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Lindsay in Metropolis
The city shines forever,
The lights there never dim.
She can hear the first floor screaming,
Thru walls that are paper thin.
(this city she notes never sleeps)
Day and night she imagines,
She is far from there.
Not stuck in that dingy apartment.
In a city she can’t understand.
But when the sun drops below the buildings,
(From there you cannot see where it goes)
She takes a trip (at least in her mind),
To the place she calls home.
Where, the sun drops below the horizon,
And the air begins to cool.
When the crickets begin,
Their melodious tune.
A nightly concert, all her own.
Falling asleep to their lullaby,
Just like she did back then.
Dreaming of places and people,
She’ll never see again.
Ok, first of all, let's acknolwedge how deftly this poet balances her poem. Consider the first and last lines: "forver" and "never"---both terms of absolute time (there is nothing longer than forever, nothing shorter than never). The mechanism of the poem operates between these two balances----the way a weight driven clock operates between the rising and falling balances. In the hands of a lesser poet, the subject might be considered very minor. But in the hands of this Poet, because of the balances deployed, the subject takes on heightened significance---Lindsay's life is poised between forever and never, and neither one is very much in her advantage. Rae is a Poet, not a jingler (and there are far too many jinglers on the internet). With a jingler, you can hear the rhyme, the rhythm, and a little of the content, and pretty much get the poem. With a Poet like Rae, you must hear every word. Not every word carries ultimate meaning (so, in this sense, her tone is very conversational); but every word must be considered in order to locate the points of importance. And the placement of words ("forever" "never") is very strategic; and with a Poet of Rae's depth, that strategy determines who reads the poem successfully, and who cannot. Never underestimate the verbiage of a Poet like Rae: she can guide---or yank---the reader in wherever she pleases. And that is not just a line, it is a vector---that is, a line with both direction and power.
Starward