Doubt

by klennon14

Published March 1, 2016

E - Everyone

In Poetry

Note: You can go ahead and butcher me, because I know this is all over the place. Suggestions please?

Doubting my latest ambitions

Even though I know my soul is driven

I’ve ripped through the pages of

Safe havens and bitten the riddles

Paralyzed with the thought of who I’ve become

Even though I don’t know who I’m running from

Saving my time for bigger tides

Waves washing over kingdom come

And now you know

that I’ve been lying to you

Now you know

that I’ve been dying to just

Leave my past behind

Lead my clumsy footing

to the path that’s right

But I will keep tripping up

on the words that pull the rug

from underneath my two left feet

stumbling down onto my knees

I’ve bitten the head of the beast that’s inside

But what I don’t know is where I will hide

when the resurrection begins to ignite

When the fire is hissing and burns out the light

I’ve labeled this rhythm as nothing I’ve hidden

What’s thrown under covers is fighting for freedom

I’ve tried to bite back all the words that I’ve written

but they keep rearing up like a wolf that has risen

The ending is near, I feel the beat thumping

What is lost is my trace of sanity, so stop me

from making mistakes that I keep on repeating

The lord has given me a gift that is poisoning me.

Comments & reviews · 3
User avatar
Pernicus
Review
Pernicus wrote a review Review · Mar 3, 2016

So here, I'm not going to be like one of those reviewers that starts off with some kind of feel good compliment. There is a lot wrong with this poem. It isn't without it's problems but it needs some work. You start off strong, a lot of symbolic and literal meaning. Your intentions are clear. You're distressed, ambitious but nervous. Gifted but challenged. You seek to move on and create. But you fear failure and loss. Towards the middle it starts to go downhill with the rhyming.

You start to feel the need to rhyme and it subtracts from the message of the poem, causes complications. I've said it before in reviews and I will repeat it now, rhyme is secondary to the message for 90% of good poems, the exceptions mainly being children's poems. For a poem that started so strong and meaningful I feel you gave in to the urge to rhyme and started using second rate word choices just to get the rhymes.

For example "when the resurrection begins to ignite"
I mean this makes no sense, grammatically and metaphorically. I could extract some meaning from it, but nothing very coherent. Seriously though, rhyme is good if it doesn't subtract from the meaning, but the second you have to choose a weird word just for a rhyme the poem begins to lose meaning and punch. Like a previous reviewer pointed out, you tend to have some overlapping meanings, like repeating the same meaning word twice in the same line.

I honestly feel this poem could've ended better after the line "to the path that’s right"
after that it becomes quite a melodrama soaked rag. Unnecessary poetic attempts at flourish.
I like the title, I like the message behind it, but it was subtracted from by rhyme. If you can keep the meaning and rhyme as well, then by all means do it. But make sure you're not sacrificing meaning and sense for it. Enjoyed reading, keep writing and improving.

Hi there! Thanks a lot for the review. I realize there are a lot of holes in this poem, and I did mention in the note above I am aware that it is all over the place. This is a very rough, rough draft. I thank you for your advice and feedback, it's helpful to get inside the reader's head and see which parts are most confusing or muddled.

User avatar
BookOholic22
Review
BookOholic22 wrote a review Review · Mar 2, 2016

Heya klennon!!
Now your poem really had a sense of expression.
Your title 'doubt' is really attractive and truely attracts a reader!
Now coming to suggestions
I think that u should use more synonyms. Because as what i have learned about poems, according to me poems which rhyme are more close to people's heart than those don't.
Though i would like to mention that i truely liked your ending!!
Keep writing!!

Thank you so much!

User avatar
Tammi
Review
Tammi wrote a review Review · Mar 2, 2016

Hello! (get ready for being killed)
I LIKE YOUR POEM. not to mention how good i felt and how i could relate myself with the content which has been so creatively put in form of poetry.
Coming to the suggestions, here are a few
1) 4th line if you write haven it means its safe, no need to add the word safe.
2)can you please explain me the meaning of -"two left feet"?its not clear.
3) Next time you write, make sure you do it in a proper sequence, this if undoubtedly good but trust me the last 3 stanzas made an impact because of their flow.
4) use synonyms of words rather than repeating the words. Like using the word bite and bitten, etc.

Now i cannot find any ways to criticize this magnificent poem. I love the way you have added alliteration in many lines, rhyming scheme(it enchants me) and of course the theme and many other tiny details that maybe i forgot to notice.

lastly just one thing to say,

keep writing mate..

(I don't mind being critiqued- that's what we do on here :))
Thank you so much for all of the support and the helpful suggestions!

2) The meaning of two left feet just means clumsy feet. (You say "mate" often times in your reviews so I'm guessing you are Australian or British. Having two left feet is an American saying, I suppose?)

Anyway, thanks so much for the review! Much appreciated.

Tammi replied · Mar 3, 2016

I am an Indian..:P



“Can a magician kill a man by magic?” Lord Wellington asked Strange. Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. “I suppose a magician might,” he admitted, “but a gentleman never could.”
— Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell