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Well 2011 is upon us. Nearly four months deep and here we are, back again STILL toiling to keep this poetry thing going on site that has just recently seen it's own share of struggles concerning identity and progression. Similarly, Poetic Scriptures has faced much of the same issues. Where as 2010 saw perhaps a resurgence of new blood and renewed activity, 2011 has contrastingly gotten off to a slow start. Most notably dipping to new lows in activity and fresh faces, amongst other problems like the emerging presence of plagiarists. However despite the air of negativity as always poetry is not without it's silver lining, that for Rb has continuously been the talented pool of writers at it's disposal. With that said i present to you the newest edition of the poetic scriptures magazine, which if anything is a testament to the dedication of said writers toc ontributing and reviving the poetry scene that's helped nurture their progression over the years. Now I'm not even going to lie and say that this thing isn't long as fuck, lol, but i can at least hope that if you can't get through it in a sitting...you'll keep coming back to reads bits of what i think is interesting stuff. We have for you contributions from the likes of Spoken Deity, Spokenoh, Abiona, Atticus, Baron P, and Soulstice...plus a few more. So i hope that you'll enjoy everything that they've readily put forth for your reading pleasure. Anyways, that's it for now so get started!
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A few things that you should be aware of...
Activity:
This is without a doubt stating the obvious and probably beating a dead horse or two, but in case you haven't noticed from under your rock, activity has dropped to crawl...at best. That is, the tumble weeds rolling around are more than likely the most movement we've seen in here within the past few months. Basically what I'm getting at is that at some point people are going to have to step it up and get things moving back in the right direction. And of course it goes without saying that it boils down to you guys and girls posting-more-pieces. Whatever that translates to, be it league pieces, collaborations, haiku, spoken word, poems you've written for school etc., just get it out there. I mean we're nearly through the third month of the year and with all the active self-proclaimed poets on this site we only have about a page and a half to show for it. Also with that needs to come the willingness to reply to and support each other's work. I kind of get the feeling people have become jaded with the whole process; maybe through pre-acknowledging the lack of feedback/quality of feedback or in the case of older members feeling like there's little to gain by posting...whatever the mindset, it shouldn't/ can't exist for a productive/supportive environment to thrive. So please, please if you can help it don't be lazy. In reality I know there's a lot more that plays into inactivity, we all have lives and priorities that far outweigh writing but try and take the time to show your fellow writers the same courtesy you'd expect. Older more established writers especially, help the new jacks out and share some of that knowledge. Beyond that there isn't much more to it. Granted there's the possibility we're just in one of those trademark RB lows, but to reiterate what Spoken said in his stickied thread, it rests squarely on the shoulders of the writers to up the ante.
Legends nominations:
I'm slight apprehensive about addressing this after reading bits of the rant Atti hooked up for the mag, because poetry isn't about accolades, but this is after all Rapbattles so i thought I'd just remind everyone of the pending Legends noms for Spokenoh, Sharp, and Abi... and the cobwebs they're collecting. Yeah it's gone pretty silent in there so if you haven't taken a look or voted or didn't even know they were up for induction, possibly wander over and do so before they get closed. I can't speak for how much it means to the poets themselves on a personal level, but it couldn't hurt in way of showing some appreciation for their efforts in sharing their work/presence on the site.
Rhetorical Insights:
Or maybe the more appropriately dubbed "Spokenoh Insights", is indeed open and contrary to popular belief awaiting YOUR posts! Now if you're at all confused, which I sense some of you might be, it's that little forum located directly above haiku specifically designated for the purposes of writing to pictures and/or monthly challenges. So maybe check it out to get a little practice in if you're blocked up or looking to ease back into the saddle...we'll (I'll) provide the inspiration! At the very least you can help keep Spoken's poems company. Also I should note I'm typically in charge of choosing said pictures and challenges, and judging by the activity levels people may not be too fond of them, but should you feel compelled to suggest something be used, please do so and I will be more than happy to entertain your submissions.
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by Atti...
