Lost Lady of the South

[Jassy Melson]

You know that your world
has crumbled around you.
Your armies have been defeated,
a way of life is coming to an end
and a new world is beginning.
But you also know there is no way
that you can fit in to this new world
of commerce and free people.
So you walk up the graceful staircase
to the second floor of your mansion
with the Greek columns in front,
and you look at some pictures
and read some letters that were written
to one of your beaus years ago.
You sigh, but you realize
there is no turning back,
your world is ended--
gone with the wind--
so you take the case
from the closet and open it
and pull out the pistol
and point it at the fair curls
on your head.

[Bewlay Brother]

My first thought when reading this was Breaking Bad HEISENBERG. But hmm, it's probably more likely to be about Scarlett? Especially considering the title, and the name drop.

Or is the gone with the wind line just a tribute, and the poem is about a hypothetical female that was involved in the slave trade?

I'm not sure about the use of second person, especially if it is about a lady killing herself over slavery. Because that has some white guilt implications, IMO. Even if I'm way off on the particular circumstances of this suicide, I think the use of second person diminishes the power of the poem. Vivid imagery would be a more effective way to insert the reader into the poem. "You" is harder to take seriously, especially if the reader has never had serious suicidal thoughts.

[virtuoso]

A simple but concise narrative, Jesse! I agree with Belway, you need to use the first person pronouns. She knows the world has crumbled. Her compatriots have died in vain. She cannot fit into the new world. A nice eulogy you have penned.

[Jassy Melson]

Thank you for your comments. I will try to write the poem in first person, and see how it goes.

[Jassy Melson]

The line of "gone with the wind," is just a tribute, and the poem is mainly about a woman who realizes that her whole world has been swept away, and she has neither the power nor the strength to face the new world.