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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

I can't stand it

That's it. I'm done. Giving up the Jam.
I just don't have time. No time for a blog where in one of the comments to the current post, there are 9 spelling or grammatical errors in 26 words. Just an example. Perhaps some people find that normal, even cool, but for me it's not a pleasure to read.
I actually like works that take language in new directions, or use dialect to achieve a particular voice. But it's like violence in movies - if it's an essential part of what there is to learn, ok. If it's just gratuitous, no.
So I'm moving on. The balance has tipped. This phase has run its course. In a year I might find a poetry group that's more my style, and pick it up again. Or maybe not - there will be something else by then!

Ciao!

9 comments:

Bagman and Butler said...

You scare me at first. I thought you were giving up making your jam which would be a great loss to the world. But I gave up on Poetry Jam myself -- but mostly because other things have taken over writing poetry. I agree about gratuitous word crap (crap being, it seems to me, the correct word here and not gratuitous obscenity). When I was working as a director of an agency, I once wrote a memo about excessive use of obscenity in the office. Instead of being the morality police, I preached on how the use of obscenity was usually a sign of laziness and stupidity. Not that it did any good.

Bagman and Butler said...

Oops. I just realized my opening sentence was ungrammatical. That's what I get for being so smug.

NanU said...

Me too, I often find an error once I've sent a message out. I try, but not enough! It's especially embarrassing when the topic is writing well.

Normally I wouldn't agonize over dropping a blog. But this one was my own effort to save the poetry bus! And now I don't even like it.
The killer is - I eliminated myself as an author to the P-jam this morning, but I still get an email every time a new comment arrives. And now I can't access the blog setup to make it stop that!
grrrrrrr

Dana said...

I hope you will not definitely stop writting poems because I really like reading them...

Maybe I am doing lots of grammatical errors in this comment. I have to admit that english is not my maternal language, I am french. I first red Maurice's blog (yes.. I am a crazy scientist fond of Ikea rats...) And after I came to read this blog and really loved the poems, the storyes about your travels... And it helps me with my english to read your texts.

So I hope wou will continue the poems and your blog!

The Bug said...

Oh that's annoying! Don't suppose there's some unsubscribe feature in tiny print at the end of the email?

I'm really curious about why the Jam doesn't do it for me. Some of the same folks I love still participate, but I guess that's how it is when the band breaks up...

I occasionally do the Magpie - but it's just a picture prompt, so not really the same. And that Toad place is too complicated for a free verser like me!

Ah well, who knows what will come down the pike?

P.S. My post on Edit the week was hilarious to me - it was ABOUT proofreading & there was an error in it - & then I made an error in the comment I wrote about the error. Sheesh!

The Bug said...

Look - an error in my comment about the error in my post. Sigh. It should say, "My post on Edit LAST week..."

Argent said...

Yeah, I felt a change in the 'feel' of the Jam, as opposed to te Bus. Guess we'll just have to remember it with fondness.

Errors in grammar annoy me too, mainly in communications from bosses at work though. I know people rush typing comments (I do) so typos and whatnot are inevitable.

NanU said...

I'll write poems when they come to me; you can be sure of that, Dana. They won't come so often without the prompt. On the other hand the ones that do come out may be generally better, because I'm doing a poem not just for the sake of doing one. We'll see.
The occasional typo or moment of inattention isn't a problem - it's the messages so full of jargon or laziness that the poor form takes center stage in front of the content that get me. Faut voir mon français! 15 ans en Auvergne dejà et c'est toujours un catastrophe. Donc je comprends que c'est pas facile.

Niamh B said...

I found it hard to commit to the jam as well, perhaps the timing was just good for me to take a break from the bus. anyway - I definitely second bug's appeal to keep writing!