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Last Message 2 weeks, 5 days agoand 2 guests are online.- moodswingr : your work is great and very powerful
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November 22nd, 2007 at 12:49 pm
anton, i understand that you’ve got your tongue in your cheek when you call for more censorship, but it’s an ill-timed observation considering what’s just happened to deon maas. the real censorship that takes place in south africa is systematized mediocrity that perpetuates itself infinitely. it’s the poet’s nature to rage against this mediocrity. poetry is by definition a war waged against the mundane. trying to be “funny” and calling for more book burning is a pose that will return to haunt you once it starts happening here (again).
November 23rd, 2007 at 12:54 pm
i think my joke had more to do with satirising the strictures poets place on themselves in the era of relative freedom in which we currently exist…eras of censorship and thought control will surely wax and wane, i agree…times will keep on changing…so perhaps in another ten years poets may regret not having exercised the freedoms they now have…
you’re right, deon proved that we are not free to say what we want to, and it took an act of freedom to make that point…his action has now caused outrage on both sides, which may serve as a creative inspiration to some writers…i don’t know…
in terms of “mediocrity”, i find it difficult to come to terms with notions of “quality”, except perhaps in terms of characteristics, as in the “qualities” pertaining to a certain something…i did a poetry workshop at pretoria boys high recently and some kid asked me about quality and excellence in poetry and i was bamboozled, because i know that my measure of mediocrity can often turn out to be moving and meaningful to others, though i would hesitate to call them mediocre…i don’t know…besides, i don’t think books are burnt by the mediocracy…fascists aren’t mediocre, which is perhaps part of the problem…