The Slam: Slammables
A Note to the Hollow
by CarlNap, Arkansas
Floating castles never lie.
Upon their tongues their truth
curves lithely; we hear not with our ears.
Kindred spirits know no bounds,
yearning to be vermillion and acidic and to
ovulate a dimension of self-creation.
Under concrete domes
I commemorate the fallen.
Artisans compute their souls
never knowing their price.
I'm going to sound ignorant here, but I didn't know half of the words you used. Somehow, though, that made it all the better. I got a feeling -- a feeling I can't even describe -- but I felt it, even though I didn't know what it was. I flowed with words that I didn't know and probably was pronouncing wrong. The poem was amazing, and I hold it in very high esteem.
Feb 9, 2010
I really like how this poem flows and the great ideas and imagery it creates, and I don't think the vocabulary was too much. However, although part of the point of poetry is that not everyone has to understand it the same way, I almost feel like this poem was written for the sake of not making sense to the reader (although you may very well have had a clear idea of what you were writing about). While it is great that you can leave some imagination open to the reader, I feel like you need to add a stanza or maybe just a few phrases anchoring it down on some image that the reader can hold down. When I read an abstract poem I need a familar image to stick in my brain while I sort through the rest of it. Otherwise I have no starting point to interpret it and it doesn't stick in my brain as well. I can tell you have the thoughts and beautiful phrasing of a great poet, but challenge yourself to write something more memorable. This poem made me want to understand it, but I really had to work for it and I'd have liked it better if I got at least a glimmer of meaning on my first read through.
Feb 23, 2010
Slammings