12-06-2016, 06:45 AM
(12-06-2016, 12:39 AM)Mahjong Wrote: A Silicon Valley Color Scheme; Or a Sop to GoetheIn a spirit of serioius workshopping..
Under the cloud-wisped sky of celestial to Jordy; had to look up "Jordy," a very recent synonym for "azure," apparently
Between the thistle and foothills of sienna to coyote;
Upon the shimmering Bay of viridian to sea;
There floats a grassy islet of myrtle to moss, I get that it's small, but could it be "isle" rather than "islet?"
Brimming with a colony of pelicans--each one
Achromatic white:
Indistinct, impartial, and colorless, could do without "and" here
Just like the stars, sunlight, and dark night. could lose "Just" and "the;" "and dark night" stumbles. "full night?"
Clownish cruiser bicycles−yellow, blue, green;
M&M-top umbrellas−blue, red, yellow;
Giant swirly lollipops−green, yellow, red; you must be describing predominant color first in these three lines? Otherwise why the changing order? could that be made explicit, otherwise it looks a bit pointless and repetitive
Rainbow optics ornamenting
The sprawling archipelago of specular architecture, I'm not seeing kids, etc. reflected (specularly) in mirror-windowed buildings - "archtecture" takes the viewpoint up above ground level
Reflecting gayly the ceaseless swarm of kaleidoscopic
Kids−each one a fractal of chromatic intensity:
Singular, contrastive, and vivid,
Just like a perspective, a desire, or a fantasy. Parallelism with the end of S1 noted - need to lose some "a" here. Could the poem then end at this point?
This is to say it like I see it, or not. this line is obscure
But what am I to make of it?
Pelicans
Can't
Hide
Behind
Achromatic
White. seems trivial given the buildup - is this stanza (from "This is to say") disposable?
What this poem lacks in rhythm, it does not quite make up in descriptive density/intensity. It seems, to me, cluttered with "a" and "the" which break up developing rhythms - a few examples noted above, but generally, you might be well advised to remove nearly all of them and add back only where essential to keep the rhythm flowing. Or replace them with more descriptive adjectives, but the poem is already fully packed with those IMHO.
(Title: Goethe wrote about color, but I have trouble casting him as a critic of the scenes described, much less a three-headed dog who must be pacified.)
The structure and richness of detail here are intriguing, but could be made more fun to read. If you'll pardon the rewrite for an example,
Indistinct, impartial, colorless
as sunlight, distant stars, full night.
With those reservations, an enjoyable and well-organized read. Thanks for posting!
Non-practicing atheist

