I met a girl today

by Andie

Published December 7, 2010

In Poetry

boredom+bible literacy class+access to YWS= poetry. Who knew? I really need constructive criticism on this because I really liked writing this poem. Thank you!


I met a girl today
The most peculiar thing I’ve ever seen
She stood behind a pane of glass
Housed in a wooden frame
Her hair was ivy vines in the dead of winter
Long and winding wildly down her pale marble back
Lips of coral pulled back over pebble teeth
Washed white and smooth by the sea
Her eyes were grey pools of melting ice
Hidden securely behind black feather lashes
Warm at their core
But coldly regarding me with a sting of curiosity
Poised like a lion
Tense and ready for my attack
She was a contradiction
Strong and delicate
Coarse and smooth
Beautiful and deadly
I could never be as strong as she
Not in my wildest dreams
So I braced myself for her assault
We stood their for a long while
This stranger and I
Just waiting for the other to make a move
And then slowly in a mutual surrender
We smiled


I'm not sure if it is obvious but the girl was looking in a mirror. Did anyone understand that?

Comments & reviews · 11
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Shaken
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Shaken wrote a review Review · Dec 20, 2010

Your imagery was beautiful, poems that aren't quite straightforward have to have captivating language to draw the reader in and I thought you did a good job of that - the descriptions pulled me in until I was deep inside the words trying to unravel the meaning of the poem. Well done.

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MissMadHatter
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MissMadHatter commented Comment · Dec 18, 2010

I really liked your poem. Its full of description and you used great similies and metaphores! Write more so I can read them!!!

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squirt886 Comment
squirt886 commented Comment · Dec 18, 2010

cool poem. it sounded like the girl was evil. it didn't sound like the girl was looking in a mirror. the poem was well writen.

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Andie
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Andie commented Comment · Dec 18, 2010

thank you all for your help, I'll be sure to work on this some more!

TheRobster1991 wrote a review Review · Dec 8, 2010

Andie wrote:I'm not sure if it is obvious but the girl was looking in a mirror. Did anyone understand that?


I didn't know that until you said it. It wasn't all that clear to me. I have to say that I'm not a huge fan of un-rhyming poems but this was different
Andie wrote:Strong and delicate
Coarse and smooth
Beautiful and deadly

This was my favourite part, quite powerful. However the line before:
Andie wrote:She was a contradiction

isn't really something that needs to be there. Other than that it was great :D

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quietloud798
Review
quietloud798 wrote a review Review · Dec 8, 2010

Andie,

This was simply beautiful.
I LOVELOVELOVED the contradictions, and I think this piece was wonderfully written!
Before I read the note at the bottom, I thought it was a painting haha.
Overall, this was awesome! :)

Love,
QL798

williamwordsworth wrote a review Review · Dec 7, 2010

Whoa. I absolutely loved that. In the begining I presumed the narrator was a man because he was speaking about this girl so beautifully. The ending was a great suprise. A really super piece. Beautiful descriptions. Very creative.

She stood behind a pane of glass, housed in a wooden frame.

Probably should have realised she was looking in the mirror. Hehe. 8)

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Audy
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Audy wrote a review Review · Dec 7, 2010

Lovely imagery! I liked the winter/summer metaphors actually. The paleness/melting ice versus the coral/pebble/sea. It really creates a sense of that 'contradiction'.

Need to change 'their' (5th line from the bottom) to 'there', didn't catch any other errors after that.

I actually didn't notice the mirror aspect upon first reading. I might've noticed it upon second reading if you hadn't already told me :P I like this though, good job! My only suggestions on improving this is to put more focus on the second half of this. The first half was great - but the second half when you say "strong and delicate / coarse and smooth..." it is a lovely paradoxical image you're creating, but it's full of abstractions and vagueness, if that makes sense. "Strong" "Smooth" these are broad terms that don't really add anything to the poem. When writing poetry always make sure you choose the exact words to convey your meaning.

For example, when she looks in the mirror and sees this strength, what sense of the word "strong" do you mean? Muscular? Firm?

Or do you mean she's confident? determined? unyielding?

Or do you mean she's powerful? compelling? cunning?

Maybe she's bold? courageous?

Any one of these words can mean 'strong' but when you're writing a poem, you're trying to create an image. If the girl in the mirror is powerful, it creates a more vivid picture than just "strong".

But overall, it was a great poem :) I hope to see more of your works!

~ Audy

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aquababe
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aquababe commented Comment · Dec 7, 2010

I loved it. You did great with the vivid descriptions.Way to go! :D

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lettersfromtroy Comment
lettersfromtroy commented Comment · Dec 7, 2010

An absolutely fascinating piece. All I can do is congratulate! From "Her eyes were grey pools of melting ice" on every line got better! I really really really like it!

LOVE



It takes as much imagination to create debt as to create income.
— Leandro Orr