stranded voices

stranded voices

 

 

wordiness thrives

in long, drawn out verse

lambs dressed as iambs

in Wolfe's clothing

 

roar from a little country

called Asheville 

where the slain slaves rest

in State

 

one that just would rather have fought

than switch

Ballads to the dead, righteous soldiers

but not to those who were different on the outside

 

their blood, the same color

their hymns just as spiritual

more-so,

on otherwise quiet chapel evenings

 

the roar of voices

poetry slams

echoing the sounds of chains

lambs to the slaughter

 

pentameter is a social distance

between two points

that intersect

but won't interact

 

unless the genre

finds its own equality

when the poems

finally hold hands.

 

 

erin-cilberto

5/3/23

Reviews

[light and ashes]

I bet you are an amazing teacher to have. Your students are very lucky and blessed to have you!! A great teacher is really something special.
I had a Literature teacher in High School, who was my favorite teacher I've had. He really loved words and he liked to dabble in writing, so we got along very well. I still think of him fondly, even though, I found out after I graduated that we had different beliefs.
My favorite grandmother was also a teacher, a Principal, and then a Superintendent. She had a gift for education. She climbed up the ladder. Her former students and many of the people that worked under her still talk about how great she was.

Your poem is great and fascininating, and maybe a little bit over my head lol, but I believe I get most of the most important points.
I like how you combine the themes of the old South and Politics with the themes of writing.
It is hella clever. As are you. Lol
Great writing, I enjoyed it very much.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind review, Light.
When I am teaching, I do have fun! Still, after 32 years, it is as fun as it was the first year I taught.

[light and ashes]

That is truly a blessing.

[FGFRANKLIN]

You can't go home again. Actually I think you can but it's doubtful you'll be made welcome with those foreign ideas and "not from here" mannerisms. I went down east on vacation and it's the same as the mountains, just a completely different dialect; same tribal allegiances, same suspicion of anything new or different. Love Wolfe. The Asheville of today has tried to become the Greenwich Village of North Carolina back when Greenwich Village was a hip artist's haven before it was overrun by homosexuals, addicts and activists. It's like walking into the Twilight Zone to visit there anymore.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I have been in both...Asheville and Greenwich...but Greenwich was many moons ago, Fabian.
Thank you for your words here,
j.

[FGFRANKLIN]

The duality of man as a subject is not a theme distinctive of race and war makes men callous to the value of life. If life seems cheap enough, breathing air gets to be revolting. I heard a boot sergeant say once he'd turn a group of teenage boys into hardened killers. My first thought was, but who's going to turn them back? You can't go home again. Maybe you can but it's not going to be the same.

[carl]

I will be back after I read about Mr. Wolfe and some of his poetry.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Based more on his short story, "Child by Tiger."

[carl]

i will check it out

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I teach that story in my English class. Students seem to get into it.

[Chris Shaw]

There is a mention here of people being different on the outside. Poets may look different on the outside but on the inside they are all doing their best to write decent poetry. That comes in many forms. I like the idea of harmony in poetry and poems holding hands. Red, mentioned the soul of poetry, and I do think that is what I am getting from this piece dear friend.

Chris

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your insights, Chris,
j.

[Red Brick Keshner]

I find here the very soul of poetry. Beyond and beneath the surface its true essence still to be found.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your words, Red,
j.

[AYVID N]

pentameter is a social distance
between two points
that intersect
but won't interact

I loved this verse. You can do anything with words, dear Jacob. I think genres cannot define every poem always. Some just fall through gaps.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I agree with you about genres...or styles of poems...
I have always felt that the definition of poetry is that it is not prose.
thank you, my friend
j.

[Patricia Wedel]

Poems holding hands... like little Lambs who
lost their way and yet found a way home with
poetry to share... if you dare... Amen... Pat

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I dare....maybe I should not, but I dare.
thank you, Pat,
j.