RE: An Ode to Mom, Robert Service, and The Cremation of Sam McGee
I really like this poem and accompanying text as it's such a heartfelt expression of the love of a daughter for a mother. The poem is a fantastic example of how modern poetry isn’t all about rhyming, rather creating unique ways to express feelings and situations through imagery. The poem shows that spark of creative use of language, and economy of words that is what makes poetry different from fiction.
If the poem wasn’t enough, you underpin it with your feelings about your mother in a beautiful passage of writing reflecting upon childhood and the things that influenced your lifelong fascination for literature.
I barely remember my mom's father, who died young, but I would admire, on a shelf high above me, his 1920s editions of Plato, Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, Tennyson, and other exulted (or is exalted?) authors who never tempted my mom to open those mellow, delicate, antique pages.
And then providing a wonderful personal insight through poetry and prose, about of one of your favorite poets; Robert William Service.
Enjoyed reading this so much!
Oh my - I may say this a lot, but I mean it: I love you Raj!!!
You're the kind of reader every writer needs!
Thank you so much for your time and attention to this, especially to the details. You don't miss a thing. Nothing is lost on you! You seem to see more in my writing than I see in it myself. :) Thanks again!
I just write what I see in the writing in my comments, and I guess a little of it is coming from those many years in uni attending fiction workshops, which means I get to the heart of sone things easier than others might.
It's strange but I never enjoyed the peer review process, but I learned a great deal from it. One day it will pay dividends when I get to the point of having to do critical reading on my own manuscript.
P.s. beyond all that pontificating, this really was an excellent post and poem!
You're the best, Raj!!
My experience in online fiction workshops was darkened by the impassioned, aspiring writers who'd clobber other writers with Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules, #1 being "never open with the weather," e.g., "It was a dark and stormy night" (Snoopy's favorite) and never use any tag except "said" (snorted, exclaimed, enunciated, etc, all verboten), and never use adverbs to modify "said" - the writer must remain invisible. Then came the volley of POV police, "was" + -ing police, and so on, and once in a while, someone might actually pay attention to the STORY and the characters rather than the blood-strewn battlefield of line edits.
Readers like you are rare birds. Thank you so much Raj!