Cover art for 108.

108.

by LadySpark

Published February 27, 2023

In collected poems

Comments & reviews · 4
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alliyah
Comment
alliyah commented Comment · Mar 26, 2023

"the way his voice rises up like sonnets in my dreams" <333 Well I love that line.

This is so neat; how the landscape becomes synonymous with the love and vice-versa. Lovely imagery and nice use of playing with parenthesis in a way that doesn't feel gimmicky but creates a greater implication of intimacy with the lack of a space and trading of pronouns. Beautiful imagery throughout.

<333333 ilu

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SofieR
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SofieR wrote a review Review · Mar 15, 2023

Hey there, Sofia here with a review!

Wow, I really really liked this one! I like how simple and ambiguous the title is. I also think you really ended it with a emotional and killer last line;

"my heart upturned over mountain ranges"

I love the way you experiment with punctuation with the parentheticals, such as;

"watching his(my) hair move beneath jagged sunbeams
i(he) cut(s) out stars of flesh, toss them out into a new constellation."

very cool, I love when writers take risks like that! All in all I think you did a great job on this one :) Keep writing!

Sofie

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deleted48
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deleted48 commented Comment · Feb 27, 2023

this is the most beautiful poem i've read in a long time. good stuff, really good stuff.

thanks friend... trying to get back into the swing of writing again and you just made my day!

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yoshikrab
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yoshikrab wrote a review Review · Feb 27, 2023

Hi hi! Love the poem (and the font. Too much YWS stuff has that same old arial . . .)

SO I am not too good with a b s t r a c t stuff so I'll do my best. The poem seems kind of longing and heartfelt. Especially considering the fact that this is poem #108, and that the fact that it's 108 is referenced within the poem, too, gives a hint at the depth of the narrator's longing.

First off, one thing I was a little interested about was why you decided to pick the object of this poem to be a cowboy. Reading through the poem again, there's really nothing said that solidifies the importance of him being a cowboy, but it did make the poem stand out, at least!

Second, the little pronoun switches in the parentheses was . . . unique? It was a bit disconcerting, but I managed to get through haha. Each time there was a pronoun, you switched it from one to the other, almost like the cowboy and the narrator are mirroring each other.

So in the fourth stanza, the narrator gets descriptive. It's a little more elaborate than the rest of the poem, but nevertheless it gets the same point across as the rest of it. The poem seems to be mostly about the narrator (and the cowboy?) watching the cowboy (narrator?) and observing and writing about the observations. The cowboy and the narrator seem to have a bit of an obsession for each other, too.

Now for some little things I liked!

i watch him when the cobwebs come and


The second stanza was my favorite. I can't help but notice that cobwebs and cowboy are very similar words, although, maybe that's just a coincidence haha.

my heart upturned over mountain ranges.


this is the part of the poem that's a bit ambiguous for me. I'm not really sure what the narrator is trying to say here, honestly lol.

Anyways, thanks for giving me the opportunity to review this gem!

-yosh

eggo isn't actually eggs

honestly, the cowboy thing was because I thought it fit the theme of mountains/exploration/westernization that you see throughout the rest of it. also, i just like cowboys looll

the pronoun thing was a little experimental, but it was my hope that it would signify how in love the two individuals are with each other. and also how alike they are. so you are totally on point with this analysis of mirroring!

as for the last bit, my thought was to signify vulnerability and being exposed to someone else's love. earlier in the poem i talk about the bending over "its" moon, which i tried to set up as the imagery for the cowboy's soul.

i'm glad you liked it! thanks for providing me with the opportunity to engage with you about it!!! it helps me so much, i appreciate your review!



And don't forget it's hydrate or diedrate
— zaminami