05-13-2017, 02:46 AM
(05-09-2017, 08:01 AM)Richard Wrote: WanderingHey Richard, I read this poem before & after reading your tip, my interpretation was pretty different both times. Maybe a specific way to identify the character would make it more apparent that this is the same person i.e a name, eye color, or other defining feature? just an idea. There is potiental in having the older and yonguer version of this character speaking to herself, but it does confuse the issue. Alternatively different girls at different ages could metaphorically reveal things about a single life, without the reader reading this as literally one person. On my first read I did realize there was some ambiguity with "her" but didn't understand why, and assumed it was unintended. After reading you comment I understand this as being a meditation on mortality, the way we change with age, and how our lives don't unfold in the way we anticipate. Thnx for sharing.
the winter night
for her for her with the enjambment has nice potential for double meaning here. The night being especially for her, and/or the night as it effects her.
seems sunny and warm I wonder if "is" wouldn't be stronger then "seems"
“Are we almost there?” Makes me think of the comical "are we there yet, are we there yet" trope. After realizing that the girl and the old lady are the same this line carries more weight, and I understand it as the girl rushing her life forward.
asks the little girl Maybe omit little? Girl already denotes that to an extent
her hands shivering
trembling
awaiting a touch
that will never come Very ominous end to this strophe, again different interpretations before/after your tip, but either way it alludes to loneliness, and death for me. The loneliness I never really understand why.
“We're almost there,”
answers the grandmother
the blowing snow blinds her
like a searchlight
so she starts to run Favorite lines of the poem, very vividly I can imagine a bright winter night here. The image is nearly surreal and I think has great potential as a metaphysical space
“I should really go home now,”
says another man's wife I'm assuming this somehow relates to the touch that will never come and though i'm not entirely sure what is trying to be said I like the lines. Theres certainly something cold here.
the wind is loud like someone
shouting
after a lost person again, a gr8 image and simile, chilling really.
her journey ends
just as her day turns into night
or our night into day-
her motionless body
a reminder of life Not sold on this ending, it doesn't feel specific enough for me. I think I would rather have had it end at "or our night into day-"

