7 or 8 D

Kylabelle

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7 or 8D

[FONT=Helvetica, serif]I tremble with fear at the wrong number.[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]I cannot document this.[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]For one thing there's the magnetic [/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]repulsion of pens,[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]always across the room,[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]south to south,[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]the exact ratio to short term memory,[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]the exact canceling distance[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]and then I am too ashamed[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]to document this,[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]ashamed of beauty its simpering[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]seduction and betrayal its alcoholic[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]power and cowardice its[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]irreality[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]ashamed of what cannot encompass[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]filth and violation - subsume[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]the inevitability of foul play the timeless rights[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]of rot and tragedy and mindless malice.[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]Subsume and be flawed and stay whole[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]strong and crippled.[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]In the mouth, what what what[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]In the eyes, where where where[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]In the ears, how how how,[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]In the house in the car in the closet outdoors[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]Only the flaws speak real talk.[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]Everything else is mirror deep.[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]I cannot dismiss this.[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]Sound and echo[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]I keep falling for it.[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]I cannot document this.[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]The paper is too strong, it burns my hand.[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]Malice in a jar sold to children.[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]Empty words richly ransomed[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]empty words such as these,[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]unthinkable barrels of them,[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]ruinous, vended, just like that,[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]simple as candy, costly,[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]oh, I can't get a purchase on this,[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]it's all greasy with illusion,[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]sour with bones,[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]slippery with fools,[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]bald as Samson, [/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]oh, I confess[/FONT]
[FONT=Helvetica, serif]I cannot document this.

~~~

(I wrote this in 1983 and have never shared it before, except at that time, when I read it aloud to a few people.)
[/FONT]
 

Antonin

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This one took a bit of time to digest, and I read it a few times. That's not a bad thing.

As usual, I really like your imagery and use of language. Particularly I enjoyed the lines "Only the flaws speak real talk./Everything else is mirror deep."

Yet at the same time I keep getting the feeling that is poem is incredibly personal. The entire time I read and reread this I kept trying to "figure it out." Was there something I was missing? Something I wasn't picking up on?

If the title itself is a reference to something, then I didn't know what it was referring to. Which would be an issue with me, not the poem. I kept feeling like I should have known what is was referring to. I wonder if that's the feeling you were going for, because it took me some time to realize the importance of the lines "I cannot document this." After all, if you yourself cannot document this thing that you are attempting to, well, document, how am I supposed to? The poem very much turns inward and I feel almost like a stranger who has invaded your personal space. Here I am listening/reading your inner thoughts, and I expect to come to some sort of conclusion regardless of your trouble documenting it? How arrogant of me.

I am left feeling uneasy at my inability to help and to understand. Yet, that's what I liked about it.
 

dfwtinman

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I'm a sucker for the sound words make and I like the tune you've called here. Like the previous commenter, however, the images seem intensely personal and hard to crack. I will read it a few more times as my brain is a bit foggy this morning.
 

Kylabelle

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Wow, what awesome comments!

Antonin, yes I feel that is one of its weaknesses, that it is highly personal, but it refers to nothing less than the entire experience of being alive here and trying to write about all the things!

The title also has concerned me, wondering if anyone would "get it". It only means, in the sense we speak of "3D" that the experience referrenced feels like seven or eight dimensions, not just 3. But it's pretty darned obscure.

I really appreciate the reads, both of you, and Wes, if you have any further comments at some future time, you know I'd love to hear them.

I have a couple of other longish and oddish pieces I'll probably tack to the bulletin board in here one day soon. :D
 

Stew21

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Like the others, the title eluded me. Consider a reference to 3D . Maybe, a parenthetical.
The words though, are strong, as though they are very personal but you crafted the stream of consciousness flow as it came, slowing the current enough to make the words do a job.

I like this very much.
 

Kylabelle

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Thanks, Stew. Maybe a better title will float up now that I know for sure this one doesn't get across.
 

poetinahat

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I think the high quality of the comments tells a great deal about the poem's success. They all sound spot-on, and I don't feel like I have anything to add.

Except that, yes, the sense of bewilderment is something I am getting too. I love reading this, and would be eager to hear you read it.

The words, the images are disjoint but exact, and precisely placed. I'd thought the title might refer to an apartment number, as though the poet wasn't sure she'd come to the wrong floor. I like it.

I think it takes a very adept poet to convey chaos in this rich fashion - too often it just comes off as a muddle.

I love the use of the "i cannot" phrases as anchors, providing the user with a reference point of some sort. I think that may make the entire poem the success I think it is.

This feels a bit like what James Joyce might have written if he'd known when to stop.
 

Kylabelle

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Bewilderment is a big part of what I hoped to convey, in fact, so that's good. And, thank you! for the very kind words!

Anyway. Thanks much to Stew for the nudge to post things here. What I have known about this poem was that I was truly done with it and so it really did not feel appropriate to put it up for critique. But I wanted to know how folks here would feel about it, how it would land, so this is great.

Rob, I LOLed about James Joyce knowing when to stop! Ahahahaha! :D
 

Kylabelle

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Oh, and Rob? I definitely came to the wrong floor. :D