 |
 |
Hi there Peter, With most folk I thought the poem worked best without the 5th stanza. I'm troubled though, as to the final product, and the effect this 'final' 4th stanza has on the poem as a whole. It's difficult to express -- I think I feel uneasy about a poem whose frisson depends (or perhaps involves / suggests) upon the notion of potential violence against women. I mean the power of this poem (in 4-stanza form) is gained from the feeling that the narrator is capable of such thoughts / acts -- no matter how ambiguous the reading may be, no matter how open to personal reading . . . . it's there, as a suggestive inference within the poem's structure. I can only approach this particular issue on a personal level -- if I wrote this poem, I would be pleased with the effect, but I would have serious doubts as to whether I should publish -- due to the fact that the 'effect' (tension) created depends on the reader's sense / knowledge / experience of violence against women in particular . . . and I'm not at all sure whether I would want this kind of literary / imaginative effect to be propagated, given the awful nature of the subject. Am I making sense? I am concerned about the links between a 'powerful' poem and 'power'. Despite the fact that this effect has been created unintentionally / unconsciously, I would argue against this type of poem being included in a collection -- for the reason that, by way of seemingly innocent artifice, it depends on real horrors for its success as a poem. Again, this is just my personal take on the issue -- I feel there is some element of moral responsibility with regard to a writer and what they decide to publish . . . the dark side is there, but as soon as others are implicated or involved, it becomes a different matter . . . a matter of scruples, perhaps. Anyway -- a complex issue, which I for one would seriously have to consider with regard to this sort of poem (perhaps moreso since it *is* a good poem). Andy %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%