Glass Promises
#2
Hi phenomena, welcome to the site! Let me give you some feedback on your poem.

(05-08-2015, 04:47 AM)phenomena Wrote:  I'm fairly new to poetry, so I apologize if this poem is an extreme mess. I'm intent on improving as much as I can. I think I may have used excessive line breaks, but I'm not sure which ones to remove...  

We have some resources on site that talk about line breaks. Here's one I started a few years back

The Line

This is a topic that takes years to get a working knowledge of why to break a line where you do. Mostly, you have to teach yourself to be intentional in all your choices. Hopefully it helps some. I would restate line break issues here.


You are
the ghost in my head,
who whispers words I wish had gone unsaid,
You are
the singer of beautiful lies,
who creates glass promises--You have some interesting language here. I love glass promises. It gives a sense of fragility. It's a very good image.
as delicate
as gossamer,--I don't like the shift to gossamer here. It doesn't lend to the image. I think you need to stay with glass oriented images.
    glass--since you've already used glass above I don't this repetition should be here.
   /
that
   \
    broke
   /
with
   \
    a
   /
single
   \
    breath.--The structure will be hit or miss for some people. I sort of like it though. The reason the content also works for me is that you blow glass and for it to break with a breath feels sort of right.

You said
that you were selfish,
I dismissed the notion,
it was a nonexistent blemish
in my mind.
If only I had listened then,
but I had been hopeless
in my love-tinted vision,
and thought of you as divine.--All of this gets more predictable. Compare the relationship or the promises you made to fragile glass, explore that, don't go back into the predictable. Expanding on the central imagery will give you the most satisfying poem. I think this entire section falls short in this regard.

You say that I am what happiness means to you
maybe that was true,
more days than I care to count ago.
But clearly, that meaning wasn’t enough
for
you.--Again work back toward your imagery. While this is all telling me something. It's much flatter than showing me the image that represents your relationships.
I would consider re-titling this Glass Promises instead of the generic You.

Just some things to consider, your first section can be developed. I'd look to do that.

I hope some of this was helpful.

Best,

Todd
The secret of poetry is cruelty.--Jon Anderson
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Messages In This Thread
Glass Promises - by phenomena - 05-08-2015, 04:47 AM
RE: You - by Todd - 05-08-2015, 05:09 AM
RE: You - by phenomena - 05-08-2015, 05:25 AM
RE: Glass Promises - by RiverNotch - 05-09-2015, 12:32 AM
RE: Glass Promises - by phenomena - 05-09-2015, 04:47 AM
RE: Glass Promises - by Mr. Creosote - 05-13-2015, 03:30 AM
RE: Glass Promises - by mkat - 05-14-2015, 10:39 AM



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