Profanity in Poetry

Just interested to know people's thoughts.

I've a lot of things I'm reluctant to share as they contain a few expletives (ok sometimes lots). I've added one or two but edited em so as not to be offensive, and also! had I retained such words they wouldn't be able to go into the category in which they belonged.

The ones I edited, do not read the same. The emotion and bite within them is lost. The passion is also lost. I'm the case of a rhyme it's ceases to be fluid at times.

I fully understand there are better word smiths out there than I, but I think sometimes you need to let fly with an expletive or two.

Imagine smashing your finger with a hammer! Would you trade.

"ouch you ba#£@£d"

For "ooh that kinda stings"

Words are there to convey things, not to be hidden. My belief is that no words should be unspoken. The F and C type words that we have used over the last few of centuries are sometimes the only ones that will fit.

If I call someone the C word you can be assured I mean it and nothing else can come close.

I guess I've just opened myself up to an onslaught but hey ho something I just wanted to share.

Oh and if you think I'm a C go ahead and say so.

Regards

Craig, Aka Aries Rising

Sometimes profanity in poetry is the only way you can express yourself fully be it hatred, love, anger or happiness.

Totally agree but then what ever topic your writing about has to go into explicit and profanity when it may not necessarily belong there.

Craig

Great topic to open up, Craig! And love your honest attitude.

My philosophy has always been (at least for me) that: profanity must have a purpose.
In a few past freewrites, when I've been angry/frustrated at someone in particular, or even just myself,
I repeated the "f" word in almost every line. It's a way to scream without doing damage to a person.

For poetry, only in the recent words have I used "damn" or even the "f" word, but usually
when it's a more emotional piece for me and I have a heaviness in my heart. I also like to read
the poem out loud to see if that curse word fits, to see if it helps or hinders the passion in my poem....
as I think passion can come in different degrees.

I get this but it gets a bit frustrating when you have to re categorise a poem just because it containing word wh@re.

I've edited a couple recently and replaced the expletives. It felt like they lost a little of their bite.

Regards

Craig

Personally, I write what the poem is speaking to me. I would rather have it go into the adult section than have to change it. It feels wrong to me to have an idea about sex or love and have to change it for others. To me what we write is not about others it's about what our creativity is saying at that given time. I would rather be real and no one read it than to have to be fake and have it be popular. Good luck

I agree that sometimes profanity is the only to get the full expression of how you REALLY out. I use to wonder about this very thing, however now I DONT because poetry is best when it comes from and place of authenticy.

Ok Im sorry but Im going to have to be a little contraversal.

I believe that there is a very good reason why poetry that has either adult or profanity content is put into an adult category. It is so that the reader can choose whether or not to read it rather than blunder blindly into it. There are no age restrictions on this site so you dont know the age of the reader or whether or not such material might upset a more sensitive mind. It certainly would be inappropriate for a younger reader to be reading either type of material. (A parent could restrict access to adult material but would assume that the poems in the other categories would be safe). Also there is the older reader of poetry. Many older readers were brought up in an era where profanities were and still remain offensive especially to women.

I'm all for free expression of a writer but where there is likelyhood that children or elderly readers or people of a sensitive nature might inadvertantly come accross it mid read then I feel that the writer does need to have some level of responsibility to ensure that the free expression doesnt offend.
Milly x