Turn on your speakers the audio is in the author note.
A Tiger Adrift
A Tiger Adrift is published in Strays and available at the link below or through your local bookstores and libraries.
Strays is a collection of two extended narratives and more than forty love-themed poems, exploring the meaning of romantic love while we have it and attempting to find the healing after its loss. Found within these pages is the short story Gutter Dog, the novelette Ginni, and the poems False Skin, the Boy Who Wore Clothes, and the Black-Wit Reveller.
I really liked this. I think your use of typeface and point changes was integrated seamlessly and intensified the tension. This made me think of "The Life of Pi" and the helplessness the tiger sometimes suffered. I like the cadence of this; it seems to roll like the waves, billow up and down like the swells of the ocean. It does not appear there will be a happy ending for the kitten/tiger. Is that your intention? Or is this a metaphor? Like a fish out of water? Like anyone thrown into a completely alien environment and madly trying to survive? So the happy ending is not a duty of the poem, but the duty of he who struggles. Am I close?
Posted 11 Years Ago
1 of 1 people found this review constructive.
11 Years Ago
Thank you, Minichinz, as always your reviews are spot on. Really, I look forward to them.
read moreThank you, Minichinz, as always your reviews are spot on. Really, I look forward to them.
The whole Life of Pi things is an unavoidable comparison, but not a Tiger Adrift's inspiration. Its inspiration comes from someone who is far more dear to me, dear enough to inspire my poetry. lol. I'm not sure which of us is the tiger.
Will our dear kitten have a happy ending? Who knows? But swim she/he must.
What a nice little poem, you had me cheering that tiger on. On another level, you seem to have explored a situation where the bold and the mighty can be not so bold or mighty. That powerful tiger now just a kitten in that situation.
Great imagery and flow, well done.
Posted 11 Years Ago
11 Years Ago
Thanks so much for your thoughtful review and yes, that poor little kitten needs cheering on. P
Reminds me of a time when I fell overboard off a Navy destroyer during a bad storm in the North Atlantic Ocean.
I'll bet your kitten here is a better swimmer than I ever was.
I'll thank you for my revisiting this memory this time. I enjoyed your poem much more than my memory!
Posted 11 Years Ago
11 Years Ago
Glad to here that. Thanks for the read and your comments.
I really liked this. I think your use of typeface and point changes was integrated seamlessly and intensified the tension. This made me think of "The Life of Pi" and the helplessness the tiger sometimes suffered. I like the cadence of this; it seems to roll like the waves, billow up and down like the swells of the ocean. It does not appear there will be a happy ending for the kitten/tiger. Is that your intention? Or is this a metaphor? Like a fish out of water? Like anyone thrown into a completely alien environment and madly trying to survive? So the happy ending is not a duty of the poem, but the duty of he who struggles. Am I close?
Posted 11 Years Ago
1 of 1 people found this review constructive.
11 Years Ago
Thank you, Minichinz, as always your reviews are spot on. Really, I look forward to them.
read moreThank you, Minichinz, as always your reviews are spot on. Really, I look forward to them.
The whole Life of Pi things is an unavoidable comparison, but not a Tiger Adrift's inspiration. Its inspiration comes from someone who is far more dear to me, dear enough to inspire my poetry. lol. I'm not sure which of us is the tiger.
Will our dear kitten have a happy ending? Who knows? But swim she/he must.
Very nice. The repetition drove home the urgency and while I am not normally a fan of typeface shifts or other things that can be turned into gimmicks, to me the decreasing typeface of the repeated lines toward the end gave a stark image of the tiger slowly sinking, unable to swim any more.
Posted 11 Years Ago
11 Years Ago
Thanks Steve. I tend to agree with you. I had been thinking about the idea of the Tiger adrift in th.. read moreThanks Steve. I tend to agree with you. I had been thinking about the idea of the Tiger adrift in the great big ocean as a metaphor for maybe half a day and then the poem in its entirety came in a rush. (Hey there's that metaphor again.) It kind of wrote itself, including the typeface--the swells of the wave and the decreasing typeface the sinking. Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment.
11 Years Ago
It was my pleasure. For me the typeface shifrt worked and as I said I normally don't like that. The .. read moreIt was my pleasure. For me the typeface shifrt worked and as I said I normally don't like that. The last line for megave a sense of fighting the good fight depsite knowing it will fail - the tiger will drown but will roar again in another place/dimension etc.
A very interesting and lovely write. And you said you can't write poetry( smiling ...right ).
Is it too wordy like you have said on one of my poems . Perhaps yes and perhaps not...:)
Posted 11 Years Ago
11 Years Ago
Cheers Sami. No poetry isn't really my medium, seriously. But you ignore a gift from the muses at yo.. read moreCheers Sami. No poetry isn't really my medium, seriously. But you ignore a gift from the muses at you own peril.
And it really only is the one poem of yours, and as you oh-so subtly pointed out (smile) I may not be as familiar with the type of poetry. However, I stand my assertion (arms across my chest) And no, I've look. Above not wordy, but I am fast and free with my metaphorical axe, and so I'll keep you posted. (My reply, however, very wordy.)
I was just teasing you and messing with you ( using your comment on one of my poems...lol ) just to .. read moreI was just teasing you and messing with you ( using your comment on one of my poems...lol ) just to bring a smile . You are welcome any time...:)
i really enjoy how you played with the size of the font and the overall structure of the poem. Very e e cummings of you.
Other than that, good poem. Gives the reader this sense that that gnawing you mention is within them as they struggle with life everyday.
Posted 11 Years Ago
11 Years Ago
I think I may have to read some EE cummings. Believe it or not, have not, but I am sure that someone.. read moreI think I may have to read some EE cummings. Believe it or not, have not, but I am sure that someone who has has unwittingly inspired me. Glad you enjoyed the piece and thanks for the read.
This to me could mean any number of things, I understand what it may be eluding to, but I see life and the struggles that come with it, keeping our head above water, never stopping as life, while we stand on this earth, is perpetual, and eventually either finding the shore or not..
Pryde, I really enjoyed this piece. It seems I enjoy most of what you write. Keep writing my friend,
Posted 11 Years Ago
11 Years Ago
Ahhh... Thanks Jack. Glad you enjoyed and the meaning you found went beyond just what I had intended.. read moreAhhh... Thanks Jack. Glad you enjoyed and the meaning you found went beyond just what I had intended. Funny thing, the way that happens sometimes.
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