A Love Letter to the Modern Marxist
A downloadable poem book
A love letter to the modern Marxist, to the would-be socialist, to the art student who wondered why on Earth art school was so painful (and to those who found it painless), to the would-be art school student (don’t go to art school, particularly not public art school, it’s not worth the debt and it's a scam besides), and to anyone else who finds these topics of interest.
Released under a CCBY-SA 4.0 license. Do whatever you want with these poems, including remixing them and selling the work made thereby, as long as you attribute me, GreenMoon, (with a link to this page) and release the work under a like license. Read more about the license for details about how to Attribute and ShareAlike if you are unfamiliar with Creative Commons Licenses.
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Damn, I really empathize with the art student one (as an art atudent myself, that spends multiple hours a day complaining woth thwir friends about it). Seeing people only talking to you if it's profitable for them and if you ve got the right narrative that sells, the classes just supressing any form of expression that could be different and needs to be expressed differently under the mantra oof "learn before subverting". Aaagh you really condensed it well in that poem.
Thank you! If at least one art school student relates then I definitely feel like I've achieved what I wanted to achieve. :)
"A Love Letter to the Modern Marxist" by GreenMoon. This is a collection of poems engaging in a critical way with the way some communists of the here and now may not always be willing to engage critically with the ways some movements or nations can be anti-capitalism while still perpetuating imperialism and similarly harmful aspects of Empire. It was summarized as "A love letter to the modern Marxist, to the would-be socialist, to the art student who wondered why on Earth art school was so painful (and to those who found it painless), to the would-be art school student (don’t go to art school, particularly not public art school, it’s not worth the debt and it's a scam besides), and to anyone else who finds these topics of interest." It's got an intriguing red black and white cover and does end up supplying a more critical tone than you as a reader could be expecting. [While I may not 100% agree with the exact way and format this critique was provided, it's been made clear to me this is not intended as an 'anti-' submission nor a 'pro-capitalism' submission, and I do believe pointing out that worshiping nation states may not actually be beneficial is a good point, so it is here to stay. I think that having something I may not entirely personally agree with or understand (but which is not intended or containing anything seeking to detract or promote bigotry) is a good thing if the point of what I'm trying to do with this jam is promote an array of poetry. and not just specific topics only.]
What I actually really like and praise about this submission is that GreenMoon has released it specifically under a public license that encourages other readers and writers to play with the poems, remix them, republish them, do whatever with them, so long as there is an attribution to the author. That kind of consideration of creative work not playing by a 'if you "steal" this I'll sue you' mindset is actually really cool and intriguing to me. I think if you want to remix these poems you absolutely should, and that the original writer behind them would love to see what you do with that.
"They’re not real artists if their work sells!"
I am neither pro-capitalist nor particularly pro-communist; I merely wished to convey my feelings about the glaring vulnerabilities to centralized systems (communist China and the USSR), which consequently became dehumanizing and murderous, quite the opposite of what was originally intended and quite the opposite of what no doubt attracted you to communism, and these examples have been implemented by self-described communists. The message is certainly not that anything is bad or pointless, but that there are always consequences, even to well-meaning ideas.
I'm not particularly into the worship of nation states myself, as I find communists who do that to be holding onto imperialism, nationalism, etc. I think that's a fine critique for you to make, but I think it would definitely help it come across as "I'm not pro-capitalism, but you can call yourself a 'communist' but still end up perpetuating the same issues if you aren't ready to address *all* the root problems" because I think without that information it just reads as "Oh theres a poetry jam that's anti-capitalism and made and run by a communist? Time to make a chapbook about how communism sucks and doesn't work and that capitalism is good." I trust when you say that's not what you're doing that that's not what your doing, but would appreciate if that clarification was a little clearer.
By default I release my work under creative commons licenses because I see the abuses of capitalism. :\ But if I feel moved to write a few more poems directly in that vein (criticism of capitalism) I will update the work.
I did really like and enjoy the way you released it and I think this kind of license specifically (and encouraging people to play with and remix your work) is a *great* way to encourage rethinking how we feel about 'ownership' and 'copyright'. Thank you for replying also, I won't be removing it.
And thank you for hosting the poetry jam. :)