to shirk all the difficulties of the unspeakably difficult art of good prose by chopping your composition into line lengths." - Ezra Pound

This is another entry in my series, "Pounded by Ezra" to help me and other poets to improve their craft. If you know know who Ezra Pound is, check out this brief article about his life. here

"Go in fear of abstractions"

Write with the fearful hesistance that your language will be confusing and obscure. Ezra began a movement called "Imagism" and later renamed it to "Vorticism." This series looks at the different parts of his treatise on what not to do as a poet. I think it is extremely helpful to remember as we craft our own language and poems. Our goal when we write is to convey a feeling, an image, or a commentary on a portion of our lives or our perspective.

When we write, we want to give something. Maybe that is a unique perspective on a challenging issue, like @shawnamawna does with her divine look at post on mental illness. Maybe it is a moment in time where we revel in all the sensual excitement and heartbreak of sharing a bed with a lover like @artdellavita does in her sensual erotic poem and picture "A silent not; a poem" .

Writing is a gift to the reader from the writer. There is a transfer, a passing along, a movement of ideas.

But for that communication to be effective, the message has to be clear. Ezra suggests with his line, "Go in fear of abstractions," that being obscure, or dealing in the abstract confuses your message and makes reading difficult. If our message, if our gift is to be clear and received, the delivery must be simple and effective.

Write with the fear that your message will be confused, or impossible to understand without the mind reading insight into your unique perspective.

Have you been in a relationship? Have you ever been yelled at by your lover on a monday morning because you didn't flush the toilet? Weeks of pent up rage and irritation build up and explode in a moment like a volcano because they didn't just ask you to flush it the first time. (Who doesn't flush the toilet?). Writing with abstract confusing lines is like not flushing the toilet, not giving an explanation for it, and yelling at the reader who asks you to fucking clean up after yourself.

Examples of confusing abstract lines from my own poetry:

although I’m wrapped in fatigue
sleepy, reluctant, and extreme –
ly irritable, I crave intrigue

"wrapped in fatigue, / sleepy, reluctant, and extremely irritable" are excessive adjectives that do not aim at the thing itself, or the image. They are abstract concepts not attached to any specific "things." Can you see a clear image of me, or even yourself from those words?

I dreamed of you for years; sometimes many nights in a row and my heart ached for the love we destroyed in our childish petulance.

While not totally abstract, the last line, "ached for the love we destroyed in our childish petulance" is confusing. It is not a clear image. I like the word "petulance" but it does not provide an image clearly; there is no direct experience tied to this "idea" of "childish petulance." it would have been better to say something like, "pretending to know what love was with effusive "i love you's" and crying each night when he left at midnight so he could work at 6 am the next morning and I could sleep in clutching my pillows like it was his warm body." "Childish petulance" is abstract because it has no direct connection to the "thing," or the "image." that the reader can relate to.

Ignore those trivial breaths, focusing instead on the rising rose rush, to redden cheeks and hands, and watch their smile, feet facing your crotch, and how even when not looking at you, they turn their attention obvious to your voice.

I found this line abstract because it was difficult to understand what the fuck I was talking about. Re-reading it three times (I wrote it!) I finally remembered or gleaned from the text, that it is about a person in a room hearing people talk about her, and how the person should not think that they're making fun of you, but desiring you.

"Focus on the "rising rose rush, to redden cheeks and hands" is about the embarrassment, or the pleasure and flush of pleasure rising in a person when they're turned on.

But can you understand that as the reader without my unique perspective. I know what I mean when I say something; but if you don't it isn't effective communication. It is abstract, obscure, and a failure of language.

The best lines, that can be improved are the last part, "feet facing your crotch, and how even when not looking at you they turn their attention obvious to your voice." Here i feel like we've all realized that the room is paying attention to us when we speak.

If you've even been the hottest girl in a room you might have felt this.

I say this with all the bare truth that we think but dare not say under the crippling doubt that comes with womanhood.

Write, and edit in fear of abstractions.

"Don’t retell in mediocre verse what has already been done in good prose."

Prose is long form writing; letters, paragraphs, posts like this. If you can say it better as prose, use it. Ezra says bad verse (poetry) should not rehash what a good blog post will do instead. Your verse your poetry is more profound; dense and evocative.

I'll read and re-read excellent poetry because it pleasures me body and mind. I get a visceral enjoyment between my legs when I read effective poetry. I'll reread it to plumb the meaning there, to revel in the words like I'm rolling on the floor with dogs full of energy and warmth.

Pound is giving us clear direction on how to be a better poet. If we can say the same thing better with long form writing we should. Save poetry for those images that deliver your message pristine; effective, true.

"Don’t think any intelligent person is going to be deceived when you try to shirk all the difficulties of the unspeakably difficult art of good prose by chopping your composition into line lengths."

I find that this line speaks for itself, and it is worth rereading often. Sometimes I feel like people are idiots because they cannot read the meaning behind my words in poetry. Then I realize; I'm the idiot. I failed at writing effectively to convey the image! It was my fault for not crafting the language well enough so the reader could receive the message!

Here, Ezra is not just saying that you're writing bad poetry by "chopping your composition into line lengths," he is also saying that the reader is intelligent! They will not be deceived by your ham-handed attempt at ignoring the hard work of well crafted prose just because you shortened the length of the lines and added rhyme.

Rhymes, meter, and such can be fun constraints on a writer as a practice, but Ezra asks the fundamental question: is your message delivered appropriately?

If you can give the topic, your idea, your perspective more effectively and clear through prose like a blog post you should! If you can use poetry to parse that image and concept then that is the vehicle you should use to deliver it.

Use meter, rhyme, and structure as needed inside your poem instead of strictly adhering to them because you want to "chop your prose" (your idea) into verse.

Poem of the day thinking about fearful writing

I can and will take time to write a poem,
in verse meter'd with rhyme in time for you

to sip coffee hot from the instant one cup drip maker
you got for christmas from your mom because she still doesn't
think you can grind beans on your own; you're still single
(if you can't keep a man, how can you make coffee?)

But you can write poetry in seconds, flowing thoughts
to page like peeing while standing; splashes over the rim you ignore
because they'll evaporate like the abstract "sunlight of doom" words you
scratch on pages during maths class because you're 'deep and troubled.'

I can pee standing too; with less accuracy than your attention to aiming;
maybe we'll splash the porcelain the same,
and our poetry words will deliver us to fame.

I don't know why I went off on peeing while standing up; maybe it is some jealous rage I feel synonymous with careless behavior like not editing your poetry. :)