The Afterlife of On-line Poetry

 

 

Poems acquire a life of their own after publication.  An author is happy to see his literary chicks leave the nest and go out into the world, and the Internet is an extremely convenient medium for sending them on their way. It also offers the advantage of letting the poet glimpse ways in which his or her poems are perceived and used by the readers for whom the works were intended.  After all, a poem without readers is like that proverbial tree that falls in the forest when there is no one to hear it.  It may or may not make a sound, but frankly, who cares?

 

Interesting destinies lie in store for poetry once it is posted on-line. For several years we have tracked the poems of Traveler’s Tales as they suddenly appear in new places on web searches, then disappear. Unsolicited observations offered by readers, as well as comments about these works on other people’s blogs and web sites, have also been illuminating. Here is what we have observed so far …

 

·       A common fate shared by all poetic works seems to be unauthorized reproduction – use of copyrighted material on other web sites without so much as a “by your leave.” It is flattering that anyone would admire one’s poem enough to steal it. However, it must say something about the decline of common courtesy in modern times that webmasters and bloggers rarely bother to ask before copying somebody else’s work onto their own web sites. The courtesy of the few, polite individuals who do ask is greatly appreciated; and they have never been refused.

 

·       The most common error made by many readers is incorrectly assuming that all poetry is autobiographic.  Nobody doubts that novelists write fiction.  So do poets. Among these works, only “End of Season,” “The Runner” and “Skip” concern real persons; and “Guinea Pigs” is about a couple of real critters. But other emotionally-charged works such as “The Mile of Gold,” “Anger” and “The End of Love” seem to be particularly subject to misinterpretation. In fact, those works are fictional. Although this writer is not an unfortunate, old man dying of a terminal disease, like the speaker in “The Mile of Gold,” he is too old and lazy to be passionately lovelorn or angry. Neither is this poet a captain of business, an envious janitor, a miner, a cowboy, a philosophical vagrant, a Tokyo salaryman, a woodsman, an amorous bar fly, a farmer (as anyone who knows anything about cattle marketing will recognize), or any of the other fictional characters who appear in these poems.

 

·       Most favorable comments: The poem that gets the most positive, unsolicited responses is “Road Kill.”  Pretty grim subject matter. Go figure.

 

·       Most “successful” poem? Though hardly the most technically accomplished work, “Anger” claims the prize as the most effective poem, because it really does provoke this unpleasant emotion in certain male readers. Occasionally it has evoked nasty (and purely imaginary) personal comments about the author from anonymous, amateur critics who have neither met nor corresponded with him! Therefore the poet regards this work as a mirror in which readers sometimes see themselves – and they don’t always like what they’re looking at! “Anger” is by far the most copied poem from this bunch – which also makes it the most frequently stolen. Not once has anybody who copied this poem onto their own web site asked for the author’s permission to use it – and that makes me a little angry, come to think of it!

 

·         Second most stolen poem: “Be Mindful of the Moment.”  

·         Third most copied:  “The End of Love.”

·         Fourth most copied: “If Only.”  If only they would ask before using it!

 

·       Most misclassified: “Rules of Engagement.” Thanks to web bots that compile topic indices automatically, this sardonic work about an ageing bar fly finds itself included in links to cheerful poesy celebrating wedding engagements. “Toledo Cathedral,” which concerns the famous edifice in Toledo, Spain, is found erroneously in links to poetry from or about Toledo, Ohio, in the USA.

 

·       Best-traveled poem:  “Be Mindful of the Moment.”  This poem appeared for a while on somebody’s personal blog in Singapore – on the opposite side of the world from the poet’s home in Canada.

 

·         Most courteous request for copying:  “Diogenes.”  It seems that the philosophers and academics who like this poem have very good manners. 

 

·       Biggest dud?  The author’s personal favorite, “The Skeleton in Rawhide.” This deliberate parody of Longfellow’s famous classic, “The Skeleton in Armor,” has failed to elicit even one comment or copying.

 

·       Most butchered poem:  “Be Mindful of the Moment.” Some people seem to think nothing of “borrowing” a few lines from this poem (without asking) for use on their own web sites. This poem has also appeared in unauthorized reproduction lacking its original stanza breaks. “Anger” also gets mutilated pretty often -- on at least one occasion with spelling errors! Poets generally dislike such unauthorized misuse of their work.  Poems are short enough that every word counts. Stanza structure is an integral part of a poem. Chopping poetry into incoherent pieces destroys the atmosphere of the work, and often its meaning. If someone is going to copy a poem without asking, they could at least be good enough to swipe the entire thing, and to use correct spelling!

 

  

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