The Slam: Slammables

Srosbeck’s Modern Poetry Course

by daisy, Massachusetts

Inscribed in the cover
Dickinson collection
Published 1961

It smells perfect
Each unbleached page
Cradles her youth

Under
Grad

Under
Lined

Under
Grass

Page 36

Where she dutifully penned in the margin
Dread of winter

Slammings

Your poem is pretty mysterious. The first stanza sounds like it's about someone's mother's old schoolbook, but the lines, "It smells perfect / Each unbleached page" are a perfect description of the way new books feel and smell. At first that led me to think it was an old book that was never used, but I realized that wasn't the case at the end, when you mention it was written in.

 

I think your poem would read better without the "Under / Grad / Under / Line / Under / Grass" lines because they are confusing and detract from the nostalgic atmosphere of the poem.

critiqued by fountain-pen, France
Jul 27, 2010