wesley snow
wesley snow
Mar 12, 2015

Mommy's Shadow (free verse)

I wrote a poem for mom the other day.
I’d share it with you, but it turned out close.
So maybe I’ll just summarize her ways
and you can learn why I still love her most.

She wasn’t blessed with many brains I fear,
but mommy was true incarnate love.
At this point in the poem I dry a tear.
I forgot to tell you mommy’s up above.

I wasn’t there when my sweet mommy died.
It haunts me in cold ways I can’t escape.
Better the poem will tell you ‘out it hide.
You’ve heard enough, let the coffin shawl drape.

About This Poem

Style/Type: Free verse

Review Request Direction: What did you think of my title?
How was my language use?
What did you think of the rhythm or pattern or pacing?
How does this theme appeal to you?
How was the beginning/ending of the poem?
Is the internal logic consistent?

Review Request Intensity: I want the raw truth, feel free to knock me on my back

Editing Stage: Editing - polished draft

About the Author

Region, Country: Southern California, USA

Favorite Poets: Tolkien

More from this author

Comments

S

Most and close are too much near rhyme to not count as rhyme and the remaining is abab pattern. Thus I'll assume the "free" in the free verse part of the title guides me to the secondary level of this poem which deals with death setting both the departed and those remaining behind free from suffering.........stan

judyanne

Well mixed Wes
There is nowhere I stumbled with the meter, but I paused at 'better the poem will tell you 'out it hide' - I'm missing the meaning of those last three words....

I enjoyed reading this.... I don't know if you meant humour with 'at this point in the poem I dry a tear', but it put a tiny sympathetic smile on my mouth - I really like the personal touch it gives

love judy
xxx

wesley snow

The poem is actually written, but I won't share it which gave me the idea for a poem telling you about the poem I won't share.
I called it free verse because that's how it was written. No books, one sitting, no editing. Just me talking. I just happen to talk that way sometimes. I gave meter no consideration nor rhyme... it just happened.
The contraction is "without". Medieval. Like I said I just wrote.
Thank you for your kind words. I post so little these days outside of workshops I didn't think anyone would notice.

S

You have fallen into my way of writing? No book, one sitting,no consideration for meter, no pre-editing. I don't know whether to congratulate to commiserate.........stan

wesley snow

When I go to write I have what is called a field desk. A box that opens up to store pens, paper and such. It also has the lid turn all the way back so you can write on it. I write with a single piece of paper and a quill pen. The dipping kind.
And...
Four books that I won't sit down until they are in their proper place. In fact I have multiple rhymers and dictionaries (only one thesaurus... the Synonym Finder is my guru).
Sometimes I just write. It usually produces poor results.

wesley snow

It's weird, but I get this "feeling" of Byron or Shakespeare cranking through stuff with this "modern" invention: the pen... so much better than goose quills.
Mine is simple pine with, let's say, a number two nib. Kind of a medium.
You should have seen the wrecks I've had with the damn bottle. I've got a new one that's wider than its height... crossing fingers.

S

suspected you might be a closet masochist lol. But I bet the quill makes for elegant looking script

wesley snow

I've been told I write like Ben Franklin. He was undecipherable. Only I can read what I write.

S

help with.But first let's address coffin shawl which might should be shroud. title, title, title.........hmmm.........(see how hard I'm thinking?).............Well, since this is a poem about another poem about your mother maybe something like "Mother's Shadow"?

Rula

Rula

10 years 1 month ago

A touching poem especially when it comes to the second stanza
(which could stand alone).
I don't remember you've written many of these, maybe another one or two, now I think you need to write more of them.
I really like it.

wesley snow

The poem this is based on is almost autobiographical and full of stuff I'm not real proud of.

BettyBuff

A confused write...but what's in your head? Vocabulary could of been richer and hence, could of worked harder. Free verse needs precise lexis. Bravo for loosening the strictures, meet you mid 21st century.

You'll probably rip my latest offering to shreds, but as I've been out of the creative loop for months, I deserve a kick...go ahead...you're one of only 3 people I take notice of anyway!
Ells.

wesley snow

It was never intended to read like an organized poem (I can't write free verse for shit anyway). It was to be read as an explanation of the poem I can't share (it really exist by the way, but contains many a truth I'd rather not share. It was meant as a trick.
Thank you for sharing. Never hold back with me... your not powerful enough to harm me.