02-03-2018, 09:09 PM
(02-02-2018, 01:44 PM)yimbus Wrote: An expansive fistA lot of work needed. No one can criticise you for thinking thoughts... and that is more than half of the poetic endeavour...but you really must learn the craft. It is not just the biggest or most obscure or best sounding words that do it. It is putting the RIGHT words in to the RIGHT order that makes a poem sing. You may not like this, but could I suggest that you do two things? First, READ more poetry...second, give writing in rhyme a go. I am NOT suggesting that poetry MUST rhyme but the discipline will force you to use words that have a syllable count requirement or a tight meaning OR, perish the thought, must be chosen to rhyme as well. Oh...and ban the use of the word "its" from your vocabulary...Throughout this piece I, and it seems I am not alone, have no idea what "it" is.
Expansive? Contradiction in terms, here.
that keeps clenchedClenched does not sit with expansive
- covering a wide area in terms of space or scope; extensive.
"expansive beaches"
synonyms:
extensive, sweeping, rolling.
2.
(of a person or their manner) relaxed and genially frank and communicative."he was in an expansive mood"synonyms:communicative, forthcoming, sociable, friendly, outgoing, unreserved, uninhibited, open, affable, amiable, genial, chatty, talkative, conversational, garrulous, loquacious, voluble, effusive, demonstrative, extrovert, extroverted;
so tightly 'round the womb. Not a sentence...like this.
Suffocatingly freeWhat does this mean? What could it possibly mean? How can "free" be considered "suffocating" in any conceivable sense? Do not try to explain it. change it.
yet provocativeWhat is provocative? You do not say. What is the "its" referring to on the next line? How is a "fist"...if that is what you are referring to, in any way tragic? You are thinking thoughts...good...but there is an intermittent gap between you head and your pen.
in all its tragic ways. You really MUST try to use words that at the very least make sense. It is not enough to just use words that are long or sound profound.
Glimpsing through the creases
that interlace its grip,
between its glossy knuckles,
sight fails to see
as far as thee
who fled its yielding vice.This whole stanza has so much wrong with it that I barely know where to start. How on earth do you glimpse through a crease? "between" creases, only maybe...just maybe....and it would help with "interlacing". I feel you are trying to say something but you are getting lost in some wordy alphabet soup that is more gruel than goodness. What on earth is the archaic, oldee English "thee" all about? This usage is, frankly, one of the known novice traits (see Leanne's guidance notes)...but this is in Intensive crit...so what is it doing here? You are taking forced rhyme to a whole new level (see Leanne's guidance notes)...and for what? Opportunism?? How long have you harboured the desire to rhyme see with thee?
I try, but I cannot make "interlacing" work...it is the WRONG word. It is only there because you like it and I do not. You "glimpse" through "creases" yet "fail to see" between knuckles? This is the wrong way round. Neither you, nor I, can see through creases...but we can both see BETWEEN knuckles? Am I making sense?...One of us has to for the sake of this poem. Clenched so tightly....yet yielding vice(????)...Wha? Whi??? Have you read this through? Vice as in a bench vice...or do you mean "grip"? Oh, yes, I meant grip...aw..sod it...I have already used "gripping" earlier...You are making your own problems...read this out loud to someone other than you mother who will say "It's lovely, dear". There is little worse than critical analysis of someone else's thoughts but you posted this here and we are duty bound to try to help...so seriously and first of all...read it to yourself OUT LOUD. This does not always work as isinglass in wine but you may be able to auto-suggest some clarification of your own. That is by far the best help you will get.
Dream of things
but fail your plea
for the endless eschewal
from its gruesome toil.Of, but, for, from, its....this stanza is gobbledygook. You have severe verbal diarrhea....but even I , when similarly afflicted, could better choose a word than "things". What or whose gruesome toil? "...eschewal FROM..." You obviously know what "eschewal" means...good. Contextually, then you should say "...eschewal OF.." See, I am trying to be helpful.
Many perish inside its walls
'fore they traverse the webbingWhy? Why "'fore"? Are we suddenly in Camelot? What is wrong with "before"? Ah..I get it...you think it is "poetic". Pathetic. Just using the right word seems an anathema to you....or as you might say...an anaconda.
that crosses between outside and in,
overlapping with the heart. Look, I know what this is about but if someone had written it out in Navajo it would be clearer. Why are you deliberately making the piece unclear? This metaphorical "castle" filled with amniotic fluid seems to have not a moat and drawbridge...but a web across the exit. As a metaphor you start well, but then end up in a kind of obscure obstetric universe. We know it is a womb..you told us so already...so get off the puzzle pills and get right on down to the meaningful stuff. Metaphors are good...but they are used to clarify by analogy...not mystify by musing. Overlapping with the heart?...Sheeesh.
Yet if one were to liveWhat's with the "yet"? "Yet" is a contra...I thought this YET I did that...I fell, YET maintained my dignity. What are you contra-ing (and if that ain't a word, it should be) here? Let's look at this. Sensibly, now. You set up an unconditional statement..."Many perish inside its (OK , womb, yes..got it. ) walls" and then without one jot of divergence into controversy (the stanza maintains the high level of gobbledygook but adds, thereby, nothing to the opening line) you contra with "...Yet if one were to live (OK so far, but here comes nothing) transparent to the evil inspired by the blah blah blah...." You lose the very point of your contra in a whole blitz of bizarre and superfluous fluff that simply induces forgetfulness in the reader as he tries to decipher what the hell it all means...and while we are here you say "one" in the first line but "they" later on. I only mention this because I am so happy to be able to pick up on something so obviously wrong that you will not wriggle out of it![]()
transparent to the evil
inspired by necessary fate,
maybe they shall see
how beautiful it is
in this receding space.
Best,
tectak