So i was posed with the ambiguous task of writing a rant about, "anything." I'm still not quite sure the direction to take this.. it may be my opportunity to discuss the ethics of a hand job; and the potential punishments for any chap lipped scoundrel nun'ly enough to still think that kind of dastardly nonsense is acceptable. but on the other hand (pun?) I'm sure Mantra had something more relative to PS in mind.
given my absence in PS on any sort of constant basis since about 04', I'm not even going to attempt to pretend I've got any real idea of issues currently pertinent. for the most part, i drag my feet onto the forums once and every few so weeks, just to poke my head in and reminisce with the members i came up writing with about how much life sucks now that we're old and unsuccessful. my most recent return found me skimming over the old Abstanti Collective thread (which for any who weren't around, was a collective writing project that consisted of myself, mindless, legends, and Soulstice). we did a handful of pieces together, of which two made legends, but the intention was to expand the collective beyond the matrix that is RB and into the .... real world. Mindless and I had a book in the works, and we intended on bringing Soulstice and ledge with us.
background story aside... in skimming what you pigeons have been up to while I've been away, i came to see that, our prodigal abstanti brother, the dark-horse powerhouse himself, Legends: BANNED. are you fucking kidding me? and that is where i figure this rant is best suited to go. biting ... you shark toothed, snaggle trap sluts. who bites!?
let's start off first with the fact that, you're writing poetry. poetry is a no wrong answer, never fail expression of self. the fact that RB (which, in case you missed it, stands for RAP BATTLES) has pitted poets against each other in such a direct and competitive way, does not mean that by losing a match you have garnered any REAL failure in the sense of what poetry is. i personally find that the sugar-free atmosphere and face to face comparisons of works is the reason why this site produces such outstanding writers overall. but if you are considering biting another artists work in order to defeat someone else, which is NOT the intention of poetry.. just don't battle. crazy right? stick to those cellulite, mash-mall-ow-ee fluffernutter koohmbiya circle jerk poetry website that will give you a cookie just rhyming the end of every line together. every type of writing has an outlet and an atmosphere to which it's best cultivated, and if this one requires you to steal to keep up .. fuck off.
that is bar-none one of the lowest, most shamefully mind numbing parasites to poetry. if your goal is to collect a bunch of tiny GIF images, be put in a 'Hall of Fame,' that if the site crashed tomorrow would disappear anyways, or end up in a 'Legends' section equally irrelevant to the art of poetry itself... get up from the computer, make a peace sign with your index and pointer fingers - poke yourself in the eyes.
as for Legends. luckily it was caught before we tried to publish him and faced potential legal trouble for printing another writers work under his pseudonym. hopefully something of his writing was actually his and it wasn't all a sham.. but really it doesn't matter. if in your entire career of writing you bite one line, that's a mark that's not gonna come clean with any amount of "HOF." I'm really disappointed by the fact that he marred the image of Abstanti, and ruined something that was really a pure outlet for creativity amongst a sect of writers who had complimentary writing styles. i don't doubt we'll see him under some alias soon enough...I'll be personally looking for that IP to ban.
and in case you're like me and skim these mags looking for the stuff that's actually interesting, and would have skipped the essay form blabber that this became... I'll leave you with the abbreviated version so all the Ritalin babies don't feel left out:
- fuck Hall of Fame
- fuck Legends (the thread)
- fuck Legends (the shark)
- fuck biting/biters/bittersweet symphonies
- fuck displaying your "AWARDS"
- fuck battle records
- fuck any proof of what you've done, aside from the words you did it with.
- and fuck hand-jobs x4
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- An interview with the Spokens: Deity and 'oh -
Two poets, same name, same questions, different answers...
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Mantra: Evening
Spoken: Sup
Spoken: Lets do this shit.
Mantra: Yep, I'll dive right in...
Mantra: Favorite writers and influences, on RB and otherwise.
Spoken: Neruda and Soulstice are my favorite writers, easily. Both have a niche for images and language that suck you in. Both should be legends at this point.
Spoken: As for influences?
Spoken: Thinking, daily experiences... I'm boring I guess.
Mantra: Take me through your writing process. Anything you absolutely need to be able to sit down and write?
