Jump

by Kobain72

Published July 9, 2009

He's standing on the precipice
Wondering how it all came to this.
All the events of his young life
Leading to this point.

He stares at his fate and breaths in deep,
Feeling a strange tingling in his feet.
Thinking of his "friend" and the things he said
To make him want to do this.

Letting breath out as he closes his eyes,
He steps towards the inevitable dive.
Onlookers don't help, just cry out in shock -
They've never seen a more nervous bungee jumper.

Comments & reviews · 10
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mellophone7
Comment
mellophone7 commented Comment · May 1, 2011

Adding in that extra stanza (in my opinion) would definitely help this poem. It just helps to give a bit more background on the "friend." Great job on this poem!

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Kobain72
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Kobain72 commented Comment · May 1, 2011

Thanks for all the reviews! Will have to have a longer edit session than I have time for at the moment with exams looming to sort out pacing, flow etc. but I do have the beginnings of a small response ready.

@HaydenMacaw, your suggestion of elongation got me thinking so here's a rough draft of an extra stanza I thought might fit in between the current second and third stanzas:

It took a long time, but he’d driven him to it;
He hears the “friend” now, yelling “Then just do it!”
The wind howls a welcome into deep oblivion
And he is ready to follow.

if anyone reads down to here, please don't hesitate to also give opinions on whether or not I should cram this deleted scene into the poem, on top of any other criticisms you have. Thanks

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HaydenMacaw
Review
HaydenMacaw wrote a review Review · May 1, 2011

Clever twist! If you wanted you could probably drag it out a little more, just to build up the tension. I wanted to hear more about the "friend". Also, the word "boring" seems a little weak for some reason. I was worried because I don't like poems about suicide, but this made me smile :)

fireheartedkaratepup commented Comment · Apr 29, 2011

Haha, I love it--how you set it up as a suicide, then do almost a 180 and reveal that he's actually attached to a bungee cord. XD

The flow seemed a bit off, but someone already commented on that so I won't nitpick.

Overall, good job!

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EtCetera
Review
EtCetera wrote a review Review · Apr 29, 2011

You asked for interpretation... It could be taken in the very literal sense, that it is just a bunjee jumper, terrified at the prospect of hurling himself down from the precipice... Or it could be a metaphorical statement on how someone jumped into something, relying on nothing but faith. They knew in their mind that their faith would catch them, but their body was hard-pressed to actually believe it.
In regards to the criticism of the piece, I would maybe recommend a rewrite from the eyes of the jumper and maybe use less complete sentences. More thoughts, emotion, and just the humanity of the subject seem to come out that way. Otherwise, this was very well written.

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Skull3670
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Skull3670 wrote a review Review · Apr 22, 2011

To be honest, this is just plain awesome. I find your unique style of comedy most intriguing. Perhaps you should post a number of the other comedic litterary works you have been involved in, eh?
Anyway the only slight issue i can see is punctuation but still, not bad man.
Bon chance.

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imapoemperson
Review
imapoemperson wrote a review Review · Jul 11, 2009

The poem was great, I liked how you couldn't see the end. Young, I think the poem about the basket ball is by Anti-Pop.

Here is the whole poem showing how many syllables are in each line.

8
9
9
5

9
10
10
7

10
11
10
12

I don't know if you meant for it to be this way, but the first two stanzas have a pattern. The last one, however, does not. Also, the whole poem doesn't seem to flow all that well. On-Lookers, should be Onlookers. The poem would be improved a lot if you put some punctuation in there. Well, keep writing,

~Poem

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Young gun
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Young gun commented Comment · Jul 11, 2009

Hey...amazing poem that diverts towards the end completely.It reminds me of a similar poem on this site some writer wrote about a basketball.

Really humorous!

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Nadia
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Nadia wrote a review Review · Jul 11, 2009

wow, i love this poem! To be honest i think you haven't got any reviews because there is nothing really people would change, i for one wouldn't.
Its just so funny, really nice little poem:)

pm me if you write any more like this, i would love to read them

nadia



You won't know the outcome of something unless you try it.
— manilla