Hey there! Here for a review!
So I'm a fan of the minimalist capitalization style here, I think it fits with the speaker's voice.
I interpreted the poem to be about after thoughts of a speaker who is rethinking her/their realtionship with this boy who in hindsight really hurt them. It was sort of like the relationship was a backhanded compliment where the boy was always wounding and hurting at the same time he was with them. The speaker does say at the end though that they have this strength and that they think that it's ulimately the boy's problem and not their own.
The strongest image for me was definitely the metaphor of the playng hide and seek and then the "gripping chin" line. The double-handedness of that in the midst of something we normally think of as so innocent is excellent. It creates sort of an uncomfortable dissonance for me as a reader because I automatically put myself in that game of hide and seek too and can just feel sympathy for the speaker going through it.
You have touches of great imagery and metaphors along the way like the descriptions of words and the python. My main suggestion is I think you could work on making all of your imagery and metaphors connect. Of course they don't all have to connect, but if you can refer to the same metaphor in different ways, or keep them within the same realm of themes (like nature, games, or colors) then it'll help the poem's cohesiveness and add another level to the poem at an interpretive and figurative level.
Keep on writing! Looking forward to reading more of your poems!
~alliyah
Points: 144550
Reviews: 1227
Donate