Pleading With an Ibid's Hem (formerly The Golden Bullet), edit 1
#21
(12-09-2017, 04:14 AM)Lizzie Wrote:  Pleading With an Ibid's Hem

The dream began as they often do:
familiar dread, unfamiliar place—           
children with the names I gave them,                         
ages flouting linear time.                                wondered about leaving out linear and just write "ages flouting time"

Men stood in rows like solemn corn—
a marching band missing a routine and music—              why "routine" i think music alone would do
with Paul Ryan's slicked black All-American hair,           here i thought you might omitt "with"  and continue "matched navy blue suits./  his placid eyes followed..."
matching navy blue fitted suits,                          
and placid eyes that followed                                 
the golden bullet gleaming overhead.

Their eyes were drawn in time               i like this hint, unsettling slow-motion.. made me feel how time would slow down in the moments before disaster
along its line through the sky,
tuning to the mastery of a new conductor,
mouths slung open the way they slack                      for my taste slack seemed too much like describing something that doesn´t need this much description in the light of events. it might be distorting sense, but i imagined something like "..turning to the mastery of a new conductor,/ consciousness lost through mouths slung open"
when the mind abandons consciousness.

There was no warning but mine,                              i´d leave out "but mine" too, i think it distances readers who might have similar fears.  maybe you could make the warnings impersonal like "no warning was heard/ there was no sign/from yahweh- no ark"
or sign from Yahweh—
no rainbow or prepared ark.

They never looked down or to the side,
so they didn't see us wash away.
...
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#22
Ellajam: thanks so much for coming back to it. I appreciate the input. The title will certainly be altered in the next revision. Thumbsup 

vagabond: I agree with most of your points, and will certainly consider them in the next edit. Thank you also for giving it another read.

I'll probably let this one sit for a spell, so that I can come back to it fresh. Thanks to everybody for the generous gifts of crit. Smile
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