Re: Do you fit in-to the dark? by Hostileintent	Ranger 62.252.32.15	16-Oct-06/12:53 PM
Have you ever thought of rhyme As some sort of metric crime?
Re: Work by half.italian	Ranger 62.252.32.15	16-Oct-06/12:51 PM
Which film? It sounds vaguely American Beauty-esque.
Re: a comment on Timing by Dovina	Ranger 62.252.32.15	16-Oct-06/12:36 PM
I tend to go off on tangents. All anyone can do at such a time is nod politely and humour me. The thing is, if we have to afford potential human beings equal (or nearly equal) consideration, as you seem to be saying, is it not more immoral to deprive them of the chance to live than it is to let them come into a world where their chances of a high quality of life are slim? I guess it's an extension of the abortion issue. And anyway, if modern humanity was bright enough to be able to agree on this, surely we wouldn't need to instigate any action? People would work it out for theirselves. Rather than leap into action against the ordinary people (quite literally) on the street, I'd rather see some sort of advancement take place in the higher echelonsof government; i.e. less corruption and more looking after the people they're supposed to represent. Naive of me to say this, I'm sure, but at present the lifestyle many impoverished families lead is the only one which is going to allow them to see tomorrow. I don't think that any change of attitudes, however noble and right, will remedy the situation one little bit. Unfortunately the West, who has the potential to make changes happen, has been neutralised in the regime-altering department after Afghanistan and Iraq. America might get away with going into Iran, but beyond that what political clout will you be left with? We already have none, and I don't see that improving for a long while.
Re: a comment on Timing by Dovina	Dovina 70.38.78.229	16-Oct-06/11:14 AM
At least you didn’t make any typos that I caught. Your comment does make sense, but it rambles from the problem of overpopulation into the sanctity of marriage. I support you on that sidetrack. But where you glibly say that war and illness will naturally correct overpopulation, I must complain about the suffering such corrections cause. If we are doing any better than past generations at making life better and alleviating suffering, let us look for means of stopping life before it starts, not after it outwits the planet, or kills itself fighting over resources. Surely, modern humanity can agree on this basic premise.
Re: Four and a half paragraphs of silence by ?-Dave_Mysterious-?	Ranger 62.252.32.15	16-Oct-06/9:00 AM
Yours is the finest username on poemeranker. -?-
Re: Being Called Dave by ?-Dave_Mysterious-?	Ranger 62.252.32.15	16-Oct-06/8:53 AM
Genius.
Re: a comment on Timing by Dovina	Ranger 62.252.32.15	16-Oct-06/2:20 AM
What have I to lose? By 2050 I probably won't care too much about this, if I'm still alive, because by that point I'll have to keep working until I die just to live that long. The fact is (as I see it) that giving women more liberty and keeping the world's population down share very little common ground. Nobody should be wholly subject to another person. But if everyone is completely independent, where does that leave marriage? It will no longer be a binding force which keeps people together through the rough times out of necessity. As soon as a marriage has its first problem, there's nothing preventing one party upping sticks and leaving. You'll say that there's nothing to show such a result will necessarily happen, and there isn't. But just look at the general first world trends over recent decades. Divorce rates and the number of single-parent families are increasing on a scale unimaginable a century ago. What was once a sacred bond is becoming little more than a token novelty which can be discarded at any time. As for the rising population, well we're going to reach the limit one day unless natural forces intervene, aren't we? And when we do, war, famine or plague will keep the numbers in check. It's ironic that you call the mentality one from the Middle Ages (which is true enough) but look for a reduction in numbers, because the only thing which can drastically diminish the number of human beings on the planet (aside from a good ol' epidemic) is a social return to the Middle Ages. While we continue to attempt to create an entire first world planet, we will create more problems of space and resources. After all, the whole point of first world society is to be populous and prosperous. But are there enough world resources for Earth to be totally first world? I don't think any of my comment made sense.
Re: a comment on Timing by Dovina	Dovina 12.72.42.194	15-Oct-06/7:27 PM
And if the mind and body are trapped, they look for any way out.
Re: a comment on Timing by Dovina	Dovina 12.72.42.194	15-Oct-06/7:26 PM
One dictionary says layed, but downrates the usage as improper. Maybe it can be done either way.
Re: a comment on Timing by Dovina	Dovina 12.72.42.194	15-Oct-06/7:21 PM
Arguments loke this should be won by the person having the most to lose if his way is not followed. I yield the world's future to you.
