tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829168697372726752.post5306592497438542214..comments2024-02-10T03:45:25.354-05:00Comments on Blogalicious: No Regrets?Diane Lockwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07614479152159652577noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829168697372726752.post-40434317323039405312008-05-18T16:53:00.000-04:002008-05-18T16:53:00.000-04:00Of course it all depends how 'bad' the things you ...Of course it all depends how 'bad' the things you have done (and might regret) really are...Then there's the things you didn't do!Rachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829168697372726752.post-44202523077603066052008-05-17T14:24:00.000-04:002008-05-17T14:24:00.000-04:00Hi Lisa and Elizabeth--I think you are both right ...Hi Lisa and Elizabeth--I think you are both right on--regret is something we can learn from. And if we have no regrets??? I've been thinking more about this topic this week and appreciating Jane Kenyon's "Happiness" and Wendell Berry's "The Peace of Wild Things," both poems that acknowledge the darkness but find a kind of peace. <BR/>Or should I put that the other way around? <BR/><BR/>Lisa--the Erika Dreifus you mention on your blog was once my student! and a very excellent one too. I hope, since you're in Essex County that you can come to the festival I'm running on June 1.Diane Lockwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07614479152159652577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829168697372726752.post-52136271434439431912008-05-17T14:06:00.000-04:002008-05-17T14:06:00.000-04:00I like the Regret List prompt. Making the list ha...I like the Regret List prompt. Making the list has given me ideas for several future essays, and I suspect most of them won't be about the darkness of regret, but rather where the recognition of that regret leads. How understanding what we think of as a regret changes the way we look at other events and emotions, changes our actions and words.<BR/><BR/>Good blog - glad to discover a blogger I like who is literally in my backyard, Essex County, NJ!Lisa Romeohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01522310766694189857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829168697372726752.post-65503783643769665902008-05-15T13:32:00.000-04:002008-05-15T13:32:00.000-04:00Regret is a tricky feeling,if it is a feeling or m...Regret is a tricky feeling,if it is a feeling or maybe itis a state of mind. Too much regret can disable a person but feeling sad for a moment about something that might have been is not always a bad thing.I know for myself it is a clarifying state because I eventually decide I have always been where I was suppose to. And what was a regret becomes a possibility of rewritng my life story. I do know what it is like to feel totally absorbed in regret. It is pretty dark. I think that is why like I like Rachel have taken on this type of view.<BR/> Thanks for linking me Diane. I may challenge myself to write a poem about regret. I wonder if I can do it without feeling regret!Elizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17285973503021903248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829168697372726752.post-26473272579818475422008-05-13T01:15:00.000-04:002008-05-13T01:15:00.000-04:00Dear Diane, Forsythia I don't mind, as long as the...Dear Diane, <BR/>Forsythia I don't mind, as long as there's a little of the other there in the poem as well - a little mud puddle, oil spill, etc. I know exactly what you mean. It still feels mean to say "I don't like her work" - she's not a terrible person or poet - but I think her work encourages people to believe that poetry should make people "feel good." We're not Hallmark, people! A poet is not a jukebox, etc. <BR/>Thanks for bringing up the topic - and I loved the regret poem you posted.Jeanninehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16419593830749483323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829168697372726752.post-34083807630936594262008-05-12T08:46:00.000-04:002008-05-12T08:46:00.000-04:00Yes, I'm not saying it always works 100% for me ei...Yes, I'm not saying it always works 100% for me either! I find it helps me be a better parent though...I had a depressive parent and that was not good so I try my best to not relive all that. I said I try!<BR/><BR/>For writing I find both sides (ups and downs) are both equally important. Life is really fantastic and really rubbish...hard to work that out sometimes but true, I think.Rachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829168697372726752.post-22126674813713894672008-05-11T16:31:00.000-04:002008-05-11T16:31:00.000-04:00Jeannine--I like much of Oliver's work, but I find...Jeannine--I like much of Oliver's work, but I find that when I read a lot of it, I start to feel like the poet is attempting to cheerlead me into happiness. I can't get real excited about some sprigs of forsythia when the people in my life are in pain.<BR/><BR/>Rachel--I love your philosophy and I've tried to practice it, but there are times when it just doesn't work, when those dark forces enter and keep me up all night. I've accepted that I can't control the lives of people I care about, but I haven't yet been able to make myself keep them out of my thoughts. Sometimes I just can't help dwelling.Diane Lockwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07614479152159652577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829168697372726752.post-41577904678305206792008-05-11T16:15:00.000-04:002008-05-11T16:15:00.000-04:00I think some people decide not to have regrets...I...I think some people decide not to have regrets...I know I have done that to an extent. I know there are things I could regret (loads of them) but I have decided that that is not how I am going to look at them or feel about them. It was not a quick decision...more like one that took years and for me it's a question of survival, a question of not endlessly dwelling on 'what ifs'.I don't say I never made mistakes or missed opportunities - I just acknowledge them...they happened, that's it. I can't speak for the poet in the post (I know her name but not a lot of her work) but I know for me it's not dishonesty...it's just choosing how to interpret my own life in a way that makes me able to get up in the morning (at least some days).Rachel Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11803852725693518924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-829168697372726752.post-39305910791281216662008-05-11T15:35:00.000-04:002008-05-11T15:35:00.000-04:00You've touched on the reason I do not like Mary Ol...You've touched on the reason I do not like Mary Oliver's work - an unrealistic, feel-good sheen over so, so much of it. Which strikes me as essentially dishonest to readers. And I'm for honesty in poetry, it's what keeps the soul of poetry alive.Jeanninehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16419593830749483323noreply@blogger.com