Spoken: I need silence and I need to want to write. I don't do well with leagues because I don't want to write on or for something other than myself. And I can't do shit without silence. I couldn't get a line down if I wanted to with noise.
Mantra: That's a little to surprising to hear from someone who's champed Poet's Society.
Spoken: Yeah, I usually nail it when I need to. I write okay during the season and then usually do a piece or two that get the props in the finals. I was fucking close to champing again this season, but I felt I dropped weak and Baron dropped fucking awesome. What can I do? haha
Mantra: Where do you feel you're at with your writing in relation to where you want to be? To where you were when you first started?
Spoken: Well, when I first started I was 14-15 and I was just trying to get out angst... Now I want to express things that I understand, hopefully make someone think a little more than normal. Really, my big thing is spoken word... I've done and won a lot of open mics, but I've taken a bit of time to become a better writer, thinker, and critical person in general. As for where I want to go? Meh, I don't take my writing serious enough to set goals, lol. I just write because it's an outlet.
Mantra: I had no idea you'd done spoken word, RB peoples might be interested in seeing those...any video?
Spoken: No, actually...I've never done any recordings. Not sure why, lol. I used to do video production, it would have been easy.
Mantra: Damn it Spoken, lol.
Spoken: I suck. I know
Mantra: So do you think you would have ever gotten into poetry/writing had you never ventured onto a forum? Or was it there before all of that, I know you mentioned you started writing at around 14 or 15.
Spoken: I came to RB to 'battle.' I didn't know what the fuck I was doing... I slowly ventured into poetry. I probably would have done some form of creative writing, but not necessarily poetry.I was on RB in 2003 originally... that's when I started writing.
Mantra: Shifting the conversation to RB...What is the state of PS as you see it? Positives and negatives. What do feel is the single biggest problem the forum is facing?
Spoken: PS is suffering from the same thing RB is suffering from- lack of activity from new people. There are just fewer active vet poetry heads and few active new writers. The poetry section was always slower than OM, but I've only seen it this slow a few times. This isn't something any mod or admin can fix. We can halt leagues to create space for PS, but in the end, it's all reliant upon the active heads in the community and the chance of new folks getting involved. The only positives are that good poetry is still being dropped and if one has patience and sends out the personal messages, you can get great feedback... the negatives are obvious: Lack of writers, activity, and veterans.
Mantra: Yeah it seems like the adage for Rb poetry and site-wide is that "there have always been ups and downs, activity will go back up". Do you think there's any truth to that? How hopeful are you that we aren't going to continue on a downward spiral? Can there ever be another "golden" period of poetry on Rb?
Spoken: Golden era is done. Quality of the writers are down. Internet forums like this are less active as a whole. We may get surges here and there, but we'll never be back to our former glory, in my opinion. It's not a nice opinion, but it's an honest one. RB's quality of active writers is down as a whole to me though.
Mantra: If you could bring back one writer that's left the site or pick one person you'd like to see a burst of activity from, who would it be and why?
Spoken: Bounce. Bounce, easily. He actually took time to talk to me on AIM and give me points. I had a bunch of his music and stuff. I really liked his writing and he was a chill guy. I'd love to bring him back. I don't give a fuck who gets more active... just people. There are probably 40-50 active poetry heads on this tie. We just aren't active dropping poetry. I'd like them all to start posting poems again. Shit, we've had like 25 poems dropped in a month and half, lol. It's disgusting. We've got 2 months worth of poetry on the front page. It's ugly.
Mantra: You yourself are fairly active, what keeps you wanting to post poems when everything else around you, more or less, has become stagnant? What advice would offer to all the lazy poets out there to help keep them motivated and in the fold?
Spoken: I post because I want feedback and because eventually, I'll grow tired of RB ... I hope that when I do people take me seriously as a writer and say to each other, "damn, Spoken was a quality writer. Crazy to see how much better he got from when he started to when he left." As for the lazy poets, me being of the them, just write. Write 10 lines, send to someone for a collab or just post it. If you feel emotionally pulled, write... clean it up, and post it. Help fix the problem, not become part of it.
Mantra: Speak on the quality of feedback within the forum. How much do you attribute the lack of quality/quantity replies to the overall in-activeness?
