Taught:Learned

Taught:Learned is a series where I introduce an influence, and then break it down what they taught me and what I learned from their lesson.

a bit ago I read High Tech Poetry by Mark Gonzales. afterward I've been obsessed with taking dialogue out of context, with sounding as natural as possible, and have become more aware of how uncomfortable I am with me. Mark Gonzales approaches poetry as himself, his own way, and pulls it off gracefully. I try too hard. He makes it sound effortless.

-what Mark Gonzales taught me through High Tech Poetry:

---be yourself and there's grace in every form of expression. even in hatespeech. even in nonsense. even in casual conversation. gracefulness is not mutually exclusive to the graceful.
---you don't need to expose anything to the reader as long as you DO. as long as you place them into a dynamic moment, it doesn't matter if that moment happens to be confusing, as long as it moves them.
---break every thought down to its most SIMPLE form

-what I've learned so far

---always listen: to everything. try to see language in totality: don't be exclusive. you'll miss out. you won't get it.
---I don't get it. I DON'T GET IT. I don't get it.
---make your own little world the whole world. be inclusive.
---try to be funny.
---laugh.
---don't try to connect everything all the time.
---don't over think it.
---JUST GO FOR IT.