7 hours ago
(11-15-2025, 08:04 PM)MidaPoems Wrote: The Waking NightmareThank you for sharing this MidPoems. This is my first attempt at an intensive critique, so I hope it meets your needs. I note your comments in your signature.
Awake, yet dreaming.
A single flash of eyelids— You're attempting, in my read of this, to evoke the blink of an eye, but I find this personally an awkward phrasing.
A whole life passes. This feels cliché. A life passes in the blink of an eye. I'd play with this more.
Esoteric,
The weight of
Suffering
That shouldn’t be mine. I find it hard to read poetry that capitalizes the first word but also contains standard punctuation. I wonder if the flow would be easier to follow without all the caps. I know this is a debate!
To live so many lives
In so little time—
So long—
It makes me scratch, From here, the poem becomes more physical in parts. I think this is more visceral and evokes more sensation for the reader.
Not my eyes,
For I fear I’d never
Live my own
Again.
So I scratch my face instead,
Fingers bleeding,
As horror spreads—
The muted horror
Of humanity. I like where the poem goes at the end - to the witnessing of horror across humanity vs individual horror, but it arrives quite abruptly. Above there's an implication of carrying others' suffering but it feels more personal, as in the suffering of those in our lives.
My signature explains my style. Yet I want to know if my wording is alright. If the depth of the layers holds true.
I like the concept of your poem - that our lives flash by before us and we often carry the weight of others. The idea of scratching your face because you don't want to scratch how you witness your own life is interesting. But, I think the poetry relies too much on cliche to carry this through, so it doesn't really convey any emotion to me as a reader. I'd love to see you focus more on the physical sensations and move beyond what's currently here. We get a hint of this at the end.

