So Boldly We'll Go

[S.M. Bondurant]

Hi, SM, Welcome.

I'm no expert on forms but I have been trying to learn to work with refrains. For me the interest lies in turning the refrain into alternative meanings, to join them with the lines above and below to give different meanings to the same words.

If you'd like you can check the Poetry Practice threads here and read what some posters have done with refrains. It's quite a challenge.

Hi Ellajam,

Thank you for the welcome and also for the feedback. Since writing this piece, I've had the suspicion that I should actually just chop off that whole last stanza completely. The line that doesn't make sense to you (time will play tyrant but we will not quell) was supposed to reference how time marches on inevitably, but that it should be rebelled against. However, I don't think that shows through very well in the wording and I'm not actually sure it adds a whole lot. Also the word I used to rhyme against it (travail), I was never completely sure that I liked in the piece at all.

There are some other small things that bother me about this piece, and I know that it needs a bit of a rewrite, but I wanted to have more outside opinions on it first to find out just how deep that rewrite needs to be. The poetry I've always liked the best has moved some emotion in me, a little or a lot, when I read it, so I guess my biggest question to people before I delve into rewriting this would be: did you feel anything when you read it, or did it amount to nothing more than some words tossed together? I can't see my attempt at this being complete until I can feel like it does something inside of the people reading it.

Thank you again for your input.

Edit: Oh, and I will check out the practice forums, too. I've been meaning to do that since signing up. More practice is never a bad thing.

I want to answer your question about whether or not I felt anything reading your poem. I'm a writer and reader who enjoys an emotional core in a poem and this one did not come through for me. I think the reason is twofold. First I think you've used so many cliches that there was no new use of language that grabbed me, they sort of sucked the life out of it. An example:

hands held so tightly that we cannot fail

Hands held tightly is a cliche, there must be some new way the describe the closeness two people feel. Which leads me to the second problem I have with the poem, which is that for me it read like a list. You told me but never gave me an inside track into what makes those people close or what they have faced or will face.

The other problem I have with that line is it doesn't make sense to me. People can hold hands tightly and fall on their faces or off a cliff, it does not ensure success.

Enough? I hope this came off as constructive as I meant it. Keep at it.

Fear not, your criticism is very constructive. I feel like I know so little at this point and I fall into so many beginner's traps, that most any thoughtful criticism will be of great help.

Thank you for answering the question I set out.

Everything you say makes sense. It does read like a list a bit, I agree, and my insight for you into that is because this was something that I wrote for someone specific, the woman in my life. She, of course, already knows what makes us close and what we've faced.

That may also explain why you find some very overly romanticized notions in there such as holding hands so tight that you cannot fail. You're right, it doesn't make much sense in a logical context.

But for that reason, because she is that woman in my life, I want to make this piece into something more for her. I suppose that means practice, practice, practice and read, read, read.

I do use a lot of cliches, and this is something that I should work on.

I hope the next time you see this particular piece, I've moved it closer to being able to grab at some emotion in you.

Thank you again for your time and your advice! The honest criticism helps a lot.