The Watch Man -- version 1.1
#11
(07-01-2016, 12:09 PM)lizziep Wrote:  You are the Watch Man –
    – synchronized –
       on time,
       in rhyme,
       clock chime.

Your ideas are precise
       and p.u.n.c.t.u.a.t.e.d.

Your t's are always perfect,
       a package intact,
       like little perfect crosses.

Your baptism beliefs
    – so streamlined –
       are written
          clean
       in decisive cursive –
          one-sided,
       double spaced on black
          ruled
       tablets – then filed in cold,
          smooth          
       cabinets, in manila envelopes,
          sealed
       with lined, white
          labels.

You are a trash compactor
       feeding yourself archaic decay
       that you force into cubes
       with magnificent effort,
       bending rust
       into sharpened edges.

Oh, dad, what a sin I am to you,
       the foul stench
       of curved flesh
       in your solid, metal cubes –
       the i missing its dot.



Original Version:

You are the Watch Man
  —synchronized—
     on time,
     in rhyme,
     clock chime.

Your ideas are precise
     and p.u.n.c.t.u.a.t.e.d.

Your t's are always perfect,
     a package intact,
     like little perfect crosses.

Your baptism beliefs
  —so streamlined—
     are written clean
     in decisive cursive—
     one sided, double spaced
     on a ruled yellow legal pad—
     then filed neat in gray cabinets,
     in beige manila envelopes,
     sealed with lined, white labels.

You are a compactor,
     feeding yourself archaic decay
     that you force into cubes
     with magnificent effort,
     bending rust
     into sharpened edges.

Oh, dad, what a sin I am to you,
     the foul stench
     of curved flesh
     in your solid, metal cubes—
     the i missing its dot.

(Slight edits in response to feedback, 7/1/16.)
I read this late last night and was gushing with praise.  I typed up comments with my thumbs (using phone) and then something happened and my feedback wouldn't post.  I do not want to get into all the specifics I said all over again.  Sorry but that is just too tiresome   Huh Huh  Let it suffice to say that I love the revised version and I think it is a great poem.  My one suggestion is to bring back the word yellow in your stanza about writing on the lined pads.  I think the yellow is significant because the yellow indicates legal pads, an aspect which is integral to your character IMO.
"Write while the heat is in you...The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with."  --Henry David Thoreau
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Messages In This Thread
The Watch Man -- version 1.1 - by Lizzie - 07-01-2016, 12:09 PM
RE: The Watch Man - by Leanne - 07-01-2016, 04:25 PM
RE: The Watch Man - by Achebe - 07-01-2016, 11:58 PM
RE: The Watch Man - by just mercedes - 07-02-2016, 06:15 AM
RE: The Watch Man - by Lizzie - 07-02-2016, 02:55 PM
RE: The Watch Man - by LunaDeLore - 07-07-2016, 02:10 AM
RE: The Watch Man - by Lizzie - 07-07-2016, 08:19 AM
RE: The Watch Man -- edit 1 - by Lizzie - 07-08-2016, 12:52 PM
RE: The Watch Man -- edit 1 - by LunaDeLore - 07-09-2016, 12:37 AM
RE: The Watch Man -- edit 1 - by Lizzie - 07-09-2016, 03:16 AM
RE: The Watch Man -- edit 1 - by REW - 07-12-2016, 01:01 PM
RE: The Watch Man -- edit 1 - by Lizzie - 07-12-2016, 02:47 PM
RE: The Watch Man -- edit 1 - by REW - 07-13-2016, 01:29 AM



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