
The trouble with young writers is that they are all in their sixties.
quote by W. Somerset Maugham

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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We all know nations that can be identified by the flight of writers from their shores. These are regimes whose fear of unmonitored writing is justified because truth is trouble. It is trouble for the warmonger, the torturer, the corporate thief, the political hack, the corrupt justice system, and for a comatose public. Unpersecuted, unjailed, unharrassed writers are trouble for the ignorant bully, the sly racist, and the predators feeding off the world’s resources. The alarm, the disquiet, writers raise is instructive because it is open and vulnerable, because if unpoliced it is threatening. Therefore the historical suppression of writers is the earliest harbinger of the steady peeling away of additional rights and liberties that will follow.
quote by Toni Morrison

Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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They're fancy talkers about themselves, writers. If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves.
quote by Lillian Hellman

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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No More Trouble (feat. Erykah Badu)
[Bob Marley]
(We don't need) No, we don't need (no more trouble) no more trouble!
(We don't need no more trouble)
Wo! Oh-oh-oh!
(We don't need) We don't need no (no more) trouble!
We don't need no trouble!
(We don't need no more trouble)
Make love and not war! 'Cause we don't need no trouble.
What we need is love (love)
To guide and protect us on. (on)
If you hope good down from above, (love)
Help the weak if you are strong now. (love)
We don't need no trouble;
What we need is love. Oh, no!
We don't need - we don't need - no more trouble!
Lord knows, we don't need no trouble!
(We don't need) We don't need trouble (no more trouble) -
no more trouble - no more trouble!
Seek happiness! (...) Oh, ...!
Come on, you all and speak of love. (...) Oh, yeah!
We don't need no trouble;
What we need is love, now. (What we need is love!)
(We don't need) Oh, we don't need no more trouble!
We don't need, no - we don't need no trouble!
We don't (need) - no, brothers and sisters ... (no more trouble!)
We don't need no trouble; we don't need no trouble!
We don't need no trouble!
What we need is love!
We don't need - we don't need no more - we don't need -
no more trouble - we don't need no more trouble!
Trouble we don't need (we don't need),
(We don't need) Lord, knows! -
we don't need no more war (no more trouble).
No more trouble - we don't need no more - more trouble! /fadeout/
song performed by by Bob Marley

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Trouble
Trouble in the city, trouble in the farm,
You got your rabbits foot, you got your good-luck charm.
But they cant help you none when theres trouble.
Trouble,
Trouble, trouble, trouble,
Nothin but trouble.
Trouble in the water, trouble in the air,
Go all the way to the other side of the world, youll find trouble there.
Revolution even aint no solution for trouble.
Trouble,
Trouble, trouble, trouble,
Nothin but trouble.
Drought and starvation, packaging of the soul,
Persecution, execution, governments out of control.
You can see the writing on the wall inviting trouble.
Trouble,
Trouble, trouble, trouble,
Nothin but trouble.
Put your ear to the train tracks, put your ear to the ground,
You ever feel like youre never alone even when theres nobody else around?
Since the beginning of the universe mans been cursed by trouble.
Trouble,
Trouble, trouble, trouble,
Nothin but trouble.
Nightclubs of the broken-hearted, stadiums of the damned,
Legislature, perverted nature, doors that are rudely slammed.
Look into infinity, all you see is trouble.
Trouble,
Trouble, trouble, trouble,
Nothin but trouble.
song performed by by Bob Dylan

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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This might be one way to start talking about differences between the early postmodern writers of the fifties and sixties and their contemporary descendants.
quote by David Foster Wallace

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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He Miss The Old Town
He miss the old town by the ocean and he misses the smell of the sea
And in his moments of nostalgia in fancy he hear and see
The silver gulls above the wide beach in small flocks they call as they fly
And the soft pipings of the sooty oystercatchers echo in the clear morning sky.
He was a young man of the sixties and young men they age and grow old
All year round he rode the big surf waves in a wet suit to keep out the cold
Till he wandered far from the ocean fell in love, married and settled down
An ageing dad with teenage daughters he lives in a big inland Town.
He is out of practice for surfing and he lives far from the ocean shore
A champion young surfer of the sixties perhaps he will surf never more
You can take the man from the ocean but the ocean does not leave the man
Though far from the roar of the surf waves he well may live out his time span.
He miss the old town by the ocean though he now might feel a stranger there
A champion young surfer of the late sixties till lust for wander it took him to elsehwere
in his imaginings he rides the big waves and on his face the ocean spray
And at heart he is a coastal person though from there he lives far away.
poem by Francis Duggan

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Multiple Choice: American Literature
please choose one only: Amy Lowell
1) played center for the Celtics in the sixties
2) conducted the Boston Symphony in a leotard, in the sixties
3) conducted the Boston Symphony, all in leotards, in the sixties
4) weighed 300 lbs. and smoked big black cigars
5) all of the above
poem by Morgan Michaels

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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On A Message From Timothy MacSweeney
A message from Timothy MacSweeney a son of Dominic Mac
The proprieter of the Star Ballroom brought the old memories back
Of the long gone nineteen sixties and seventies when i was a young man
When on thursday nights I danced in the Star ballroom 'Where love stories began'.
Dominic's advertisment in the Cork examiner for The Star Club included the caption 'Where love stories begin'
If there were a prize for advertising originality this one would surely win
In the tough game of promoting entertainment Dominic did succeed
One well known and respected and a clever man indeed.
In the Star Ballroom in the sixties and seventies Ireland's best Showbands did play
Joe Dolan, The Royal, The Capitol and Big Tom all big names on their day
The Miami, The Champions and The Dixies, Larry Cunningham and Mick Del
Of the sixties and seventies I have good memories as memory serves me well.
A nice message from Timothy macSweeney one I have yet to meet
Took me back to the sixties and seventies to Duhallow and Millstreet
To the Star Ballroom on thursday night where we danced till after one
Our young years were our best years when all is said and done.
poem by Francis Duggan

