The Compleat 'Thorn Forest' (A Gift for AW)

TedTheewen said:

Silly is important. Silly is serious business. I'm always serious when I'm silly.

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And it takes work, too. Poets think we can just toss silly remarks off the top of our heads like they were poems or something.

The worst part is when you laugh and they're trying to be serious. That never goes well.

But it hurts so much more when we make our best efforts to be silly, and they don't laugh. Poor William knows this all too well, thanks to those meanie mcmeanies in P&CE.

I don't go to that place. It's bad.

I tried. Dawg knows I tried. But apparently I can only be silly with the IRS.

Sorry.

For silliness in Poetry, I highly recommend the works of Sir Nigel.

Also, when the mood strikes him, Billytwice -- and do yourself a great favor, head over to the poetry readings thread and listen to Billy's recordings. He reads beautifully.

I get busy for a few days and miss this? Really great installment, William.

Stew21 said:

I get busy for a few days and miss this? Really great installment, William.

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I'm sorry. This is my bad. I mean, I totally missed the cursory Facebook alert that we've been giving each other. It won't happen again, Stewy.

I would love to think Anna stops on the threshold and comes back to take the rap -- or at least share it. But I don't think that's what's going to happen.

Your choice of a more formal meter and rhyme scheme serve to set this scene apart.

Given your language, storyline, characters, etc., I was certain that some version of Jacob's last line was coming -- that it would tie back to his father.

"that you may chase your reckless lust / into the wicked lands" -- Interesting that Jacob puts it this way. At some level, at least, he knows she was telling the truth -- she's no angel.

"that as you slipped out of the house / God looked the other way." -- Jacob doesn't think God's on Anna's side, looking out for her. If he were to look, he'd condemn and punish. It hearkens back to part XX -- "beneath trees that shelter
we beasts from His eyes."

"A solitary leaf / curls on the breeze at her feet." -- A fallen leaf from the forest where Jacob longed to escape and hide.

Anna's inability to remain meek in servitude and also in unwilling horizontal aspect under the preacher (among others) is hardly a character flaw, but it has certainly resulted in an impossible situation.

It's interesting to me that in Part VII, Jacob fantasizes that his mother could have or might have stopped his father's abuse, but then he's also disturbed by Anna's lack of remorse for killing the preacher while he was beating them.

They are so different, Jacob and Anna. If only there had been a little more overlap in their desires and their strengths. "If only" is one miserable, terrible phrase.

another moving piece of work.
and this beautiful truth,

No distance will be far enough
away to shed your shame
with judgment stalking every step
and whispering your name.

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brought me to tears. i have no idea why.











don't end this story.


thank you, william.

i want to discuss my crying episode with someone but the closest person i have to a therapist is haggis.

cray said:

i want to discuss my crying episode with someone but the closest person i have to a therapist is haggis.

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I tried discussing mine with Haskins, but he keeps shutting me out. Hold me, cray.

I'm here for you buddy.

*snif*

William Haskins said:

i can help, but only if you bottle and send me your tears.

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I already shipped them out, carefully encased in a box made from prints of this. Dodged a bullet. That could have been awkward...

Damn it. I cried myself out in the last installment. My blood is all I have left to give.