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From: mpsilvertone@yahoo.com (HarryLime)
Newsgroups: alt.arts.poetry.comments,rec.arts.poems
Subject: Re: The Return of Michael Monkey
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2025 15:17:32 +0000
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On Fri, 3 Jan 2025 7:40:51 +0000, W.Dockery wrote:

> On Mon, 23 Dec 2024 21:00:16 +0000, George J. Dance wrote:
>>
>> from
>> https://www.novabbs.com/arts/article-flat.php?id=253903&group=alt.arts.poetry.comments#253903
>>
>> On Fri, 20 Dec 2024 15:22:04 +0000, Michael Monkey aka "HarryLime"
>> wrote:
>>
>> Yes, Michael Monkey Peabrain (MMP) has returned, as Will and I
>> suspected. Even the name of his new sock, "HarryLime", looked like an
>> obvious clue to the "third man" on Team Monkey (the other two being
>> Jim/Edward and NancyGene). So we devised a way to have him out himself:
>> Will would bump up an old thread, I'd reply to it, and if "Harry" were
>> MMP, he wouldn't be able to resist replying. And it worked.
>>
>> (Since the backthread has served its purpose, I've snipped most of it.)
>>
>>> It's "Jerk store!" time, again.  George Dance re-responds to a post I
>>> made almost two years ago (because he thinks I'm no longer here to smack
>>> him around).
>>
>> If further proof that this is MMP were needed, here it is: he walked
>> right into the trap, and he's still clueless that it even happened.
>>
>>> On Sat, 21 Jan 2023 4:13:51 +0000, Michael Pendragon wrote:
>>>> The above passage demonstrates why so-so poets should avoid
>>>> predetermined formats at all costs.  The "sentence" is incomplete.
>>>
>>> GD: That's because it wasn't a "sentence" until "Edward" added the full
>>> stop. Which demonstrates only that so-so poets should avoid
>>> repunctuating their betters' poetry.
>>>
>>> MMP: GD is now aping PJR (because PJR is no longer here to slap him
>>> around).
>>
>>>> Years conspire to decrease possibilities.
>>>
>>> GD: Exactly what the poem says, which Michael would have discovered if
>>> he
>>> had bothered to look it up. He didn't even need to look it up on line;
>>> he could have found it in his own "literary journal" (AYOS 2021, 10).
>>>
>>> MMP: My literary journal was created to highlight the best examples of
>>> poetry from AAPC's various members.  The best poetry by Member G does
>>> not necessarily measure up to the best poetry of Member J.
>>>
>>> As Mr. Dance has so ably demonstrated above, his own poem left no traces
>>> on my memory.
>>
>> MMP's memory lapses are something I'm sure we're all familiar with by
>> now. But let us remember what else I just ably demonstrated: that back
>> in 2021 (when he was still hoping to recruit me as an ally) he
>> considered Possibilities one of "the best examples of poetry" on AAPC.
>
> This deserves an underscore as an example of Michael Pendragon's biased
> behavior.

Why do you lie so much, Donkey?


George's triolet is a classic example of a *formal* poem.  It has a
fixed set of rules, and it adheres to them diligently.

As a poet, George has always been a skillful craftsman; and his poem is
a well-executed example of the triolet form.

In this regard, you and George may be viewed as complete opposites, as
your "poetry" is embarrassingly inept (painfully so) -- even when one
takes into account that it is "free verse," and therefore has no rules.

Where George has a strong understanding of poetic form, and fairly
strong understanding of the English language, you are unable to compose
in complete sentences, constantly mix tenses, misuse words, and randomly
refer to names and places from your personal life without providing any
explanation to your supposed readers.

That said, George's main problem as a poet is that he lacks inspiration,
imagination, and style.  George's poems, at their best, are as memorable
as Hallmark cards.  His thoughts and themes are maudlin and mundane, and
when he ventures into didacticism, he's merely parroting Ayn Rand's
Objectivist philosophy.  IOW: He is the epitome of mediocrity.

AAPC is a usenet group that is currently monopolized by a high school
drop out turned songwriter whose years of drug and alcohol abuse have
taken their toll on his intellect (assuming that he ever possessed one);
a homeless drunk arrested for indecent exposure, belligerence, and God
know what else, whose "poetry" rhymes everything with "red" and "blue";
and a retard who SCREAMS about President Trump and masturbates over his
nephew, who has never written a poem in his life.  George Dance is far
and away the best poet still posting there.

As to George's triolet: his word choice, unfortunately, renders it
self-contradictory (although one easily understands his intent). 
Understanding an author's intent is *not* an excuse for poorly expressed
thoughts.  His message starts out well (everyone starts out with
unlimited possibilities, which life chisels away over the course of
time), only to end with the cringingly maudlin idea of justifying one's
own failed potential by looking to the unlimited possibilities of one's
offspring.

I had originally thought that George was trying to say that while we (as
examples of unfulfilled possibility) look to our children's potential to
justify our failure, we are only kidding ourselves, because life will
inevitably destroy their possibilities as well.  Regrettably, George has
since stated that such was not his intent.  I have since adjusted my own
views on his poem accordingly.

--