
Poet in the Pit - neonate
http://hopkinsreview.jhu.edu/current-issue/poet-in-the-pit-slayer-heavy-metal-and-the-limits-of-poetry/
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lukev
As a guy in his 30s who still jumps into the pit a couple times a year, I feel
like this article is over-selling it.

They're fun and intense and do occasionally result in minor injury. But
(usually) they're extremely good natured, with people nearby immediately
stopping to assist anyone who looses their footing or wants to get out. They
are also typically ringed by "enforcers" who participate by standing their
ground and helping block people on the sidelines who would obviously rather
not be bodyslammed.

There's always a few douchebags who want to throw punches (the "crowd killers"
the article speaks of) but usually they get moderated out pretty quickly.
Fundamentally a pit is not about hurting people, it's about responding to the
music in a extremely kinetic way. Yes, you're slamming into other people, but
you're not trying to hurt them, you're generating a shared sense of physical
intensity to match the music. It's dancing. Really rough dancing.

If you have the kind of physical pain that the author regularly does, I don't
really know what to tell you. Don't stand in the middle front? The pit never
takes up the entire floor and if you maintain a little awareness it's easy to
stay out of. And if you look scared and are obviously trying to get out you'll
immediately be surrounded by several big friendly dudes opening a path for
you.

------
hprotagonist
_That’s the place you want to get to—where the world narrows to a single,
manic point._

If you want to find this without the descent into the Dionysian, go climbing.
The world focuses down to a single, narrow point: "find the next hold".

