'emo' poetry..and other stuff :-)

i just found out that my auntie is getting married! yay for her!! but i have a terrible feeling that me and my sister might be forced to be bridesmaids. ugh. we're the only girls under 30 on that side of the family. hopefully she'll ask some of her friends :-)
there is a...weird side to it though...she's 41, and the guy she's marrying is in his early 60's. so basiclly he's old enough to be my grandpa. actually, he's only a couple of years younger than one of my grandpas! i don't really have a problem with him though, it's her life, none of mine, or anyone elses business.
they work together....and they were going out for TWO YEARS before they told anyone.
i hope he didn't get down on one knee when he proposed to her. he would never have got back up again.
anyways...moving swiflty onwards... :-)

i don't know if any of you have ever heard of a guy called Taylor Mali...?
well, he's a 'slam poet' (whatever the hell that is) and an english teacher, and he is HILARIOUS! he's actually more like a stand up comedian. i think he is one of the most interesting people i have ever met. he seemed to have a lot to say for himself.....

anyways, he came to my school to give reading and a lecture type thing for each yeargroup individually over the last week...and he had some interesting things to say about.... everything really. :-)
he was talking about poetry, and 'emo' kids (please don't cyber-bash me for that, those are HIS words, not mine!) who think they can write meaningful poems, but who actually can't write at all. but the ones who actually CAN write, don't write properly. the poems are all about themselves, and they don't really make much sense to other people.
he said that surely the poet is writting for their reader, because if they weren't, what would be the point? they may as well keep their thoughts to themselves. But most of the time, the reader can't relate to what the poet is trying to say....he told us that his poems don't feel complete until he has performed them, and figured out the audience's reaction.

opinions?

he really made me think about the whole 'emo' thing.
every other kid right now is classes themself as 'emo' or 'scene' or whatever you want to call it. where i live anyway.
just because they're 'emo' doesn't mean they can write!
wearing black, converse, studs and black nailvarnish does NOT alter their brain in any way! some people are good with words, some are not. there are plenty of 'emos' out there who are INCREDIBLE writers. just not all of them are.
why is it that 'emo' kids are so obsessed with writing poems? (i'm not trying to generalize. it's just the impression that i'm getting.)

isabelle :-)