8 hours ago
(Yesterday, 05:22 PM)purplie Wrote: If God had meant man to fly - don't like the rhythm of this. Either cutting "had" or adding "meant *for* man" would sound much nicer, though cutting "had" might be less natural.I love S2, almost love S4 and S5, and didn't care for S1 or S3 much at all.
He would have made some people level-headed
And some people batty
And some just reckless fools
- Including both "batty" and "reckless fools" seems redundant. Also, doesn't God just need to create reckless fools/batty people? How do the level-headed people help anything?
If God had meant man to fly
He would have made high sea-cliffs without rails
Rivers falling into dim mist
Rocky peaks for no reason
And the urge to jump
- whole stanza is fantastic *mwah* beautiful (aside from "God *had* meant" recurring in L1)
He would have made priests who thought they knew God
And heretics who thought the priests didn't
And a few people quiet enough
To hear them both
- It's interesting to wonder why God didn't just make "man can fly" the orthodoxy, but I don't see why someone would need to hear both priests and heretics to fly. Same reason as we need both level-headed people and crazies I suppose, but I have no idea what that reason is. IMO the speaker also sounds arrogant/stuck-up in the last two lines - worst part of the poem for me.
And we would be squinting at the sky
Because He would have set the reflection
Of His unbearable face in the high noon - The sun as a reflection is lovely
Invented color for the sake of evening - !!! great line!!!
Whirled sparks and orreries through the night - don't love the sound of "orreries through", my tongue trips over it a bit. Lovely image though.
If God had meant man to fly
He would have imagined trees
And bird nests
And birds
And dawn
And then He would have taught the birds to sing. - This should either be "Then taught the birds to sing" or "And taught the birds to sing"

