Blue Magpie
on The Devil's Carnival by Ranger
13 Mar 2006, 11:22 PM
Generally speaking I found it well written, but Crashing down, worried me, it seems just not quite right.
This is a beautifully musical poem, with different sounds and creaks to savor almost in every verse. Kudos for 'bwong', and cheers for the plumbing in vibrato!
'adoringly' jarred, I must agree. Maybe 'companionably', 'cheerfully' or something alond those lines would be more appropriate?
Nice.
I have no problem with the way you animate - humanize - the house.
You could loose some 'and', I think. Same goes for the 'as'. To me they're like nails sticking out a bit.
Last stanza was pretty good, didn't like 'torturous' though, I reckon you could find something more effective and less overused there.
Stanza 1 was a little dry...it works, but isn't spectacular. Same for the first line of stanza 2.
Other than that it's alright.
I take it that zodiac gets very jittery when he hears anything about religion,or heaven or angels or 183 divine creatures....... or maybe he just can't stand the thought of Dovina born in heaven and nestled eternally there.
I've never eaten mango pickle, and the seasonings you mention are mostly strange to me. Chilly would be chili where I live, and mango flesh is not white, but orange, almost yellow. I remember mangos hanging from long stems on huge trees in Hawaii. We picked them with a long pole, basket on top.
Another way of saying Verse 7 is "I don't have to sacrifice who I am to be happy with you." That's nice either way.
Seems like "the love of young wishes" should be "the wishes of young love." A nice sentiment.
You should change the title to show that this is a house that someone's returning to. Some great imagery, especially the house pulling the siding tight.
Inspired!
(I've seen that one before...)
'debut to a page' is quite good, so are the last two lines (although it would probably work better if the last line was just 'mind and pen').
So...what's with this general trend of people posting and not commenting on anyone else's works?
Very smooth, the title says it all. 'Let the ocean wrap me up and rinse away all my graffiti' - excellent.
Be a little more inventive with the rhymes.
'It's hard not to get lost in them' - totally true.
Don't want to be the punctuation police, but punctuation would help this, I think--make it more clear and accessible. It's got energy and a good narrative flow to it. Could tighten a few places (" . . . she penetrates my lies/and picks out truth: I lie too much, the damage has been done; I'm losing this battle with my pen." Maybe break there, too, and start a new line or stanza with "she knows me very well." Watch your cliches ("I'm living proof") and pay some attention to breaks, etc., and this could be even better.
Clearer than some of your others. How is "a" morning dew moribund (on the point of death, but moribund also has the connotation of stagnancy, a lack of vitality, and dew, in contrast, changes to something else). Also that 'moribund' line isn't a complete thought, it just flops around limply.
I think I see what you're saying here, but it seems a rather wordy way to say that age doesn't matter, and, yet, it does.
"Love bound to lust is cheap
and dies with our youth, stealing innocence. I never wanted this"......... is what i liked about this.
I don't know, I think 'the love of young wishes' works just as well. This is nice, you are very good at writing brief, nostalgic poems! I'm not sure about 'field of green and was', or 'perfect shade of once'...something a little more logical might fit better - but even so, it works well as it is.
nice, how about spring though? "its" should replace "it's"
I like the kind of manic feel of this, it makes it more convincing.