The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

Dear friends,

Since the creators, the gods of OP, are not showing their faces (like all gods don’t) or even giving us any kind of commandments in writing either on stone tablets or on this digital screen, we can assume that (like all gods) they simply don’t exist or have died.

The rumor is that OP will be closing its eyelids forever sometime in April 2011 and this virtual poetry altar with its literary articulation, with its great big digital mouth, with its harmonious vocal chords and human poems will fade into cyber space alone, cold and dead.

I refuse to be sad because I am not a newborn to reality, time or death, and as Siddhartha was known for saying: All Things Must Pass. And so too must Original Poetry. My joy comes from my faith in myself and in my personal relationship with the natural elements of the universe, and not from a virtual-socializing WEB Site.

I have been a member since its conception in the Fall of 2008, joining this Site because it offered more that just posting poems; the competition drew me in along with the idea of possibly being published in an Anthology: Since being here I have won three Anthology prizes and have been picked-up by a small press publisher who has been on this Site for over a year now.

I have both taught people and learned from people on this Site and have derived great pleasure in the friends and lovers that I now have and will carry-on with after the demise of OP. People from all over the world have been buying my poetry book, In Forbidden Language, and with out OP this would not have been possible in such a short time.

My memories are many, my friends are many, and I have composed some of my best poetry here because of their influence on my thoughts, feelings and emotions, and I am forever grateful to all of my friends, lovers and even those of you who have sent me disturbing hate mail for my disbelief in God, religion or any other synthetic dogma that wants to control the free-will of humanity.

Even though OP may be leaving it will always remain in the memories of those who shared the joy of being here, and long after the screen is empty it will continue to be a part of our happiness especially for those of us who knew how to enjoy it both in giving to it and receiving from it.

I gave and received to this virtual literary community and because of this I AM a happy man.

Peace and Light,
dah


P.S. I will stay until the end, ‘til the screen goes blank.


My FaceBook Contact: dah helmer

MY Photography Web Site: www.flickr.com/photos/dahlusion

I will also be posting YouTube readings of my poetry sometime in the future.

RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

shall we play on while the ship sinks? yes...I think so

well stated Dah - I also, learned, loved and grew here.

Thanks to everyone

be well.

RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

Dah and Friends,

I have no way of knowing if this is the end or not. It would seem prudent for folks to copy their poems from this site to files on disk somewhere. My most recent edits are always on OP, so I have some copying to do.

I will say this. Although I wrote a lot when I was a kid, after I returned from the war in Vietnam my muse was silent 40 years or so. It was this site (and all my OP friends) which gave me the confidence to start writing again...

Now I'm doing all the poetry events in San Francisco and find that folks actually like my work!

So, even if the gods pulled the plug, all would not be lost. The best parts we carry in our hearts - until the final day.

cookie

RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

Yes! Let the wonderful memories stay imprinted on our souls forever

RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

HI Dah,
nice, sorry for the uninvited post,
just wanted to say thank you for everything, best wishes.
I have a faith when you die you go to heaven, I love it.
Hope to see ya there,

WS

RE: RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

Quote:

Originally Posted by WordSlinger

HI Dah,
nice, sorry for the uninvited post,
just wanted to say thank you for everything, best wishes.
I have a faith when you die you go to heaven, I love it.
Hope to see ya there,

WS

and "Heaven is a place where nothing really happens"—Talking Heads

RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

HATS OFF TO DAH! APPLAUSE! THE MAN HAS DEEP FEELINGS. THE MAN ALSO HAS WORDS TO EXPRESS HOW HE FEELS >

Quote:

Originally Posted by dahlusion

Dear friends,

Since the creators, the gods of OP, are not showing their faces (like all gods don’t) or even giving us any kind of commandments in writing either on stone tablets or on this digital screen, we can assume that (like all gods) they simply don’t exist or have died.

The rumor is that OP will be closing its eyelids forever sometime in April 2011 and this virtual poetry altar with its literary articulation, with its great big digital mouth, with its harmonious vocal chords and human poems will fade into cyber space alone, cold and dead.

I refuse to be sad because I am not a newborn to reality, time or death, and as Siddhartha was known for saying: All Things Must Pass. And so too must Original Poetry. My joy comes from my faith in myself and in my personal relationship with the natural elements of the universe, and not from a virtual-socializing WEB Site.

I have been a member since its conception in the Fall of 2008, joining this Site because it offered more that just posting poems; the competition drew me in along with the idea of possibly being published in an Anthology: Since being here I have won three Anthology prizes and have been picked-up by a small press publisher who has been on this Site for over a year now.

I have both taught people and learned from people on this Site and have derived great pleasure in the friends and lovers that I now have and will carry-on with after the demise of OP. People from all over the world have been buying my poetry book, In Forbidden Language, and with out OP this would not have been possible in such a short time.

My memories are many, my friends are many, and I have composed some of my best poetry here because of their influence on my thoughts, feelings and emotions, and I am forever grateful to all of my friends, lovers and even those of you who have sent me disturbing hate mail for my disbelief in God, religion or any other synthetic dogma that wants to control the free-will of humanity.

Even though OP may be leaving it will always remain in the memories of those who shared the joy of being here, and long after the screen is empty it will continue to be a part of our happiness especially for those of us who knew how to enjoy it both in giving to it and receiving from it.

I gave and received to this virtual literary community and because of this I AM a happy man.

Peace and Light,
dah
P.S. I will stay until the end, ‘til the screen goes blank.


Applause! Applause! My Friend, Dah, You are speaking here most eruditely.
gracefully, gratefully and graciously for all bona fide OP Members. I see you in a new dimension, I hadn'r seen before. You are a brilliant orator, and there is a lot of feeling and truth in your brilliant oratory.

[I have torn up the tribute I was writing, as a result of reading what Dah wrote.

Last edited by cousinsoren 01-25-2011 at 04:14:53 PM

Quote

Flag Post

RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

Poets may die
Poems may be erased on hard drives
Poetry will live forever

It will be a sad day when this site goes away.

I will miss you all. ::shedding a tear::

RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

We will all throw words to the wind and discover a home again, missing OP. It is true we have all grow here, I'll bet most remember who told them or invited them to OP so long ago it seems, for much has happened to all of us. Thanks, I'll find many of you again, or you me ... for we are family. Not used much but, I'll check it more often now, kdarcy52@yahoo Be well until we meet again, we aren't quite done here yet k

Die Verbrannte Erde Politik (Oh no, you're going down before April!)

FOR ALL OF THE OUTRAGED MEMBERS OF THE ORIGINAL POETRY "CLIQUE" I was betrayed and viciously maligned and attacked by Suzanna Smith and Dahlusion, at one point they even joined forces against me. I was in a very bad state. I asked for your help, and instead of upholding my basic rights of "self expression", my posts were deleted, my friends profiles were deleted, my profile was deleted, and I was betrayed, maligned, and given bogus legal "advice" by RH Peat & others. I dared to speak my mind as a poet and artist, but it did not sit well with the small minded goobers and huckaleros who apparently need someone smarter than them (Dahlusional Gumby) to look up to. All I wanted was the same rights to express myself as those who were attacking me, but for some reason, Papa Pussy (Paczki) deleted all of my posts immediately, even though they were not personal attacks, and allowed jezzabel, dahlusion, and the other members of that clique, to personally humiliate me. Now I am expressing myself, and Papa Pussy can't delete my posts! Let me give you guys a heads up: distorting the dissident's position and suppression, is NOT the correct way to deal with criticism, and that's what OP did to me. I DID NOT VIOLATE FORUM RULES, I MERELY SAID WHAT YOUR "FEARLESS LEADERS" DID NOT LIKE! I had to endure the frustration of being accused of the very same crimes that had been perpetrated against me! The best way to handle criticism is to simply be able to EXPLAIN WHAT YOU DO, AND WHY YOU DO IT. Be prepared to defend your position, instead of doing what dahlusion did and turn everything into a "personal" attack, which it was not. Just know poetry well, and be prepared to impart knowledge! I DID NOT ATTACK DAHLUSION! I WAS THE ONE WHO WAS PERSONALLY ATTACKED BY JADED JEZZABEL FOR A PROLONGED PERIOD. I DID NOT VIOLATE FORUM RULES, yet it was MY profile that was deleted, and I was subject to attack and bogus threats of "legal" action. I'm still waiting for the Marshals from San Diego, whom "poet friend" RH Peat said, were coming to my house to take me away. I was also attacked (after I had left OP) with a ridiculous "Dare you to Challenge me" post. Don't you think it's pretty stupid to make moral and spiritual judgements about ANYONE, just because you happen to disagree with their poetic approach? Which would you consider more of a serious character flaw; Is it a sign of moral and spiritual decay for someone to merely disagree with your poetic perspective and approach, or is it a sign of moral and spiritual bankrupcy to misrepresent, mischaracterize, libel and harrass? Compare Dah's "Challenge" to my "Righteous Indignation For Dummies, 101" (on youtube). In the former, condemnation is being leveled purely on the basis of disagreement-on poetry! In the latter, poetry is not even alluded to, but ACTUAL moral defects are addressed. In other words, you don't just condemn somebody merely because they disagree with your philosophy, but rather, you condemn someone for being a lying, vindictive, petty, manipulative, childish lout, which dahlusion is. Without further ado, here is Gumby's (dahlusion's) infamous posting:

I Dare You To Challenge Me (Gumby’s" Pound of Flesh" LOL)
I make this poem for you,
for the delusion that has invaded your soul,
that has taken you to a false understanding of yourself.

