Ooh, an old piece jumps into the green room? And on review month too?
For the record, you've posted this under poetry, but I didn't read it as such. And that's good for two reasons: I'm not be poetry fan; and your piece works really well without the poetry label.
The thing I like most about the piece is the straightforwardness of the dialogue shrouded in the vague setting. The way you've talked about the issues "as-a-matter-of-fact-ly" really makes them hit hard, even to readers who may not relate. I especially like how you reference the coldness of the definitions you've listed out. This, combined with the fact that the reader has no idea who the "questioner" or "answerer" is really lets the premise form itself into whatever the reader interprets it as. I think that's why your piece works so well.
Moving on to criticism, which lies mainly in structure:
I would really suggest that you only type "questioner:" or "answerer:" at the beginning of lines where the speaker changes. Putting it on every line looks horrendously clunky, and doesn't add anything to the reader's understanding. We know who's talking for now. If anything, it just distracts the reader!
Instead of this:
"Questioner: Why do I feel like my problems are smothering me?
Answerer: You're anxious.
Answerer: Experiencing worry, unease, nervousness, about an imminent event with an uncertain outcome.
Answerer: It is the definition, but it doesn't tell you much, it can stress you out and then make you numb.
Questioner: Why do I experience it? I know its not just me.
Questioner: The weight of the world? "
Try this:
Questioner: Why do I feel like my problems are smothering me?
Answerer: You're anxious.
Experiencing worry, unease, nervousness, about an imminent event with an uncertain outcome.
It is the definition, but it doesn't tell you much, it can stress you out and then make you numb.
Questioner: Why do I experience it? I know its not just me -- the weight of the world?
It just makes the whole thing look cleaner and more efficient. You'd obviously need to restructure sentences based on how you want them to read, but the massive repetition of speaker tags is just unnecessary.
The other thing is that you need to use punctuation, even in direct speech! Use commas instead of line breaks. It makes it easier on the reader if they read something that's like what they're used to!
Besides those gripes, I really enjoyed this abstract conversation. Its openness to interpretation is really its strong-point
Points: 13147
Reviews: 108
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