the dirt i cant clean

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Bright red, turquoise dirty wheels, and a P on the back short for penny.

My penny board it hurts to look at it, my feelings are like a small cup being over flowed hot coffee burning me and the kettle has every ounce of frustration a person could reach...

not only does that skateboard remind me hurting my leg one time and that i don't know how to ride it it reminds me of the day the child cried because her little happiness was killed

the night was cold even though it was close to summer,dark but not enough to turn this into a fairy tale

with no stars out how can I wish? 

frozen not just because of the cold but because I couldn't believe it was real, 4 arms 2 aren't mine and the other 2 shaking

the penny board now in my room collecting dust , when i fix and clean her would the memories go away?

the scratches on top will remind me of my leg, the p will remind me i don't know how to ride it, the wheels so dirty will remind me of you  

Comments & reviews · 3
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Hijinks
Review
Hijinks wrote a review · Sun Jun 28, 2020 7:08 pm

Hello apricot! I'm here for a review, courtesy of review day!

You use some interesting imagery and language in this poem, but I feel like it's lacking consistency on several levels.

Firstly, I honestly can't tell what the message or subject of this poem is. It seems to have some generally negative emotions, perhaps some memories of past experiences or friendships, but there isn't quite enough for the reader to figure out what the poem is about. Why does the penny board create such bad feelings for the narrator? Who is "the child" who cried because her happiness was killed? What "night" was dark? Why does it matter? What memories does the penny board bring that the narrator wants to go away? A bit of ambiguity isn't a bad thing, but you definitely need the thoughts to progress in a way that makes sense to the reader, so that they can actually emphasize with the narrator and feel their emotions.

Second, the punctuation and capitalization is inconsistent. We start the poem capitalizing each line/sentence, but without warning we switch to not capitalizing anything. There's nothing wrong with not capitalizing, but if you're going to do that you want to make sure the entire poem is written that way, so that it doesn't seem like a mistake or error on behalf of the poet. In addition, only some of the sentences end with periods, so I would recommend ending all or none of the sentences with periods.

The imagery also isn't super consistent - some is quite literal, some seems to be figurative, and some isn't really fully explained - but that is more of a personal choice, so if you're going for a disjointed feel to the poem then that's up to you. I will say you do have some very interesting descriptions,

dark but not enough to turn this into a fairy tale

I find this one really intriguing, and I think if you went in to some more detail that would be really cool!

frozen not just because of the cold but because I couldn't believe it was real

This also piques my curiosity! Frozen from disbelief is an interesting concept, and again, one that I would love to see expanded upon!

Overall, this needs some polishing, but you've got some interesting ideas that could make a really nice finished product. I hope this review helps, and if you've got any questions just ask!

whatchamacallit


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alliyah
Review
alliyah wrote a review · Tue Jun 09, 2020 2:21 am

Hi there apricot! Hope you're having a good day, just stopping by to leave a quick review.

Form
So I'm normally a minimalist with punctuation and capitalization, though I always urge consistency since it makes a piece seem more polished and put together, and also helps establish a logical pattern that readers can find so that they can better rely on the author without getting distracted. I would recommend putting an apostrophe in "can't" in the title since you use apostrophes in your actual poem (ie. "don't") also here should be space after the comma in "summer,dark" -- I couldn't figure out what your pattern for capitalization was, there didn't seem to be once, so I would recommend taking a second look at that.

While poetry doesn't have to be divided up into neat line breaks and stanzas, this felt a bit more like a short story than a poem - maybe try adding a few more poetic devices to really highlight the poetic feeling.

Meaning
I like the concept of a collection of memories inspired by something as simply as a penny board, but I think this didn't end up resolving into an impactful point, so might need a second look.

Next, I think there were some continuity issues, I really couldn't follow the line of logic in this piece; what was the significance of the colors at the beginning? what does the speaker mean by "her little happiness was killed" ? That's pretty strong ominous language, is she referring to her leg getting hurt? Maybe do a scene to flash-back to that?

Clarity
A few more lines I couldn't follow, "I couldn't believe it was real, 4 arms 2 aren't mine and the other 2 are shaking" - what? that's odd? what happened?

Also I really am struggling to understand this metaphor

my feelings are like a small cup being over flowed hot coffee burning me and the kettle has every ounce of frustration a person could reach...


^ is the "kettle" also the "cup"? are you saying "My feelings are like pouring coffee on myself" I'm not following what's being said there, so if you could maybe add some clarity that'd help out that metaphor.

Overall
Overall, I think you've got a unique concept, and prose-poetry can be a blast to experiment with. I'm thinking that if you clarify some of the lines that are a bit loose it'll bring the piece together more, and a bit more continuity with the meaning will also be able to make it more impactful.

Keep on writing! :)

~alliyah

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Em16
Review
Em16 wrote a review · Mon Jun 08, 2020 6:56 pm

Wow. I love all the imagery in this. Great job compiling a lot of different ideas and events and putting them all together. I love the way it starts and finished with the penny board; it adds some continuity to the story, like it’s coming full circle. You also had a raw, emotional narrative voice, and I felt like I really connected with the narrator.
However, at times the story did feel a little vague. There were moments where I didn’t know what was going on, even though I knew how the narrator was feeling. For example, where you write “4 arms 2 aren’t mine”. I understand the feeling of disbelief, but at the same time I’m confused. 4 arms? I’d need a little more explanation to fully accept what is going on. I’d also like to hear more about the penny board. I looked it up, and Google said it was a type of skateboard (is that right?). I would suggest making it clear what the penny board is, and what it looks like. It’s clearly very important, and so I think starting with a description of all the little intricacies of the penny board would add to the story. That way the reader can get a good picture of it in their head.
In addition, I felt like the connection between memories was shaky. It seemed like your brain was just going from one memory to another, without any sort of coherent idea or theme. What do all these memories have in common? How do they relate to one another?
Overall, I would suggest elaborating on and organizing the details of the story.

the point a little was to be vague and let the person think what happened but i don't think i carried that well lol and the connections each memory had was the skateboard so idk how i would link them but thank u so much for this it helps me whenever someone lets me know where i can improve %uD83D%uDC4C



Be happy, my friend; and if you obey me in this one request, remain satisfied that nothing on earth will have the power to interrupt my tranquility.
— Mary Shelley, Frankenstein