Who are you to judge what poetry
is or isn’t? I write as I see it, metaphorically
or not, still I write the truth,

with all of its pain or joy, from the hungry
part of my soul, pure, madness, flesh
or not, and I will not abandon

my creative vigor, my scarlet blood, or the undeniable
sight of your confused emotional poverty,
or the violation on my integrity as a poet.

I have seen the true spread of your desire
locked away in the anus of un-reality, sucked
into the spotted liver of your spiritual destitution,

and I ask again: Who are you to judge what
poetry is or isn’t? I will write of love, lust, lost,
longing, sex, passion, religion’s deceit, or anything else

that blows out of my soul and lands on my tongue.
I will write about what flushes or blushes people, and
if it pisses you off to read the truth then maybe

you should start writing with fervor instead of
indifference to what you are actually feeling.
Make me know that you exist as a poet of passion
instead of a pseudo-academic snob.

Take your teeth and bit into your soul instead
of sucking on the coldness of your brain’s intellectual
stiffness. I am bloodthirsty when it comes to defending
what poetry is or isn’t —I dare you to challenge me.

It pisses me off when I hear anybody define what poetry is or isn't, especially when it comes from academic poets. Forgive me for writing so hard that I broke my pencil. Fortunately the main Ass responsible for my defensive ranting has left the site, but the viciousness of the attacks on my integrity as a poet heated me up enough to spill forth this truth ...there have been others and there will always be more.
(And my "crime" was in posting the following general critique
Firstly, I have stayed off of your page more for my own sake-not because you told me to. However, please be advised, that I'll go whever I want to go-if it's to your page or to Gengis Kahns page, I'll read whatever I want to read. Curiosity finally got the best of me, and since I saw you pathetically begging for other poets to read your work, I decided to go and have a look. Please understand me rightly, I am NOT exacting my "pound of flesh" :ie you crashed my thread and so I've decided to crash yours. No, that is NOT the case at all. I cannot hold myself back anymore-there are certain self evident facts that must be laid bare, and I have FINALLY reached my limit! Your recent campaign of self promotion is turning my stomach! Dahlusion is a great poet-that is true. I have always given him his due, but from what I can tell, he's not much of a human being. Toward that end, I believe his own words testify against him, as well as what he DOES NOT SAY in his poetry. I know that I am going to take LOTS of heat for this posting! My favorite quote on poetry is from the great Irishman, WB Yates, who wrote that poetry "...is blood and intellect running together". Approaching your recent work from the vantage point of an experienced poet, I can honestly say that I read devastating imagery, lots of abstract concepts, lots of erotic imagery and innuendo (ALL MAGNIFICENTLY DONE); in short, there is intellect, but no blood! I don't really know anything about you through your work, and I have gone through it all. I don't know anything about your child, about anything that should mean something to you, but is not reflected in your work. All I really know at this point, is that there has not been an instrument yet invented that can accurately measure the size of your ego! You pontificated in my thread; "all poetry comes from the soul"-unless your soul is taken up with lusting after married women half your age, psuedo spiritual gobbldygook, and hatred against the Judeo Christian tradition, then your poetry stands as evidence to the contrary! If does not come from your soul, (as you claim it does), then from whence does it come? Praise and flattery perhaps? I don't know, it is not my place to look into your heart-I cannot presume to know what motivates you; all I can tell you is what I am reading. POETRY IS NOT ONLY PRETTY WORDS ON A PAGE, BUT IT IS REALLY "BLOOD AND INTELLECT RUNNING TOGETHER". Dah, I read your work, I LOVE your work-but I'm not seeing any blood! There are lots of pretty words, but because you never take any risks and you only do the same old forms at which you are strongest, I have to conclude that you only write to satiate your ever budgeoning ego! You've become an imposter! The most beautiful wrapping around a box will NOT make it a present, if there's nothing in the box. Put a wedding dress on a manniquin, but you won't be "getting some" on wedding night! LOL I've grown impatient, because I see no growth, if there's no growth, then there's no blood; if there's no blood, then there's no soul! I know that I'm going to face an angry "mob", but guess what? I'm a majority of ONE! I'm not just one of the "fish", I'm a BIG F*CK*NG shark!!! LOL Do you wish to take on the "Poison Pen" of OP? You already did once, not too long ago, and you got your butt kicked! LOL In the words of Mr. Eastwood; "MAKE MY (F*CK*NG) DAY"! Let's "do the nasty"!



I’m not going to the gutter with you, Sue Senseless (a boy named Su? LOL) Yes, I did almost die, and the harassment of suzy jezzabitch, one of your “pals” (and don’t deny it), and your Lord and Master, dahlusional Gumby, the Yoga Boy, would have definitely been contributing factors, at very least. I have posts of suzie jezzabitch admitting in her own words, that she was posting embarrassing and libelous mischaracterizations specifically toward the end of provoking a heart attack or stroke, since I was very sick at the time. But you were around, and you did nothing, so I’m holding you accountable as well. Of course, I would have had to show a nexus, but I am always prepared to do that. That is part of my training. It is a fact. Megan Meier DID commit suicide as a direct result of cyber bullying. That is a fact. There are many other examples. 2. Thank you for proving my argument for me! You are so nice! It is typical and nauseatingly predictable that you would turn my post into a ridiculous charge of defamation. Any dissent or criticism, you and your clique turn it into a false charge of “slander” or “defamation” or an “attack on my credibility”. This is the way you circumscribe free speech and attempt to exercise control that you have no right to assume. This is just how you exercise your little insidious form of terrorism and control, like when your fearless leader attacked Helios, for the simple “crime” of posting critique that you disagreed with. I suggest you increase your command of the English language, since “disagreement” is NOT tantamount to “defamation”. I offered the opinion that papa was sacked based upon my experience. Let’s test that theory now hypothetically. If Papa were monitoring the forum right now, do you think that he would delete all of my posts and allow your derogatory, stupid posts to remain visible in the forum? Do you? Past history says emphatically “YES”. What is my proof? Look at jezzabel’s “creepy” thread (topic 5021) in the “Casual Conversations Forum. He always allowed derogatory postings against me to stay forever, but would immediately delete my postings. Can you find any of my postings? I posted many replies. But I wasn’t even able to post anything since my profile was deleted without any explanation whatsoever. I simply stated that that is probably why he got canned, and since it is obvious and quite provable that that is what in fact he did, he deserved to be let go. Now., let’s turn that around; let’s say, (hypothetically), that papa was MY friend, and he deleted all of YOUR postings but yet left all of MY derogatory comments about YOU? What would your reaction be? You, however, show your intellectual dishonesty and your inability to exercise judicious and impartial fairness, even if it is your friend. Will your friend cease to be your friend should you tell him/her that he/she is wrong? Why can’t you tell your friend that he is wrong, and that he f*ck*d up! Why can’t you do that? Obviously, the website proprietor did! Your buddy did not dispense the rules fairly. I can prove this. He turned this website into his own (and his little clique’s, which you apparently are a charter member) little harem. He did not do his job, plain and simple. He is paying for his sloth, unfairness, corrupt favoritism and incompetence (in my opinion, he hasn’t paid enough!). That is not “defamation”. You must learn how to be intellectually honest, little boy, because you’re still in High School! Your clannish mentality dictates a “as long as OUR side is winning” approach…and if you can’t win with the existing rules, then let’s change the rules so that we can win again! You may write well, but you lack the intellectual honesty and judicious approach tha effective, transparent and effective writing requires. I don’t think that you have anything to offer, but I’m NOT going to check, because my policy is; that if I can’t believe what you say, then I can’t read what you write. I am sorry that you’re such a huckalero, and a sterling example of why OP has NOTHING TO OFFER, despite the rabid epidemic of unedited poetry books. I was denied my rights as a member, as a poet, and as a citizen, for the mere reason that I wasn’t “popular” and one of your clique. Your “buddy” must be held accountable, since he was responsible for administration and daily function of the web site. BTW, as far as the dildo goes, if you ever feel something unusual in your butt…think of me, MUDAK!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsB5aU2TPs4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c57TjaGrg2s&feature=related

My Ordeal On the Original Poetry.com, Part 1
by David A Neves on Friday, January 21, 2011 at 8:52am
I am posting this to show everyone just how ridiculous some "poets" can be.

