by HarryHill
My first thought, Harry, was "uplifting indeed,"and I'm not trying to be funny. This is just beautiful. I love how concise it is and its sharp imagery.
While PF&D fans would know the docus of your attention, the poem stands on its own merit.
i said i loved the contrast you set up between all the 'greater london tenements' implies - the grime, the solidity, the heaviness - and the brightness, lightness, lift of the imagery you deliver of the kutapillar. they work so well playing off eachother.
also really liked the images i saw of the semi-translucent, papery shell wrapping the kutapillar.
nice stuff, mister xxx
I took "Kutapilliar" to be a term of endearment which for me added a level of intimacy, whereas the poem would be less so without it.
Lines and images like these:
"itching inside/ the poetry wrapped paper in which she resides"
and
"words form and then fly over these sometimes green hills,..."
are incisive and indelible. Beautifully done.
I particularly like the opening line and the different ways I can see to read it. It sets the poem up so nicely. The contrasting imagery of city to country enhances the eagerness of "What's next? What will this new place bring?" that I read throughout the poem. New vistas through the eyes of love. It's gorgeous.
Can't move beyond the tenement prison where
life's full potential will never be approached
for the walls are not poetry-covered paper.
This prison of the poor will not contain
more than the body that carries
the spirit that soars to escape.
Escape!
Escape, crippling escape
in a world of inequality.
. . . And the rich grow richer
in our escape.
I was not meaning to be critical in that reaction to your poem. I gave it a 5-star and then expressed what it triggered in me.