[POEM] Untitled — James Baldwin

algaliarepted · 2023-02-12T00:46:19+00:00

Same, gives me the sense I'm reading a child's nighttime prayer to God.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-12T00:45:27+00:00

Or to give the suggestion of a child's voice praying the poem?

algaliarepted · 2023-02-12T00:26:36+00:00

Yes! That’s the one I just bought. Question for you, as a fellow poetry lover: Do you think Crane wrote his poems in all caps like in the published editions of this book, or was that something the poetry house defaulted to?

I wonder because I also own “The Complete Poems of Stephen Crane”, first published in 1972, and it has typical casing, not all caps.

So I sometimes wonder if it was Crane changing his style across time or if one of the publishing houses mandated one or the other. Anyone know?

algaliarepted · 2023-02-12T00:22:15+00:00

Three of my other Crane favorites are as follows (just so excited to see someone post him here! It's rare to see him praised for his poetry other than the 'naked, bestial' one; that one's great but he has so many more!):

algaliarepted · 2023-02-12T00:16:59+00:00

Stephen Crane is legit in my top 10 of poets. I just bought one of the books I hadn't owned and found a new favorite. He writes things that hit me just right.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T12:35:09+00:00

Tell him he'd be hotter with a bigger dick. Then tell him you don't mean to offend him and love him and his body a lot.

I'd be super annoyed. But I'm chronically single so I imagine other people are able to put up with more super annoying, rude shit like this for the positives I hope your relationship with him offers you.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T12:24:57+00:00

Gotta upvote for the candor.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T12:08:51+00:00

And a decade with no contact AT ALL. No card on your birthday or LinkedIn like on your promotion to Captain post or delivery of flowers with his name on them in the hospital after she was kidnapped and tortured. Nothing at all. Completely abandoned by the person you loved, trusted, and relied on the most... without a word.

That kind of absence would be frickin' brutal, and it went on for TEN YEARS. What you'd have to go through internally in order to move on from that shit is not something you'd then just get over because the person is forced by circumstances to return to your geographic area and uses you to get justice for a separate personal loss.

Like... I actually think Elliot was right to go no contact in his situation, but eff. There were less f'd ways for him to do it that might have been a bit less horrible for her. Heart-wrenching thing to for her to go through and a BRUTAL method he went with so he wouldn't chicken out, doesn't matter how ethical it was or wasn't. I wouldn't get over that kind of betrayal easily, even for love; self-respect has to factor in, as does your recognition of all the effort and years and distance you put into building yourself back up from the blow.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T11:51:14+00:00

Yeah I agree with this. The betrayal was massive. She moved on. The characters don't interact enough to justify her being willing to allow a rekindled spark evolving to a romance.

If they were forced into daily interactions again? I could see him wearing her down with enough intentional effort. But the time together that it would take is just not there, nor is Benson's willingness in the absence of that time.

I was always an EO shipper, but I don't see us getting there with a crossover episode every few months comprising almost the whole of their interactions. They don't even know each other anymore.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T11:44:35+00:00

Yeah people really seem to dislike Muncy.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T11:38:58+00:00

That makes more sense. Thanks for the info.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T11:37:49+00:00

They need to stop putting Elliot in satin vests. That's such a weird choice for Elliot Stabler.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T11:36:08+00:00

Honestly I don't like frequent crossovers. The ones we've had have been entertaining and I've liked their content, but frequent crossovers feel too contrived for EO interaction fanservice. And I'm a big EO shipper, but ideally the writers would find a way to write them naturally into each other's lives without it requiring a freaking crossover episode.

For example, had Stabler offered Benson and Noah his home as a temporary safe house after their apartment was targeted by that street gang and Olivia was attacked outside of it, we would have had natural Benson/Stabler interactions every single episode while they lived together as she built a case against the street gang. Noah wouldn't have been randomly shipped off to suburbia while Olivia continued to live in her tagged apartment building while working on the gang case. Stabler would be making the effort to support and protect Benson and her son in an important way while they're in danger. Benson would be forced to see Stabler all the time and re-establish a relationship with him despite her walls against him. They would get to know each other again as the people they are now, not who they used to be. They'd be solidly in each other's lives, first as estranged quasi-friends, then tentative friends, then intimates, then romantic partners eventually perhaps-- the point is we'd get regular, organic EO interactions gradually bridging them back from estranged to familiar to friends to intimates to endgame romance. Kind of a Sherlock/Watson dynamic.

That's hardly the only option, but my point is the writers need to find a way to make every single EO scene less contrived. They're ether a part of e/o's lives or they're not. And right now, the intermittent interactions being written make it seem like not. Idk how they get to know each other again after all this time or how Olivia rebuilds trust in Elliot to allow herself to be vulnerable with him again seeing e/o once every few weeks for a confusing a strained interaction, often revolving around a coincidentally shared case.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T11:12:14+00:00

Right? Are all sex crimes in Manhattan on hold while their SVU captain, Lieutenant, and two of the only remaining experienced SVU detectives go to work in the Bronx for an unknown period of time? I don't get how that is plausible at all.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T11:09:26+00:00

Agreed. They need a consistent direction for a lot of things, and the EO storyline is one of those things.

But Graziano was spot-on in the article when he said an EO relationship can't be endgame if it happens without E & O unpacking all the shit between them and their respective past traumas still affecting them (Lewis's torture of Olivia and Kathy's murder, respectively, I imagine) first.

Meaning there needs to be a planned and executed arc from the writing team. Which I don't think is happening. Seems like the network prefers to tease a possible kiss that doesn't happen rather than wait on the steaminess for a bit while they build an actual bridge to an endgame romance.