FOR ALL OF THE OUTRAGED MEMBERS OF THE ORIGINAL POETRY "CLIQUE" I was betrayed and viciously maligned and attacked by Suzanna Smith and Dahlusion, at one point they even joined forces against me. I was in a very bad state. I asked for your help, and instead of upholding my basic rights of "self expression", my posts were deleted, my friends profiles were deleted, my profile was deleted, and I was betrayed, maligned, and given bogus legal "advice" by RH Peat & others. I dared to speak my mind as a poet and artist, but it did not sit well with the small minded goobers and huckaleros who apparently need someone smarter than them (Dahlusional Gumby) to look up to. All I wanted was the same rights to express myself as those who were attacking me, but for some reason, Papa Pussy (Paczki) deleted all of my posts immediately, even though they were not personal attacks, and allowed jezzabel, dahlusion, and the other members of that clique, to personally humiliate me. Now I am expressing myself, and Papa Pussy can't delete my posts! Let me give you guys a heads up: distorting the dissident's position and suppression, is NOT the correct way to deal with criticism, and that's what OP did to me. I DID NOT VIOLATE FORUM RULES, I MERELY SAID WHAT YOUR "FEARLESS LEADERS" DID NOT LIKE! I had to endure the frustration of being accused of the very same crimes that had been perpetrated against me! The best way to handle criticism is to simply be able to EXPLAIN WHAT YOU DO, AND WHY YOU DO IT. Be prepared to defend your position, instead of doing what dahlusion did and turn everything into a "personal" attack, which it was not. Just know poetry well, and be prepared to impart knowledge! I DID NOT ATTACK DAHLUSION! I WAS THE ONE WHO WAS PERSONALLY ATTACKED BY JADED JEZZABEL FOR A PROLONGED PERIOD. I DID NOT VIOLATE FORUM RULES, yet it was MY profile that was deleted, and I was subject to attack and bogus threats of "legal" action. I'm still waiting for the Marshals from San Diego, whom "poet friend" RH Peat said, were coming to my house to take me away. I was also attacked (after I had left OP) with a ridiculous "Dare you to Challenge me" post. Don't you think it's pretty stupid to make moral and spiritual judgements about ANYONE, just because you happen to disagree with their poetic approach? Which would you consider more of a serious character flaw; Is it a sign of moral and spiritual decay for someone to merely disagree with your poetic perspective and approach, or is it a sign of moral and spiritual bankrupcy to misrepresent, mischaracterize, libel and harrass? Compare Dah's "Challenge" to my "Righteous Indignation For Dummies, 101" (on youtube). In the former, condemnation is being leveled purely on the basis of disagreement-on poetry! In the latter, poetry is not even alluded to, but ACTUAL moral defects are addressed. In other words, you don't just condemn somebody merely because they disagree with your philosophy, but rather, you condemn someone for being a lying, vindictive, petty, manipulative, childish lout, which dahlusion is. Without further ado, here is Gumby's (dahlusion's) infamous posting:





I Dare You To Challenge Me (Gumby’s" Pound of Flesh" LOL)



I make this poem for you,
for the delusion that has invaded your soul,
that has taken you to a false understanding of yourself.
Who are you to judge what poetry
is or isn’t? I write as I see it, metaphorically
or not, still I write the truth,
with all of its pain or joy, from the hungry
part of my soul, pure, madness, flesh
or not, and I will not abandon
my creative vigor, my scarlet blood, or the undeniable
sight of your confused emotional poverty,
or the violation on my integrity as a poet.
I have seen the true spread of your desire
locked away in the anus of un-reality, sucked
into the spotted liver of your spiritual destitution,
and I ask again: Who are you to judge what
poetry is or isn’t?　 I will write of love, lust, lost,
longing, sex, passion, religion’s deceit, or anything else
that blows out of my soul and lands on my tongue.
I will write about what flushes or blushes people, and
if it pisses you off to read the truth then maybe
you should start writing with fervor instead of
indifference to what you are actually feeling.
Make me know that you exist as a poet of passion
instead of a pseudo-academic snob.
Take your teeth and bit into your soul instead
of sucking on the coldness of your brain’s intellectual
stiffness. I am bloodthirsty when it comes to defending
what poetry is or isn’t　 —I dare you to challenge me.


It pisses me off when I hear anybody define what poetry is or isn't, especially when it comes from academic poets. Forgive me for writing so hard that I broke my pencil. Fortunately the main Ass responsible for my defensive ranting has left the site, but the viciousness of the attacks on my integrity as a poet heated me up enough to spill forth this truth ...there have been others and there will always be more.


(And my "crime" was in posting the following general critique



Firstly, I have stayed off of your page more for my own sake-not because you told me to. However, please be advised, that I'll go whever I want to go-if it's to your page or to Gengis Kahns page, I'll read whatever I want to read. Curiosity finally got the best of me, and since I saw you pathetically begging for other poets to read your work, I decided to go and have a look. Please understand me rightly, I am NOT exacting my "pound of flesh" :ie you crashed my thread and so I've decided to crash yours. No, that is NOT the case at all. I cannot hold myself back anymore-there are certain self evident facts that must be laid bare, and I have FINALLY reached my limit! Your recent campaign of self promotion is turning my stomach! Dahlusion is a great poet-that is true. I have always given him his due, but from what I can tell, he's not much of a human being. Toward that end, I believe his own words testify against him, as well as what he DOES NOT SAY in his poetry. I know that I am going to take LOTS of heat for this posting! My favorite quote on poetry is from the great Irishman, WB Yates, who wrote that poetry "...is blood and intellect running together". Approaching your recent work from the vantage point of an experienced poet, I can honestly say that I read devastating imagery, lots of abstract concepts, lots of erotic imagery and innuendo (ALL MAGNIFICENTLY DONE); in short, there is intellect, but no blood! I don't really know anything about you through your work, and I have gone through it all. I don't know anything about your child, about anything that should mean something to you, but is not reflected in your work. All I really know at this point, is that there has not been an instrument yet invented that can accurately measure the size of your ego! You pontificated in my thread; "all poetry comes from the soul"-unless your soul is taken up with lusting after married women half your age, psuedo spiritual gobbldygook, and hatred against the Judeo Christian tradition, then your poetry stands as evidence to the contrary! If does not come from your soul, (as you claim it does), then from whence does it come? Praise and flattery perhaps? I don't know, it is not my place to look into your heart-I cannot presume to know what motivates you; all I can tell you is what I am reading. POETRY IS NOT ONLY PRETTY WORDS ON A PAGE, BUT IT IS REALLY "BLOOD AND INTELLECT RUNNING TOGETHER". Dah, I read your work, I LOVE your work-but I'm not seeing any blood! There are lots of pretty words, but because you never take any risks and you only do the same old forms at which you are strongest, I have to conclude that you only write to satiate your ever budgeoning ego! You've become an imposter! The most beautiful wrapping around a box will NOT make it a present, if there's nothing in the box. Put a wedding dress on a manniquin, but you won't be "getting some" on wedding night! LOL I've grown impatient, because I see no growth, if there's no growth, then there's no blood; if there's no blood, then there's no soul! I know that I'm going to face an angry "mob", but guess what? I'm a majority of ONE! I'm not just one of the "fish", I'm a BIG F*CK*NG shark!!! LOL Do you wish to take on the "Poison Pen" of OP? You already did once, not too long ago, and you got your butt kicked! LOL In the words of Mr. Eastwood; "MAKE MY (F*CK*NG) DAY"! Let's "do the nasty"!
(This is what dahlusion considered as an "attack" on his "integrity as a poet".)
My Ordeal On OriginalPoetry.com Part 2
For the sake of the other poets on OP, I attempted to patch things up with Dahlusion (the yoga teacher). I had already announced my departure from OP and that I would be shutting down my instructional thread, and so I posted the following unconditional apology:


"Please Forgive Me
Dah, I deeply regret any discomfort that I have caused you,
I deeply regret my impertinence and humbly beg your forgiveness. You are a great artist,
and we are very proud of you. Please allow me to visit your page."

Below is Dahlusion's reply:

"We will have to hire a lawyer and a mediator
to direct us in visitation rights because I don’t
believe you, nor do I want to be slandered by you
again and again and again. Your confusion is yours
and not mine. Do whatever it takes to find peace within,
and to keep your demeaning remarks to yourself or
in whispers amongst you and your followers.
I meditate on inner-peace for you."

In the words of Frank Zappa; "Heh???" LOL "Visitation rights?" Did we have children together or something? Slander? Prove it, asshole! In all of my many, many battles (political and otherwise), the first thing any knucklehead does when he reads anything that he doesn't like, is to threaten to sue for "slander". IT'S LIBEL, SHIT HEEL!!! LOL In order for a defamation case to be actionable, there has to be malice and damages. If you could simply sue just because you didn't like what the other person said, the court system wouldn't have time for anything else and freedom of speech would be severely threatened, and even eliminated. Oh, if it were only THAT easy, Yoga Boy! Now you can see what a real zoo OP has become! If he thinks my remarks BEFORE were demeaning, well. COME AND GET IT, YOGA BOY! LOL

________________________________________
Here is my response to Suzie's offer;

NO, I AM DISAPPOINTED! I AM DISAPPOINTED THAT YOU WOULD ALLOW THESE TWO "ADULTS" TO ACT LIKE ABSOLUTE ASSHOLES AND POST SLEAZY PORNOGRAPHY, WHILE PUNISHING ME AND DISCRIMINATING AGAINST ME WITH YOUR BUILT IN BIAS. YOU CANNOT HAVE IT BOTH WAYS; YOU CANNOT CLAIM TO APPRECIATE MY ART AND VALUE MY EXPERTISE, WHILE DISRESPECTING ME BY COWTOWING TO IDIOTS WHO ARE UNABLE TO FACE THE TRUTH ABOUT THEIR SHITTY WORK AND DISGRACEFUL, ADOLESCENT CONDUCT! YOU'VE BLOWN SMOKE UP MY ASS FOR THE LAST TIME! AS FOR REENTERING UNDER MY OWN NAME-I DON'T WANT MY NAME ASSOCIATED WITH THIS CLIQUE-BECAUSE THAT'S ALL THIS WEBSITE IS! YOU DON'T KNOW WHY I DID WHAT I DID, AND YOU MADE NO EFFORT TO INVESTIGATE, SINCE YOU NEVER BOTHERED TO ASK ME BEFORE THE FACT. INSTEAD, YOU TOOK THE WORD OF THOSE FOOLS. I AM NOT SORRY!!! I HAVE NO REGRETS, BUT I KNOW THAT MY EXPERTISE, EXPERIENCE, TIME AND ATTENTION WOULD BE WASTED HERE!
SO, AS FOR YOUR OFFER TO REENTER THIS SITE, DON'T DO ME ANY FAVORS! I RESPECTFULLY DECLINE!

