WHAT'S IN A NAME?
"A rose is a rose is a rose."
That was Gertrude Stein's position.
"I don't want to be labelled." "Don't label me."
"Don't fence me in with names."
So many people say stuff like that -
they're for equal rights, don't want to be called feminist.
The name makes them uncomfortable.
I've long answered with:
We need words. They're a kind of shorthand.
Imagine if every rose insisted on not being labelled,
instead held out that we had to consider it as an individual.
Then I got to writing.
I don't feel like a writer, just a word person.
I sure don't feel like a poet - shades of Emily Dickinson.
Plus what I write doesn't fit, much of it, into any neat category -
song, poetry, spoken word, country, pop, rap, rock.
When there are names, the names come after the writing.
I don't write, say, poetry.
Instead, having written, I hunt for the right name,
so that people can find these things I've written.
I don't intend to write poetry, or spoken word, or country.
To me, my writings feel like word persons - whoops, word pieces.
Yes, maybe they're like people who don't want to be labelled.
Like someone who farms, but doesn't feel like a farmer.
Like someone who teaches, but doesn't feel like a teacher.
I've had a hard time with the naming -
and it's only when putting things on the web
that I was really forced to find the names
that others would use to find stuff like this.
Until then I was very content to call the stff word pieces -
pieces made of words.
But no one searches for word pieces.
What's in a name?
A name - door, window, rose, spoken word, poem, poet -
gives us a way to sort, to find, to reach others.
Elsa
June 1, 2009
copyright © Elsa Schieder, 2009, all rights reserved
Whats in a name? I've had to face that question often.
Click here for
my first struggles
to find the right name
for these word and music pieces.
Click
here for
how this all started -
this writing of word and music pieces.
Click here to go from whats in a name to
what's central to me -
word magic.
That leads right to
why poetry?
Finally, for more of this stuff,
to stay in touch through FREE updates,
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Whats In A Name? What Is In A Name??
Dont Label Me. Don’t Fence Me In.
But we need names.
Is a rose a rose by any other name?
Is poetry? Spoken word?
PRIVACY POLICY:
I will never let anyone else have
your email address.
Elsa
****
A dozen
years ago,
I began to wake up
with word pieces -
words music, spoken word, songs -
in my head.
Escape velocity.
Echo of the echo.
Tank almost empty.
Can't cross the gap.
Welcome into my world.
wondering ... whats in a name?
whats in a name?
whats in a name?