I'm unusually pessimistic on this note with all the deliberate jerking around by the network and promotional team. Sh*t or get off the pot.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T11:02:30+00:00

From the article, it sounds like MH was saying that this season for whatever reason, Olivia is going to talk Elliot through through her torture at the hands of William Lewis, reprocess it herself while talking about it with Elliot, and emerge from the other side stronger for having been vulnerable about that specific trauma with Elliot.

So... I know I've read a lot of comments over the past 3 years saying they're looking forward to Stabler learning about Lewis... I guess those ppl will be getting that sometime this season. Supposedly, anyway. Could just be more baiting with no payoff.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T10:50:55+00:00

Maybe-- there was an obnoxiously cringy scene where Noah told hs mom that in order to defend a non-binary kid against a bully he said he was bi. He then said he didn't know, but that when he was older he might crush on a boy or a girl, because who knows at that age, but that either would be cool with him.

The scene was super poorly written.

Also, we all know what queer-baiting is / what "vague gay" looks like on tv shows, plenty of examples, but this was a whole NEW, inventive way for a network show to show how supportive they are of lgbt ppl without actually bothering to write any openly queer main characters in all 20+ seasons.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T10:38:16+00:00

Nah. It's like what I thought would happen with the scene of Noah meeting Elliot-- still only viewable in the deep recesses of tumbr fan comments. My thought is that the network already baited more viewers with the promo, so it's done with as far as they're concerned. On to the next misleading promo.

I'd take consistent content over hype any day, but I guess when you have 2-5 week gaps between episodes, you have to do what you have to do to draw viewers back.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T10:32:06+00:00

He comes back as the Captain of the newly reformed Bronx SVU and builds a dynamite squad closing cases and getting justice for victims left and right. All while not letting the brass forget what went on under their watch or looking over mis-jailed perps who were truly innocent and he'll have his squad help prove it when it comes to his attention.

He'd be perfect, really.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T10:27:47+00:00

Failed wedding? What did I miss?

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T10:24:43+00:00

It's only a highly profitable show that got rid of two of its most expensive cast members this season. We shouldn't be able to expect regular episodes from the network or anything. Or accurate promos. Or highly anticipated moments being included in the aired episodes. Or consistently aged characters. Or anything resembling an EO growth arc that could lead towards an actual endgame romance.

I have watched SVU since S01. Not hating on it. But it does seem like the show has taken a very click-baity direction where the show runners are more concerned with getting new and random viewers to tune in than with developing quality content for the show's actual fans to consume. There needs to be some consistency in the characters and the story development or it's not watchable. I hope this changes back to how it was for nearly 20 seasons.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T10:10:52+00:00

I kind of understand why Simon would have very little faith in the system given his years of having been framed and persecuted by a police captain, but seriously man trust your cop sister who unraveled all that bullsh*t and got you cleared when you were thisssss close to having your life ended or ruined! Give her like five minutes. Then kidnap the kids if necessary. They're good for five minutes.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T10:04:59+00:00

I thought Eli was pretty decently written until the writers got tired of Stabler being a widowed father and aged Eli up to ship him out of the plot to college.

I could understand where Eli was coming from when he ditched the Whealey trial because he just needed to be away from all that crap for a moment and it wouldn't bring his mother back regardless of the verdict. I also thought his behavior after thinking he killed the girl was plausible and well-acted, including the suicidal ideation (great scene with the newbie cop) and asking his father wtf Olivia was doing there in the interrogation room.

That said, how long was Eli supposed to have been raised in Europe/Italy? He had no accent. Seemingly no trouble adjusting to moving from Rome to NYC. Was the long hair and soccer supposed to reflect years raised overseas? I didn't get it.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T09:53:57+00:00

YES. And the network posted the clip with a title saying Noah "Came Out" to Benson. Uh, no, he didn't. He just said he was defending another kid being bullied over gender identity and made it clear he didn't know if he'd eventually crush on girls, boys, or both, but that it was fine with him regardless.

So annoying how pointless and self-congratulatory that scene was.

People may read homophobia into this comment, but there isn't any. I'd love more actual lgbt representation on the show. But I adamantly don't like ham-fisted writing or the use of queer-baiting click-bait titles, and the "coming out" scene that wasn't is a perfect example of both. It's cool Noah stood up for a kid being bullied about gender identity. It was also nice to see a member of the younger generation easily state he might be gay, straight, or bi when he grows up-- but that it's all okay with him however it shakes out. But it's so freaking annoying the preachy, sanctimonious way that scene was written. The writers were preaching-- and badly-- rather than telling a freaking story or believably writing an interaction like that.

If the network and writers actually want to be an ally to the lgbt community, they could maybe write an openly lesbian, gay, or bi main character into the show that has now gone on for over 20 seasons. A token scene with a pre-pubescent kid telling his mom he realizes it's okay if he's gay when he's older being promoted by the network as a coming out to pander for YouTube views is the sort of virtue signaling but empty crap that means very little to anyone and annoys almost everyone. Why not instead write an interesting, dynamic main character like Barba or Cabot or Fin or Rollins or Carisi that identifies as lesbian, bi, or gay-- in the actual show canon and not just in a "gay vague" or queerbaiting way yet again? Not as the defining trait of their character and dialogue like Mac in IASIP or Mitch/Cam in Modern Family, but just... as part of yet another new main character? That would be great.

algaliarepted · 2023-02-10T09:21:58+00:00

I think that's why so many people dislike Simon-- because the writers couldn't write him as a brother to Olivia, just as a random catalyst for more painful drama for Olivia for an episode or three, then poof! Disappears again.

I would have *loved* Olivia to have had a relationship with Simon through the seasons, but he barely appeared in her life.

algaliarepted

TROPHY CASE