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If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves.
quote by Lillian Hellman

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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0325 Hip hippie hooray
All those 'Sixties hippies
are in their sixties now (..man) -
hope they ain't forgotten
life is just a wow (..man) ...
poem by Michael Shepherd

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Well, I actually grew up in the sixties. I feel very lucky, actually, that that was my slice of time that I was dealt. Let's remember that the real motivation in the sixties, and even in the fifties, was the Cold War.
quote by Ann Druyan

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I'm a child of the sixties, I'm a man of the sixties. During that period of time this country was coming apart at the seams. We were in Southeast Asia. Good men were dying for America and for the Constitution.
quote by Curt Flood

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Caricatures
There are writers great and writers small
And writers on the spree;
And writers short and writers tall,
And bards of low degree.
There are artists small and artist great,
With lines both bold and free –
It takes a Low to illustrate
Us bards of low degree.
poem by Henry Lawson

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Most Writers
Most writers 'twould seem have moments of self doubt
But they never go short of things to write about
And to become a top writer of one a big ask
And to succeed as a writer for many seems too daunting a task.
Most writers do not write for wealth or for fame
And despite lack of success they pen on just the same
For every one hundred thousand writers perhaps one writing millionaire
Amongst the ranks of the wealthy the writers are rare.
Few writers can hope for to scale success height
For the love of writing they only do write
Few writers get published and fewer know of success
But in their writings on paper their thoughts they express.
Most writers will never know wealth and renown
And they are not even well known in their own Hometown
They never will be known beyond their home shore
They write for the love of it and little more.
poem by Francis Duggan

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I think the special thing about Python is that it's a writers' commune. The writers are in charge. The writers decide what the material is.
Good writers borrow from other writers. Great writers steal from them outright.
quote by Aaron Sorkin

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Young, Dumb & Ugly
We're dangerous dudes, we got bad attitudes
Most of our brain cells are gone
We were born to be bad, you better not make us mad
Or we just might toilet paper your lawn
We got a reputation 'round these parts
We only leave a ten percent tip
Sometimes we don't return our shoping carts
Stay out of our way and don't you give us no lip
'cause we're young... dumb and ugly
That's what we are
We're so young... young, dumb and ugly
We wear black leather in the hottest weather
You can't imagine the smell
We got three-day stubble, our names spell trouble
T-r-u-b-e-l
Reaisin' hell, bendin' the rules just a little
We're livin' only for thrills
We squeeze our tooothpaste tubes from the middle
And wait until the last minute to pay our telephone bills
'cause we're young... dumb and ugly
You better believe it
We're young... young, dumb and ugly
I'll tell you again
We're so young... young, dumb and ugly
We're comin' to your town
Yeah, we're young... young, dumb and ugly
We're wild, reckless men, we're on a rampage again
We drive with just one hand on the wheel
Danger's in our soul, we're goin' out of control
Swimmin' right after a big heavy meal
We're there wherever trouble's starting
We're rebels without a clue
We drink milk right from the carton
And keep our library books 'till they're way overdue
'cause we're young... dumb and ugly
That's what we are
We're so young... young, dumb and ugly
You can't stop us
We're young... we're so young, dumb and ugly
Young, dumb & ugly
We're young... we're young, dumb and ugly
So ugly
Young... dumb... & ugly
song performed by by Weird Al Yankovic

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Fee
This tree has no trouble
And I have no trouble.
I have no trouble
With this trouble-free tree.
This trouble-free tree
has no trouble
With a trouble-free me.
This trouble-free tree
has no trouble. This tree
has no trouble.
And I have no trouble
With a trouble-free me.
But were I to be free
Of a trouble-free me,
This trouble-free tree
Spells trouble for me.
Were this tree to be free
Of this trouble-free tree,
There might even be
A real trouble-spree.
This is to say, “See,
Trouble exacts a fee:
A price (in fact) to see
This trouble-free tree.”
[5-23-07 Berkeley]
poem by David Floren

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Young writers find their first audience in little magazines, and experimental writers find their only audience there.
quote by Robert Morgan

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Four Main Types of Writers (personal opinion)
The Lonely Writer
Some writings tell me
This person is lonely
And is reaching out
For the touch of a friendly comment
These writers are sad, solitary,
Isolated, but good persons
And quite often very good writers
The needy juvenile writer
Some writings contain words
Or language meant to shock
And to offend.
These writers are lonely also
But in a different way.
These writers are simply saying
Like a little child
“hey! I exist! Someone better
Acknowledge me! ”
These writers can often write well
But usually don’t, can’t, or choose not to
The Spite Writer
This writer can be of either gender
But seems to be in a female majority
They’ve been spurned or rejected
Two-timed or lied to.
And they are going to vent their ire
In the most public way they can.
These writers can also be very good writers
But too often let their anger get in the way.
The Religious Writer
These writers show people passionate
And zealously devoted to singing the praises
Of the Lord and goodness and charity.
They’re probably austere, honest people
Who almost always write very well.
For the most part these writers seem
To want to spread the word and
At the same time tend to be rather singular
In the subject matter of their writings,
Rarely attempting other genres.
poem by David Whalen

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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