I have no idea if I will be blamed for this.
My mother died last August, two weeks before my 19th birthday.
Does that have anything to do with it, nothing at all,
Or does that hold everything.
I have become
I don’t want to discuss that.
I don’t write often enough anymore.
I have nothing to write about.
They would disagree.
How could a community, a You, have a response to these
personal statements.
Is it weak writing?
What is weakness?
Is it breaking up with your girlfriend
or boyfriend or lying to your parents,
who you love or is it failing at your dreams
or is it not getting
just what you expected, what you craved.
Craving, desire,
tell me it is not selfish, tell me it is survival.
I am as confused as I have ever been,
trapped in a very short spiral
that ends in
I don’t want to discuss that.
ReplyDeleteI don’t write often enough anymore.
I have nothing to write about.
They would disagree.
How could a community, a You, have a response to these
personal statements.
Is it weak writing?
What is weakness?
This is really smart. There's a certain distance that happens between taking your own mindset and translating into a polished poetic expression, and having the that expression be how the reader accesses the content of the poem. But here, acknowledging the inability to translate that mindset genuinely into a poem within the poem itself, thats great. I feel like its a really smart way to bypass that barrier between the reader and the writer that the poem can be. It makes that whole dilemma just writing the poem become as much a part of the content as your personal mindset.
In short... this is excellent.
I like the way you've used nothing. Like, when it sounds like you're cutting yourself off or skipping something, but really it's the blank space that is the thing. WHen you say:
ReplyDeleteI have become
I don't want to discuss that.
It could mean, you don't want to discuss what you have become, it could mean you have become nothing, or you don't know what you have become, OR it could mean "I don't want to discuss that" is the thing you have become. And there are obviously more things it could mean, but it offers a lot to think about.
And the last line, does the spiral end in something concealed, something unknown, or simply nothing? And if it does end in nothing, does that mean that nothingness is the final destination, or does it mean that there is no end? And what is the difference between the two?
Anyway, I find it very philosophical, and I think the simplicity of the wording allows room for the ideas.
i really appreciated what you said, james and steve, i don't know where i am going lately with my work, but what you said really helped explain it, even to me. Thank You. For taking the time to read and try to comprehend. I really appreciate it, truly.
ReplyDelete