Because we all want to write more poems.
Once again, we look to Marshall McLuhan to comfort and confuse us.
Wait a minute...
Books are just a medium,
Their environment is the marketplace.
They carry writing.
Wait a minute...
Writing is just a medium
It's environment is books.
It carries ideas.
Wait a minute...
Ideas are just a medium,
Their environment is writing,
They carry action.
Wait a minute...
Action is just a medium,
It's environment is ideas.
It carries change.
Wait a minute...
Change is just a medium,
It's environment is action.
It carries society.
Wait a minute...
Society is just a medium,
it's environment is change.
It carries us.
Wait a minute...
- Neil McKay's Shared Poems
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Comments
Neil McKay
June 10, 2012
Permalink
I'm not sure how comfortable
I'm not sure how comfortable I am with the structure of this poem. I was hoping it would convey that each stanza is a reduction of the previous one. But it seems a little clumsy because the format is
wait a minute
A is just a medium
it's environment is B
It carries C
Wait a minute
C is just a medium
it's environment is A
It carries D
Wait a minute
D is just a medium
It's environment is C
It carries E
E=medium
env = D
carries = F
and so on. But it's a little jarring I think.
Clayton Medeiros
June 12, 2012
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Part of the jarring to my ear
Part of the jarring to my ear is the use of I and they. Maybe an agent could be assumed and the resulting action more poetically stated.
Neil McKay
June 12, 2012
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Yeah, I could see how that
Yeah, I could see how that could soften the stanzas.
Neil McKay
June 13, 2012
Permalink
purging superfluous words
Books carry writing in the marketplace
Writing carries ideas in the books
Ideas carry action in the writing
Action carries change in the ideas
Change carries society in the action
Society carries us in the change.
What do we carry in society?