View Single Post
Old 09-01-2003, 10:02 AM   #4 (permalink)
eci
Tilted
 
Location: UK
(I got linked here by your other thread, incidentally)

Yeah, that's great - there's too much poetry about that sounds juvenile because it either apes the way the poet thinks poetry should sound, or is overwrought, or is composed of cliches that act as crutches for the true sentiment.

When I write, I favour the same method that you employ here: I consciously resist the pressure to say those things that other poets do; as you say, "I should say something sterotypical /
Like there being stars in your eyes,".

What's great here is that the content of the poem matches this style: resisting the pressure of a relationship while also resisting the conventions of poetry. I particularly liked the quite cutting, almost dismissive uses of 'darling', 'baby' and so on, which at the same time are clearly sincere.

In terms of criticism, I'd perhaps suggest that the effect would be more potent were the poem slightly shorter. I also dislike the occasional abbreviation of ''cause', and in the last line, 'I got' rather than 'I've got'. That may be in the first case correct and in the second case authentic, but they make it look like they were chosen for purely metrical purposes. To me, they just stick out and palliate some of the impact of the poem.

Nonetheless, a great poem - you said in the other thread that writing is your life, and I'm pleased to find that you've chosen well
eci is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360