Spoken: It's hard to say. OM was getting horrible feedback (though now on the up and up) and it was still pretty active, haha. I'm sure there is a correlation, but I'm not sure to what extent.
Mantra: At the moment the league is probably the most active in terms of poetry. From that standpoint do you feel like it's existences is beneficial or detrimental to the activity within the main forum?
Has it become a substitute for getting feedback on the grounds you're guaranteed at least some, and from what is typically regarded as the more elevated writers?
Spoken: Detrimental in the sense that people are less likely to post during the season... but it also makes no difference because apparently, people don't write in the off season anyway, haha. So I guess it makes no difference at all. Again, the issues are stemming from inactivity of the site as a whole and of the poets just not writing... hell, we even get huge no shows during the season. I don't think most people do the league for feedback... I think most do it to win. I sure as fuck do it to win.
Mantra: PS Hall of Fame. There's been some discussion of gray area in terms of what exactly the criteria is for these types of pieces...How would you define a hall of fame caliber poem? or what do you see the criteria being; and what sort of system could you see working to ensure the criteria is upheld?
Spoken: What Atti proposed is best... numerous quality heads voting on the nominees. As for a criteria? It's different for everyone. It's hard to say.
* We had to cut the interview short at the point, and in the interest of getting
this mag posted, i went ahead and opted to edit in the rest as soon as it's
available, sorry folk*
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by Abiona
The community of poets here on RB, although not particularly large, has always been home to some very talented writers adding their own unique style to pages of Poetic Scriptures. Here are some new poets to keep an eye on as they begin to cement there place here in poetry world.
Miho
She's been around RB for a minute but you might not have had the pleasure of getting to know her (or her writing) just yet. Although she's been writing for years, she is just starting to get over being selfishand starting to share her words with us. Take a look at her most recent piece and you'll see that she is a risk taker, not only with her structure but also with the vulnerability she allows to show through her writing. Her writing is vivid and visceral and she isn't afraid to transform raw emotion into words. Miho brings a fresh new voice and a new perspective to the male-dominated poetry scene. Check out her writing and encourage her to post more!
...with screams of lost whispers
that echo in sound proof
walls. she’s left grinning,
in her unhappily ever
after.
there. laying beside.
her self, nowhere to be found.
From Beside Herself
Moana
Not new, per se, but definitely one to watch as he hasn't been around quite a while and might be new to many of you. Check out his work and you'll find a writer with a great grasp on wording, who creates wonderful images without allowing his vocabulary to distract from the heart of his piece. His writing is smooth and deliberate and while it might appear simplistic in nature, that's only because he is able to make it so accessible to the reader. Reading his most recent piece, it was easy to be drawn quickly into the words. See for yourself...
These words are so refreshing,
they hold the stitches of skin to this body.
Each day is a milestone; the weight of both worlds
helps the devils breath taste hollow.
From if i had a penny
Diomedes' Love Child
We all know him and love him. Well. Most of us do anyhow.
She grew stagnant,
covered up her chest.
unwilling to satisfy
my sexual appetite.
unaware of my
napoleonic need
for pussy and conquest.
She told me our love
didn’t need to physical
our connection could be
better than sex.
Guess you were wrong.
From Inconvenient Lie
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-random quotes by some of our fine members, taken out of context-
Originally Posted by atti
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-Spokenoh takes us beyond critique in a revisiting of
one of RB poetry's past gems-
Atticus - "This Isn't Poetry" March, 2008
This section of the mag is titled "Flashback" and I'm glad I was given the opportunity to resurrect an old poem.'this isn't poetry.'
last time i wrote a poem
the sink spit me up,
while my belt loops sat alone,
waiting for the notches around my throat
to let go.
the footnotes at the bottom of my heart
beat more readily,
than the body of my work.
i used to think it was poetry
-before the lines turned themselves into a noose
and haiku's that read like bullet points
started to back fire,
through the backsides of a few ambiguous
water lines,
that were just shallow enough
for me to try and drown myself in.
i used to think it was a pen
-before it made a better weapon.
