This Savage Life

In future I shall sign myself FOC. Failed Old Cannibal.

A comment on knife-crime?

I like the imagery, the idea of having 'failed'.

Striking, yet abstract.

Isn't Cannibal the guy who took all those elephants across the Alps to join the circus?

I can't quite make out who you're taking a shot at here, Ewan. At first I thought it was ostentatious shows of wealth by city types, but that doesn't quite fit. Maybe a little explanation for those of us who are slow on the uptake?

I thought it was people of low self-esteem, which I suppose is all of us at one time or another. But maybe Ewan has a particular group of self-esteem-free people in mind?

Writers.

All writers? Sorry Ewan, I still find it a bit impenetrable. Do all writers ignore other people's sensibilities, and so forth? I dare say some do, but then so do some bus drivers and landscape gardeners. I wouldn't have seen it as a particular characteristic of the writing fraternity.

Absolutely loved this - and there is rite of passage in this write, so there - its about older wiser failed young cannibals, and flows a treat - youth is wasted on the young anyway, right? Right. :o)

I loved it too...and don't think it's impenetrable at all...I empathised completely and liked the wryness of it.

I think I have come across many instances where proper writers have commented on the innate self-centeredness or even selfishness of writers. You might be interested to know that one of Orwell's four motives (and the first) for writing listed in 'Why I Write' (1946) is 'Sheer egoism.'

I think you are describing a world I was never part of, Ewan, which is why I don't recognise it. I write stuff, I post it on ABC to see if anyone else likes it, and there's the beginning and end of my involvement with it. A cherry on ABC is the extent of my ambition!

I'm also an opsimath when it comes to creative writing. I'm producing my juvenilia thirty-odd years too late.

I can see that you take a different view. Here's what I think is the difference between us. You are the dedicated pedigree dog breeder who devotes his life to producing the most perfect possible specimen of his chosen breed. I'm the guy who enters the family pet in Crufts just in case the judges happen to like it.

Maybe I should be more like you and constantly strive to improve, but my needs and wants are both satisfied with much less. I devoted my youth to the cannibalism of my own profession; now I like to take things easy. You'll have no competition from me!

I'm on Stefano's side of the fence here, although perhaps a little closer to the fence. I did a creative writing course a few years ago, nothing grand, just an evening course at the local tech college. At the time I didn't produce anything I was very pleased with, and didn't write anything more until this summer. In August I spent a weekend trying to begin a novel, wrote four or five pages, and it was dire. That could have been the end of it, but on the Monday I had one last attempt, a short story this time, and came up with The Truss Trap. It was the first thing I'd ever written that I really liked. If it hadn't happened, I'd probably never have written again.

I don't lean at all towards self-consciously 'literary' writing. I don't find it comfortable to read and have absolutely no ambition to write it. (That isn't a dig at you, Ewan, I like your stuff and don't include it in that category.) On the other hand, if I could find a way to develop my natural ability, and I don't think it's too boastful to claim I have a little, I would gladly take it. Writing will never be anything more than a hobby for me, but even a hobby is far more interesting if you put some effort into it.

Anyway, God bless Ewan and all who sail in him. I enjoyed this poem even though I didn't quite get the point (same reason as Stef) first time around.

In fact, Stefano and FTSE100, your comments both indicate to me that you understood what this is about better than you think.

'I devoted my youth to the cannibalism of my own profession;'

So did I: the point of this poem (which is a little obscure) is that I feel that despite the fact I did exactly that, I am really concerned about doing the same foolish thing again. If anything the poem is meant to be a self-accusatory/deflationary apercu.

One thing it has done, that poetry is supposed to do, I believe, is provoke thought, more than anything else I've posted; so I take refuge in that small success.

Wonderful to exchange views like this. That's what ABC is for, I firmly believe.

Regards
Ewan

My God I never try to analyse why I write really. I only know that it has helped me through some tough times and it gets rid of a lot of crap that builds up inside me. I think I would die if I couldn't write whether or not it's judged good or bad by my peers. I liked the poem by the way, it took a couple of reads and I still wasn't too sure but I got there in the end and anyway half the fun is putting one's own interpretation on someone else's poem . Val x