PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

Since I began studying Patriciajj's poems and comments, I have learned that her comments function as locators of some of postpoems' finest writing.  So, I like to follow her paths, because I am always rewarded to find excellence at that path's end.

First, this is an excellent ballad---which is a form of which, after trying, I find myself functionally incapable.  I admire anyone who can compose a ballad; and I especially admire those poets who can write a ballad with both skill and credibility.  (For example, I prefer Wilde's Reading Gaol to anyting Kipling ever spilled on to a blank page.)  

I like how busy---athletically busy, in a way---this poem is.  There are no moments of static in it; this is not Keat's "Grecian Urn."  There is an a plethora of motion; but the motion is choreographed---it is a dance, not a demolition.

Your short lines reminds me of the poet James Dickey's early poems---those than a good many scholars believe are his most powerul.  And your ballad form deploys those lines with an agility that is impressive to read, and then to read a second time at least.  Because this is a poem that demands more than one reading.  The first read is to gain an overall impression of the poem.  The second read is to get familiar with the content.  And the third read is to look at the deft and skillful way the poem functions as a verbal construction.  I have had a rather bad morning prior to reading this poem; and this poem was a pleasure of artistry, skill, and powerhouse emotions to offset the muckety-muck of a too dismal morning.  Thank you for posting this; thank you for the experience I had reading it.

Fiercely sad and gripping work. You captured the emotion with delicate skill and power. I especially like: "The dawn turned to ice/ The dusk became ash" Feeling this!