Af447

[PrinceMyshkin]

What was it like
the moment before
the moment when–

Everything was solid,
no doubt, as the essence of our lives
is solid,
the floors always firm
beneath our feet,
enduring friendships,
nations, love...

The couple in the row ahead of you
were engaged in a lovers’ quarrel,
across the aisle, a few rows back
another couple, having resolved their dispute,
were serene in the broad sky
of their love through which
they were flying, effortlessly
into the future
the way good wishes
fly from the sender
to those for whom they are meant..

There may have been a rumble
or two of what was to come,
some yawing and pitching,
the foretaste of death we feel
which had passed
many times before
and hopefully would pass once again.

A baby played in its mother’s lap
or squirmed, cranky
for any one of those 101 reasons
a baby can be cranky,
colicky, frustrated
at being restrained
the moment before
the moment when–

[The Walker]

I'm not really sure if i understand this one. Are you talking about the airplane that was lost in the Atlantic recently?

[qimissung]

Yes, he is.

I like this, Prince. It touches that aching part of oneself that longs to go back and undo-but there is no going back, and there is no 'undo' button to push.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Yes, he is.

I like this, Prince. It touches that aching part of oneself that longs to go back and undo-but there is no going back, and there is no 'undo' button to push.

Yes, that's the feeling that was with me as I wrote it, something like What's the effing use of writing a poem about this because no matter how many are written or how good they might be, they aren't even remotely going to revise or erase that event.i

[AdrianLeverkuhn]

These tragedies are always something we think of happening to other people. Prince, you really put a human face on something that has been abstract to me and make it feel personal.

[AuntShecky]

What really happens during the milliseconds before a tragedy one can only speculate, along with the hope that the event occurred so quickly that the victims were not really conscious of their imminent end, and thus did not suffer.

As to the piece itself, once again it is an illustration of putting an abstract thought into concrete form with specific imagery, which is what poetry is supposed to do. As the piece stands, it packs an emotional punch.

[PrinceMyshkin]

What really happens during the milliseconds before a tragedy one can only speculate, along with the hope that the event occurred so quickly that the victims were not really conscious of their imminent end, and thus did not suffer.

As to the piece itself, once again it is an illustration of putting an abstract thought into concrete form with specific imagery,

much as I appreciate your comments here and elsewhere, I wonder if you expected me to take aim at:


which is what poetry is supposed to do. As the piece stands, it packs an emotional punch.

I wonder how you can write the fluent, witty or spontaneous-sounding poems you do if you begin with a set of supposed tos? As it is said of the centipede, if it pondered which foot it was supposed to begin with, it might remain where it was until it died of starvation.

Myself, I begin with a series of hopes/intentions, that my poem

amuse people, or
move them, or
have dignity, or
music....

and quite often I'm aware that my 'poems' are little more than spoken outbursts or spontaneous speech, punctuated/highlighted by line-breaks.

[AuntShecky]

if you begin with a set of supposed tos?

Nah, nobody begins a poem with presuppositions; it's more after-the-fact. Occasionally we'll read something and say, "Oh, yeah-- that's exactly what a poem should ('is supposed to') do.

Maybe we begin with a phrase or an image and run with it just to see what happens.


and quite often I'm aware that my 'poems' are little more than spoken outbursts or spontaneous speech, punctuated/highlighted by line-breaks.

Who told you that? Tell him or her I've got a nice lunch ready for 'im -- a knuckle sandwich!

[PrinceMyshkin]

Who told you that? Tell him or her I've got a nice lunch ready for 'im -- a knuckle sandwich!

Well, thank you, Auntie, and back to the supposed tos, it's maybe the belated adolescent rebel in me that bristles whenever I hear that I'm supposed to do this or that.

If I were to nominate a "supposed to" of my own re poems, it would be A poem is supposed to be unlike any other poem that's ever been wrtten!

(Just kidding.... mostly.)

[blazeofglory]

This poem speaks of something ingrained in us and could not be said.

[PrinceMyshkin]

These tragedies are always something we think of happening to other people. Prince, you really put a human face on something that has been abstract to me and make it feel personal.

Thank you. That is very much what I hoped to do.