Ahem! On Poetry and the Word BLANK
On trolling this thread, in search of something to make me laugh (and thus to fortify myself before tackling some - ugh - SERIOUS
work), I happened upon Mr. Flynn's inspired poem and purething's commentary thereon. I quote:
"I'm not saying James Flynn was a great poet or anything..But he used the F word in the context of a poem. If someone uses the F word in the attack mode like F**K off you a##hole then that should not be allowed."
I agree. Whoever censored the poem has probably not read any American poetry written after 1950. Let us not forget, for example, Allen Ginsberg and his "saintly motorcyclists."
But I would like to expand on a few points.
POINT ONE. First of all, although Mr. Flynn may not be a great poet, I would submit that he is a good one. The poem in question is actually brilliant. It is well constructed; the words (yes -- all of them) are well chosen, and in character; and there is a sockeroo conclusion, with the necessary element of surprise. (As for the criticism of stanza three, for allegedly displaying Mr. Flynn's ignorance of the report that on the cross Jesus cried out - "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" -- let us recall that he didn't cry out when they nailed him to the cross, but only after he'd been hanging there for some time.)
I never had the pleasure of reading any of Mr. Flynn's posts, but judging from the thread's responses to them I suspect he was putting you all on, pretending to be an illiterate boob. Could that be? Am I barking up the wrong tree, or sniffing the wrong tuna, or what?
POINT TWO. The distinction between the word BLANK "in attack mode" and in poetic mode is important to point out. I would go further: the phrases "BLANK OFF" and "BLANK OVER" and "BLANK UP" and "BLANK AROUND" and "BLANK WITH" and etc. have NOTHING TO DO WITH COPULATION! Consider the evolution, and domestication, of phrases like "screw up" and "crap out": most people who use them probably have no idea how those now tame expressions originated.
My husband, who was a poet and also (to make a living) a college professor, once assigned his Freshman English class the following task: enumerate all the meanings of the word BLANK, and use them in sentences illustrating those meanings. I kid you not. A couple of parents complained -- but the students actually learned something. (My husband would never have forgiven me for using BLANK in place of the original word. What a coward, he would have said.)
I have three dictionaries in the house, all outdated (one from the 40s, and two from the 60's), but one of them (American Heritage) contains the word BLANK. Its primary meaning (to copulate) is defined as VULGAR; the derivative meanings (e.g., BLANK UP) are defined as VULGAR SLANG. Nevertheless, it was in the dictionary, more than 30 years ago. Interesting, what a more up-to-date dictionary would have.
And for those interested in etymology, I quote: "Middle English FUCKEN; a Germanic verb originally meaning 'to strike, move quickly, penetrate' (akin to or perhaps borrowed from Middle Dutch FOKKEN, to strike, copulate with); details uncertain owing to lack of early attestations."
CONCLUSION: Poetry and Propriety Are Absolutely Incompatible!!
Carry on!
jbe |