Elaine;
I did catch your rather amusing remarks in the Forum, and noticed how you crawled out of the woodwork (with a few other dweebs) in order to manufacture "righteous outrage" at having told my side of the story, and how you and the rest of you did not show the least bit of outrage when I was viciously attacked. Here is the comment that "sealed" it
"i c my girl suzie got under ur decrepid skin. im so proud of her. she learned well. u r pathetic" arilv1 1 month ago"


After what I had been through with "suzie", this comment clearly showed malicious intent. I have since researched it, and it is clear that federal law has been violated. Just to show you that this "sleeping dog" has been doing much more than sleeping. Your recollection of out "interraction" is quite interesting as well, but strangely short on details! Here are the specifics; you stuck your nose where it didn't belong in defending a member of your "clique" (who I have since apologized to and reconciled with), and then you started with your ridiculous mischaracterizations and false accusations. Then you tried to force an erroneous homemade "definition" of poetry down my throat, and I simply corrected you. I have always backed up my contentions, but I am not the originator of poetic convention; I am merely the messenger. In my last email to you, I had to tell you that your opinion was out of your ass, and that mine was informed opinion, which it was. You've got to be willing to do the work if you wish to speak from a position of authority. I have done the work, but you did not respect that. There is a point at which disagreement becomes a gratuitous attack upon one's credibility, and this is exactly what you did. In brief, the "Nazi" here is not me, it is you, for trying to stifle my informed opinion and to try to get me to "make nice" for the sake of your stupid, childish egos. If you can't take criticism, you shouldn't post publicly. You have no right to force me to "like" shitty poetry, and your intellectually dishonest approach; "...you have your opinion, and I have mine". Bullshit! I am right and you are wrong! Do you see how easily disputes can be settled-and they can only be settled by the following principle: It is not what you say, it is what you can prove. On that basis, I can claim the authority to "settle" disputes with regard to poetry. However, there is something much deeper here; I read your remarks and notice that you use $4.99 words, without the slightest idea of their meaning or usage! That gives me a hint as to why you hate me so much; I am what you wish to be!!! You only pretend to be smart, but you (perceive) that I really am smart! You are greener with jealousy than the Incredible Hulk! I do remember that (when you were pretending to admire my "knowledge, that you submitted a poem about your son. You tried to write lyric, with rhyme, and it just did not come out well. It was simply not very well done, because when you get into the area of rhyme and meter, you are running smack into the middle of poetic convention; I tried to get you to revise the piece, but I know that it infuriated you when I made all of those corrections. The piece had major problems, and it is not a good idea to choose such a personal issue to rhyme when you have little to no experience in metric poetry. Your son deserves better than that, it was just not well done. So I have proffered a few possible reasons why you would hate me and continue to perpetuate the "nazi" nonsense, but that is your problem. All I need ask is; can you prove it? Anyway, I tried to apologize to "suzie" in private internal emails. Her response to me is documented and memorialized in the youtube video :Cell Phone Sonata". I have always tried to make peace and have always tried to reconcile in every case, but have never been given credit for it. This is not fair. You guys attack me after I'm gone. That is not fair! There is no fairness in your position therefore there is no truth as well. However, I'm a majority of one! All of you against "lil' ol'" me? You guys are outnumbered! You guys think that your "goon squad" bothers me? No! You guys are on the big ship; but I am in the "U-boat", with the depth chargers and torpedoes! In other words, I have the power, because I can prove my contentions. This should give you a little hint of where I might be going with this! This is why I did the youtube videos; to see if I would be suppressed on youtube the same way that I was suppressed on OP. Obviously not! Also, I wanted to see if anyone would dare go across the "city limits" of OP. It is hilarious! Anyway, this is war, and I will win it. Please don't write me back, you have nothing to offer me. PS. I DARE YOU TO POST THIS!

Die Verbrannte Erde Politik (Oh no, you're going down before April!)

FOR ALL OF THE OUTRAGED MEMBERS OF THE ORIGINAL POETRY "CLIQUE" I was betrayed and viciously maligned and attacked by Suzanna Smith and Dahlusion, at one point they even joined forces against me. I was in a very bad state. I asked for your help, and instead of upholding my basic rights of "self expression", my posts were deleted, my friends profiles were deleted, my profile was deleted, and I was betrayed, maligned, and given bogus legal "advice" by RH Peat & others. I dared to speak my mind as a poet and artist, but it did not sit well with the small minded goobers and huckaleros who apparently need someone smarter than them (Dahlusional Gumby) to look up to. All I wanted was the same rights to express myself as those who were attacking me, but for some reason, Papa Pussy (Paczki) deleted all of my posts immediately, even though they were not personal attacks, and allowed jezzabel, dahlusion, and the other members of that clique, to personally humiliate me. Now I am expressing myself, and Papa Pussy can't delete my posts! Let me give you guys a heads up: distorting the dissident's position and suppression, is NOT the correct way to deal with criticism, and that's what OP did to me. I DID NOT VIOLATE FORUM RULES, I MERELY SAID WHAT YOUR "FEARLESS LEADERS" DID NOT LIKE! I had to endure the frustration of being accused of the very same crimes that had been perpetrated against me! The best way to handle criticism is to simply be able to EXPLAIN WHAT YOU DO, AND WHY YOU DO IT. Be prepared to defend your position, instead of doing what dahlusion did and turn everything into a "personal" attack, which it was not. Just know poetry well, and be prepared to impart knowledge! I DID NOT ATTACK DAHLUSION! I WAS THE ONE WHO WAS PERSONALLY ATTACKED BY JADED JEZZABEL FOR A PROLONGED PERIOD. I DID NOT VIOLATE FORUM RULES, yet it was MY profile that was deleted, and I was subject to attack and bogus threats of "legal" action. I'm still waiting for the Marshals from San Diego, whom "poet friend" RH Peat said, were coming to my house to take me away. I was also attacked (after I had left OP) with a ridiculous "Dare you to Challenge me" post. Don't you think it's pretty stupid to make moral and spiritual judgements about ANYONE, just because you happen to disagree with their poetic approach? Which would you consider more of a serious character flaw; Is it a sign of moral and spiritual decay for someone to merely disagree with your poetic perspective and approach, or is it a sign of moral and spiritual bankrupcy to misrepresent, mischaracterize, libel and harrass? Compare Dah's "Challenge" to my "Righteous Indignation For Dummies, 101" (on youtube). In the former, condemnation is being leveled purely on the basis of disagreement-on poetry! In the latter, poetry is not even alluded to, but ACTUAL moral defects are addressed. In other words, you don't just condemn somebody merely because they disagree with your philosophy, but rather, you condemn someone for being a lying, vindictive, petty, manipulative, childish lout, which dahlusion is. Without further ado, here is Gumby's (dahlusion's) infamous posting:

I Dare You To Challenge Me (Gumby’s" Pound of Flesh" LOL)
I make this poem for you,
for the delusion that has invaded your soul,
that has taken you to a false understanding of yourself.

Who are you to judge what poetry
is or isn’t? I write as I see it, metaphorically
or not, still I write the truth,

with all of its pain or joy, from the hungry
part of my soul, pure, madness, flesh
or not, and I will not abandon

my creative vigor, my scarlet blood, or the undeniable
sight of your confused emotional poverty,
or the violation on my integrity as a poet.

I have seen the true spread of your desire
locked away in the anus of un-reality, sucked
into the spotted liver of your spiritual destitution,

and I ask again: Who are you to judge what
poetry is or isn’t? I will write of love, lust, lost,
longing, sex, passion, religion’s deceit, or anything else

that blows out of my soul and lands on my tongue.
I will write about what flushes or blushes people, and
if it pisses you off to read the truth then maybe

you should start writing with fervor instead of
indifference to what you are actually feeling.
Make me know that you exist as a poet of passion
instead of a pseudo-academic snob.

Take your teeth and bit into your soul instead
of sucking on the coldness of your brain’s intellectual
stiffness. I am bloodthirsty when it comes to defending
what poetry is or isn’t —I dare you to challenge me.

It pisses me off when I hear anybody define what poetry is or isn't, especially when it comes from academic poets. Forgive me for writing so hard that I broke my pencil. Fortunately the main Ass responsible for my defensive ranting has left the site, but the viciousness of the attacks on my integrity as a poet heated me up enough to spill forth this truth ...there have been others and there will always be more.
(And my "crime" was in posting the following general critique
Firstly, I have stayed off of your page more for my own sake-not because you told me to. However, please be advised, that I'll go whever I want to go-if it's to your page or to Gengis Kahns page, I'll read whatever I want to read. Curiosity finally got the best of me, and since I saw you pathetically begging for other poets to read your work, I decided to go and have a look. Please understand me rightly, I am NOT exacting my "pound of flesh" :ie you crashed my thread and so I've decided to crash yours. No, that is NOT the case at all. I cannot hold myself back anymore-there are certain self evident facts that must be laid bare, and I have FINALLY reached my limit! Your recent campaign of self promotion is turning my stomach! Dahlusion is a great poet-that is true. I have always given him his due, but from what I can tell, he's not much of a human being. Toward that end, I believe his own words testify against him, as well as what he DOES NOT SAY in his poetry. I know that I am going to take LOTS of heat for this posting! My favorite quote on poetry is from the great Irishman, WB Yates, who wrote that poetry "...is blood and intellect running together". Approaching your recent work from the vantage point of an experienced poet, I can honestly say that I read devastating imagery, lots of abstract concepts, lots of erotic imagery and innuendo (ALL MAGNIFICENTLY DONE); in short, there is intellect, but no blood! I don't really know anything about you through your work, and I have gone through it all. I don't know anything about your child, about anything that should mean something to you, but is not reflected in your work. All I really know at this point, is that there has not been an instrument yet invented that can accurately measure the size of your ego! You pontificated in my thread; "all poetry comes from the soul"-unless your soul is taken up with lusting after married women half your age, psuedo spiritual gobbldygook, and hatred against the Judeo Christian tradition, then your poetry stands as evidence to the contrary! If does not come from your soul, (as you claim it does), then from whence does it come? Praise and flattery perhaps? I don't know, it is not my place to look into your heart-I cannot presume to know what motivates you; all I can tell you is what I am reading. POETRY IS NOT ONLY PRETTY WORDS ON A PAGE, BUT IT IS REALLY "BLOOD AND INTELLECT RUNNING TOGETHER". Dah, I read your work, I LOVE your work-but I'm not seeing any blood! There are lots of pretty words, but because you never take any risks and you only do the same old forms at which you are strongest, I have to conclude that you only write to satiate your ever budgeoning ego! You've become an imposter! The most beautiful wrapping around a box will NOT make it a present, if there's nothing in the box. Put a wedding dress on a manniquin, but you won't be "getting some" on wedding night! LOL I've grown impatient, because I see no growth, if there's no growth, then there's no blood; if there's no blood, then there's no soul! I know that I'm going to face an angry "mob", but guess what? I'm a majority of ONE! I'm not just one of the "fish", I'm a BIG F*CK*NG shark!!! LOL Do you wish to take on the "Poison Pen" of OP? You already did once, not too long ago, and you got your butt kicked! LOL In the words of Mr. Eastwood; "MAKE MY (F*CK*NG) DAY"! Let's "do the nasty"!



