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the night
Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2004 10:54 pm
by greta
maybe this poem is over-emotional but i'll take a risk and post it. I'm ready for your comments. positive and negative
the night
is all around me
it calls me
it feeds me
and this cage
they call a room
cannot keep me
silent or still
i run into the black
the city is sleeping
surrounded by the dark
i'm so happy i'm weeping
by heart is bursting
my love unreturned
i kneel to the ground
i cry to be heard:
"I'm not like them,
i'm lonely and i'm dying!
i'm tired of acting!
how long can i pretend?"
and when the night ends
like it never was
in my heart
i'm clean and ready
for the cruelness of
another sunny day.
Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2004 11:21 pm
by lizzytysh
Hi Greta ~
I like how you've captured the relief that the night can bring. I like your second verse very much, with "cannot keep me / silent or still."
In the first line of your 5th verse, I'd separate out "I'm" into "I am," as it stresses with emphasis that you're 'different.' It also makes the verse balanced, as the 2nd and 3rd lines have "I'm" and then the 4th line has not contractions and asks "...can I...". For some reason, I'd change "cruelness" to "cruelty," as it reads more smoothly and, somehow, is more concise, just prior to your surprize [but accurate] and contrasting ending of "another sunny day."
There are a couple other areas that could somehow be smoother, but I have no suggestions for them. Overall, I still like the movement of leaving your room, going into the street, kneeling to the ground, and then readying yourself for another day.
~ Lizzy
Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 2:01 am
by LaurieAK
Greta~
I like the cyclic connotations of your poem. For me, very relatable.
Gawd knows, there can be nothing crueler than a sunny day.
I don't think this is over-emotional. It reads to me like a well familiar plight put into words and forming a nicely writ poem. Hope getting it down was at least as comforting as a good pair of sunglasses
Thanks for sharing! Laurie
Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 3:23 am
by witty_owl
Greta, you are "not like them". Great! Don't ever become like them. Don't adopt the mode of pretense. We are all 'alone' and dying and yes sometimes lonely. Alone is a fact of existence. Lonely is a state of mind/spirit. It is easier to become a resigned pretender than it is to be open and truthfull but being real is superior no matter how tough things may be.
Hold on and not to worry about being emotional.
Kind regards, Witty Owl.
Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:22 pm
by Iubita
dear Greta,
your poem touch me so deep...
you are not" like them"...the people who pretend they are not expressing their emotions as you did very well...I love the whole idea of your poem, but really love this part...
by heart is bursting
my love unreturned
i kneel to the ground
i cry to be heard:
"I'm not like them,
i'm lonely and i'm dying!
i'm tired of acting!
how long can i pretend?"
this is the power of the poetry...giving us the right to kneel and cry loudly about our inner feelings...cleaning our soul and mind...for a while...
but there are so many nights ahead for crying...and so many sunny days to pass...
thanks a lot for sharing your beautiful poem with us...and please, keep yourself emotional...for me this means to be alive...
Love, Iubita
Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:47 pm
by lizzytysh
Dear Greta ~
As Byron has adapted the phrase, "I think; therefore, I am" to "I feel; therefore, I am."
Love,
Lizzy
Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 7:25 pm
by greta
wow i never expected to get such positive responses. Thanks. I'll try to stay emotional and not become like "them"
@Lizzy:
I know the poem is a bit rough..i wrote it very quickly and i read it through only once. I'd change it but... right now i can't really touch the poem because it was written in the heat of the moment.
Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 9:44 pm
by lizzytysh
Hi Greta ~
I wholly understand. Actually, I suspect many suggestions given on the poems here go unheeded. After all, if it captured for you the moment, then it's likely it's how it should stay. A very personal decision. And, of course, I presume you know I'm not being critical, but rather 'suggestive.' I like your poem very much, and as the others have already expressed, I
certainly have no problem with its emotion

. I've been where your poem and you were.
~ Lizzy
Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 9:32 am
by Epurcelly
Hey Greta,
Very crisp writing. Not over-emotional. I do not belive that is possible.
"... surrounded by the dark i'm so happy i'm weeping"
The blues make you feel good because connections are made.
Thanks.
Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 11:35 am
by Epurcelly
Was reading over again... Not only beautiful writing from Greta but Iubita's response is inspiring as well. Thanks you guys...

your poem and Neruda
Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2004 7:20 pm
by Sandra
Hello Greta, your poem remembers me this of Pablo Neruda:
"La noche entera
con un hacha
me ha golpeado el dolor,
pero el sueño
pasó lavando como una gota oscura
piedras ensangrentadas.
Hoy de nuevo estoy vivo.
De nuevo
te levanto
vida,
sobre mis hombros.
................................