Day 11: National Poetry Month
Posting this from Day 12. How did I lose Day 11? I think I pushed it off to 10:00 PM and fell asleep. It was a long day. A good day! But six hours of back-to-back Zoom meetings and I don’t remember much from after 4:40 PM. Dinner, mindless scrolling, TV (nothing much on, on Saturdays), and…sleep. Somehow, it wasn’t quite enough.
This is what happens when an introvert tries, for six straight hours, to fake being an extrovert. Nobody’s buying it, you know that nobody’s buying it. I mean, they’ll say they were buying it, that they never guessed how much you’d rather be backstage, making sets and sound effects, or something. And yet…you know they know. And you know most of them are just glad it’s not them.
Can I call that last paragraph a prose poem and move on to Day 12? No? Fine.
I Got a Ticket from the Language Police
I used to believe that “he who stoops to profanity first, loses.” To some degree, I still do. Lately, I’m losing the battle against the nightly news and I’m not proud of that, but it beats throwing bricks at the screen. I do feel quite strongly that if one’s objection to “strong language” is greater than one’s concern for the rape and abuse of women, the denial of healthcare and housing to the poor, the bombing and murder of thousands of civilians (innocent or not – I mean, none of us are saints, right?), the exploitation and waste of natural resources and public lands by greedy corporations, the destruction of our planet, and so on ad infinitum – then I do not give a fig about your precious prudery.
I am inclined to respect everyone’s right to worship as they please, provided they don’t use their religion as a weapon or disrespect anyone who does not conform to their particular religious doctrine. I do not want to live in anyone’s theocracy, any more than most would want to live in mine. I believe it was a nun who, years ago, likened “taking the Lord’s name in vain” to “prank calling God.” The admonition makes more sense, when viewed that way. When I understood the prohibition against making images of Muhammad as a way of preventing Muslims from idolizing a man, that also made more sense than the idea that a man was so special one dare not caricature him in a cartoon. Funny how we all get things twisted and end up doing the very thing the “rules” are meant to prevent.
But I cannot imagine an omnipotent God who’s overly concerned with a few “naughty words,” even disrespectful words, so long as we’re not being abusive towards one another. Running around cursing and damning people. Isn’t that one of the things He reserved to Himself?
I once worked for a man who wouldn’t hire a writer who couldn’t spell “fuck” without asterisks. While I don’t think profanity-as-filler-words is good writing, and I’m not inclined to profanity often in my own work, it’s hardly hurtful. It’s words. Words, words, words. See? If you overuse any word, like “shit” or “fuck,” then eventually it loses all meaning. It has no power. So maybe we should reserve it for when we really mean it — when shocked attention is truly called for. When we want to bring it down like an anvil on a church bell and break the sound barrier with its resonance.
The seeds of today’s poem sprang from recent discussions on language, profanity, free speech, and knowing one’s audience.
Deadheading the Dictionary
Hothouse words, tenderly curated
to conform — now
bled of first blush —
ruthlessly deadheaded,
swept from sight.
They’ve lived
too long.
Bright little weedy words pop
yellow — mischief makers
easily dispatched —
a withering spritz of spittle,
poisonous glare,
an eyebrow raised —
crushed.
Others, wild, fiercer grow
a tangle, tendrils tearing
at the rotted relic
of a trellis.
Straight-line winds
wrench roots dug deep
to die in violence
with a purpling scream.
Other National Poetry Month Posts
- National Poetry Month, Texas Style!
- Apricots: a Tanka Encompassing Three Prompts
- Bee Sting: Day 2 of National Poetry Month
- Cacophony and CBD: Day 3 in Nonsense Verse and Found Poetry
- Technically, a Writer: Day 3 of National Poetry Month
- Dive: Day 4 of National Poetry Month
- Storm Front: Day 4 of National Poetry Month
- Energized: Day 5 of National Poetry Month
- Grump: Day 5 ½ of National Poetry Month
- Future Frittered Away: Day 6 of National Poetry Month
- Hell, Hell, Hell: Day 7 (More or Less) of National Poetry Month
- Insomnia: Day 8 of National Poetry Month
- Juxtaposition: Day 9 of National Poetry Month
- Knife Edge: Day 10 of National Poetry Month
- Lost a Day: Day 11 of National Poetry Month
- Many Definitions: Day 12 of National Poetry Month
- New Form – Quadrille Quaiku: Day 13 of National Poetry Month
- Ode to Imagination: Day 14 of National Poetry Month
- Pixellated People: Day 15 of National Poetry Month
- Quintessential, Querulous Quintet: Day 16/17 of National Poetry Month
- Renewal: Day 18 of National Poetry Month
- Secrets of the Terrarium: Day 19/20 of National Poetry Month
Your Turn!
What do you think about free speech, effective language and “audience appropriateness,” censorship and self-censorship?
Wow, that poem was awesome. One of the best yet.
Self-censorship for an audience: If words interfere with the audience’s ability to hear the message, then you really aren’t censoring – you are choosing the right words for the audience. Censoring a topic is a totally different issue. Offensive language is different from offensive topics. Language is effective when messages are transmitted – whether through slang, ethnic dialect, or screams.
Thank you, Erin! That one went through more revisions than usual until I was sure it conveyed the message I intended to convey.
I agree with you – that’s the idea behind effective rhetoric. But where I have a problem with this is when people refuse to listen or hear an important message because of some picayune objection to a word or two. For example, a friend of mine was vehemently protesting the previous Trump administration of keeping children in cages, separating them from family, shipping them off to “foster” parents who-knows-where… Another friend said something to the effect of, “I was agreeing with you J_____, until you used the f-word.” Seriously?
She was angry, righteously angry, and could have chosen her words with greater care, sure. But the words she used conveyed the frustration and anger very clearly – they weren’t being used as gratuitous “filler” or “sound” the way they are so often used – wasted. In the end, it was the second speaker I tuned out.
I do think that freedom of expression comes with responsibility. The seminal case of Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971) demonstrates that the First Amendment gives us the power and the right to criticize our government without fear of reprisal. And that’s extended more broadly, but it’s still probably not wise to yell “F____ you!” over the fence at our neighbors. Hurling petty insults just because we can will end up with the First Amendment being restricted more severely than it already is.
From Wikipedia:
“Categories of speech that are given lesser or no protection by the First Amendment (and therefore may be restricted) include obscenity, fraud, child pornography, speech integral to illegal conduct, speech that incites imminent lawless action, speech that violates intellectual property law, true threats, and commercial speech such as advertising. As a general rule, lies are protected, with limited exceptions such as defamation, fraud, false advertising, perjury, and lying under oath during an official government proceeding. Even deliberate lies about the government are fully protected.
“Hate speech is not a general exception to First Amendment protection.”
Surprise, surprise.
Although I hold freedom of expression near-sacred, I would remove the protection of telling or spreading KNOWING lies (you could argue that all lies are knowing lies, but I would emphasize “falsehoods that the promulgator knew or reasonably believed to be false”) because they are so damaging in election campaigns and, indeed, social media itself during times of world conflicts and misunderstandings. Careless, thoughtless, and malicious use of language can do a great deal of damage, but I would also want to protect those who pass it along in ignorance and misplaced trust. Otherwise, the prisons would be overrun.