Frequently Asked Questions

What's your name?: Brandon Smith

How old are you?: As of 2010, I am 25. Getting pretty old... not really considered a "teen" anymore. =P My Birthdate is Jan. 14.

What grade are you in?: Graduated, baby!

Where do you live?: Raleigh, NC, USA, Earth

What do you look like?: 5'9, 160 pounds, brown hair and eyes, Caucasian (Here's pics... PhotoBucket)

Guy or girl?: Uhhh... guy.

What are your favorite poems?: Hmmmmm... If I had to pick just ONE favorite I would say it's Scars, but I like a lot of them.

How can I contact you?:
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/idunnopoetry2

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/idunnopoetry

AIM: IDunnoPoetry

Yahoo: idunnopoetry

MSN: clyon85b att hotmail dott com

primary e-mail: idunnopoetry at gmail dott com

Can I contact you?: Well I wouldn't put my info up if I didn't want people to talk to me.Honestly, I am willing to talk to anyone who wants to take the time to talk to me. =)

What music do you like?: I like just about everything really, lol. As long as it's good I'll listen to anything. My favorite kind of music though is probably rock, and my least favorite would be country.

What bands do you like?: My absolute favorites are probably Nine Inch Nails, Ben Folds, Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Eminem. My favorite kind of music is complex, hence NiN, APC, Eminem, and Tool. They're some pretty complex artists, lyrically and musically. But I like so many bands it's not even funny. :)

What is your mission with the site?: My mission is multi-faceted. I seek firstly to entertain, and to move emotionally. I seek also to describe as best possible situations and events and their emotional counterparts. This site is also a form of therapy, not only for myself, but for all those who wish to read it and experience it with me. People should know that they are not alone, no matter how bad things appear to be. That is why I set up the messageboard, so that there could be a unique community of teen poets, and a strong support group for anyone that needs it. All people are welcome, but for some reason, we have a mainly teen audience. That's okay though, we love everybody! It's great to be able to submit your poetry and have it rated, critiqued, and commented on, and helps teen writers as well as all writers improve themselves greatly.

What is (name of poem) about?: Well most of my poems are fairly self-explanatory, but I realize some of them can be a little vague. Most of them are about past relationships, but I like to keep things somewhat vague so that they are open to interpretation and easier for people to relate to. After all, half the fun is seeing how poetry fits into your own life.

What do you write about?: Things I go through and experience mostly, as well as my feelings, observations, things I feel strongly about, life, and occasionally fiction. I also sometimes write poems from the particularly filthy viewpoints that some people I come across appear to me to possess. This is not meant to celebrate such viewpoints, but rather expose just how ugly and terrible that kind of thinking can be.

Why does most of your poetry rhyme?: Because in my opinion, it takes less skill to write stuff that doesn't rhyme. Anyone can just write down anything, but it takes a lot more work to have the poem make sense AND rhyme. I'm not putting down non-rhyming poetry or anything, I simply believe if you can write a good poem and have it rhyme well AND have it make sense then you've put a lot more effort into it. Plus, rhyming poetry is fun and sounds cooler!

How long have you been writing?: I really started experimenting with writing in late 9th/early 10th grade. As of 2010, that means I have been a poet for 10 or 11 years.

How often do you write?: Whenever I am able to. Firstly, I have to be "inspired" and second, my writing ability has to be with me. Sometimes I can write, and other times everything I put down on paper sounds terrible to me. Unfortunately I can't really control when I have my talent and when not, although it seems to be with me a lot more often when I have strong and overwhelming feelings.

Can I use your poetry to... (recite aloud to a group, use it for a school project, use as lyrics to songs, etc)?: Sure, as long as you give me credit and, if it's possible, provide a link back to this site/the web address. As long as my address is somehow with it, I will be happy. That's all I ask. If you make a song using my lyrics, I would love to be sent a CD or MP3 so I can hear it. That would definitely blow me away to hear my words in a song!

It's kinda funny though... people steal and plagiarize my work like crazy! Check out this Google search for the first line in my most popular poem ever, Scars. It's ALLLL over the internet. This is one example of one line out of the poem, and doesn't take into account all the people who have slightly modified the poem.
Google search for the term "skin is thin and unbroken"

How can I help you?: Give this webpage to all of your friends, link it from your webpage, anything you can do to spread the word about my poetry and my site, I would really appreciate. Also, join the I Dunno Poetry Message Board! I can guarantee you that if you like poetry you will love the board! =)

How can I get my poetry onto your site?: You can post it on the I Dunno Poetry Message Board. I will be adding features in the near future though to allow everyone a section of poems like mine. If you are interested in helping, send me an e-mail and let me know!

Will you write a poem for me?: Maybe if you pay me.. hehe.

If I send you some of my poems will you read them and tell me what you think?: It depends on my mood really. Oddly enough I don't actually enjoy reading poetry that much, only writing it.

I found an error on your site, what should I do?: Contact me about it. I'd appreciate the help.

Where do you get your inspiration?: I believe that all creativity is divinely inspired in order to both help and to guide us. Everything contains a lesson, some truth... creativity is God (whoever that may be to you) speaking to us through our own work, and that to me is simply amazing.

How did you make this site?: I designed the layout and art myself. I created all graphics on this site using Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop. I wrote the "code" in Notepad, and the site is written in HTML using a dash of CSS for the styling, some Javascript here and there, with PHP handling the more complex tasks with MySQL taking care of the database work.