Just Call Me Old-Fashioned

I have been on writing sites for the better part of two years now. They have been mostly poetry sites, but I've also joined a few prose sites as well. And I also spend some time at the Amazon shorts message boards swapping reviews with other contributing writers to the program.

The poetry sites are all armchair, do-it-yourselfer poets. By that I mean there are no well known, published professional poets at these sites. You won't find Maya Angelou or John Ashbery hanging out at poets.com, thepoetstree.com, worldofpoets.com or any of the numerous "workshop" sites.

On the Amazon shorts boards, you will find writers whose works have been published, though they may not be as mainstream as Stephen King or Tom Clancy. Yet they still aspire to that which anyone who creates aspires - recognition and success.

I read a lot of things, and I've noticed a lot of people writing much about demons, fairies, new age mysticism, and erotic fantasy. I find this to be, perhaps not unexpected given our cultural schizophrenia these days, but somewhat discomforting.

It's as if we've replaced "How do I love thee, let me count the ways" with the bizarre, the occultic and the downright salacious. Perhaps even more unsettling is the amount of people who encourage it. Literary value is being replaced with an odd sensationalism that is like a narcotic of words.

I am a fan of classical writing - I haven't read nearly enough of it to be well versed. But I find it satisfying on many levels. I also think a good story can be told without sex, without demons, without spirit lights and metaphysical nonsense.

Just call me old-fashioned I guess.