Mortality

by StoryWeaver13

Published July 20, 2013

E - Everyone

In Poetry A.D.

Welcome to this puddle

where we play,

the one we call the universe.

.

Welcome to this house that strays

just a transparent distance above the earth,

just above the thousands of miles

of brimstone and amalgam

burning up beneath our feet.

.

And you, dear – you are small,

but nothing here

is greater than the depth

of your potential.

.

And how dare you –

how dare you

be anything

but brilliant?

.

For you have the sky to look to,

the ground to comfort you,

and the very pulse

of atmosphere

pleading you to breathe it in.

.

The very earth that breaks you

begs for your forgiveness.

.

It begs for you to live, to struggle,

to endure, so do not forget

this day when you felt small,

this day when you could not feel

the earth’s heartbeat beneath the burning soil;

remember these pleading, desperate words of mine

when I tell that you are momentary,

but we are worth more than our mortality's

clockwork hearts.

.

We are the ungainly philosophers

of a ponderous world,

and here we are, in our tiny house

just beneath the beating atmosphere,

where the sun shines in and seeps through

every gap and tooth of our breaking smiles,

two beings half-lost, haphazardly daring

to endure.

.

And what could be better than being

so infinitely small that, for an instant,

we can hide away and simply be

a brilliant whisper,

a waning echo

of eternity?

Comments & reviews · 5
Killyouwithwords wrote a review Review · Jul 28, 2013

Oh my gosh, this was fantastic! What can I say about it other than that it is amazing? Not much, but instead of using the term "atmospheric pulse" in the second to last stanza, you should change it to something else. I feel as if you overused the idea of the universe having a pulse way too much in your poem. Also the stanza “Welcome to this puddle,
Where we play,
The one we call our universe"
could use some tweaking. But all in all, great job!!!

xxFleetingEternity wrote a review Review · Jul 22, 2013

Just the start of the poem draws in the reader. You did a very good job at capturing the audience's attention. The imagery is well created and I like your use of poetic devices. Voice bleeds from this. The entire poem meshes together and flows very well. It's very in depth and I think, philosophical. It was full of emotion, which is great in a poem, especially a free verse piece. I look forward to reading more of your work. It's a 10/10 from me.

Thank you. xxx

User avatar
Morrigan
Review
Morrigan wrote a review Review · Jul 20, 2013

Hi, storyweaver.

I really enjoyed reading this. It was pretty, and I liked the idea behind it. You use vivid imagery; I was able to visualize what you were talking about.

That being said, you're right, it does need a bit of help.

First of all (I'm going to get this out of the way) it's irritating to read poetry when it is double spaced. If you could change the formatting to single spaced, that would be fabulous.

Welcome to this puddle
where we play,
the one we call the universe.


As first stanzas go, this one falls a little flat. It makes you wait too much to catch your attention. You want the universe to seem small, yes? Give that to us fast. Instead of three lines, make it one line. Try this instead:
Welcome to this puddle of a universe.

Or
Welcome to my puddle: the universe.

Something like that. Make it stronger with less words and lines.

You use "just" a lot. Don't use that. "just" makes the word after smaller, even if you're using it to measure distance. It's a psychological thing. Also, you use "very" in a lot of unneeded ways. Take out those, too.

And you, dear – you are small,
but nothing here
is greater than the depth
of your potential.

I like the first line of this part, but the rest is a bit slow and boring. I want to know exactly how great the potential is. Make a comparison to something great, and spice up your wordplay.

For you have the sky to look to,
the ground to comfort you,
and the very pulse
of atmosphere
pleading you to breathe it in.

That stanza is great. There are just a few things you might consider changing:
1. Omit "for" at the beginning. It weakens the stanza by putting off the point. It'll make quite a difference, actually.
2. omit "very" before pulse. It doesn't do anything for the poem, and it takes the reader out of the world you've created by making it seem like you've tried too hard to make the pulse important. The pulse is important in itself; a pulse is a life source. You don't have to emphasize that anymore than it already is on its own.

The very earth that breaks you

Same advice as above with the "very"

It begs for you to live, to struggle,

Combine this with the previous stanza instead of continuing with the awkward "it" at the beginning of this stanza.

and find a daring handful of your own,
do not forget this day when you felt small,

In order for this part to make grammatical sense, you need to change the comma after own to either a period or a semi-colon.

remember these pleading, desperate words of mine

Tip: don't describe your own words. Take out pleading and desperate because they lessen the value of your words if you describe them with words. Stephen King once said that
The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out.
Your words are diminishing your own words.

just beneath that little atmospheric sheet,

"that little" isn't quite doing it for me. Try this, perhaps:
beneath the dwarfed atmospheric sheet


I'm not feeling how you started your last stanza with "and." Combine it with the previous stanza and make it one big sentence. If you move around some things in that stanza, it'll be grammatically correct, too! I'd do it like this, though you can find a different way if you would like.
We are the ungainly philosophers
of a ponderous world in our tiny house
beneath the dwarfed atmospheric sheet,
where the sun shines in and seeps through
every gap and tooth of our breaking smiles,
two beings half-lost, haphazardly daring
to endure;
.
what could be better than being


Really, though, your imagery blew me away. I love the sun seeping through breaking smiles and pulsing atmospheres. I can't wait to see this poem when it's a little more compact. I hope that this review was helpful to you. Happy poeting!