I’m not going to the gutter with you, Sue Senseless (a boy named Su? LOL) Yes, I did almost die, and the harassment of suzy jezzabitch, one of your “pals” (and don’t deny it), and your Lord and Master, dahlusional Gumby, the Yoga Boy, would have definitely been contributing factors, at very least. I have posts of suzie jezzabitch admitting in her own words, that she was posting embarrassing and libelous mischaracterizations specifically toward the end of provoking a heart attack or stroke, since I was very sick at the time. But you were around, and you did nothing, so I’m holding you accountable as well. Of course, I would have had to show a nexus, but I am always prepared to do that. That is part of my training. It is a fact. Megan Meier DID commit suicide as a direct result of cyber bullying. That is a fact. There are many other examples. 2. Thank you for proving my argument for me! You are so nice! It is typical and nauseatingly predictable that you would turn my post into a ridiculous charge of defamation. Any dissent or criticism, you and your clique turn it into a false charge of “slander” or “defamation” or an “attack on my credibility”. This is the way you circumscribe free speech and attempt to exercise control that you have no right to assume. This is just how you exercise your little insidious form of terrorism and control, like when your fearless leader attacked Helios, for the simple “crime” of posting critique that you disagreed with. I suggest you increase your command of the English language, since “disagreement” is NOT tantamount to “defamation”. I offered the opinion that papa was sacked based upon my experience. Let’s test that theory now hypothetically. If Papa were monitoring the forum right now, do you think that he would delete all of my posts and allow your derogatory, stupid posts to remain visible in the forum? Do you? Past history says emphatically “YES”. What is my proof? Look at jezzabel’s “creepy” thread (topic 5021) in the “Casual Conversations Forum. He always allowed derogatory postings against me to stay forever, but would immediately delete my postings. Can you find any of my postings? I posted many replies. But I wasn’t even able to post anything since my profile was deleted without any explanation whatsoever. I simply stated that that is probably why he got canned, and since it is obvious and quite provable that that is what in fact he did, he deserved to be let go. Now., let’s turn that around; let’s say, (hypothetically), that papa was MY friend, and he deleted all of YOUR postings but yet left all of MY derogatory comments about YOU? What would your reaction be? You, however, show your intellectual dishonesty and your inability to exercise judicious and impartial fairness, even if it is your friend. Will your friend cease to be your friend should you tell him/her that he/she is wrong? Why can’t you tell your friend that he is wrong, and that he f*ck*d up! Why can’t you do that? Obviously, the website proprietor did! Your buddy did not dispense the rules fairly. I can prove this. He turned this website into his own (and his little clique’s, which you apparently are a charter member) little harem. He did not do his job, plain and simple. He is paying for his sloth, unfairness, corrupt favoritism and incompetence (in my opinion, he hasn’t paid enough!). That is not “defamation”. You must learn how to be intellectually honest, little boy, because you’re still in High School! Your clannish mentality dictates a “as long as OUR side is winning” approach…and if you can’t win with the existing rules, then let’s change the rules so that we can win again! You may write well, but you lack the intellectual honesty and judicious approach tha effective, transparent and effective writing requires. I don’t think that you have anything to offer, but I’m NOT going to check, because my policy is; that if I can’t believe what you say, then I can’t read what you write. I am sorry that you’re such a huckalero, and a sterling example of why OP has NOTHING TO OFFER, despite the rabid epidemic of unedited poetry books. I was denied my rights as a member, as a poet, and as a citizen, for the mere reason that I wasn’t “popular” and one of your clique. Your “buddy” must be held accountable, since he was responsible for administration and daily function of the web site. BTW, as far as the dildo goes, if you ever feel something unusual in your butt…think of me, MUDAK!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsB5aU2TPs4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c57TjaGrg2s&feature=related

My Ordeal On the Original Poetry.com, Part 1
by David A Neves on Friday, January 21, 2011 at 8:52am
I am posting this to show everyone just how ridiculous some "poets" can be.

FOR ALL OF THE OUTRAGED MEMBERS OF THE ORIGINAL POETRY "CLIQUE" I was betrayed and viciously maligned and attacked by Suzanna Smith and Dahlusion, at one point they even joined forces against me. I was in a very bad state. I asked for your help, and instead of upholding my basic rights of "self expression", my posts were deleted, my friends profiles were deleted, my profile was deleted, and I was betrayed, maligned, and given bogus legal "advice" by RH Peat & others. I dared to speak my mind as a poet and artist, but it did not sit well with the small minded goobers and huckaleros who apparently need someone smarter than them (Dahlusional Gumby) to look up to. All I wanted was the same rights to express myself as those who were attacking me, but for some reason, Papa Pussy (Paczki) deleted all of my posts immediately, even though they were not personal attacks, and allowed jezzabel, dahlusion, and the other members of that clique, to personally humiliate me. Now I am expressing myself, and Papa Pussy can't delete my posts! Let me give you guys a heads up: distorting the dissident's position and suppression, is NOT the correct way to deal with criticism, and that's what OP did to me. I DID NOT VIOLATE FORUM RULES, I MERELY SAID WHAT YOUR "FEARLESS LEADERS" DID NOT LIKE! I had to endure the frustration of being accused of the very same crimes that had been perpetrated against me! The best way to handle criticism is to simply be able to EXPLAIN WHAT YOU DO, AND WHY YOU DO IT. Be prepared to defend your position, instead of doing what dahlusion did and turn everything into a "personal" attack, which it was not. Just know poetry well, and be prepared to impart knowledge! I DID NOT ATTACK DAHLUSION! I WAS THE ONE WHO WAS PERSONALLY ATTACKED BY JADED JEZZABEL FOR A PROLONGED PERIOD. I DID NOT VIOLATE FORUM RULES, yet it was MY profile that was deleted, and I was subject to attack and bogus threats of "legal" action. I'm still waiting for the Marshals from San Diego, whom "poet friend" RH Peat said, were coming to my house to take me away. I was also attacked (after I had left OP) with a ridiculous "Dare you to Challenge me" post. Don't you think it's pretty stupid to make moral and spiritual judgements about ANYONE, just because you happen to disagree with their poetic approach? Which would you consider more of a serious character flaw; Is it a sign of moral and spiritual decay for someone to merely disagree with your poetic perspective and approach, or is it a sign of moral and spiritual bankrupcy to misrepresent, mischaracterize, libel and harrass? Compare Dah's "Challenge" to my "Righteous Indignation For Dummies, 101" (on youtube). In the former, condemnation is being leveled purely on the basis of disagreement-on poetry! In the latter, poetry is not even alluded to, but ACTUAL moral defects are addressed. In other words, you don't just condemn somebody merely because they disagree with your philosophy, but rather, you condemn someone for being a lying, vindictive, petty, manipulative, childish lout, which dahlusion is. Without further ado, here is Gumby's (dahlusion's) infamous posting:





I Dare You To Challenge Me (Gumby’s" Pound of Flesh" LOL)



I make this poem for you,
for the delusion that has invaded your soul,
that has taken you to a false understanding of yourself.
Who are you to judge what poetry
is or isn’t? I write as I see it, metaphorically
or not, still I write the truth,
with all of its pain or joy, from the hungry
part of my soul, pure, madness, flesh
or not, and I will not abandon
my creative vigor, my scarlet blood, or the undeniable
sight of your confused emotional poverty,
or the violation on my integrity as a poet.
I have seen the true spread of your desire
locked away in the anus of un-reality, sucked
into the spotted liver of your spiritual destitution,
and I ask again: Who are you to judge what
poetry is or isn’t?　 I will write of love, lust, lost,
longing, sex, passion, religion’s deceit, or anything else
that blows out of my soul and lands on my tongue.
I will write about what flushes or blushes people, and
if it pisses you off to read the truth then maybe
you should start writing with fervor instead of
indifference to what you are actually feeling.
Make me know that you exist as a poet of passion
instead of a pseudo-academic snob.
Take your teeth and bit into your soul instead
of sucking on the coldness of your brain’s intellectual
stiffness. I am bloodthirsty when it comes to defending
what poetry is or isn’t　 —I dare you to challenge me.


