maelstrom / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page maelstrom.

20minutespast 03 Jul 2025 12:20

Hello friends,

Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend Irish rap group Kneecap's concert at Glastonbury Festival 2025. It was an unforgettable experience (I skipped Weezer to go :pensive:) and the sheer amount of support for Palestine was honestly incredible. Unfortunately the BBC didn't broadcast this performance live, despite releasing it in full later on, and Kneecap are being investigated by the police for the concert.

The majority of news outlets in Britain, and our own government, are demonising this concert, and clamouring for the BBC to censor the released version. I was inspired to write this poem after reading an article that described the set as a "maelstrom of hate". That couldn't be farther from the truth, and I hope to convey that in this piece.

thank you to UncannyClown and FleshMaddAvalon for the crit and kind words

FREE, FREE PALESTINE

(The image I used was taken by me and I release it under CC-BY-SA 3.0.)

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memento stulti

Last edited on 24 Jul 2025 19:29 by 20minutespast Show more

FleshMaddAvalon 03 Jul 2025 12:31

Never heard of a better band than Weezer to skip for Kneecap. I'm very glad you did—you wrote something that captures an infection point, something that might get talked about for years to come. You captured something elegant and beautiful and raw. It's a great poem.

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I watch the yonder hills
See foodwrenches toil in dust
Let their cacophonous calls
Rend our bodies to rust

UncannyClown 03 Jul 2025 14:08

seconding ava's comment (except the bit about weezer because why you gotta do my boys like that). the little expansions this has from the draft i looked at go a long way, as does the image. good stuff.

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poet

Stygian Blue 05 Jul 2025 15:40

This is pulsing humanity packed with emotions raw as the throat that screams them. This tastes red as teeth that grip tight to a hand, and sweet as sweat. This is as thrilling as victory impossible, untouchable and distant, and strived for anyway because any other option is genocide. This is hope and eyes wide as the sky opening wider. This is beautiful. Thank you.

-Styg

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What is life if not the contrast between what has been and what will become?

Poetry is always great!

(account deleted) 10 Jul 2025 00:24

The rhythm and structure of this poem was great. Great freeform poetry. Thank you for sharing!

Maxyfran73 16 Jul 2025 05:56

Such a powerful moment that you depict so vividly, so strongly. Amazing stuff.

+1~

A Machine for Sloths 20 Jul 2025 17:39

skipping Weezer goes inconceivably hard

although poems of this format are generally not my thing, there is a thrumming quality to this poem's sonorance that lends very well to the poem itself—- we feel that we are beating in tune with the heart of the crowd. it is well executed, and I am always impressed by your ability to adapt the structure of your poems to best suit the themes they explore.

thank you for sharing

Snapdragon133 24 Jul 2025 19:21

So fucking solid. I feel like I don't have anything new to say that hasn't been covered by my peers, but yeah this is just strong. Love the photo