zodiac24 Apr 2004

Who said anything about hating? Please pay attention: I said explicitly that if this poem is about a specific person then of course it's fine because if poetry should be allowed to do anything, that thing should be to faithfully depict real-life circumstances in an interesting or original fashion. Yes, I do believe that. However, if I attempted any kind of generalization out of these two poems, it would be that women in general are rather weak and flighty and men are strong and patronizing. This is something you should be aware of people doing when reading your poems, and possibly correct with something as simple as naming the woman in this poem "Sarah" or something, so that at worst we can only generalize that women named Sarah are weak and flighty, or at least have a better idea that you're speaking of a specific person you know and not commenting on the intelligence of all women. This has NOTHING TO DO with what you meant to say.

And I didn't say anything about you being a rapist or kidnapper. I suggested that if I had a teenaged daughter (which I don't) and you were a teenaged boy who drove a customized van, perhaps with flame decals around the hood, or a custom sound system and vibrating fold-out waterbed and blacklight (which you almost certainly don't), I wouldn't let you take her out for a date. Don't take it personally: I'm a very protective hypothetical father like that.