Philosophy for Darling

I loved this poem by Frankie Dreyus. The voice is powerful, the certainty of it, embodied in a simple address. This is a great example of last weeks assignment. I think the poems layout and punctuation (lack of) serves the voice well because it allows the reader the feeling of constant movement over short lines that are all connected. It is as if, when she indents alternating lines, I have a head start at what is coming. I felt she was coming to a definitive point by her building anticipation. As for punctuation-a single period- the stop of a living cumulative thing. I felt that adding commas or more periods would have broken the flow, stuttered the momentum, and disallowed the reader the freedom to arrange their own breath around the words in a way that can feel unique to each individual. This poem moved me because it engages me personally through subltly provacative images, that is to say, images simple yet elagant enough for me to interpret and apply to my own experience. It builds on that one thing leading to another until a balanced ending that, not only truncates the movement and emotion the poem illicits, but attempts to negate the very substance that inspired the address.