Re: a comment on Timing by Dovina	Ranger 62.252.32.15	15-Oct-06/4:03 PM
The world as we know it will change either way. If we do nothing then eventually nature will cut us back down again. It's already happening in China, in the AIDS-ridden countryside. But if we go for an all-out change of attitude on a large scale, there is no way that the world can stay the same either. For one thing, the idea of lasting marriage will continue on the slippery downward slope that it's already on.
Re: a comment on Timing by Dovina	Dovina 12.72.37.27	15-Oct-06/3:08 PM
Amanda is not one of them, but she has said that most of the women in India are virtually enslaved to their husbands and have far more children than they want. We cannot just tell them to rebel. But it is WRONG. It's a society problem that will kill the earth as we know it if something doesn't change.
Re: a comment on Timing by Dovina	Ranger 62.252.32.15	15-Oct-06/2:43 PM
Well I've never been to India or any third world nations, so I'll take your word for it (Amanda doesn't seem particularly enslaved though, to be fair). I wouldn't want to see anyone have to live as a slave, man, woman or child. But similarly, being totally freed will not make any impact on the situation, I don't think. If you're talking about children being born purely as workers, then simply changing attitudes won't do anything. Kids will still be mass-conceived purely out of necessity. You've got to find some way of making everyone richer without adversely affecting the economy. If you say everyone should be totally free, you can't then limit the number of children they can have. You can't even set an unofficial 'target', because that's doing pretty much the same thing as enforcing a strict limit, except it's being done through emotional blackmail rather than armed troops. And hasn't China proven that even if you do set a child cap, the population will still swell uncontrollably?
Re: a comment on Fat girls Who Wear Short Skirts During Winter Quarter by DurtKL	Ranger 62.252.32.15	15-Oct-06/2:28 PM
Oh how I laughed at your comment, sir. It's funny 'cos it's true. You don't want to be there on a Saturday anyway. That's when all the wideboys (and girls) from the valleys come down and the students all go elsewhere. Try Thursday next time, or Monday at the union.
Re: a comment on Timing by Dovina	Dovina 12.72.37.27	15-Oct-06/2:26 PM
"Absolute liberty" for women is better than slavery of women, which we have, for the most part in India and other countries where women have many more children than in the UK and the US. The goal should be no more than two children per woman, and yes, oterh remideis besides "absolute freedom" are good. But studies show that if women are given the choice, they will have far fewer babies in third world countries than they do now.
Re: a comment on A Poetry Reading by Dovina	Ranger 62.252.32.15	15-Oct-06/2:23 PM
I'd even say the verbs are pretty definitive. What it needs is a solid image, like the podium, on which to build the story.
Re: a comment on A Poetry Reading by Dovina	Ranger 62.252.32.15	15-Oct-06/2:21 PM
Sure, finality can have a degree of uncertainty to it. Even with death, maybe it's not the end. But in the poem you explicitly say 'and never read again', which has a sort of post-apocalyptic 'never ever, not under any circumstances has she, does she, or will she read. Not once.' I'd like to see that tone built to throughout. I am not a poet. I barely count as an apprentice. But at the moment I'm going all-out crazy on metrics; the more I look for, talk about, and criticise other peoples' use of metre, the better I'll become at it. I'll probably sign up to eratosphere tomorrow, it looks a pretty good place to go for improving. I'll stay on the ranker as well, but probably worry less about posting proper critiques, and more about the fun stuff like renga-writing.
Re: Let's Grovel For Jesus And Fight The Naughty Satan! by Sing4Jesus!	Dovina 12.72.37.27	15-Oct-06/2:20 PM
I assume that all these Jesus poems are satire on Christianity. Perhaps you see hypocrisy in the church and wish to expound your rebellion. Ironically, Jesus did the same thing. “Do not according to their works,” he said of the religious leaders, “for they say, and do not.” Matthew 23:3. Many other passages like this.
Re: a comment on Timing by Dovina	Ranger 62.252.32.15	15-Oct-06/2:13 PM
Scrap the idea of women as possessions you mean? Maybe it would work. But you could also argue that it'll have the reverse effect, like over here. Women are not treated as possessions (for the most part) in Britain any more, so thirteen-year-old girls are free to fuck whoever they want without contraception, get pregnant, and contribute to the rising teenage pregnancy rate. Not to mention the spiralling number of single-parent families. That's in very simple, not-capable-of-much-real-thought terms, but I think it explains what I mean. Of course, I'm not saying that women should be treated as objects. But if you don't want nine billion people on the planet, absolute liberty isn't the solution.
Re: Tidal by helenwales	Dovina 12.72.37.27	15-Oct-06/2:12 PM
Somehow the rigid structure of haiku does not jive with stream-of-consciousness writing. Just holding 5-7-5 most of the time is not haiku. I'd make it all one stanza and let it flow.