...curious Harrison why rules as a rule?...also the ifs and unlesses vs. the ???s and whatiffeses...as a beast strongly stuck between known and unknown existence i struggle the "do from the don't"...and am attracted more to the no/nk than the yo/nk...i love the idea of learn and make through learning through makers...luvluv the step one...as for the inquiry...this is a poem, anything really is, but do you believe in it more given your process?...how would you write this if it were only a poem?...and only written by you?...craft is part of the parts for me, but i also love seeing people paint...so curious what you would look like here no robot...
Hey Fis, I don't think I fully understand your questions about rules, ifs and unlesses, ???s and whatiffeses. Can you say more? I'm happy to answer :)
Also what do you mean by no/nk and yo/nk?
As for the robot thing, I only used AI to give me a list of verbs, in the same way I would've used a dictionary. I used AI because it's just so much faster. I promise I wrote everything, sans robots 🤖
Do I believe in it more? Do I believe it's a poem? Yes it feels like a poem to me. Because it's the first time I'm publishing a poem, I felt a bit insecure that some proper poets might say it's not poetry. So I put it up for discussion. I also wanted to encourage more engagement on the piece, and putting it up for discussion helped with that too (😉).
Also, I did think about publishing just the poem on its own. But when I put myself in the reader's shoes and imagined receiving a poem from me out of the blue, with no context, when I don't normally publish poems, something about that just felt icky. So I knew I wanted to give some context. And Kleon's point about sharing our process—our working out—gave me the idea of writing a larger piece to couch the poem in.
I enjoy writing about creativity to help others enjoy their own creativity, so that's the spirit of the piece really. If any readers feel even slightly more enthusiastic about making something themselves, then I'm happy with the piece.
…it is 100% a poem…appreciate you and this thoughtful response brother…also love that you approached this from the position of a craftsman, sharing the construction...which is a poetry unto itself...i guess that begs the larger question of is the entirety a poem just as much as the minutiae within... love the BTS dude thanks...as love that you married prompting to a poem semi-made of prompts...i was just curious about the don't as opposed to the do...why did you settle on the side of the don't instead of the do...as someone who don'ts often (https://cansafis.substack.com/p/just-dont-it) just curious what appealed in the change you made between action 3 & 4...what was the mini inspo?...
oh I seeee. Great question! So the truth is I didn't spend a ton of time thinking about it; I just went with what felt most compelling. "If you know you won't smile when you see it, don't paint it" felt more compelling than "Paint what you want to see." I guess because it's a little more spiky. And as I say, it also felt more poetic and allowed me to put the verbs at the end instead of the beginning.
What would a less spiky, positively-phrased poetic version of that line be with the verbs at the end? Gosh, I don't know! Do you?
"Paint what makes you smile when you see it" maybe?
I love the poem and the sentiments in it H! Thank you :)
Thanks mum xxx
...curious Harrison why rules as a rule?...also the ifs and unlesses vs. the ???s and whatiffeses...as a beast strongly stuck between known and unknown existence i struggle the "do from the don't"...and am attracted more to the no/nk than the yo/nk...i love the idea of learn and make through learning through makers...luvluv the step one...as for the inquiry...this is a poem, anything really is, but do you believe in it more given your process?...how would you write this if it were only a poem?...and only written by you?...craft is part of the parts for me, but i also love seeing people paint...so curious what you would look like here no robot...
Hey Fis, I don't think I fully understand your questions about rules, ifs and unlesses, ???s and whatiffeses. Can you say more? I'm happy to answer :)
Also what do you mean by no/nk and yo/nk?
As for the robot thing, I only used AI to give me a list of verbs, in the same way I would've used a dictionary. I used AI because it's just so much faster. I promise I wrote everything, sans robots 🤖
Do I believe in it more? Do I believe it's a poem? Yes it feels like a poem to me. Because it's the first time I'm publishing a poem, I felt a bit insecure that some proper poets might say it's not poetry. So I put it up for discussion. I also wanted to encourage more engagement on the piece, and putting it up for discussion helped with that too (😉).
Also, I did think about publishing just the poem on its own. But when I put myself in the reader's shoes and imagined receiving a poem from me out of the blue, with no context, when I don't normally publish poems, something about that just felt icky. So I knew I wanted to give some context. And Kleon's point about sharing our process—our working out—gave me the idea of writing a larger piece to couch the poem in.
I enjoy writing about creativity to help others enjoy their own creativity, so that's the spirit of the piece really. If any readers feel even slightly more enthusiastic about making something themselves, then I'm happy with the piece.
…it is 100% a poem…appreciate you and this thoughtful response brother…also love that you approached this from the position of a craftsman, sharing the construction...which is a poetry unto itself...i guess that begs the larger question of is the entirety a poem just as much as the minutiae within... love the BTS dude thanks...as love that you married prompting to a poem semi-made of prompts...i was just curious about the don't as opposed to the do...why did you settle on the side of the don't instead of the do...as someone who don'ts often (https://cansafis.substack.com/p/just-dont-it) just curious what appealed in the change you made between action 3 & 4...what was the mini inspo?...
oh I seeee. Great question! So the truth is I didn't spend a ton of time thinking about it; I just went with what felt most compelling. "If you know you won't smile when you see it, don't paint it" felt more compelling than "Paint what you want to see." I guess because it's a little more spiky. And as I say, it also felt more poetic and allowed me to put the verbs at the end instead of the beginning.
What would a less spiky, positively-phrased poetic version of that line be with the verbs at the end? Gosh, I don't know! Do you?
"Paint what makes you smile when you see it" maybe?
…i kind of like a fully active take…going in for a remix…
—-
buy be happy, sell it.
receive feeling thrilled, send it.
itching you find, seek it.
learn it, light up, teach it.
delight you think, say it.
bewitch, you hear it, play it.
smile, see it, paint it.
imagine wanting, read it, write it.
Maaaaaate we shoulda collaborated on this!
...we just did :)...
What a fun walkthrough of your process! And excellent poem!
Thanks Michelle x
So happy to see this go live.
Ta Ian!