07-29-2013, 01:05 AM
(07-28-2013, 10:33 PM)ray Wrote: The saxophones have stolen from the silver tin What silver tin?A lot more clarity is needed here, I think. You have a lot of good lines, some witty, some just evocative, but you leave too much up in the air. Who is the dancing woman, why is she dancing and where? Is she aware that her father is watching her, and why is he there? Do they live together? Is she still in his care? What is the silver tin, and whose forefingers and thumbs are stretching her skin? (I'm writing my own poem here! There, care, tin, skin
and run riot on the quiet of her body. I really like the internal rhyme of "riot" and "quiet", though shouldn't "on" be "in"? "On" makes it sound like she's being beaten with saxophones
Forefingers and thumbs stretch a pliant skin Whose forefingers and thumbs?
and she sweats in the depths of her study This line makes it seem like she's alone, but L13 implies that she's dancing publicly. Unless "study" is figurative and not a literal study (room); if so, then I'd suggest replacing it with "studies".
where she’s learning lap dancing and TEFL, I googled "TEFL" and found "Teaching English as a Foreign Language", which seems like an odd thing to study alongside lap dancing, though I've assumed that she's a student who dances to support herself. Also, should a semi-colon come after "TEFL", as the next sentence clause doesn't naturally follow it?
she’ll throw a dart in a far part of the globe I think I understand this line: she picks an imaginary spot somewhere away from her and dances towards it, giving her dancing rhythm?
and chase an arrow for the precious metal What precious metal?
while her lips and her legs remain in vogue. Good line; very physically evocative in a simple way.
It’s closing time in the gardens of the west; Public gardens, private gardens? Is this a metaphor for nightfall, when people close up their houses and retreat inside?
the baton is passed on to feed a hunger. She's stopped dancing to get herself a meal?
She’s in a tipsy state and a flimsy dress, Good line; I like the syllabically symmetrical move from abstract ("tipsy state") to literal ("flimsy dress").
bent over at the wrong end of a conga. This may be just my dirty mind, but this line sounds like a sex joke.
While foreign eyes are leering at his daughter, Woah woah woah, who's this new character?
he’s in the queue for Adjustment Disorder. So this new, male persona is having trouble adapting to a new environment where his daughter is seen as a sex object?
)All my critique is, of course, JMHO. Thank you for the read
"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges." - Gene Wolfe

