Hey Lightsong! Glad to see you posted your poem from the Stock Poetry challenge - it is not difficult to see how you took the Gold for that as it's a fabulous poem even without knowing you had to work in the different stock photos.
Pacing/Flow
One aspect I find sort of interesting but enjoyable is how the you really used your word economy in this piece. The very first line establishes 3 different things rather than just pulling in one thought -- the poem moves quickly but you take a few lines (like the question or when you dwell on a description) to slow the pace of the reading down. Flipping back and forth from lines with a lot of information and phrases to ones that are basically one sentence is a great way to build interest so the poem doesn't get dull as the reader goes through it.
Metaphors/Images
Because of the stock photo references you end up having some really varied and unique metaphors rolling through here. My favorite is probably the line with the cat and allergies -- funny image that makes the point that there seemed to be some tension between them that wasn't quite resolved. The goldfish metaphor works with the cat one too, because they're both in the same realm of images, however the cactus/lily one (though strong) didn't feel like it belonged in the same poem. If you could add another type of desert or nature or flower reference in the first half the last stanza would feel like it fit in better.
Theme/Narrative
Like many of your poems, you nail the narrative aspect. There are clear characters with full fledged personalities and specific conflict and emotional intrigue. I interpreted this poem as one woman/girl really would like to reach out to Victoria, though Victoria is almost a bit superficial or seems too fabulous to contact. The speaker doubts that they'll be able to impress Victoria though they agonize about her and cannot stop thinking about her. Then they build up the courage to message Victoria, which goes sort of well. They connect but it's strained because their personalities clash (with the grumpiness and the cactus). I'm a bit confused about just what happens in the last stanza
"Dear Victoria, please kill me with your words again."
-- this makes it sound like they maybe aren't talking now, which makes sense since the poem is written in past-tense. But still in the last three lines we learn the speaker has been hurt by Victoria, but think they could still heal? her or make her love them. That's desperately sad, because it seems like Victoria maybe doesn't care about her feelings based on the first stanza.
I wish we knew a bit more about what their relationship is at the end of this poem - did it fall apart? and if so, what exactly caused that break? I guess as a reader one could infer from the tension in the preceding stanzas that it was some sort of personality conflict, but it feels like we we've missed the actual break-up though have walked through their entire relationship. I'm not sure you have to clarify those questions, because there's still enough here to make sense of the story without them - but I just thought I'd note that I had a bit of confusion.
Phrasing
I liked your blend of conversational, intimate, and formal language. This poem was a bit reminiscent of your Romeo-
The blend of language and word choice is great & I think keeps the poem from feeling archaic or cliche because it's fresh and intense without being a whiny love poem. The lovely metaphors help with this too.
One phrasing suggestion:
"And yet I did - after I clicked. You replied to my message."
This line just was a bit too choppy and simplistic for me especially with the dash in the middle. I would take out "after I clicked" and replace it or just leave it out. Maybe even incorporate some dialogue into the stanza. It feels a bit too repetitive to the previous stanza too where it talks about clicking and messages and it's really hard to make describing someone scrolling through Facebook or staring at their phone sound engaging.
Imagery
My last suggestion if you're looking for areas to improve would be to try to introduce some more concrete imagery into the poem. Your first and last stanza have it with the trapped goldfish, but the other stanzas could use a bit more and I think that would heighten your metaphors that you use too, if there was more imagery attached.
-----
But overall, this is a very strong piece. Capitalization, word choice, punctuation, flow, themes, and pace are all very strong with really not much I could find to critique.
Well done! I look forward to reading your next piece!
-alliyah
Points: 144525
Reviews: 1227
Donate