I would like some constructive feedback on my new poem, I am very very new at this

chinacatKS

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A Vision of inception

There was a night as I stood observant the unclouded firmament filled with stars and drumming.
I deliberated,why can't it be that I feel like this when you are with me?

The circle of dancers full of energy so pure, the sway of love that could strongly endure.
The gyrations of body and swirling of thoughts, the emotions of ones to earthly problems were lost.

The fire was extending it's sultry tendrils to the sky, the moon was shining it's sorcery in to my beguiled eyes. My heart was pounding to the cadence so earthy, the perfection of liberation was conceived without mortal flaw.

All of my distress was naught but a dream, my emotions were swept away it did seem.
My aching heart was healing as my senses were reeling on the ever rising tide. I could see where I failed but I could also see where I had climbed and I knew without question that my true self I would find.

I took a journey that started with you, an imperfect compass whose north was not true. A poorly devised trip that got out of hand, one that concluded in a solitary, desolate land. I sat a little too long, crying and wailing and carrying on. I finally fatigued all the energy within, I lay down to slumber and dream once again.

I had an illusion of love radiant and shining, a light that was blinding. As I stepped from obscurity the poisonous breath of unhappiness was leaving me breathless. Something or someone was filling my lungs with the freshness of life, giving me the sense to struggle and fight.

I woke up with a start and my eyes full of tears, I knew we were through after all of these years. I held on so firmly and suffocated what remained, I chased it and chased it and got lost in the rain. I love you I know but I have to say no to the portion of me trying to hide here in fear scared to let go and afraid of the fear.

Afraid of the hollowness left behind when you're gone, the treasure I held in my heart for so long. The love that we had was gone long ago and what remains is something meant for the fires in torment down below. The torment we carry around in our souls,the twisted vision of what we could not grasp will be the destruction of what we hold dear and will obscure our vision to what have here.

Our friendship was weak and uncertain , that accuracy anyone could frankly see. we would shriek at each other and fling censure around, yelling and screaming and dancing around the truth of the issue and hiding our heads in the sand, dreaming that we could go on as we had planned.

Now we have come to this heavy-hearted wretched situation, in front of us lies this ambiguous gate. The lock is all rusted and has not been turned. It is waiting and silent , what will be determined? Do we stay friends or do we part here. Going forward in life learning to hear what we could not , seeing what we blinded ourselves too. Our Love for each other.
 
feedback?

is it good.....is it not..

do you think it flows well?

does it make any sense?

Do you like it....dislike it?
 
My opinion, and a short one, since I'm late for work already. :)

The theme of your poiece is universal and something that many readers can recognise, which is good. And all in all it is well written with a good grip of language and some interresting similies.

However, it looks like prose and it reads like prose. Ornamental prose with a good grip of rethoric structure, but there are so many things you could do with it.

Try compressing what you're trying to say to fewer, shorter lines. Look at eacgh line where you specifically tell things straight out and see if you really need them, or if you can show the reader, throughh metaphors, through descriptions, what you were feeling. Try to find new and different ways to express the speparate parts, phrases and sentiments.

A line like "I woke up with a start and my eyes full of tears, I knew we were through after all of these years." for instance just tells us what happened, but it doesn't really convey the emotion and impact.

Anyway, good luck and keep writing. Remember, this is just me, and I might be talking out of my ass. :)

Got to go.

#L
 
Liar

Thank you so much for your feedback, I really appreciate it. I will work on it some more.
 
anyone else?

Would anyone else like to give me any constructive feedback?
 
My first impulse is tell you to shorten the lines and the poem. Saying a little less can actually make for a better read in some cases.
 
I agree, this poem could benefit from being shortened. The words and emotions are there. I'm not a big fan of rhyming poetry, but that's just a matter of taste. My advice would be to think about what words really "pop" and cut as many words as you can that do not. This is full of beautiful imagery, make it stand up and shout! I think you'll find a whittled down version will have much more impact. :)
 
Long (wordy) poems tend to frighten me.

I skimmed and it seems that there are snippets of goodness throughout...

Maybe try turning each stanza (paragraph) into a poem.
 
OT said:

Maybe try turning each stanza (paragraph) into a poem.

There is just too much there for the eyes to swallow.

I think OT's idea above is very good. Like this.


I had an illusion of love radiant and shining, a light that was blinding. As I stepped from obscurity the poisonous breath of unhappiness was leaving me breathless. Something or someone was filling my lungs with the freshness of life, giving me the sense to struggle and fight....................


The blinding lights of love
are illusions.
They steal breath with poison,
but something fills my lungs,
giving me
the sense to struggle.

:rose:
 
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I think what you are missing is a strong narrative. This form allows you to hide a lot of extra content on each line and here it has been used for description. C.K. Williams, on the other hand, writes extremely long-lined poems built around some sort of story.

Hardly anything happens in your poem from a plot point of view and most of the strong verbs are used in a figurative sense. It leaves the poem with a very over-defined, over-described moment or two. Make the time frame of the poem earn all of the space for description.
 
more feedback

If anyone else would liek to leave some morsels of wisdom, please do..I can use all the help I can get.
 
admission

I have to admit the content is very personal and I usually don't share my poetry with anyone. My close friends that are familiar with the situation that inspired me to write this said that the underlying meaning was evident to them....but then again they know me well and know the cirumstances..so I would like to refine this and make it something that people who are not familiar with me can get the gist of it also.
 
change?

should I change the first little part to something like this maybe?

I stood observing the unclouded firmament full of stars and drumming.
I deliberated,why can't I feel like this when you are with me?
 
feeling

should I add something to this to descirbe what I was feeling as I was observing the night sky?
 
wordy

I do tend to get wordy....afraid I won't get my point across I guess....I was told by a fellow trainer of mine that I am very articulate.....well sometimes that can be my downfall


I stood observing the unclouded firmament full of stars and drumming.
Delibetating, why can't I feel like this when you are with me?
conflicting emotions obsccuring my vision
love and fear.


how does that sound?
 
maybe

Observing the unclouded firmament full of stars
Drumming directing my heart beat
Deliberating, why can't I feel like this when you are with me?
conflicting emotions obsccuring my vision
love and fear
 
structure

If I stop owrrying about rhyme and complete sentence format and focus on description....does that make it smoother to read and less stressful on the eyes


I had a friend who didn't read it for two day s after I sent it to them because they said it looked wordy which made them think it would be dry.
 
or?

Deliberating,
conflicting emotions obscuring my vision
Observing,
the unclouded firmament full of stars
Drumming,
imitating frantic heart beats
love and fear,
why can't I feel like this when you are with me?


does that work...or does it stink?
 
or even this?

Observing
unclouded firmament full of stars
Deliberating
vision uninhibited by love and fear,
Drumming
imitating frantic heart beats

why can't I feel like this when you are with me?
 
changes so far

A Vision of Inception.

Observing
unclouded firmament full of stars
Deliberating
vision uninhibited by love and fear,
Drumming
imitating frantic heart beats

why can't I feel like this when you are with me?


Dancers
enveloped in a love so pure
Swaying
bodies gyrating, swirling thought
Circling
awareness of eartly problems lost

why can't I feel like this when you are with me?
 
more feedback

how does this feel, flow, look...

any suggestions

is it a good change?
 
corrected typos

changes so far
A Vision of Inception.

Observing
unclouded firmament full of stars
Deliberating
vision uninhibited by love and fear,
Drumming
imitating frantic heart beats

why can't I feel like this when you are with me?


Dancers
enveloped in a love so pure
Swaying
bodies gyrating, swirling thoughts
Circling
lost awareness to earthly problems

why can't I feel like this when you are with me?
 
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