Marriage on the Rocks

[71degrees]

Just curious, why do you want the poem to feel uncompassionate in the end?  That's odd.  Do you want the speaker to come off as a sociopath?  Did you read Daniel's poem?  It shows how compassion can be employed genuinely.

When working at my degree, my best poet/teacher advised me that at the very least a poem should show the speaker has learned something essential about life.  If what your speaker has learned or not learned is to not have compassion for a dying person then there is no hope for mankind because poets are supposed to philosophically bring further beauty and meaning to an otherwise unkind world.

Anne

What poets "are supposed to" do to the world could make an interesting thread in Poetry Discussion, but here in a workshop please try to keep the focus on helping the OP achieve their goal. Thanks/mod

"When working at my degree, my best poet/teacher advised me..."

Well, there's my problem right there...no degree and piss poor poet / teachers I never said the poem was "uncompassionate"...you did. Again, thanks for your interest here.