Feathers
#1
Silver and gold feathers hang on the wall,
regifted to Susan, who isn't here.
Susan, whose parents are antiquate WASPs.
Susan, who believed I needed to heal.

Blue and white feathers shoot from their boa;
the one thing of hers I stole when we split.
What does it mean, when we say, '''were born as -"
She says I'm a man; I need to explore.

Red and black feathers cling to my forehead,
where they landed, stained already by blood
the validation I needed at heart.
I finally choose to be myself, blessed.

Purple and gray feathers are my favorites.
Remember who I am? I won't forget.
Peanut butter honey banana sandwiches
Reply
#2
(08-20-2022, 05:00 AM)CRNDLSM Wrote:  Silver and gold feathers hang on the wall,
regifted to Susan, who isn't here.
Susan, whose parents are antiquate WASPs.
Susan, who believed I needed to heal.

Blue and white feathers shoot from their boa;
the one thing of hers I stole when we split.
What does it mean, when we say, '''were born as -"
She says I'm a man; I need to explore.

Red and black feathers cling to my forehead,
where they landed, stained already by blood
the validation I needed at heart.
I finally choose to be myself, blessed.

Purple and gray feathers are my favorites.
Remember who I am? I won't forget.

Hi CRNDLSM,

I think this works very well, it has a nice rhythm, but rhythm breaks down momentarily at the last line of the third stanza at "myself, blessed" when I read it aloud in my head.  Don't really have any changes to suggest otherwise, the images of the feathers are vivid and your commentary kept me keen to see where you were going with the poem.  Leaves the reader with a lot of questions but I think that's what makes it interesting. 

TqB
Reply
#3
(08-20-2022, 05:00 AM)CRNDLSM Wrote:  Silver and gold feathers hang on the wall,
regifted to Susan, who isn't here.
Susan, whose parents are antiquate WASPs.              antiquated?               I like this first stanza and the repetition of Susan.
Susan, who believed I needed to heal.

Blue and white feathers shoot/ from their boa;
the one thing of hers I stole/ when we split.           consider changing the line breaks to emphasize the stronger words
What does it mean, when we say,/ '''were born as -"
She says I'm a man; I need to explore.                       consider removing

Red and black feathers cling/ to my forehead,
where they landed, stained already by blood                  a little redundant/implied
the validation I needed at heart.
I finally choose to be myself, blessed.

Purple and gray feathers are my favorites.
Remember who I am? I won't forget.
CRNDLSM,
Nice work. I like the feather theme throughout but not entirely sure what they represent.  Made some additional comments above.
Take care,
bryn
Reply
#4
This was a napm prompt a few years ago about feathers, specifically mentioning two colors.  I tried a sonnet about a guy who breaks up with his girlfriend because she doesn't support his desire to be a woman, he dresses up and goes out and gets beat up for it.  Rather than 'fix' his mind, the violence reinforces it.  

Maybe instead of needing to explore, he could need to explain?  The splay sound is for the 'split'.

Thank you both for the comments and suggestions
Peanut butter honey banana sandwiches
Reply




Users browsing this thread:
Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!