the surface ends here, too

by Dreamwalker

Published September 30, 2012

In poetry (relatively current)

i sink my teeth in graphite sticks
and draw with the grey hues in my perspiration.
it’s where the time seems stiller, more controlled,
and i mark each surface i touch, planting silver patches
of nostalgia
 
so that i’ll always know where I came from
and where I ended
Comments & reviews · 3
LovelyTeaRoses wrote a review Review · Oct 1, 2012

Please work on the grammar. I love what you're trying to say. It's such a wonderful metaphor. It's such a shame that it's wasted on such poor grammar. I also think (warning personal opinion coming) that it should be sweat instead of perspiration. Sweat provides for better imagery.

Anyways, good work. Keep it up and just proofread.

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Skellingtom
Review
Skellingtom wrote a review Review · Oct 1, 2012

Interesting. It needs grammar, and maybe a little rework to make the purpose of the poem clearer. The description is good, but unclear in that t doesn't create an image or understanding in my mind of what is happening.

The first line is quite good, a great hook that drew my interest, and creates a vivid mental image. The second line, I did not understand. The third line was good, and the fourth and fifth.

It seems to me that the character is creating some kind of guide with the silver patches, so that he will know where he came from and where he ended, like a trail of breadcrumbs.

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Craz
Review
Craz wrote a review Review · Oct 1, 2012

I'm honestly a little confused.
Maybe its just me, but I have no idea what is happening. When I think I get it, I read the next line and I become completely dumbfounded. I can guess at what you're talking about though:
1) its about someone in sports.
2) Vampire? The line "i sink my teeth in graphite sticks" gives that impression. Maybe I just pay too much attention to the Twilight series.
3) A depressed person. Or maybe that's just the majority of poems.
Other than that, little dots come across my mind. As in, I don't get it.
Your writing is great, though!

The graphite is a metaphor for writing. Instead of simply stating 'I write everything so I can remember where I started and where I finished in life', I chose to do so metaphorically, and in which case the narrator ingests graphite so that it comes out through perspiration, so that every place the narrator touches leaves a mark.

Or in other words, it was supposed to be subtle.



Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back, everything's different?
— C.S. Lewis