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Critical Analysis #1
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Wordshaman
Member
since 2000-01-17
Posts 110
Illinois, USA

0 posted 2000-01-27 01:34 PM


People look out over some great
Wall
In the middle of their area--
Maybe it’s made of stone, maybe of snow,
But it’s there.
Almost tangible.

The Great Divide

She looks at me across and over
A million miles of fear.
(She thinks her emotions can’t be shared right now.)
Her eyes cloud up
When I ask her,
And I almost lose her.

The Great Divide

Maybe we’re all destined
To wither away inside
Our circles without being
Able to look up from the ground,
To straighten our backs.
Maybe our upbringing made us
This way.
That moment of clarity we’ve all
Been promised--where is that?
Every day that passes, the wall
Just seems to get higher, harder to see over.

The Great Divide

We could all be swept away
The next moment,
Like diffusing ships
Lost in a deluge.
With one sweep of an arm.

The Great Divide

Outside, there are men with microphones
Listening.
Might be nice to get away
For the summer,
But there is no escape from here.

The Great Divide

I try to talk to her on a Sunday afternoon,
But she’s so distant
(In a very calculated, callous way.)
She looks at me,
Suddenly,
Like she hates me.
And then she’s gone.
Has been for some time.

The Great Divide

I look out from my apartment window,
Out over the great divide,
On the brink of something divine,
Something set to destroy me.

Like a distant ship smoke on the horizon. . .

I rub the bare beginnings of a beard,
(Raspy, it feels sharp against my hand
Like always)
My eyes are alert, my mind really
Doesn’t get what it’s seeing,
And my belly aches (Like always, of late.)

Hey--let’s cross this damn thing
And stop worrying over when it’s
Going to
Swallow
Us
Whole.
Beautiful trap--so easy to fall into.
The path of least resistance eats us alive
And leads to nowhere.

(The Great Divide)

© Copyright 2000 Greg Butler - All Rights Reserved
poetry_kills
Senior Member
since 1999-12-04
Posts 549
new orleans
1 posted 2000-01-27 03:07 PM


wordshaman: i like this one quite a bit... particularly the lines "I look out from my apartment window,/Out over the great divide,/ On the brink of something divine"... they strike a certain chord with me... this is my favorite of the poems i've read of yours thus far... keep up the good work...

sincerely,
jerome the boy with the catholic saxophone


 A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
~Coleridge

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