For the Sake of Sounding

I shed my clothes.
Free of the strings
that tangle me to the tide.
I stand,
rooted as the pines,
reckoned to charred
stillness.

There is no rain today.

No rain,
No wind,
Nothing
to calm this raging skin.
Even the rivers
have renounced their
translation.

I kneel,
amongst the silt.
Once yielding comfort,
now nothing more
than muted
debris.
Unsettled in these
restraints

I throw stones,
for the sake of sounding.

Anstey -

Why 'this skin' rather than 'my skin' -- this seems such a personal piece that that disconnection leaps out at me, yet i can't quite find a reason for it?

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stephan

Somday In May -

There is reason for it, for me anyway. Though I won't bore you with the long winded, sometimes rambling explanation.

Derma Kaput -

I'm glad you posted this - I'd seen it previously as the intro to your section of the same name and thought it was a wonderful poem. In fact, it's the first of yours I'd read. As far as "this raging skin" goes, sometimes "this" just adds a detachment that seems applicable to the mood of the poem. I like it and wouldn't have even commented if Stephen hadn't brought it up. To each their own. If you were to expand your own thoughts in this forum, I'm sure it would be interesting. No doubt. I love to read poets' thoughts on their own work. Probably what I like best about this poem is that there seems to be a very personal depth beneath the metaphor, and the feeling of rising out of those entanglements, shedding the translations, is very palpable. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it affects me deeply. My own remembrances perhaps. But that's what a good poem does - it taps the universal and expresses it in a wordless way that resonates through whomever it touches. I can't speak for everyone, but this poem touches me at a very wordless level and I enjoy reading it.

Leanne -

Do you know, as I read this I was thinking "well, that's exactly why you should write" -- words are stones, throw them as far as you can.

I have a logical problem with "that tangle me to the tide". You see, I want this to read "that tangle me in the tide" and yet I also recognise the need to be connected, so I thought what about "tether me to the tide" but then it loses the whole confusion aspect. Have you ever considered kenning this to "that tethertangle me to the tide"? Just musing.

Other than that, the only things I could even mention are a couple of typos in yielding and restraints -- I'd normally send you a PM but the impossibilities of such here are a small price to pay. This really is an excellent piece.

Shannon McEwen -

I like this very much, I actually like the "this skin" versus "my skin", to me it states that although it may be your skin it is sometimes foreign to you, or you are seperated from yourself.

I could be full of poop, but that's my take!

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Life is what happens while you wait for great things.

Life is what happens while you wait for great things.