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Depends on how and where he accosts me, too. Is it in public? In front of strangers or people I know? How well do I know this guy?
If we're on a date, in relative private, and he reads me a poem, charming. If he walks up to me when I'm having lunch with co-workers and reads me a poem, potentially less charming. Although the right guy could probably still pull it off. But you'd have to be awfully confident about it... I think the secret to making it work is to not doubt in the slightest that it will work. If you act like it's the most perfectly natural thing in the world to do, it'll come across that way.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I agree with Kat. (And, on editing, ElJay.)
If it was some-one I didn't know, or only knew slightly I would probably be slightly amused and charmed. But the second he didn't leave me alone when I made it clear I wanted him to leave I would be very much creeped out.
Edit: Hatrackwomen makes me think of superheroes. Look, it's Hatrackwomen!
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In a street, by an unknown guy, I would find it creepy. From a guy I know a little, it could be charming. EDIT : yeah, what the others said. Hatrack is great, isn't it ?
[ May 04, 2005, 12:26 PM: Message edited by: Anna ]
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It depends on the guy, the place, the time, and the poem.
It's never happened to me before, but generally, I think a poem would be cute.
If a guy I knew and liked came up to me and read me a funny little Shel Silverstien poem, just to make me laugh, I would probably be more gaga over him than if he read a love poem. I'm not terribly sappy or sentimental. I like to be entertained.
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Hum... interesting answers... i notice. Finally, poetry isn't as charming as it was in the past.
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My boyfriend writes poetry for me now and then, but he didn't start off our relationship that way. That would have seriously creeped me out.
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I think the answers would be pretty much the same in the past... if an unknown man approached a woman and started reciting poetry, she'd pretty much have no choice but to be offended. Way too brazen! The nerve! But if it was someone who was courting her reading poems in the parlor, discreetly chaperoned, delightful!
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My father first courted my mother by bringing her poetry when he came to collect his paycheck from her (she was the payroll secretary for the biology department at the university). He always typed it up then brought it in with him. She later had them bound as a collection when she worked at a publishing company.
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I agree with 'charming from a guy who is courting me' (or, in my case, my husband) but creepy from anyone else.
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Yup, KQ had it down. Most of the time, poetry will not make a girl change her mind about a guy she finds wholely undesirable. In order to change her mind, the reasons for which she finds him undesirable would have to be addressed or overshadowed by something else about him she could find desirable.
Wooing is never an automactic "in". I mean, come on--it doesn't remove her free will any more than those silly advertisements about pheremones.
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Permit me to point out, from the male perspective, that each woman is different.
Just because one woman likes poetry and appreciates either the personal effort or the artistic merit doesn't mean another woman would like it.
However, you could use that as an icebreaker, like - "Do you like poetry? No? I'm glad - I can't think of a poem as lovely as you."
Now that the women have stopped laughing, you could just ask "do you like poetry?" and go from there. Its a way of starting a relatively innocent conversation and testing the waters.
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Yes, i think such an approach is perticulary creepy too, if there is no link before. I take note
Posts: 1189 | Registered: Dec 2004
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When I worked at 7-11, there was a customer who came in and often quoted me part of a poem (his favorites were Rudyard Kipling) or told me a story he heard. I matched him poem for poem and story for story. They weren't romantic, though. Just thought-provoking.
Since I had a year since completed my bachelor's degree and was working in a convenience store, I really really really really really really really appreciated someone treating me like I was intelligent and could discuss things, rather than advising me to go to cosmetology school and get an education.
This probably isn't what you're referring to, though.
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