fallen verses

That is the idea that a blog should be sending.  I’d say that Seth Godin is right: when we have options, we will choose the best, the expert.  The Jack-of-all-trades is only useful if it’s all we’ve got.

There has been some discussion about Read Write Poem via email amongst it’s contributorial staff about possibly adding something in.  I don’t mean to say much about it as I don’t know that the final determination will be and I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes.  As a site, we have (mostly they have) put together a really fantastic resource on the art of poetry and of being a poet.  The arts of poetry and poeming (if that isn’t a word, it is now).  It may take nearly a dozen of us, but we’re an expert over there.  The challenge is to be an expert in what you can be an expert in, and not spread yourself into too many areas and becoming a generalist.

Most blogs suffer from the generalist problem (even mine).  It’s a difficult line to straddle between focus and interest.  Most of us blog about whatever we want: what’s going on in our lives, the experiences we have and think the rest of you should know about, ideas and insanities, the minutia of life.  The reason we can do this is that we are not a wikipedia article.  We are people and while our relationship may be very one-sided, this medium is still two people connecting.  People are not singular, expert entities, with only one topic.  We are like ogres, we have layers*.  People who are that focused, sure we head their way when we have a question, but we don’t hang about with them and converse.  They are useful to us and otherwise ignored.

So how do we weigh that against Seth’s comment?  Be an expert in the one area you cannot be contradicted in: the art of being you.

*I’ve only seen the first Shrek, and that is the only thing I remember from the movie.  But it’s a funny thought-ogres.