These poems sort of remind me of a game that Liz Graham introduced to a couple of us called "Exquisite Corps" Our poems do not have the complexity or rules that the game had, but I suppose the colors and creativity is still there. Some of these don't really have any flow or logic to them, but we still called them all poems. I never understood how anything and everything can be called a poem but the flexibility of it seems kind of wild and compelling. By knocking down all rules, you potentially open up the ability to achieve anything. I guess that's some of the power that poetry has to offer. Once you start adding rules, things start to get forced into a mold which may not always maximize expression and emotion.
I wonder, how far can this idea can be applied? In art, it seems that many masterpieces are those which break the mold, twisting and modifying rules to what the painter sees fit. Would less rules and regulation offer people greater ability to accomplish what they attempt to do... at work... at school? How about in government? Does limiting structure in activities allow for not only greater creativity but also the potential for works of genius? Do you think that it is a good idea for things to be more regulated and restrictive, or is a more loose approach what the mind really craves?
Recently, there has been research published on childrens play being a key factor in the development of our ability to keep focused, prioritize, and be patient. They concluded that unstructured play in early years (kindergarden and preschool especially) are needed to develop these skills. The reasoning is that during play, there is often role playing, and children find that to keep the game interesting and fun, they must fight to maintain their imaginary role. If a child falls out of character the others respond negativley, reinforcing the need to maintain focus.
The bottom line is that some unstructured time, especially as children is needed to help our minds develop skills and ultimatley lead productive lives. Perhaps keeping a healthy dose of unstructured disorder in our lives is a necessity for the longterm as well. When should this unstructured time be? Maybe this is something we need to make time for on our own instead of suggesting that lives should be down regulated at work or other role specific areas of life. It would be interesting to see how the world would function however, if we did implement less rules on society as a whole. There is order to disorder afterall.
It is clear that to the extreme, less rules and regulations would open the risk of a lot of crap, corruption, and unfocused chaos. However, tweaking rules and restrictions rather than fully letting go of the reigns might allow for greater progress. What do you think?
