Ashes

[ChristopherSea]

Overall, I like this poem a lot. It’s my favorite of the week. Here are some observations and reactions to your piece:

On first read, I was not sure of all the 'maybe's, but with subsequent reads they appeared to settle into the background. In the first stanza you could replace the ‘amber’ (although colorful) with something more significant. I was thinking ‘vestigial’ or ‘lingering.'


In stanza two, ‘that chewed’ might suffice. 


‘Dentist/he stole’ rings a bit off. What about, ‘he pulled’. It might play well with ‘your wisdom’. 


In stanza three ‘skin dust’ could be replaced and be more accurate with ‘dander.’


In stanza 4 do you really want ‘secrete’ as in ‘secretion’? If so, ‘secretion' may fare better.


In your closing stanza, ‘bedbugs’ seems inaccurate for your couch. I think ‘dust mites’ would be more apropos. 


Also, I am uncertain about ‘bleach’ for your disinfectant. ‘insecticide’ or ‘pesticide’ or something in that vein 
might work better and save the couch.


Finally, your title may not incorporate your theme as well as it could. Some other dusty synonym 
like ‘particles’ or ‘residue’ may work. See what you think.


All in all a fine piece, I hope you find something useful in this critique for your next edit.

Cheers/Chris