Poemranker [Replying] Wed May 08 09:22:26 PDT 2024

Replying to a comment on:

I sleep to fight off yesterdayâs embers, I sleep to separate one dawn from the next, I sleep as a nomad that listlessly tosses one dayâs plain and settles in on another, I sleep to show the people my lovely side-my separated hair and glaring eyelids. Life remains outside, staining morning in itâs conclusionsâ¦ when I sleep to dissever from reality, to discriminate from sin that divides my head into halves. I ramify from the heavy flesh, lazy and mortal, at night.

ecargo

26-Apr-06/8:25 AM

I think this might be stronger without the repetition of "I sleep"--it breaks the flow, IMO. Also, "yesterday's embers" borders on cliche. I think the line "I sleep as a nomad [sleeps] is one of the most interesting and would make a good opener, e.g.:

I sleep as a nomad sleeps,
separating one dawn
from the next,
listlessly tossing, settling
on another day's plain.
Life remains outside,
staining morning , etc.

Of course, that's what I'd do; not necessarily what you'd do, but I do think that cutting some of the extraneous and weaker lines (e.g., the hair and the glaring eyelids) would make this stronger.

Re: dissever versus sever--it's anologous to irregardless versus regardless: No real difference in meaning, and they're all real words, but unless your intent is to jar (and I don't get jarring from the rest of this), "dissever" sort of jerks the reader from the piece. Last line (sentence) might read a little better if it were "from my heavy flesh" (interesting image of branching out from flesh). I assume the "at night" is there to signify that the branching is in the realm of dreams or otherwise sleep-induced? Also, everything seems disassociated from a central focus--what is the sin that divides you into halves? This doesn't seem to have a real hook.

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