I wonder what am I drawing into me here
I am forever an enthusiast
I love to follow with the elite
I will never be sundered
I will never question them
I have shouldered against the best
Even the simple ones
I have felt the brunt of their froth
All my life I have felt their stones hit me
It doesn’t phase me at all
Because I live among the elite with fertile womb
Forever ready to conceive
And never to answer a question
Beg,Borrow,Steal #109
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I loved the line, "I love to follow with the elite". It just seems like such an interesting concept, are the elite then followers. I think that's what the line seems to imply along with the voice following the elite. One wouldn't think of the elite as followers, yet I seem to recall that many times those who are most popular or are seen as "elite" are often those that are the followers of some central figure seen as the top or an authority on a certain subject. Then later the voice seems to imply that though they follow the elite they are subject to their scorn yet that doesn't affect them they are a "creative" person. The whole poem seems to me to be a play on the concept of "elite". That there are many different types of elite and the speaker of the poem both does and does not belong to certain types, and yet I feel the speaker is above them all contemplating some higher question. Any way I hope this helps I'm rather new to the ReadWritePoetry site and am not really sure how to go about commenting on other people's poems. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteWow, the more I read this critque the more l look at this poem differently. You are so very right about what I am trying to say here. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me.
ReplyDeletePamela
Pamela,
ReplyDeleteI like the discursive quality here, how you have the poem's narrator stay with certain themes, like the idea of of her own integrity and dependency(?) with relation to "the elite", while at the same shifting the metaphor that is used to create the comparison or relationship. I think using the "wordle" words worked out well for you because there is a surreal obliquity that has entered into your subconscious voice, which makes the poem fill out and resonate. I like how you come back to the idea of fertility near the end, but avoid predictability by shifting away to the notion of a question.
I find this poem wonderful. For me, the poem is spoken by someone who both literally and figuratively "rubs up against" people who belong (at least in her perception) to a different society of sensibilities. The "others" are maybe people richer in money, or in education, or in talent, etc. The speaker loves to do rubbing -- she's an enthusiast, not intimidated. This poem's genius is just that twist: that she likes to do this. The last two lines are wonderful, and perhaps the "question" she is ever ready to conceive is ... a poem!
ReplyDeleteThanks guys you do inspire me to continue.
ReplyDeletePamela