A Man in a Room, and other poems - 18. her answer is none

At first, all I could do was love this entry. Two  minutes is nowhere near enough time to do these poems justice. So many things struck me as I read, wanting to savor each line, each stanza.

Number 47 plays with the ways we see present, past and future, and characterizes these using the seasons - summer and winter. This is deft, and powerful, and full of chances to think and imagine.

Wintertime

is where the hopes of the future

hide the truth of the present.

This is such a powerful statement, I sat pondering as seconds ticked by. The snowdrifts cover so much that is, or could be green, as well as many things that are dead and will live no more. What a stunning metaphor.

The melancholy Prelude in Number 48 presages the response to pain which will follow in the Poem.  The writer surely knows both loneliness and hurt, and the feel of the words give the poem the air of being written by an outsider. Yet the Postlude shows how that cannot be the final word - for love is never an outsider's emotion.

Number 49 tells such a story, a story I know too well. Hoping for a chance to do what's not been done before. This sounds like so many people I know, myself included. But when we ask the future darkness with misty fingers (how I loved that phrase!) if we are indeed the ones to bear that chance, there is no answer. Only the echo of our own question, for we must be the ones to make the reply.

AC these are all wonderful. But they are layered and deserve to be read with patience and yes, studied and examined to see each layer and to understand them. 

For as simple as they appear, they are like their author; they are deep and have much to say.  And i will come back to them, until the thoughts they make whirl in my brain settle... you are such an amazing poet. xo

On 11/7/2017 at 1:36 PM, Parker Owens said:

At first, all I could do was love this entry. Two  minutes is nowhere near enough time to do these poems justice. So many things struck me as I read, wanting to savor each line, each stanza.

 

Number 47 plays with the ways we see present, past and future, and characterizes these using the seasons - summer and winter. This is deft, and powerful, and full of chances to think and imagine.

Wintertime

is where the hopes of the future

hide the truth of the present.

This is such a powerful statement, I sat pondering as seconds ticked by. The snowdrifts cover so much that is, or could be green, as well as many things that are dead and will live no more. What a stunning metaphor.

 

The melancholy Prelude in Number 48 presages the response to pain which will follow in the Poem.  The writer surely knows both loneliness and hurt, and the feel of the words give the poem the air of being written by an outsider. Yet the Postlude shows how that cannot be the final word - for love is never an outsider's emotion.

 

Number 49 tells such a story, a story I know too well. Hoping for a chance to do what's not been done before. This sounds like so many people I know, myself included. But when we ask the future darkness with misty fingers (how I loved that phrase!) if we are indeed the ones to bear that chance, there is no answer. Only the echo of our own question, for we must be the ones to make the reply.

Thank you, Parker! You gave me some amazing feedback, and I appreciate it. As I mentioned in a PM to you, when I came to read these one last time before posting, I was struck by how good a trio they seemed to make. A response like yours makes me think they might be among the best three I wrote when I was 21 years old. 

These are great comments. The idea of snowdrifts for No. 47; the offhanded way you tell me that prelude, poem and postlude really work as a whole in No. 48; and the call to a poet's life you have felt yourself echoed in No. 49 - all wonderful to receive. 

I thank you humbly.

On 11/8/2017 at 3:54 AM, Mikiesboy said:

AC these are all wonderful. But they are layered and deserve to be read with patience and yes, studied and examined to see each layer and to understand them. 

 

For as simple as they appear, they are like their author; they are deep and have much to say.  And i will come back to them, until the thoughts they make whirl in my brain settle... you are such an amazing poet. xo

Thank you, Tim. I appreciate you leaving me encouragement and praise  

The young-man me who wrote these lived in a lot of doubt and fear, so he would be amazed to know these poems speak to people. 

Thanks again.