It pisses me off when I hear anybody define what poetry is or isn't, especially when it comes from academic poets. Forgive me for writing so hard that I broke my pencil. Fortunately the main Ass responsible for my defensive ranting has left the site, but the viciousness of the attacks on my integrity as a poet heated me up enough to spill forth this truth ...there have been others and there will always be more.


(And my "crime" was in posting the following general critique



Firstly, I have stayed off of your page more for my own sake-not because you told me to. However, please be advised, that I'll go whever I want to go-if it's to your page or to Gengis Kahns page, I'll read whatever I want to read. Curiosity finally got the best of me, and since I saw you pathetically begging for other poets to read your work, I decided to go and have a look. Please understand me rightly, I am NOT exacting my "pound of flesh" :ie you crashed my thread and so I've decided to crash yours. No, that is NOT the case at all. I cannot hold myself back anymore-there are certain self evident facts that must be laid bare, and I have FINALLY reached my limit! Your recent campaign of self promotion is turning my stomach! Dahlusion is a great poet-that is true. I have always given him his due, but from what I can tell, he's not much of a human being. Toward that end, I believe his own words testify against him, as well as what he DOES NOT SAY in his poetry. I know that I am going to take LOTS of heat for this posting! My favorite quote on poetry is from the great Irishman, WB Yates, who wrote that poetry "...is blood and intellect running together". Approaching your recent work from the vantage point of an experienced poet, I can honestly say that I read devastating imagery, lots of abstract concepts, lots of erotic imagery and innuendo (ALL MAGNIFICENTLY DONE); in short, there is intellect, but no blood! I don't really know anything about you through your work, and I have gone through it all. I don't know anything about your child, about anything that should mean something to you, but is not reflected in your work. All I really know at this point, is that there has not been an instrument yet invented that can accurately measure the size of your ego! You pontificated in my thread; "all poetry comes from the soul"-unless your soul is taken up with lusting after married women half your age, psuedo spiritual gobbldygook, and hatred against the Judeo Christian tradition, then your poetry stands as evidence to the contrary! If does not come from your soul, (as you claim it does), then from whence does it come? Praise and flattery perhaps? I don't know, it is not my place to look into your heart-I cannot presume to know what motivates you; all I can tell you is what I am reading. POETRY IS NOT ONLY PRETTY WORDS ON A PAGE, BUT IT IS REALLY "BLOOD AND INTELLECT RUNNING TOGETHER". Dah, I read your work, I LOVE your work-but I'm not seeing any blood! There are lots of pretty words, but because you never take any risks and you only do the same old forms at which you are strongest, I have to conclude that you only write to satiate your ever budgeoning ego! You've become an imposter! The most beautiful wrapping around a box will NOT make it a present, if there's nothing in the box. Put a wedding dress on a manniquin, but you won't be "getting some" on wedding night! LOL I've grown impatient, because I see no growth, if there's no growth, then there's no blood; if there's no blood, then there's no soul! I know that I'm going to face an angry "mob", but guess what? I'm a majority of ONE! I'm not just one of the "fish", I'm a BIG F*CK*NG shark!!! LOL Do you wish to take on the "Poison Pen" of OP? You already did once, not too long ago, and you got your butt kicked! LOL In the words of Mr. Eastwood; "MAKE MY (F*CK*NG) DAY"! Let's "do the nasty"!
(This is what dahlusion considered as an "attack" on his "integrity as a poet".)
My Ordeal On OriginalPoetry.com Part 2
For the sake of the other poets on OP, I attempted to patch things up with Dahlusion (the yoga teacher). I had already announced my departure from OP and that I would be shutting down my instructional thread, and so I posted the following unconditional apology:


"Please Forgive Me
Dah, I deeply regret any discomfort that I have caused you,
I deeply regret my impertinence and humbly beg your forgiveness. You are a great artist,
and we are very proud of you. Please allow me to visit your page."

Below is Dahlusion's reply:

"We will have to hire a lawyer and a mediator
to direct us in visitation rights because I don’t
believe you, nor do I want to be slandered by you
again and again and again. Your confusion is yours
and not mine. Do whatever it takes to find peace within,
and to keep your demeaning remarks to yourself or
in whispers amongst you and your followers.
I meditate on inner-peace for you."

In the words of Frank Zappa; "Heh???" LOL "Visitation rights?" Did we have children together or something? Slander? Prove it, asshole! In all of my many, many battles (political and otherwise), the first thing any knucklehead does when he reads anything that he doesn't like, is to threaten to sue for "slander". IT'S LIBEL, SHIT HEEL!!! LOL In order for a defamation case to be actionable, there has to be malice and damages. If you could simply sue just because you didn't like what the other person said, the court system wouldn't have time for anything else and freedom of speech would be severely threatened, and even eliminated. Oh, if it were only THAT easy, Yoga Boy! Now you can see what a real zoo OP has become! If he thinks my remarks BEFORE were demeaning, well. COME AND GET IT, YOGA BOY! LOL

________________________________________
Here is my response to Suzie's offer;

NO, I AM DISAPPOINTED! I AM DISAPPOINTED THAT YOU WOULD ALLOW THESE TWO "ADULTS" TO ACT LIKE ABSOLUTE ASSHOLES AND POST SLEAZY PORNOGRAPHY, WHILE PUNISHING ME AND DISCRIMINATING AGAINST ME WITH YOUR BUILT IN BIAS. YOU CANNOT HAVE IT BOTH WAYS; YOU CANNOT CLAIM TO APPRECIATE MY ART AND VALUE MY EXPERTISE, WHILE DISRESPECTING ME BY COWTOWING TO IDIOTS WHO ARE UNABLE TO FACE THE TRUTH ABOUT THEIR SHITTY WORK AND DISGRACEFUL, ADOLESCENT CONDUCT! YOU'VE BLOWN SMOKE UP MY ASS FOR THE LAST TIME! AS FOR REENTERING UNDER MY OWN NAME-I DON'T WANT MY NAME ASSOCIATED WITH THIS CLIQUE-BECAUSE THAT'S ALL THIS WEBSITE IS! YOU DON'T KNOW WHY I DID WHAT I DID, AND YOU MADE NO EFFORT TO INVESTIGATE, SINCE YOU NEVER BOTHERED TO ASK ME BEFORE THE FACT. INSTEAD, YOU TOOK THE WORD OF THOSE FOOLS. I AM NOT SORRY!!! I HAVE NO REGRETS, BUT I KNOW THAT MY EXPERTISE, EXPERIENCE, TIME AND ATTENTION WOULD BE WASTED HERE!
SO, AS FOR YOUR OFFER TO REENTER THIS SITE, DON'T DO ME ANY FAVORS! I RESPECTFULLY DECLINE!

Elaine;
I did catch your rather amusing remarks in the Forum, and noticed how you crawled out of the woodwork (with a few other dweebs) in order to manufacture "righteous outrage" at having told my side of the story, and how you and the rest of you did not show the least bit of outrage when I was viciously attacked. Here is the comment that "sealed" it
"i c my girl suzie got under ur decrepid skin. im so proud of her. she learned well. u r pathetic" arilv1 1 month ago"


After what I had been through with "suzie", this comment clearly showed malicious intent. I have since researched it, and it is clear that federal law has been violated. Just to show you that this "sleeping dog" has been doing much more than sleeping. Your recollection of out "interraction" is quite interesting as well, but strangely short on details! Here are the specifics; you stuck your nose where it didn't belong in defending a member of your "clique" (who I have since apologized to and reconciled with), and then you started with your ridiculous mischaracterizations and false accusations. Then you tried to force an erroneous homemade "definition" of poetry down my throat, and I simply corrected you. I have always backed up my contentions, but I am not the originator of poetic convention; I am merely the messenger. In my last email to you, I had to tell you that your opinion was out of your ass, and that mine was informed opinion, which it was. You've got to be willing to do the work if you wish to speak from a position of authority. I have done the work, but you did not respect that. There is a point at which disagreement becomes a gratuitous attack upon one's credibility, and this is exactly what you did. In brief, the "Nazi" here is not me, it is you, for trying to stifle my informed opinion and to try to get me to "make nice" for the sake of your stupid, childish egos. If you can't take criticism, you shouldn't post publicly. You have no right to force me to "like" shitty poetry, and your intellectually dishonest approach; "...you have your opinion, and I have mine". Bullshit! I am right and you are wrong! Do you see how easily disputes can be settled-and they can only be settled by the following principle: It is not what you say, it is what you can prove. On that basis, I can claim the authority to "settle" disputes with regard to poetry. However, there is something much deeper here; I read your remarks and notice that you use $4.99 words, without the slightest idea of their meaning or usage! That gives me a hint as to why you hate me so much; I am what you wish to be!!! You only pretend to be smart, but you (perceive) that I really am smart! You are greener with jealousy than the Incredible Hulk! I do remember that (when you were pretending to admire my "knowledge, that you submitted a poem about your son. You tried to write lyric, with rhyme, and it just did not come out well. It was simply not very well done, because when you get into the area of rhyme and meter, you are running smack into the middle of poetic convention; I tried to get you to revise the piece, but I know that it infuriated you when I made all of those corrections. The piece had major problems, and it is not a good idea to choose such a personal issue to rhyme when you have little to no experience in metric poetry. Your son deserves better than that, it was just not well done. So I have proffered a few possible reasons why you would hate me and continue to perpetuate the "nazi" nonsense, but that is your problem. All I need ask is; can you prove it? Anyway, I tried to apologize to "suzie" in private internal emails. Her response to me is documented and memorialized in the youtube video :Cell Phone Sonata". I have always tried to make peace and have always tried to reconcile in every case, but have never been given credit for it. This is not fair. You guys attack me after I'm gone. That is not fair! There is no fairness in your position therefore there is no truth as well. However, I'm a majority of one! All of you against "lil' ol'" me? You guys are outnumbered! You guys think that your "goon squad" bothers me? No! You guys are on the big ship; but I am in the "U-boat", with the depth chargers and torpedoes! In other words, I have the power, because I can prove my contentions. This should give you a little hint of where I might be going with this! This is why I did the youtube videos; to see if I would be suppressed on youtube the same way that I was suppressed on OP. Obviously not! Also, I wanted to see if anyone would dare go across the "city limits" of OP. It is hilarious! Anyway, this is war, and I will win it. Please don't write me back, you have nothing to offer me. PS. I DARE YOU TO POST THIS!

RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

RE: RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

Quote:

Originally Posted by cousinsoren

HATS OFF TO DAH! APPLAUSE! THE MAN HAS DEEP FEELINGS. THE MAN ALSO HAS WORDS TO EXPRESS HOW HE FEELS

Originally Posted by dahlusion

Dear friends,

Since the creators, the gods of OP, are not showing their faces (like all gods don’t) or even giving us any kind of commandments in writing either on stone tablets or on this digital screen, we can assume that (like all gods) they simply don’t exist or have died.

The rumor is that OP will be closing its eyelids forever sometime in April 2011 and this virtual poetry altar with its literary articulation, with its great big digital mouth, with its harmonious vocal chords and human poems will fade into cyber space alone, cold and dead.

I refuse to be sad because I am not a newborn to reality, time or death, and as Siddhartha was known for saying: All Things Must Pass. And so too must Original Poetry. My joy comes from my faith in myself and in my personal relationship with the natural elements of the universe, and not from a virtual-socializing WEB Site.

I have been a member since its conception in the Fall of 2008, joining this Site because it offered more that just posting poems; the competition drew me in along with the idea of possibly being published in an Anthology: Since being here I have won three Anthology prizes and have been picked-up by a small press publisher who has been on this Site for over a year now.

I have both taught people and learned from people on this Site and have derived great pleasure in the friends and lovers that I now have and will carry-on with after the demise of OP. People from all over the world have been buying my poetry book, In Forbidden Language, and with out OP this would not have been possible in such a short time.

My memories are many, my friends are many, and I have composed some of my best poetry here because of their influence on my thoughts, feelings and emotions, and I am forever grateful to all of my friends, lovers and even those of you who have sent me disturbing hate mail for my disbelief in God, religion or any other synthetic dogma that wants to control the free-will of humanity.

Even though OP may be leaving it will always remain in the memories of those who shared the joy of being here, and long after the screen is empty it will continue to be a part of our happiness especially for those of us who knew how to enjoy it both in giving to it and receiving from it.

I gave and received to this virtual literary community and because of this I AM a happy man.

Peace and Light,
dah
P.S. I will stay until the end, ‘til the screen goes blank.


Applause! Applause! My Friend, Dah, You are speaking here most eruditely.
gracefully, gratefully and graciously for all bona fide OP Members. I see you in a new dimension, I hadn'r seen before. You are a brilliant orator, and there is a lot of feeling and truth in your brilliant oratory.

[I have torn up the tribute I was writing, as a result of reading what Dah wrote.

Thank you peaceful sir!

Quote

Flag Post

RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

Damn, this has turned into one heck of a eulogy... but back on the farm:

This site, and the friends I have made here have taken me from a poetical shy 16 year old who kept what he had in a notebook to who I am now, which, although still young, is one who is bolder in his writing, unafraid to share, and hungry to explore more styles as introduced to me by my dear friends.
I mourn not the loss of those still active and their work, as we can still keep up, but the works of those like Meaganoffical ( one of my faves) and KT Irish who have left long before, and whos work will be lost to me. I guess it's back to the notebooks, I'll go buy a Moleskine and scribble down my work and my favorites list.
I hope to see you all in cyberland sometime. Facebook: Brett Isernhagen. I will be not so much sad that it is gone, but happy that it happend. If this was just a flash over a few years time, it was the flash that launched us each individualy on a trajectory to a greater craft.

Buenas Suerte, Bon Chance, and may the Force be with you.

RE: RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

Quote:

Originally Posted by BDIsernhagen

Damn, this has turned into one heck of a eulogy... but back on the farm:

This site, and the friends I have made here have taken me from a poetical shy 16 year old who kept what he had in a notebook to who I am now, which, although still young, is one who is bolder in his writing, unafraid to share, and hungry to explore more styles as introduced to me by my dear friends.
I mourn not the loss of those still active and their work, as we can still keep up, but the works of those like Meaganoffical ( one of my faves) and KT Irish who have left long before, and whos work will be lost to me. I guess it's back to the notebooks, I'll go buy a Moleskine and scribble down my work and my favorites list.
I hope to see you all in cyberland sometime. Facebook: Brett Isernhagen. I will be not so much sad that it is gone, but happy that it happend. If this was just a flash over a few years time, it was the flash that launched us each individualy on a trajectory to a greater craft.

Buenas Suerte, Bon Chance, and may the Force be with you.

RE: The Death Of Original Poetry [ Maybe there is no hope]

I have returned to Original Poetry in hopes that maybe in these last days we can depart or remain as a community. Again, I am placed into the same position that caused my departure. [Sigh]… a dear friend named Chaos once told me I do not have to prove anything and wished me luck in my journey. It is these friends and fellow poets who I wanted to give hope in these times… How much more do I have to say? I respect every poet here [and Mr. Neves] because they are older, wiser, and have contributed to my growth. Yes, I am young, but it does not mean I cannot judge. I thought if I can show that if I can put my issues to the side, maybe everyone would too. I was wrong….I am sorry to hear how many friends Dah lost because of me and I never intended for that to happen. If they would like to reconnect with him, it is not my concern right now. I do not know what would happen if Dah monitored my thoughts right now, maybe he would understand? I will say it without all this formal language… I know where my services are not needed. If anyone would like to visit my supposed “secret profile” where I conduct some form of evil scheme go ahead. I visited too, I cannot read French… Thank-you for allow me to speak.

RE: RE: The Death Of Original Poetry [ Maybe there is no hope]

RE: RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

Last edited by feldmarschal 01-26-2011 at 05:26:50 PM

RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

I did not know there were rules to poetry but my not knowing something is nothing new, so I did a litle research and here is something I found:

The Rules of Poetry
What are the rules of poetry? Bruce Deitrick Price finally settles the age-old question.
By Bruce Price

1. First rule. There are no rules. Do you believe there are? Let's talk about this. Sure, the sonnet and the limerick have rules; haiku has rules; these forms are defined by their rules. But poetry in general? At the end of the day, I'd argue that poetry has but one rule, that it not be prose, that it be one notch more distilled and exciting than prose.

2. Wrangling about rules can take you down dead-end roads. The history of the arts is littered with the corpses of creative projects that started off with some theoretical soul declaring, "A painting should be X...A novel must be C." Says who??? Sometimes these declarations and manifestos — these rules — serve to keep you focused. Probably more often they seal you off from life and the endless possibilities of life. Often the rule-making is part of a self-serving circuitous process. If you state that a poem (novel, painting, etc.) should be Z, and you then create art that has lots of Z, you can sit back and say, "I'm great! Look, my art is sooo Z."

3. I've been thinking about rules a great deal, ever since I wrote an essay titled "The Plight of Poetry" arguing that Poetry is in bad shape because academics moved aggressively into the field. The results, according to my uppity essay, was that "a torrent of boring poetry gave Poetry a bad name." But I didn't zoom in what made this development possible. Namely, the academic poets imposed a new set of rules on Poetry...and then pretended these rules were fixed and immutable. The more I look at this little trick, the more amazed I am that they could get away with it. Ultimately it's hard to see any difference between these rules and social customs. If all the people in your Club agree to wear white to tennis matches, then it's a rule, and quite a compelling rule. But I don't suppose any intelligent person imagines that this rule is anything but a trivial convention. How could anyone suppose that "rules for poetry" devised by academics have some greater foundation in the cosmos?5. Still want rules? Well, let me suggest you find your own set. Make sure these rules are ways to liberate, not inhibit, the best in you. The great sin of the McPoets, as academics have been called, is that they all got on the same boat, and crafted a similar product. There's a pretty irony in this story. The people making the rules for McPoetry were often the same people, as members of the counterculture, who told us: drop out, go crazy, get stoned, steal this book, in short, break all the rules! Remember the anarchy of it all. And yet, and yet. In Poetry's higher reaches suddenly everybody was as conformist as fifty peas in a pod; and these conformists were content with McPoems.

6. Here's a time capsule that is revealing, I still recall in vivid detail a phone conversation I had around 1985. Excited about something I had written, I told my friend (a lady intellectual, let us say) with some excitement, "I've written a poem that starts—

So long, dear dead crazy Ezra,
you’re not missing a thing..."

And she broke in, "Well, that's very nice but it's not poetry. We decided all that. In meetings at the Cedar Tavern..." I'm as amazed thinking this today as I was then hearing it. They decided?! Meanwhile, there I was, the young poet, chatting familiarly with the dead Ezra Pound! Dramatic and arresting, right? If she had said I didn't develop the idea very well...oh, any number of criticisms are acceptable. But to say it's not poetry, on the basis of two lines? Well, I think that's just nuts (and a good clue about why intellectuals and academics making rules can be so dangerous).

