Friends | romy theisen | English @ SUNY Geneseo

Sorry, no members were found.

Recent Blog Posts

romy theisen wrote a new post on the site The Contemporary Poem 11 years, 9 months ago

The posts about children’s poetry (c is for cup and Lemony Snicket stuff) reminded me of Shel Silverstein poetry and how its got some pretty adult content, in regards to incredibly dark humor, and I don’t know […]
romy theisen wrote a new post on the site The Contemporary Poem 11 years, 9 months ago

Both of your posts brought up slam poetry in my mind. I never really know how I feel about slam poetry since it incorporates tonal shifts in voice with actually performing and moving–and these tonal shifts are […]
romy theisen wrote a new post on the site The Contemporary Poem 11 years, 10 months ago

I always struggle with what to post here, so I try and do something fun for me (I am sorry if it’s only fun for me.) I’m really interested in social aspects of life, and how they mix with technology (aka the internet, iphones, facebook..so on.) There is a wealth of things to be said, and these things can be expressed in the sphere they exist in (I’ll show you what I am trying to say shortly.) I’m also really fond of lingo and how other people speak and describe things. I think it’s cool that lingo can place you in a specific time period as well. With all this in mind I’ve been playing around with a few ideas, one attempting to make poems out of text messages. They haven’t been coming out that great – it’s hard with a limited set of words! Although they don’t make perfect sense I think they kind of convey how it is living in this age. It’s also fun to find poetry in unexpected places! I aim for my next ones to make more sense, and maybe to try and do a series with texts, which explores this idea better. Having a few work together might clarify. I donno! I hope this inspires other people to look for poetry in strange places.

Ur a beautiful monster; I blame your teeth.

I understood josey language.

At least the past month ive bin with her everyday keeping her

Company. How long do we

wait? Theres no hug like a warm josen hug–Somehow, you made my

lip all pale. I look like a corpse. Ps

if that’s a selfie then im not doing that anymore. Shes drunk

in our hotel. I think it’s the

lambs wool tie. Watch your drink. Your most likely to see

Fennel and swiss chard other than

the carrots. I think richs dog in

buried in there tho so be

careful. Im sorry its shocking.

How long do we wait? Ur a

creature. Peppers. Cucumbers.

Beans. Fennel. Corn. All sorts of lettuce. Swiss chard. Ahhhh.
romy theisen wrote a new post on the site The Contemporary Poem 11 years, 10 months ago

Erika’s exercise (the one where she had us construct a list, and then suggested writing poetry from it) inspired me. Sometimes it’s really hard for me to just sit down and write a poem. I think that this is […]
romy theisen wrote a new post on the site The Contemporary Poem 11 years, 11 months ago

Charlie Sheen published a poetry memoir titled “A Peace of My Mind” in 1991. I think it’s interesting to read poetry written by celebrities because although most everything is made public, poetry is still very personal, and is usually created when the author is alone. I think this gives a special insight into the poet as a person. It is kind of hard to think of celebrities as fellow people because of how high the pedestal we put them on is. No one treats celebrities like normal people, and no one really gives them the respect that would be granted to any other individual. People feel perfectly comfortable tearing these people apart verbally, and bombarding them regardless of what they are doing; based off of an incredibly impersonal opinion. Sheen talks about this in his poem “I-media-etly.” It’s normal to call a celebrity crazy, although the general public doesn’t really know them; at all. Through poetry you kind of learn about how the poets mind works based on the words they choose, the way they compose these words, the ideas they convey, and the images they include. You kind of get a realer feel of their innards.

Sheen’s poetry is really dark, sexually twisted, and the tone is full of so much anger. Although I must admit, I only read what was available online, so this is referring to those poems and not his entire body of work. In “I-media-etly” it seems like Sheen talks about how soulless and fake the paparazzi is, and how they kind of run his life. “The Gavel of Truth” seems to be about Sheen’s struggle with himself. His choice in rhyming is interesting in that it gives these angry, dark, poems a playful sound. Rhyming always reminds me of childhood poems; or poems that are meant to be lighthearted. I don’t think light hearted is the theme of any of these poems though. Sheen uses a lot of abstractions and clichés. He refers to the paparazzi as ticks and eyes as lifeless in “I-media-etly,” and depicts death in a black coat with a scythe in “The Gavel of truth.” There aren’t that many creative images that aren’t disgusting or sexually twisted. Perhaps this could be fixed with structure, but Sheen really does not play around with lines at all. There are no surprises in regard to line or structure, which takes away a lot of reader interest. Sheen also has every line capitalized, but because his work isn’t particularly well written, it’s kind of hard to tell if this was a poetic choice, or if he just didn’t care that this is what happens when you type on Microsoft Word.

The titles are both kind of lame in my opinion, and don’t really add insight or interest into the poems. The ending of “I-media-etly” links back to the title which seems kind of childish and too full circle. “The Gavel of Truth” offers nothing new to the poem. Before I wrap this up, the last stanza of “I-media-etly” must be discussed. Did I just read what I thought I read? About stroking flaccid meat-ew- and cum filled eye sockets? Yes.. Yes I did. This stanza is out of place, like it was composed for shock value. I think it is meant to shame the paparazzi by saying that they follow Sheen around so much that they must want to sleep with him, but I am really not quite sure. Maybe that’s just how his mind works, and the images he forms. Only Sheen knows. I would also like to comment on how Sheen signed his poems, but I’m not sure if that’s how they appear in his book, so I won’t. How anti-climactic. I think what bothers me the most about these poems is the complete lack of tact. I guess it’s cool to be unapologetic but this was just not enjoyable to read. That’s ok though. His poetry doesn’t have to be for me. I think poetry should be for the writer, and hopefully these poems helped Sheen come to peace with his mind.

More Blogs