Young Writers Society

This is an interesting poem and I love all of it! I find it intriguing how you used chickens to express your thoughts. When I think about chickens I think about the phrase with them having their heads cut off which could symbolize freedom and how being a "chicken represents a free spirit and someone who isn't ashamed to be who they want.

2: I don't feel like it's abrupt because poetry has different structures for different things. Each poem has its way of getting its viewpoint across to other people and I feel this execution is amazing. I hope you dor produce more someday and show how much it expresses freedom in my eyes.

Hey there, Liminality! Happy hauntings! This was posted in February, but it's October now for this review. I always love it when writers address reviewers. I feel like this can assist reviewers in guiding authors to what their intent is or provide feedback that addresses the writer's specific concerns.

1) I think this poem is about imagination. It isn't about "chickens," but the idea that, as a child, we are so creative that anything can become anything! Our imaginations run wild with no limitations. We are free to envision our little wonderlands and explore the universe with that uncontrolled or uninhibited swirl of continuous inventiveness.

2) I think this part:

the spot where the wings belied

I was about to be done for the evening, but then I saw the title of this poem, and I thought "There's no way I don't at least do myself the honor of checking this out" I'm glad I did haha

I'll just jump right into your questions first, with a few remarks afterward.

1. I think the main message is about creativity, and then when we are children things don't have to be perfect or photorealistic for us to like them. As someone who reviews and critiques a lot, I can tend to get mired in the specifics, and details, and minutia etc. But the point here is, to me, that if you know it's a chicken, then it's a chicken, and no matter what it looks like, it works as designed because you know it's a chicken. I also believe that it speaks to how much we let our creativity die as we get older, and our imagination gets suppressed.

2. I think that when it says perfectly circular it doesn't roll together in a smooth manner. If it had ended with perfect, and then gone on to say something that made it a double meaning then it would make sense, but as it is it confused me more than helped me think of it as perfect and perfectly circular, if that makes sense.

My own thoughts: Cheese and potato wedges sound so good right now. I mean cheese always does. And potatoes always do. So, combined it's got my tummy in an outrage. The one other note I had? I love, love the look of this poem. It almost looks like a photocopy out of a poetry book in all the best ways. I love centered poetry, and I like the bigger text that looks slightly old. I would love to see more poetry in that style on here!

~Messy

Hey Lim! I'm going to leave a super extra extra quick checklist challenge review!

I really liked this poem! I loved the description of how the child makes the chicken out of paper plates, it adds to the fact that chickens can be anything, really. I also liked that it rhymes, it gives a nice flow to the poem, and it's intersting that the fifth line in each stanza doesn't rhyme, which is an interesting choice.

For the questions, I think the message (sorry if it doesn't make sense, I am not very good at inferring) is that chickens have been shown to be one of the most simplest birds to make, so chickens can be almost everything. Maybe this might represent other things that can also be anything we imagine it to be, which might be the meaning of this poem. And for the second question, there were a few parts where the line was cut off, and continued on the next line, which kind of breaks the flow, but I also don't read a lot of those kinds of poems, so I wouldn't know.

Overall, this is a really nice poem, and funny but also meaningful. I hope to read more of your poems in the future!
Happy Writing!

Wow, I love your poem!!
I thought it was especially good because of its effective use of imagery, nostalgia, and child-like innocence to convey a deeper message. The first stanza paints a picture of a child's imagination and how they view the world around them. The second stanza uses the example of a paper plate chicken to show how imagination and creativity can enrich a person's life. The third stanza explores how city children may not have this experience.

As someone who spent their childhood in the countryside and was had a very vivid imagination - i can relate a lot to this poem!

The poem  is a nostalgic look back at childhood imagination and the seemingly limitless possibilities of our minds. The speaker recalls seeing chickens as a child, with a simple black dot for an eye and half-moons glued on, and they could be shaped in various ways, round, square, or pointy. The speaker implies that city children may miss out on this kind of imagination and creativity, but imagery's power remains strong. The speaker concludes the poem by saying that despite their shapes, chickens can still be whatever we want them to be.

Author's questions answers:
The poem's themes appear to be imagination and the power of play. The speaker of the poem reflects on their childhood experience of making paper plate chickens and demonstrates how their imagination allowed them to see chickens as whatever they wanted them to be. The poem implies that childhood is a time of limitless possibilities, and that imagination is an important part of childhood.

The poem is written in a clear and straightforward manner, with no abrupt or confusing sections. The poem flows smoothly, with each stanza building on the one before it to further develop the theme of imagination and play. The poem is easy to understand and enjoyable to read because of its use of simple language and playful imagery.

Very nice poem, I love the theme of imagination from a child's perspective! What I interpreted the theme of this poem to be is the imagination of children and how wide it is. Most parts of this poem flowed very well, but a few areas did not for me. Those would be the very first line with could be, perhaps changing could to a similar word with the same meaning would change the flow differently. For me the only things that were abrupt were the coulds, but everything else was great! And removing the could might ruin the theme of your poem so that what you think will be helpful and forget about the rest. Well done!