Thanks magpie! I actually didn't double-space this initially, it did something very funny to the format when I posted it (I'll go back and revise later). I really appreciate the tweaks and critiques, because there are just little bits and pieces I'm not quite happy with...it doesn't feel quite "cohesive" just yet. Again, thank you! xxx

User avatar
aouther2b
Review
aouther2b wrote a review Review · Jul 20, 2013

Oh god, this is what poetry is all about! I feel honored to get to review it!

What I liked: (besides EVERYTHING)

1. The flow. It is so smooth. For no rhyme scheme and no constant format, this piece just flows so smoothly. How did you do that?!?

2. The imagery. I can't even begin to express how much I loved the imagery of this piece. You brought a whole new picture to mind with your description of the earth. Just perfection.

3. The emotion. In long or short stanzas you got your idea and your emotion across. It is so hard not to have feels for this piece.

What I didn't like:
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!

Overall:
You drew me in and kept me there. I don't know what it is exactly about this piece but I am in love with it. NEVER stop writing like this, ever. You have a real talent and it is clearly seen here. AMAZING JOB and please KEEP WRITING!

Aw, thank you, you're positively lovely.xxx

ScandalousPhoenix wrote a review Review · Jul 20, 2013

'Ello!

First off, wow. Beautiful. This literally took my breath away. All the metaphors and imagery... this was phenomenal. So uplifting! I will try my best to edit this but this already seems perfect!!


"Welcome to this puddle

where we play,

the one we call the universe."


Nothing wrong I could find here! LOVE the metaphor here!!
.

"Welcome to this house that strays, (add a comma here for the reader to take a break)

just a transparent distance above the earth. (I personally think a period works better than a comma.)

Just above the thousands of miles,

of brimstone and amalgam

burning up beneath our feet.


Great! Fantastic!
I think you could make this into a stanza, for it feels as a natural break.


"And you, dear – you are small,

but nothing here,

is greater than the depth,

of your potential."


Beautiful! So many feelings in one little stanza!!

.

"And how dare you –

how dare you! (To amplify this "dare" but an exclamation mark.)

Be anything,

but brilliant?"


I really have nothing to say other than holy poop wow.


.

"For you have the sky to look to,

the ground to comfort you,

and the very pulse

of atmosphere

pleading you to breathe it in."

.
This seriously has to be my favorite line EVER.



"The very earth that breaks you,

begs for your forgiveness."

.
fsdfjas;jfda;sjdfa;lsjfas why must you be so good at this?!?!


"It begs for you to live, to struggle,

to endure."

( I think you can take out this and and make this into a line)

As you walk its thousand paths.

and find a daring handful of your own,


(To put more "umph" maybe make this into a new stanza and so it's not too long)

Do not forget this day when you felt small.

This day when you could not feel,

the earth’s heartbeat beneath the burning soil;


Remember these pleading, desperate words of mine.

when I tell that you are momentary,

but we are worth more than our mortality's

clockwork hearts.


I am total fan of your works now.

.

"We are the ungainly philosophers,

of a ponderous world,

and here we are, in our tiny house

just beneath that little atmospheric sheet,

where the sun shines in and seeps through

every gap and tooth of our breaking smiles,

two beings half-lost, haphazardly daring

to endure."


This stanza looks to long but it's perfect agh you don't need editing.


.

"And what could be better than being

so infinitely small that, for an instant,

we can hide away and simply be:


New Stanza, yes?


"A brilliant whisper,

a waning echo

of eternity?"


This poem! The feels! Perfect! Truly great! Do you mind if I spread this around? I love this so so so so so so so much! I couldn't find anything to edit except maybe format!!

I LOVE THIS POEM. PERFECT. BEAUTY.

I would LOVE to read more of your poems!! <333
I am now a HUGE fan of you.
Hope that's not creepy...
Okay, I'm done

Bye!

~ScandalousPhoenix

Thank you so much! I truly appreciate this. I can't even put it into words how happy this review makes me. xxx



In a dream you are never eighty.
— Anne Sexton