a few metaphors and three broken women later-
this isn't poetry,
it's a battle cry
that started as tears and went to war with itself,
and never realized the field
was never actually a place to step-
but who knew hearts could eat tread just as easily.
everyone wants their signature poem
-it's supposed to mean i love you;
but this poets love stinks like lust
behind red-rose revolvers that get used like crutch.
one too many rest their heads
on my barrel of monkeys from your back
fired into the last place you'd expect
to be dead.
i used to call this art,
because i didn't see pain it made.
my own splinter ridden veins where the page
like a mask without the eye holes
to see who they bump in to.
this depression wasn't meant for display,
but the day my scars stumbled into your arm
you wore them like the neglect
to which you had always set the stage.
search my poems for your answers
-because i don't have them.
i used to think i was cutting my own wrists
with the margin of this half finished poem,
until i watched you bleed
-and assumed you knew what to do
if you had the will to read.
still writing
-I'll take your life away,
while reaching for your breath.
these poems aren't made for praise;
they only frame regret.
I'm the martyr of my every word,
followed by myself as the rope tightens
before a crowed town of my own emotions-
each one standing as its own person.
it was all for me,
until i started to see the strangers
scattered across the executioners veil.
it was all for me,
until a few decided to watch-
and they didn't enjoy my death
as much as i did
-because the parts of themselves they had put in me,
swallowed the axe much slower
than i really took the blade.
that broken heart doesn't entertain you
the same as it does the reader,
but i still write it into the story
because this isn't poetry, it's the overly dramatic truth.
so keep reading until your stanza ends,
and the next begins with another name-
and you can't enjoy the read again,
if the last poem hasn't already pushed you away.
so, ask me to write you a poem,
and I'll slit my wrists and dedicate it to you
-because i don't write poetry,
i kill off pieces of myself, for myself,
regardless of the voyeurs
with hands over their eyes
watching through the gaps between their guilty fingers.
don't ask me to write you a poem,
because I'm running out of pieces to kill;
don't ask me to write you a poem,
because i never will;
this isn't poetry.
There is a large - no, an endless - amount of poetry that I could have chosen for this. I could have reached back to the time of Varentao or the oft-perceived 'classical' age of writers like Bounce, Maven, and the early work of Mindless. There were countless poems I considered, some with few reviews and others that are in the Hall of Fame or Legends. I chose this one though, because it is more than any of that.
Atti's 'this isn't poetry' epitomizes a very strong sentiment I have towards creative writing. This work encompasses a favorite Cummings quote: "since feeling is first, who pays any attention to the syntax of things". There is a pervasive emotion laden within the words which attaches itself to the reader. You can read this without any particular knowledge of metaphor, structure, or poetry in general. You can read it without feeling it is contrived or academic. You can read it for the sake of feeling something within yourself that you had long ignored. Regardless of why you read it, you won't forget it.
This poem is similar to a few other poems Atti posted at the time. The content can be likened to "I'm just a fucking artist" or "the end of every poem". This one, however, stands taller than those pieces. It is the definitive textual purging of the discontentment he, as a writer and person, was feeling at the time. Although it is too much to infer concrete relationships between many written works and the author's life, one gets the sense this isn't far from truth. It is so tangible and invoking that it represents a feeling shared by anyone who has ever tried to express the abstract through sheer guts. It would be inadequate to call this a poem although that's what I've referred to it as. This is, as Atti admits, a battle cry.
Scattered throughout are images of language as more than text. Bullet-points become shell casings; a pen bleeds like a tanto. It is apparent that within the work itself is an embodiment of the message - that diction is never enough. Moreover, the metaphors bend and convolute, changing direction when you expected the solidarity of what you already know to be true. This can be seen within the use of mixed analogy:
Within the metaphor is the greater chore of telling it as it is. It is the admission that a poem will never piece back together the relationships that sunk, nor will it find the resolve to forget mistakes that never made the page. Lastly, it is the reminder that there are some things in life you don't choose for yourself.through the backsides of a few ambiguous
water lines,
that were just shallow enough
for me to try and drown myself in.
For anyone still mistaken, this isn't poetry; this is the carcass of one man's resolve. There is a reason it ends in a period.
