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Forum Home » High Critique » The World Has Turned And, Oh Who Cares Anymore

For poets who want unrestricted constructive criticism. This is NOT a vanity workshop. If you do not want your poem seriously critiqued, do not post here. Constructive criticism only. PLEASE Only Post One Poem a Day!!!
6/22/2015 4:07:03 PM

K.M North
Posts: 97
saw Nick down at the Whammy Bar
he was with the girl from Soho
while I was rocking it solo
and when we walked in
the people knew our names
like they were family or friends
or we were in some sitcom from the eighties


Nick loved up on the jukebox
Jawbreaker was all he ever played
little Soho banged her head
during "see thru skin"
it all came back to me in a flash
reminding me of Em
she was in Boston these days
scene queen of the lower east side
"may 4th" and knees to the sky

the gang ordered shots
while I was shooting glances
at some bird who wore that summer dress
like she was waiting for the confessional
and then the song came on
and I was thinking about some mistake from last year
I wondered if she still hated me
and then the bird came over and introduced herself
her name was Kori, friends called her HardKori
I called her Sabatoge
and we went ahead and did our shots

Nick had Little Soho
Em had the guy who played the solos
and I had a bird with a name I didn't know
then the jukebox kicked out
"I love you so much it's killing us both"
and I took a knee
it was like a fist to the stomach
a hammer to the gut
and when I finally stood up
the bird was choking down
some sort of guy who liked sketchy metal
and probably drove a camero

Nick left with Soho
and the guy broke Em's heart in two
my bird road shotgun in a car with t-tops
and I drank a bar tab
I'll never pay off
and when "kiss the bottle"
started to play
I just start to cry
cause nights like these
don't help me stay alive
and mornings like tomorrow
are made up of
where do I go from here
and what the hell have I become
edited by Reisenhoffer on 6/22/2015
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6/30/2015 7:10:07 PM

Graphite Drug
Posts: 81
The question writers should ask is, “Who is my audience?”Obviously if you’re writing a diary or confessional poetry this question may beoverlooked. This poem may be trying to be confessional, but it reads too clichéand pop-culture to work for an audience not in the advertiser’s loop, or inthis case the poet’s circle of friends. The word “bird” to refer to women wassixties slang in England. Somebody has been watching Austin Powers or likessounding like an old pervert. The choice to not use punctuation doesn’t helpmatters here. The poet is not saying anything that needs punctuation. Here’s arewrite of the first stanza:

Saw Nick at the strip club/ Gettin’ a couch dance so low / WhileI was checkin’ the act solo/ a delicate bird asked me for a smoke/ She knew our names, just regular blokes/ We’re the in crowd, not family/ Chillin’ and thrillin’ and enjoyin’ the par-tay!
edited by graphitedrug on 6/30/2015
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7/6/2015 10:25:00 AM

K.M North
Posts: 97
Ok I'll say this first and foremost, if you've read one of my books you'd be familiar with The Whammy Bar, it's not a strip club but a bar, and completely made up. I can understand your dislike of my pop culture references {such as the Jawbreaker lines} which would make a bit more sense if you read some of my other stuff {since they kind of go hand in hand}. I believe that Poetry comes in two forms-Story telling and Personal story telling. I get the cliched aspect, since it's all somewhat tongue-in-cheek {check the Cheers references}. It was supposed to be something fun to read and enjoy. As for "Bird" I like the way that sounds thanks. And also all writing at this point is cliched and some version of something already written.
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