“Don’t write so that you can be understood, write so that you can’t be misunderstood.”
President William Howard Taft
Actually, I try to do both. I write so that the message my words are attempting to convey can be easily understood. And in doing so, I hope that I won’t be misunderstood.
You see, I’m a rather ordinary writer and my writings are not very complex. I don’t have too many hidden meanings or twists and turns. So it doesn’t take a rocket surgeon or a brain scientist to get my drift. Know what I mean?
I am a logical, rational thinker and I try to write that way as well. That is one of the reasons I am not a big fan of poetry. Poetry hurts my head. I am intimidated by most poems (outside of limericks). Not only do I not understand poetry, I often misunderstand what the poet is trying to say.
My most dreaded moments in high school literature classes were when the teacher would call on me and ask, “Fandango, what do you think the poet was telling us?” My responses to such questions often turned into word salad. I would hope that, when strung together, my words would sound insightful. They never did.
Anyway, I’ve meandered way off topic and my one-liner post has gone on for way too long.
Happy Wednesday.
Written for Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt.
This, That, and the Other 
I never used to be a fan of poetry until I started writing and reading poetry. I tolerate it a little more than I used to. You are right in that it’s difficult to understand some poetry because of how it’s written. Beautiful words are cool, but if the reader scratches his/her head…
For what it’s worth, I still prefer reading a good mystery novel.
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I don’t dislike all poetry. Some poems can be clever as long as it’s not too esoteric.
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Yeah, I’m not really good at interpreting it either. I do like it better than I used to, though.
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A clever take on the prompt and I found your post insightful!
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Thanks, Shelley.
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English teachers will do that: they take something (say a poem or part of a novel) and explain the shit out of it. I remember a discussion of “The Great Gatsby” where we spent an entire day about why Jay Gatsby wore a pink suit. When asked to give my opinion, I said “Shit, I dunno. His purple one was at the cleaners?”
Taft: Great president.
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Great answer!
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Fandango, can you give me your blog URL that is not linked to any one date? When I click on my favorites button for you it always takes me to June 6 and I have to fumble around to try to find the current day’s prompt. For my other blogs I follow, I have an URL that takes me to their current website every day. Valuable minutes are saved to actually write the prompt. Thanks.. Judy
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That’s strange. Try https://fivedotoh.com/.
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If I can figure out how to do it, I might creat a page at the top of my blog for the FOWC prompts. That might make it easier. IF I can figure out how to do it, that is.
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I think that I usually get the idea that you are trying to convey. I get the jist of what you are throwing down.
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Phew! Glad to hear it. That said, I think what you’re getting is the gist. 🤔
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Thanks for correcting me and I just looked it up and found out that Jist is a common misspelling of gist.
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Common, but a misspelling nonetheless.
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So my question is simple: Do those poets MEAN to be understood? Really?
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Ha. Probably not!
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I definitely see what you mean and can relate. I always struggled with complex poetry, too. I dreaded English literature class, yet love to read otherwise. Great post and quote!
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Thanks. I love to read, as well, But I have found some bloggers whose poetry is consumable.
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But you’re a good poet yourself, Sensei.
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No, I’m not. My feeble attempts at poetry are, well, feeble.
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As someone who wrote and write poetry, you’re good.
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Poetry is so much easier to write than to attempt to understand.
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