Anna! I told you I'd do this! And I am!
First, for all we have such hugely different styles, I like it! I'm just gonna do lines, ok? <3 Forgive the rust; I haven't critiqued poetry in so long! I may turn lit geek nuts on you, here ^^ So take it all with a grain of salt!
We bond over weekly crime shows
where a jealous husband kills his wife
and you show off your new, expensive things
while I'm careful never to ask how you have the money ok, fair warning, I'm a cutter. I cut everything I possibly can and then some, so uh... humor me, please? And feel free to ignore parts of this, since it does have to do with our contrasting styles ^^ But! I want to make this do this:
and you show off your new, expensive things
while I'm careful never to ask
how you'll py the bills next month
Too much? I think it may be... yeah.
or how you'll pay the bills next month.
The empty words remind me of when I was ten.
[s]When I was ten[/s]You just said this! Rather, cut it, start the line below, and add "then" after casino. How does that sound? Other then it rhymes, ew
you worked graveyard at the casino
and went on long dates with men.
It's hard to imagine, but you were young too, I think this is our different styles coming in to play, but! "but you were young too" just throws me off this stanza. I want it to read "It's hard to imagine you/just trying to find yourself" but I don't think that captures what you want to say, right?
just trying to find yourself
among flashing lights and children's toys.
I didn't know to think anything of it.
Four years later, I realized I was lonely.
Baby sitters and boardgames were fun,
but where were you in my crayon box memory? I love this. And I disagree, I wouldn't change it at all, since you get more images this way, I think. Instead of just naming memory as an object, you get the naming as well as the image of a child doing something -- action that I need you need in this poem, since it's much more reflective, and thus more in stasis, rather then motion. Does that make sense? Or am I going too far in to lit geek mode?
The truth is you were always there
but in the only way you knew how.ok, here, I love what you're trying to say, but I think you can say it better. First, kill the first three words and start with "you" to start teh stanza, gives it more emphasis. Then, you almost hit the idea of the disappointment felt, but you never outright say it, which is good, but the way you word around it doesn't hit right, for me. I want to take out the "but" since you're not really making a "but" statement, here. You're saying "You were there," and then "you where there." There's not "but" to that, so either reword that, or take it out, and maybe do something like "You were always there/in the only way you knew (how) - also not sure I like ending on "how", but I think that's just a little too nit-picky.
If I scraped my knee, you came to the rescue,
but when I tried to make you a birthday dinner
you went out with your boyfriend instead.
Maybe you didn't know what to do
when I gave you the menu I made by hand.
I didn't know what to do, either,
when you left.
Ok, I lovelovelove the last four lines of this stanza to absolute pieces. The ones above, with your examples? I'm goign to tie this back to what I said earlier. You're showing me, and I don't want to be shown. I want to see what you're doing, and I'm not getting much imagery out of this, and it's a shame, because you have some beautiful possibilities. So I ask, how did you scrape your knee? Use that to make the mother a hero, and something talking about baking for the second example? I don't like the distance between the speaker and audience here, since this poem feels like it's personal, I want the personal examples. The last four lines do this so brilliantly to me, and I want them to be supported by the lines preceding.
Now I feign interest in your new hobbies
so we can at least have a conversation. Telling! Gimme an example!
Television commercials and Hallmark cards
say we should be best friends,
though even now I'm wondering
what I can do to understand
this maternal specter
made with makeup and hair spray
called my mom.
And you end that beautifully. One tiny suggestion? "of" instead of "made with"? And I almost want you to leave out "my" in the last line, since it's implied really strongly already, especially with your title.
But! I like what you have, Anna! And thanks for letting/helping me break in my crit muscles!
Bek
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