7. Perhaps the Moses of McPoetry was Archibald MacLeish. In his Ars Poetica, written in 1925, he said a poem should be mute and dumb. His poem, for many decades, was presented to possibly a million students (I was one of them) as holy writ; some still think it is. In my essay I called MacLeish's dictate "gloriously goofy". Mute and dumb? A poem? It's like saying a bird should not sing. If a poet feels this rule (or any rule) as a personal truth, fine. But for MacLeish to lay these strictures down as some final verdict was nonsense. A poem, he announced, "should not mean but be." And so's your Mama! But a generation of professors pretended that MacLeish had settled forever what poetry must be. And note that the professors weren't talking about form (rhyme, meter, etc.) but about the sensibility of the poem. They wanted to lock in how poetry should feel. Not surprisingly, all those poems ended up feeling much the same.

8. What happened, in American literature, was that people embracing MacLeish's Rules mainstreamed mediocrity. What got marginalized was highly original poetry, even though the great poems have usually had an offbeat, surprising, not-experienced-before quality. We don't read poetry for the same-old, same-old; but McPoety was, by common agreement, exactly that. Perhaps, to some degree, this was not a group of people with a lot of high spirits. But I tend to focus on the careerist or guild aspects. If everyone agrees that a poem is a highly confected, artificial sort of thing that few people can do....then you limit the competition. Like wearing white to tennis, some rules have the effect of keeping out the riffraff. In practice, these rules also function as a self-imposed straightjacket or gag order. Think about rich Romans agreeing that good dinner plates, proper plates, were made from lead. Later, much later, scientists figured out why so many Romans went insane. Lead poisoning.

9. Here's another perspective: A lot of the great English poetry was created by people who were supremely gifted at following rules. I'm thinking of writers such as Pope, Dryden, Shelley, Byron. We read this work and know, in an abstract way, that it's great. Simultaneously, we are vaguely bored and annoyed — all that de-de-dum, de-de-dum, lake, sake, break. These giants are not real popular today. The very skill that made them so highly esteemed — they could nail a perfect 10 on these tightly defined genres — now strikes us as too predictable, too tight. These great talents, to some degree, imprisoned themselves within their rules, and their gift for following those rules. We want more surprise before our eyes. I can't read Chaucer in the original but my sense is that he worked loosely within tight rules and somehow kept his lines feeling fresh. I believe this is the rule that trumps all other so-called rules, even for those of you who dote on rules. Be wild within the structure you inhabit. Stay steps ahead of the reader. In sum, accepting rules, if that's your inclination, is not the end of your problems, but the beginning, because you have to invent and reinvent within those rules to be a real poet.

10. I was looking at one of those American classics that most of us studied in elementary school, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. How wonderful this is — a meter that captures a horse's gallop. Longfellow was a great writer, telling a great story in a magical way, and he pulled this off. I bet most people assume it's a standard poetic form of some kind. However, when I looked at it closely and counted syllables, I realized Longfellow mixed up his lines and endlessly created variations on his metrical scheme. A lesser talent, following the same rules more tightly, might make us bonkers by the 20th line. Longfellow managed to achieve a kind of beautiful roughness that is a metaphor for this country. Another poem that is tight but loose is Whitman's Oh Captain My Captain. They taught this when I was in the fifth grade. Most people probably assume it's safe or normal, that it follows some familiar rules. I think not. You have to look without preconception to see how rough, weird and attacking it is. So, sure, there's rules if you want to embrace them, but you had better make sure you boss those rules and not the other way around.

11. I've been having a somewhat tongue-in-cheek joust with Archibald MacLeish. I've invented a new form — with very tight rules! — that I call the Archibald. You have to mimic the start of his Ars Poetica but create a poem exactly opposite of what he wanted you to do--something raw and rambunctious, something to make McPoets squirm.

TOES in a bottle
dreams in a purse
only fools make rules
for verse

© 2007 Bruce Deitrick Price

I'm sure I am unaware of all that this thread encompasses but I do know that rules for poetry limit the chances of hearing something fresh, exciting,inventive and completely cool, yet boring, to everyone. I will keep writing my baby drool and babies will love it! Meanwhile I won't step on the toes of those who write prose for the adults! You like it and I love it! Keep it movin'! Keep it movin'!

RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

This is beyond ridiculous. How is it possible that a site supposedly brought into existence to provide a venue for creative minds (I’ll tactfully sidestep the obvious aspects implicit in a vanity publishing set-up), worldwide, to exchange original ideas and perspectives, and display unique views that would otherwise remain largely unknown, descends to the level of a bunch of kids barking insults at one another in a schoolyard? How could anyone, claiming to possess at least a modicum of maturity or intelligence imagine themselves in any way defined or affected by what someone else says or thinks? Those of us that pride ourselves on our enlightenment and purity of spirit would do well ask themselves what is gained by the exercise. Those of us who have, perhaps, who have a few laps of the track left to complete before gaining viable real world experience (and I do use the idiom loosely) would do well to leave off playing someone else’s zero sum game. I’ve heard the noises about OP possibly hitting a hurdle it can’t get over. What I can’t see is how foolishness of this sort in any way helps the situation.

RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

This site is hilarious. Does anyone have a hand grenade? Pull the pin already.

RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

I'm with Chaos on this one. Let's just get over the ego and finger pointing and concentrate on what we (as poets) should be doing - expressing our hearts. I write poetry my way (not anybody else's way) because it pleases me. If other folks also appreciate it, that's fine with me, but I will not demand that they accept my style or sensibilities. Despite the fact that it pleases me I don't assume that it is better than anybody else's work nor do I look down on them.

That doesn't necessarily mean that I like everything I read on this website. I don't.

I encourage those who I feel merit it, offer constructive criticism, but follow my Grandma's advice in other cases - "If you can't say anything nice, its probably best not to say anything at all." I don't apply this rule to politics, for instance where other people's choices get crammed down my throat or I am asked to pay for their blunders. But in the area of artistic sensibilities, I think it's pretty sound advice. If you want my honest opinion, just ask me and perhaps then I'll offer it.

Other than that, can we all just get along?

Studly, more than anybody else on this website used to give me the most helpful in-depth critiques (and some of the lowest ratings) I have had. And you know what, I want it to be that way. I'd rather have one 7 or 8 rating accompanied by an honest critique than 50 "10" ratings accompanied by compliments and no critical feedback at all.

And Helios? I think the world of him. I think we (all of us) need to recognize that this kid is a genius and give him all the encouragement we can muster. I only wish that I had his understanding of poetry when I was that age!

And Chaos - you my Dog man! hehe

cookie

RE: RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

Was my time spent sharing lasting poetry? Did I truly do wrong, if it left a mark? Hehehe I know me silly! Not only did I have a chance and the place to touch the heartbeat of poetry I also got to touch a few hearts. wOOt! Time well spent! hehehe cause you know it ain't me you see when you read me.

Keep wiping your feet at the door until someones say no more!

RE: The Death Of Original Poetry RIP

Attention World of OP, let me say this very clearly and very simplistically, there is no, and I repeat no hardcore evidence that OP is closing down, now in april, or anytime in the near future. Most if not all the information regarding this is all rumors, the rumor ville is going crazy here. The facts are really simple, Papa for better or worse is gone, atl;east he is no longer the Webmaster for OP. He still has a profile here and checks it from time to time, I think he hasn't got involved in the forums becuase he doesn't like to get involved in the negativity and now he no longers holds the power to change it. So who holds the power, the owners, the next fact is we have heard nothing what so ever form the Owners in regards to why Papa left, his replacement if any, and the future of the site and our Op community. I think this is the hardest part of all this and why everyne is panicing and jumping to conclusions is because we are all in the dark, myself included. I have talked with papa but have heard nothing from the owners, like everyone else. I do know Papa said if Op was to close he and letter press would be willing to come in and take it over before that happened, so let us all just calm down just for a moment and let this all play out. I do know the site was down for maintainence the other night, this proves that someone is working behind the scenes to keep OP up and running. Also the chatrooms have not crashed, papa was working daily to keep them up and going, so somebody must be working on them to keep them going as well. The problem is without papa we nolonger have a face to OP, we lost our connection to the owners, and this makes us feel disconnected. These are the facts as I know them to be, if anyone has an hard core evidence otherwise then speak up. So far all I have heard and read is rumors, with little to no facts to support them. Rumor #1- OP is closing in april, not supported by evidence. The fact is that the domain name comes up for re-newal in April, but that doesn't mean OP will not renew it. Rumor #2- OP can be bought for 2500 dollars, totally a false rumor. If it was true there would be many of us willling to but it. I looked into this, there is a website that you can search for a domain to buy, if you search for OP it will come up this domain already taken but could be up for sale. If you click the link it brings you to a site to bid on domains, it says the starting bid is 2500 dollars. I also did this same search for yahoo.com, msn.com, buccaneers.com, and several other famous sites and they each came up with that same generic message. So fact, this was a false rumor. Rumotr number 3- Papa was fired, this really is none of of buisness one way or the other, but the fact is I talked with papa about this and he said it was false. I don't think anyone here has known Papa to be a liar so I am not about to call him one. The fact is whether we agree or disagree Papa was laid off, he is gone. Now we can petition to get him back which I have but ultimately we have no power to make this decision, it is up to the owners. Now we have to move on and hope we can build upon the past to make a better future. There are those here willing to stepup and help out if needed, several things in the background that are in the works. End result is one way or another Op will surive, we just need to fucus our attention on trying to reach the owners to find out the truth and what the real plans are for the future. Either way, this site doesn't make our community of poets, it is us the poets that make this site. And if need be we can take our community else where, we can find a new home. So lets not all scatter like bugs and lose touch of what we have all worked so hard to build, our poetic community, our extended family... Purity of the soul, journey well!!! With grace and humility ANGEL