Miracles - 3. . . . diamonds that might walk on water . . .

Daydreaming and Longing echo most in my mind; the connection with the other across space touches me especially. Half Light, with its insistent rhythm, balances these. Thank you again for sharing these with us. 

The images and words of these poems starkly speak to all of the different and sometimes dissonant facets in a relationship.  Stramm was able to evoke a range of different emotions in these poems.  Thanks AC for these charged poems of love.

On 4/11/2023 at 9:48 AM, Parker Owens said:

Daydreaming and Longing echo most in my mind; the connection with the other across space touches me especially. Half Light, with its insistent rhythm, balances these. Thank you again for sharing these with us. 

Zeit (time) and Raum (space) feature boldly in many of Stramm's poems. As much as they make their presence known throughout the "Lover Poems," they become regular modes of expression in the man's posthumously published war poems Tropfblut: Gedichte aus dem Krieg ("Rogue-Blood: Poems from the War.") 

On 4/11/2023 at 7:22 PM, raven1 said:

The images and words of these poems starkly speak to all of the different and sometimes dissonant facets in a relationship.  Stramm was able to evoke a range of different emotions in these poems.  Thanks AC for these charged poems of love.

Thanks, Terry, for sharing your thoughts. I think using the term "charged" is very apt for Stramm's collection of "Lover Poems." Certainly, the degree of passion expressed can approach a dangerous (perhaps "borderline" is better . . . ) level of feelings, but I'm sure this has to be Expressionist Stramm's intent. The questions such work raises in us, perhaps below the level of consciousness, is the primary dreamlike thrust of German Expressionism as an art movement, whether it's shared through painting, drawing, prose or poetry. It's the movement's defining characteristic, in my opinion

I agree with Steve on this collection, it was all over the place.  I thought Daydreaming was think about a special person, and then Strife reminded me of how a person might feel if he hooked up with someone totally opposite of himself after a night of partying.  The were poems that sounded hopeful and others that sounded as if he was in total dispair.  You did a number on my emotions with this set.  

On 4/17/2023 at 1:13 PM, wildone said:

This set of poems was a bit of a rollercoaster rIde to me. Just the first two had me going from feelings of hope, to feelings of despair. As many point out they may be in reference to relationships, I guess this is how every relationship goes. Thanks!

Thanks, wildone. Stramm devised his "THOU" collection to have a bunch of shorter poems in the center. This is what we're encountering in this installment, as the division into part to post on GA is entirely my undoing. These smaller vignettes do run the gamut, from tender and connected, to shut-out and lonely. But that's all part of love, isn't it?  

Thanks again for your thoughtful and supportive thoughts. They're greatly appreciated  

9 hours ago, Bill W said:

I agree with Steve on this collection, it was all over the place.  I thought Daydreaming was thinking about a special person, and then Strife reminded me of how a person might feel if he hooked up with someone totally opposite of himself after a night of partying.  The were poems that sounded hopeful and others that sounded as if he was in total despair.  You did a number on my emotions with this set.  

Thank you, Bill! It was a bit of a challenge (meaning, extremely hard!) to divvy up the 30+ poems of Stramm's "DU" collection into chapters to post on GA. I opted to keep most of these middle-section sketches together, as the set starts and ends with longer, meatier pieces of verse.

Thanks again for reading and commenting. I appreciate your sticking it out with these poems

On 4/30/2023 at 5:22 PM, Valkyrie said:

I like how the scents shoot up like shivers in Daydreaming and how kissing and laughter are the remedy for Strife.  I'm glad I finally have a little time to catch up on the anthology! 

Thank you, Valkyrie. Daydreaming is a wonderful poem to my taste. And the title -- to make it Dream, Reverie, Dreaming, Daydreaming -- I chose the last because the poet seems to be awake while thinking these things. This in itself is an interesting juxtaposition, as much of the opus of Expressionist thought (whether presented though artwork, stage pieces, prose or poetry) deals with dream symbology. So, to me, calling this poem a waking dream seemed to fit best.

Thanks again!