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Open Poetry #23
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Secret Whisper
Member
since 2001-01-25
Posts 298
Through the Looking Glass

0 posted 2002-10-30 01:40 AM



Ode to First Blood


Twenty-eight days
I watched for you
But you dallied
One day
Maybe Two
And my nerves became unhinged
But by 3:00am
I knew you had arrived
A ‘gut feeling’
That wrenched me into the fetal position
You squeezed me so hard
That I was sick all night
When the sun burned the tops of trees
The bright red stain had trickled
To the soft flesh of my thigh
The first sign
I was empty
I was mesmerized by
Your crimson fingers
That left prints on the blue flowers of my
Cotton panties
The first sign
That I was not broken
These ovaries ejaculate their seed right on time
And I mop it up
With bleached cotton

Four sisters
Half barren
I am the first of the fruitful –or fruit able-
Anne and Jennifer are white on their thighs
Because you don’t caress them
With your wet warmth
But Emmy found you hiding
Between her legs
For the first time this summer
Like a rose bud
Peeking out of multi-foliate leaves
She is the second fruitful
But perhaps not forever
Because you frequented the two eldest
For years
Before the doctors
Mopped you up
With shots and hormones

Three billion daughters
Wombs waiting
To embrace you
Warm, dark, enveloping
Deep within
A guest house
Until that same seed
That you ushered out
Usurps you
And you are held aloft
For months
Until after pangs
And screams
A fresh bud is wiped clean
Three billion and one
Fresh white thighs
You will know
In twelve
Thirteen years
But while her mother holds her
You are mopped up
With fertile tears
Of a daughter
To a daughter

"See, no one loves..." - Prayers for Rain

© Copyright 2002 Alice Lynn Wagner - All Rights Reserved
~K
Member
since 2002-10-19
Posts 104

1 posted 2002-10-30 02:10 AM


It seems a little confusing to me...(I generally approve of that but I felt like I was missing something essential you were trying to say!)((But it Is late)) It had a nice rhythm though & I liked most of your imagery...(albeit somewhat brutal!)

Sorry I am so brain dead!!!! I get it now...!!!! It was the sister talk that threw me!

[This message has been edited by ~K (10-30-2002 02:15 AM).]

wranx
Member Elite
since 2002-06-07
Posts 3689
Moved from a shack to a barn
2 posted 2002-10-30 04:52 AM


Nothing to criticize. It's a terrific piece.

~wranx

Professor Gloom
Member Elite
since 2000-07-23
Posts 3082
of Depression
3 posted 2002-10-30 08:01 AM


You want critique?

Without punctuation, we must use the line breaks as substitutes,
You might want to add the punctuation anyway to make a smoother presentation.

Twenty-eight days
I watched for you
But you dallied
One day
Maybe Two
And my nerves became unhinged
But by 3:00am
I knew you had arrived

If you are going to spell out numbers, spell them all out,
Consistency.
No real rhyme pattern here, might combine the fourth and fifth lines
One day, maybe two, then you have the beginnings of a pattern
if that is what you want.  The comma will give the same effect as a line break
for the readers sake.

These ovaries ejaculate their seed right on time

Like the mixed metaphor of this.
But by this point in the ‘poem’ it’s obvious that it’s more of a rant.
No meter, no rhyme pattern other than what happens in the course regular speech.

There are quite a few nice images,
But that isn’t all of what poetry is about, prose does the same thing,
The presentation of poetry adds to the impact.
Sometime the presentation is the entire poem, but mostly it’s an aid to the message.
I would suggest, closer attention to some meter, any meter,
Adding a rhyme to help tie it together, even if every third line or so,
And punctuation to polish it afterwards.

Gloom

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