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Shakespeare's Monkeys

Infinite Monkeys. Infinite Typewriters.

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Stephan's choice of the word "abstract" wasn't a great one, perhaps -- I think what he meant is that a lot of this is borderline generic, with many cliches.  Now, that's the easiest of all things to fix -- just go over it and if you find a phrase that you've seen in other people's poetry, chances are it's a cliche and you should try and come up with something that's specific to you, personally.  That way you also don't have to worry about it destroying your personal meaning, because it's much more unique.  The phrases I've seen several times before are:

"consume me whole"
"having lost my direction"
"soundless slumber"
"tears of pain"

Also sapphire and azure are quite obvious word choices, it wouldn't hurt to rethink those.  Perhaps use something specific as an image rather than just a general colour description. 

I know that sounds harsh but I've read many poems like this and if you want to lift it above run-of-the-mill angst, which I'm sure you can, it needs to have more of you in it.  Plath's angst was exciting because she was the first (or first-ish) to do it, but by now these repetitions have lost the edge.  Abstraction is a fantastic tool but only when the images are fresh.

by Leanne on Jul. 15 2008