Otto e Mezzo

hello Foster, thank you

Foster I have just finished reading Cheap Thrills and I can see why you liked my work. I liked this story very much.

Thanks, OEM - I'm glad you liked it...

Hey, thanks for posting the link. I've read several poems and I'd say there is something charming in them, yet too abstract for my taste. Alex ecuaruso@mail.ru

AlexOgorodov, I read your collection Deep Thoughts and Geometry of Mind was my favorite. Thanks for reading and for saying there is something charming in my poems.

Lost Time is very good, very good Foster.

Again, thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed them. come mai 'otto e mezzo'? sei italiano?

You're welcome. And no Foster I'm not Italian. By the way, both your stories deal with parents and a lonely child, traumatic experiences, death, lost chances, lost time, blame, guilt. I find it very interesting and I will read your other stories here, out of curiosity and not only, I want to see if it's a recurring theme of your work.

Having read your new story and Faces (of evil?) I must say that you're a very interesting writer, a person that has many thought-provoking things to say. http://www.abctales.com/node/546930 Faces (of evil?) http://www.abctales.com/node/546605 Cheap Thrills http://www.abctales.com/node/546646 Lost Time Faces (of evil?) reminded me of an essay I was reading just the other day, which had to do with Changes on this site: http://plato.stanford.edu/ For some reason I knew that your Good and Evil theory would be related to Changes. Changing is a huge subject.

Congratulations on a well-deserved cherry. poetry - it falls into one of two categories for me: 1. I can relate to it 2. I can't relate to it This has little to do with how much I like a piece, but obviously I'm more inclined to appreciate something that hits close to home, which can be something entirely different from what the author intended. But I tend to find "me" in certain poems, whether or not I'm actually there. I like your poems becasue I can relate to them - or at least I can relate to what "I think" you're trying to say. I look forward to more numbers...

Yes, congrats on the cherry. Good piece, I particularly like: "Kiss you in a renovating way" within the context of the poem. Stuck with me, that line. I'd be interested to hear about your choice of titles for your pieces. Enzo.. www.thedevilbetweenus.com

Thanks Foster. I have an aversion to using titles lately. As well as using my real name. "Now she began to speak; her first words were 'darling' or 'my darling,' followed by my Christian name, which, if we give the narrator the same name as the author of this book, would produce 'darling Marcel' or 'my darling Marcel.' "

Enzo: Thank you. I think that titles can be very restrictive - that they are connotations which determine a poem more than I wish. "Now she began to speak; her first words were 'darling' or 'my darling,' followed by my Christian name, which, if we give the narrator the same name as the author of this book, would produce 'darling Marcel' or 'my darling Marcel.' "

Strange how attitudes vary; I'm no poet myself, but for me in prose, the title is crucial in directing the piece in my own mind. I like the relationship between the title and the piece, or not - for me, it's one of the things you can play with and it'll always get noticed because it's the one thing people are guaranteed not to skim. I love the different views on things on here..! Enzo.. www.thedevilbetweenus.com

I also use the title to somewhat give a hint as to what will follow, but I'm horrible at coming up with them. At what point do you decide what a piece will be called: before its written, during, or after? but for OEM's poems, i think they are good enough to stand alone sans a title.

I agree. I wasn't criticising Otto for it at all, just observing. Must be wierd when referring to them though: "I wrote a poem called 2. and it's about..." For me, it's half and half with how titles come about. A few stories I've written (eg "And that's what an owl would do", "On why people don't say pardon me anymore, and other matters", and the novel I'm working on "Anamysztike") have been completely dictated by the title. I like it, it feels like I'm giving myself a brief, you know, write a story about THIS. On the other hand, most of the autobiographical stuff I've done ("Untitled self indulgence", "Bedtime on Via Vicenza") have had the title fall out of the writing - i.e. the exact opposite. I would say that for me, I am (mostly) really proud of my titles, more so than the actual prose in many cases. I'm working on a new thing that'll be titled after a line in a Spanish song by woman called 'Bebe' that goes, "...que los niños duermen" ("That the children might sleep" is my slightly incorrect translation). I heard the line, liked it, decided to write a story completely dictated by it. Might be rubbish. Ooooh, got a little carried away with myself there. Oh well. Enzo.. www.thedevilbetweenus.com

When there is a title and the title is weird or very weird, and you refer to the title, aren't you referring to something weird? I think poetry is quite weird, odd, mysterious, difficult to write and to understand and that's what fascinates me about poetry. Again, I have seen weird titles in poetry and in stories. Yes, you were just observing and I like your thoughts Enzo. As you said: "I would say that for me, I am (mostly) really proud of my titles, more so than the actual prose in many cases." This is one of the things I am trying to avoid. I was more proud of my titles than the actual poem in many cases too. So what are we doing exactly? Do we find great titles? And do we think that this is fine? The actual poem and the actual prose is the actual art of writing. Foster thank you again, and congratulations on the cherry too. "Now she began to speak; her first words were 'darling' or 'my darling,' followed by my Christian name, which, if we give the narrator the same name as the author of this book, would produce 'darling Marcel' or 'my darling Marcel.' "