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/lit/ - Literature

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14283844 No.14283844 [Reply] [Original]

Compared to most people my life has been extremely eventful. I was born to an absolutely destitute but extremely well educated family, my grandparents were bourgeois refugees of Stalinism and my father had a gambling/drinking problem that had ruined the family immediately prior to my birth despite both my parents having phds. So when I say poor I mean a family of six on 30k a year in the 90s, in Boston. Then I became a millionaire by 21 after selling a small soap company I had started at 16, I lost the entire fortune on drinking and gambling, traits I didn’t know I possessed. I’ve been raped, beaten, had a heart attack, a heroin overdose, and was homeless for about six months, I also got into a top 5 uni and dropped out during all this. I’m 28 now and unemployed, suffice to say I’ve been through a lot. My question is why is all my poetry trite and sentimental? Is life experience just a meme? Am I doomed to mediocrity even in spite of all my experience?

>> No.14283872

>>14283844
FUCK OFF WE'RE FULL

>> No.14283958

>>14283872
I’m third generation anon. Kind of overreacting no? What was I supposed to arrive on the mayflower?

>> No.14283971

>>14283844
just work a bit harder. if people can produce masterful work from sterile provincial suburban lives then you have no excuse. you clearly have the substance so just keep on refining your technique *rolls eyes*

>> No.14283975

>>14283844
What was your soap company? What did it do?

>> No.14283984

>>14283975
sold soap presumably... lolz

>> No.14283985
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14283985

>>14283844
you should write a book about your life

>> No.14283989

poeta nascitur, non fit

>> No.14283992

>>14283844
>Am I doomed to mediocrity even in spite of all my experience?
pity yourself less. it has set a limit on your capability to evoke emotion in a reader.

write more.

>> No.14284004

Imagine living through all of this and still have nothing creative to say

>> No.14284229

>>14283844
Poetry is trite by nature. But more importantly, you've had life on easy mode.

>> No.14284248

>>14283844
I get the irony in your having made a fortune by selling soap when, by all rights, you should have BEEN soap. But it's not like you've really struggled so much as gambled, or you had nothing and no one (clearly your family served as catalysts to a large extent). I only note reckless immaturity in lieu of profundity or an ascension of whatever sort. You dabbled. Forgettable.

>> No.14284265
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14284265

>>14283844
>tfw immigrant
>born in middle class family
>uneventful boring monotonous life
>no friends, no lovers, no experiences
>flunked out of shitty state uni
>do nothing but wallow and writhe all day
>tfw my poetry is extremely vivid and lucid despite my uneventful life

>> No.14284287
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14284287

>>14284265
>my poetry is extremely vivid and lucid

>> No.14284306

>>14283844
I'm almost certain this post is mostly fiction until the end, but I'll act on good faith and give some basic advice:
>Step 1: Read a lot of poetry
Go to the /lit/ sticky and get some anthologies of poetry. You need to read much more than you write, especially at the start, for your poetry to get better.
Also consider purchasing a subscription to major literary publications that release high-quality contemporary poetry.
>Step 2: Read books about analyzing poetry, at the same time as you read high-quality poetry
You'll learn the framework for understanding why the best poems are so effective.
>Step 3: Continue writing poetry, and seek feedback
If you're in a major city, there will be workshops, especially near major universities, where you can get feedback by experienced people. This is highly valuable.
>Step 4: Continue writing poetry, and trying to publish it
Keep pushing.
>Step 5 (optional): Read Nietzsche
A core idea of his philosophy is that suffering is worthwhile, and produces great art. Sounds right up your alley.

I still think most of your post is fiction, in the absence of more details and verifiable sources, but good luck anon. You have it in you.