To The Masses (edit based on Tom's corrections and some of his suggestions )
#12
(06-02-2013, 07:23 AM)serge gurkski Wrote:  A contribution to the Harlem Renaissance

http://youtu.be/xTEmldzx1xE
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I pray the sweetness of hope
maybe in vain,..may be in vain
instead of dishonest love.

Do not – for the best of us all – drown in thatDo not, for the best of reasons, drown in the muddy waters of pain and distress created to suffocate you. Suggested only because waters don't break one, though one can break watersSmile
muddy waters of pain and distress
created to break you.

Don't tear down the walls
that hold you, too.the "too" is wrong.Unless you mean "you too"; that is "as well as me". Otherwise it refers to "not breaking walls" as well as "not drowning". If the latter, then "Nor tear down the walls that hold you". Needs looking at.
But if you must,
please, do not waste away
what you don't have yet. Again, this is clumsy in execution and could be simplified to "...do not waste what you do not yet have"

Between despair and delight
I tumble around and the days
steal themselves away.Echo of a cliche in "stealing away" but it is probably a quacking duck.
The lovers come and go,
leaving me lonely and
politics is not soothing me either,Would be better avoiding the plurality of "politic s" followed by the singular "is", by "Politics do not soothe me, either.
but still I talk America, To isolate the last line and make it pensive, a semicolon here might help
I talk to a beautiful nation.

You are not beautiful by yourself of yourself. "by yourself" means seul.
but by that basic ideaA "that" too many. Omit it in favour of "the"
that gave birth to you. A nice thought
Just dare to read Jefferson,
to see what could have You cannot say "could" but you can say "may". It is a nuance and a nuisance in one
already become of you - insteadNot sure about dash instead. Not sure about dash. Not sure about instead. A dash usually indicates that a little extra information or an aside is coming. Instead, we get "instead". Instead of what?
Hi serge,
I'm getting to like this more but still feel that there are areas of uncertainty of touch. There is an odd lack of deftness which is slightly disconcerting...like a goat walking on a high ridge. You know it will be OK because anthropically it would not be there if it had failed before...yet still I stumble with the goat:

I pray the sweetness of hope
maybe in vain,
instead of dishonest love.

Why would you pray for vain hope?
Why is hope sweet, and if you call it thus, why would you wish for none of it?
Do you mean the "sweetness" is in vain, or the hope is in vain?
Why would you prefer the failure of hope to "dishonest love", surely an oxymoron...and I note that you do not write "a dishonest love".

The answers to these, and other questions will, no doubt, be forthcoming.Smile
Best,
tectak
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Messages In This Thread
RE: To The Masses - by tectak - 06-08-2013, 03:15 AM
RE: To The Masses - by serge gurkski - 06-08-2013, 06:44 AM
RE: To The Masses (cleaned up) - by serge gurkski - 06-11-2013, 05:44 PM
RE: To The Masses (cleaned up) - by tectak - 06-11-2013, 07:02 PM
RE: To The Masses (cleaned up) - by serge gurkski - 06-11-2013, 08:48 PM



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