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On Sat, 7 Oct 2000, Andrew Jackson wrote... >I'm troubled though, as to the final product, and the effect this >'final' 4th stanza has on the poem as a whole. You *do* make sense, Andy, and I take your point. I'm not sure, though, that I agree with your (tentative) conclusion that the poem shouldn't be published or propagated because of its nature. It doesn't advocate or celebrate violence; in fact, it doesn't contain any violence, just the suggestion of the possibility. By the manner in which I posted it here, I made that interpretation overt, but if it appeared in a journal without that 'prod', I think anyone who read it that way would have to recognise that the 'dark side' was being supplied to some extent by themselves. If that made them uncomfortable, I don't think I'd be unhappy. I *would* be unhappy if the poem had a tendency to make people inured to violence, to make them more comfortable living in a world which contains it. But I think the poem, if it has any effect, has the opposite one. If one were going to refrain from publishing my poem for the reasons you give, one would certainly have to steer well clear of Browning's "My Last Duchess" (for example) wouldn't one? However, that's what I think at the moment, and I shall certainly consider your point further before I offer the poem to a publisher (if I ever do.) Best, -- Peter http://www.hphoward.demon.co.uk/poetry/ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%