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Shakespeare's Monkeys

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Granite and Silk

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Jasmine - a few things that struck me on first read - mostly regarding style, as you obviously have a strong idea of what you want to say, and some promising imagery to convey.

My impression is that you could lose a few things, without detracting from the whole. For instance, some 'I's, punctuation and a few other  pronouns, conjunctions etc.
For instance, line/stanza breaks can be regarded as more 'natural' forms of pauses and stops.
In S1, "ingrained in" could be reduced to 'grained in', "it is" could be left out - also the semi-colon, comma + "and" (L5) - leaving perhaps "A memory grained/in flesh and granite/silent, immoveable/yet no less stoic/than you or I".
That may not be what you want to say, or how you want to say it - just an example to offer a 'pared down' alternative - paring down is a popular (& healthy) pursuit in this place, I've come to realize

The repetition of 1st person pronoun (especially in S2 & 3) tends to give this a two-dimensional feel, if that makes sense.
For me, S3 needs the most attention - you've taken 6 (admittedly short) lines to convey a relatively simple idea - in essence "Yes - I'm lost/perhaps forever".

I hope that doesn't sound too harsh Jasmine - I've had similar suggestions made regarding my own stuff, and it's helping me to look at what I write from the perspective of 'the reader'. No doubt you'll receive more detailed and constructive criticism from others better qualified than me   Good luck with this - there's plenty of help and encouragement around, so hopefully luck won't come into it...

by Aphasic on Feb. 9 2008