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My Frozen World - Poem

by claremerison 

Posted: 30 November 2009
Word Count: 342
Summary: Thought I'd try taking the advice and this is the result!!


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Does water in a river flow underneath the ice?

I stand, wondering what would happen if I jumped straight in.
I might be carried away
By the current to some other land.
Freeze to death beneath the surface.

The fish would pick at my eyelids
Leaving me to stare at the icy ceiling,
My reflection shuddering and cracked.

I would become trapped in an underwater nightmare.
The cruelty of the river
Scraping and snapping at my skin.
Making a sculpture of me.

Would it take long to freeze underneath the ice?

I lean forward, staring straight at oblivion.
I might flail and thrash
Hours of desperation and horror
Before the blackness took over.

The water would flash green,
Yellow, blue
As all the stages came over me:
Cold, oxygen, movement,
All ceased in vibrant illumination.

Limbs would float
Motionless.
Shatter at the touch of weeds,
Stroking gently to no avail.

Will the water welcome me, underneath the ice?

Thinking, doubting, hoping for the courage.

It might take me in its arms
Wrap around me like a lover,
Caress and electrify my body.

The water could smile and open up,
Accepting, suffocating,
The cold as a blanket around a sleeping child.

It might spit me out and churn me helpless
Onto the bank.
Left to face the warmth of the world
And write another page of the story
In bitterness and misery.

I am frozen, longing for the icy silence
of the liquid pain
That encompasses the shadow that has already jumped,
Dancing among the mermaids,
Beckoning me to join the white parade.

Join us as we march, join us as we dance,
Frozen in time, frozen in space,
We will lead you into peace.

The water is glorious, shining immaculate.
Desire is overpowering sensibility
Limbs are beginning to move,
Slowly, rigidly,
Towards the egde.

Nothing to fear,
Nothing to feel.
No one to please and nothing to hold.

Stepping out into the air,
A rush of emotion hits me,
BOOM!
The last I will ever know.
The frozen lady of the lake.






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Comments by other Members



V`yonne at 23:32 on 30 November 2009  Report this post
Hi Clare. I see! Flash poetry tends to work on the basis of a weekly challenge like flash fiction does but why don't you join a main poetry forum as well? And do the challenges here!

This is a good draft. Now you need to get rid of all that isn't absolutely necessary. At the moment it's still prose split up and you don't need extra words to express it and you don't need to put capitals at the start of each line. ing tends to weaken any immediacy of emotion so try to avoid it. eg:

Does water flow beneath the ice?

What would happen if I jumped straight in?
I might be carried away
by the current to some other land;
freeze to death beneath the surface.

Fish would pick at my eyelids
Leave me to stare at the icy ceiling,
my reflection shuddering and cracked.

Trapped in an underwater nightmare
the cruel river
sculpts me.

I like the idea of the river as a sculptor!

In this section see what happens when you lose the ings and extras:
Water glorious, shines immaculate.
Desire overpowers sensibility.
Limbs move,
slow, rigid,
towards the edge.

rigid and edge even rhyme and that adds power to the movement.
Then in the next stanza:
Nothing to fear,
nothing to feel,
no one to please,
nothing to hold.
might work well as an emphasis.

This will take some work but I think you could end up witha splendid poem.

Oonah



Nella at 09:42 on 08 January 2010  Report this post
Hello Clare,
I was out of things for awhile, but am slowing getting back, and just read through your poem. I like the subject matter very much, but like Oonah, I feel that you could make the poem more effective by reducing it, taking out things that aren't absolutely necessary. My feeling was that the "I" narrator is too prominent. There are 3 "I"s in the first two lines! What if the "I" stepped back a bit - something like this:

"what would happen if I jumped straight in?
be carried away
to some other land,
freeze to death beneath the surface?"

I feel that something like this gives more of a sense of immediacy to the reader, draws the reader in to make him/her FEEL what the poet is feeling.
Best,
Robin




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