Monday, January 11, 2010

The Old Woman Explained, Pulling on Her Sweater at a Red Lobster in Plantation, Florida

I don't wear it for the warmth;
I wear it for the color.
This color gives me life.
Only it's so heavy! It practically pulls me
right down to the cellar!
But this color. This color
gives me life.

1 comment:

  1. I love the idea for the long title, but I would consider one without punctuation, and the city/state is a bit unnecessary. Maybe something like "Pulling On Her Sweater At A Red Lobster In Florida."

    Little things: colon instead of semicolon in the first line, i think. Perhaps some more extravagant enjambing, most notably in lines four and five (one suggestion would be "Only it's so / heavy! It pulls me" - the omission of practically leaves the action more stated and, since it's obviously an overstatement, gets rid of an unnecessary word).

    But those are just little qualms. You've hit on a wonderful poetic vein in your last few, Willy. Simple statements that breathe pathos without the pathetic, and a very easy voice of natural language/colloquialism without cliche. I love the repeated phrase of "This color gives me life" broken differently.

    Great stuff.

    ReplyDelete