Pixel-stained Technopeasant Wretch

[pipistrellafelix]

Several links I just ran across, regarding the issue of posting one's artistic works online. Pixel-stained Technopeasant Wretchery Day comes from this post, which asks people to post one artistic work online, publicly and free (keep reading for the reason). The post also contains a link to the rationale behind this: SFWA's community & this post, a "rant" from Howard V. Hendrix, SWFA's current VP.
It's a fascinating piece, really--I'd say anyone involved in postable artistic works (words, photography, drawings, videos, anything) should read it. As one of the commentors said, "The Internet is today's public library," & while I adore the printed word like few things else, he has a point--the Internet is where a lot of new writers find a community & get a place in the world.

Hendrix has other ideas. Just a taste: "I think the ongoing and increasing sublimation of the private space of consciousness into public netspace is profoundly pernicious. ....
I'm also opposed to the increasing presence in our organization of webscabs, who post their creations on the net for free. A scab is someone who works for less than union wages or on non-union terms; more broadly, a scab is someone who feathers his own nest and advances his own career by undercutting the efforts of his fellow workers to gain better pay and working conditions for all. Webscabs claim they're just posting their books for free in an attempt to market and publicize them, but to my mind they're undercutting those of us who aren't giving it away for free and are trying to get publishers to pay a better wage for our hard work."

Call me crazy, but that feels a little like a slap in the face. Sure, field_of_ink, where I post all my works, is friend-only--partly for the private feeling, partly just to monitor who is reading it, partly because that is a way to keep it in my own domain legally so I could publish it later--but I have never once turned down a request to friend that journal, nor will I ever, unless I find someone purposefully maligning it in some way, which is supremely unlikely.

But I think the point of this posting--friends-only or not--is the sharing of it. I am not John Donne; unlike the 17th century gentleman poets, I don't have the advantage of a tight-knit coterie of like-minded writers with whom I share my work, who all live in close proximity; I can't circulate manuscripts like that. Livejournal is my version of coterie manuscript writing. It's how I share my work, ask for feedback, & read other writers' works, both by friends & strangers I've never met.

So, I will now hold my pixel-stained, technopeasant wretch head up high, & give you my latest poem. I doubt many people will see this that can't see it in FoI, but hey. It's the gesture I'm going for. So, scary & public, here you go:


i think i've been reading too much donne.
i have metaphysical conceits on the mind,
compasses and fleas and broken images
that jack somehow makes whole and living.

maybe i've been reading too much donne,
or maybe there really is a conceit,
something poetical to explain why
telephones are not the only thing connecting us.

i can imagine you where you are,
the shape and light of the room,
and despite the distance i still
remember the way you sprawl on a bed.

if i can imagine you where you are,
i can imagine the space left open,
somewhere near your collar bone and your heart,
the haven i could curl into and stay.

donne would find the perfect conceit:
whether playful or sincere, mimicking
pieces too far apart, in abeyance,
or trying to comfort with words of beaten gold.

i don't have perfect conceits of words
i can't send coherence over phone lines
but i like to think that even without
imagery, you would still understand.

Comments

[jptiger.livejournal.com]

My family is an old labor family, going back for multiple generations, from my grandparents day as organizers in the south and Chicago to my brother leading the first American Airlines flight attendant strike. Unions are heroes, scabs are scum. But if I have to choose between organized labor and freedom of speech, I'm sorry, but I'm keeping my first amendment rights.

However, from looking at the follow-up, Hendrix seems to have set off a firestorm already, mostly because of his invocation of the word 'scab'. Here's (http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/web_tech/who_gives_away_books_onlinescabs_says_prominent_scifi_writer_57030.asp)the reaction at large,and here (http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/web_tech/exclusive_hendrix_clarifies_scabrous_remarks_on_web_publishing_57032.asp)'s Hendrix's follow-up to said reaction.

[elanor-two.livejournal.com]

I am all for unions, really--in that context scabs are scum. But I think that the publishing market & the flight attendant unions are very different... I dunno. I'm still confused on the whole ebooks issue, since I'm really an old-fashioned kid & I like the printed word better than reading on a screen. So I think I take more offense to his vitriol than his content--which it seems he's willing to reconsider (the way he said it I mean, not what he said).
Thanks for the links, it's interesting...

[seachild-elf.livejournal.com]

I sort of agree that the private life is more and more put on display on the 'net. If I see what kids these days happily post on their journals, myspaces and facebooks, I feel slightly uncomfortable and thankful I never got the internet before I was 19. But that's about personal information, not work of art or writing.

I've put both paintings and writings freely accessable on the 'net. And let's be honest, they simply cannot take anyway anything of the people wanting to print and publish their own, because no one is ever going to want to print mine. I am in no way competition. I put my work up to improve and to get more feed-back which I do not have access to off the net. So yeah, it feels a bit like a slap in the face.

I've always considered books and work that gets printed to somehow having to be worth it. If you don't want to publish, don't want the hassle, or want to improve until you do, the internet's the place for you. Once you've learned what you want there, you can move up to publishing. Besides, if people really like your work, they'll be wanting it in print at some point anyway.

[elanor-two.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I too have that idea of printed works being "worth it." But it's good to remember that a lot of things that might be worth it don't get printed, for a variety of reasons, & a lot of things that are printed...well. Let's just say I've read some things that I'm suprised got into print. :)
That's what I like about the internet--that world wide ability to get feedback & share work & ideas. That's what should be celebrated & used...

[seachild-elf.livejournal.com]

Let's just say I've read some things that I'm suprised got into print. :)

I had forgotten that category of books, but I think I may have repressed them so far. :-D

[elanor-two.livejournal.com]

Ha! Half my junior high years (11-13 years of age about) were filled with terrible fantasy novels. So bad. So bad.

[seachild-elf.livejournal.com]

I would have killed to get fantasy novels. All those mandatory reading books in early highschool were so aweful. Aweful! They gave me an aversion for bad-ending books ever since.

[elanor-two.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, I had some of those too...i read the bad fantasies outside of school.