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Ripped Apart


JoelJosol

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This is a perilous season.

Some content may not be suitable-

 

In color or black-and-white,

they are still dead.

 

Why count bodies in peace time?

Something about parts and whole.

 

I agree. This is more than just

an inconvenient fact:

 

keeping your feet wet

in disease-infested waters.

 

The sun appeared today

as I watched early morning TV.

 

Have you found a newspaper

to cover them?

"Words are not things, and yet they are not non-things either." - Ann Lauterbach

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Is this still that experiment - fregment, collage? I feel there's something in it, some strong phrases - perilous season, black-and-white, count bodies in peace time, parts and whole etc. but just couldn't figure out what it is about. probably, I need to read it a few more times.

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In color or black-and-white,

they are still dead.

 

Very interesting and deep poem Joel. With strong statements and expressions covered with metaphors.

 

Here you are finishing the poem on a very good end in a question what leaves some space to the reader to think.

Have you found a newspaper

to cover them?

 

Wonderful done.

 

Aleksandra

The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth - Jean Cocteau

History of Macedonia

 

 

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Joel, to me this reads like the aftermath of a natural disaster (a tsunami, maybe?) seen/told from a survivor's perspective. He's somewhat removed from the actual occurrence. Perhaps he's not even a survivor per se but part of a collective local to the incident.

 

Tony

Here is a link to an index of my works on this site: tonyv's Member Archive topic

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Ok, I'm back again. I think I need to read it slowly since it takes a lot of thinking.

 

This is a perilous season.

 

The time when it happened.

 

Some content may not be suitable-

 

Since it is about death:

 

In color or black-and-white,

they are still dead.

 

It's not during the war, it is a natural disaster as it states below:

 

Why count bodies in peace time?

 

and something related to water

 

keeping your feet wet

in disease-infested waters.

 

The speaker learned it from the news on TV

 

The sun appeared today

as I watched early morning TV.

 

and is questioning if others learned it from a newspaper that provide all the facts...

 

Have you found a newspaper

to cover them?

 

Am I close now?

 

I need to be educated to read the message in the bottle.

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Hi Joel, I don't have to understand exactly what you are writing about. It is enough for me to feel the impact. The stark short jabbing lines and the black and white imagery hit me in the gut. This one has power.

 

~~Tink

~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~

For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com

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Hi JoelJosol,

 

The factual tone of the poem suggests shock, disbelief and a coming to terms with the horrendous aftermath of a natural disaster. This imagery shows the surreality of the moment when seemingly life and nature goes on in the face of a life-shattering tragedy:

 

The sun appeared today

as I watched early morning TV.

 

 

The closing question is almost a desperate attempt to give the dead some dignity but carries an underlying sense of futility.

goldenlangur

 

 

Even a single enemy is too many and a thousand friends too few - Bhutanese saying.

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