...I don't want these hands...

Cute poem.  Reads well.  But honestly.  I am not that smart.  This is a poem for some college professor who has read countless poems by those taking his masters course in creative writing.  I am so sorry that this poem is not for me.  I am not this poet's audience.  I do not understand "hacksaw", "gnaw", "nocuous ", "nightingale nail" or "shoals".  I am making this point in hopes that this poet knew this poem was for a limited audience.  Is she applying for a fellowship at Stanford or Princeton?  Or maybe she has already attended these schools.  Does she have a book on Amazon?  Her strength in writing goes WAY beyond most folks dabbling in this craft.  I visualize this poet with a dictionary and a thesaurus while writing.  If she isn't using books to write then her I.Q. is WAY up in the stratosphere.  How about writing something for me.  Writing something that I can understand the first time I read it.  How about writing something for dumb people.  Since I have no idea what this poem is about.  But it reads well.

I love your honesty. Yes; she is one of the brightest here, and extremely gifted with both poetic soul and intelligence.

Seeing that she put considerable effort into this - trying to understand it will only make us better poets.

I enjoy Italian opera I do not always know what they are singing but the sounds are beautiful this poem is the same try reading it aloud if you want to get your dictionary out - learning is always good

when I come across a poem that "is not for me" I find it better to make no comments unless they are truly constructive - Just saying

I don't know who that was but it certainly could have been said with considerably more consideration! I did have a few thoughts about this being a highly intellectually written poem and have gotten comments about a few of mine along those same lines. But one thing I think it is important for readers to realize, many poems, probably most, are personal expressions of the poet, sometimes meant only for themselves and the subject of he poem to understand. The first 25 years I wrote poetry I almost never wrote anything for a general audience to read so I never cared if anyone else understood them. When I started posting on-line 18 years ago I started getting comments and questions like this. My thought was, expand your horizons, look up words you don't understand and ask questions. Do some research. In college, my English professor pushed the class to figure out the deeper meanings of a poem.
I didn't understand everything in his poem, but I'm not going to complain to the author that I need it dumbed down to my level. Maybe it's up to me to lift my level of understanding or, if I'm feeling lazy, ask the poet...

Having said all that, I need to go back and read the poem again so I can remember what I was going to say before my brain got fried by the comments section...
JJ

I typed up a lengthy response last week, left it up, then deleted it after 20 minutes. I really appreciate this, more than you know, and what I had posted was along these lines.  
 
Firstly, I do appreciate the honesty this commenter provided.  
 
Secondly, I don't *not* want to connect to others, and so I do understand that sentiment well. My work can be quite confessional, abstract, and verbose. It's been called "pretentious" before as well, although that is NEVER my intent, and admittedly that stings a bit.  
 
I attempt to stretch language in a way I feel is satisfying. Honestly, leaving things simple doesn't really fulfill me even if it's what some readers prefer.  This is not my first internal dilemma/crossroad with readability vs. authenticity and personal enrichment.  
 
Basically, I'm too damn selfish to cater my style or curb my vocabulary.  
 
I also enjoy when others' work is a morass of sentiments and rich words; to puzzle out meaning, or to just enjoy the flow and complexity. I'm not sure that form of poetry is everyone's bag of chips, but I very much love it, so this preference in mine for writing is also my reading taste.  
 
The reason I retracted my original comment was because I bit back rather forcefully over the statement that this was somehow "cute". I was reactive and emotional days ago, but I'm still deeply bothered by it, because this piece of mine is absolutely anything but cute. I love cute things, and cute is an underrated quality in our world and it's not to be underrepresented. However, this is a dark confessional and more than a little meaningful to me. For the first time since posting my work online, I'm truly bothered by someone's impression of my work (I usually enjoy all manner of opinion and the sparking of ideas in another even or especially if it wasn't my original feeling).  
 
So, that's it I guess.

Oh my gosh, you are an absolute act of natural devistation incarnate bellowing so fiercely in a voice that's all your own and positively riveting. I look forward to working with you this month and reading along with what you offer us dear readers. Write on cool cat ~ I'm a fan

Thank you so very much!

I just got inspired.  Thank you for sharing your powerful words!!!

Brutally honest, Mikaila.

Excellent flow and uninhibited expression.

I Love every inch of this.

there is such beauty in destruction
and creation for that matter

immolation

take back the hands that make touch and feel felt of a thousand moments relived

take back the eyes to see acts of lies and early morning sunrise of regret

don't let the shame overtake you and what you've worked for, we are human; so we live with our actions and own it.

"true nobility is being superior to your former self.”
― Ernest Hemingway

i would Love notes but cryptic free verse is cryptic for a reason and i respect that sanctity.

i imagine Joan of Arc burning at the pyre, but you're too good a person to Baptize yourself in fire.

well penned AtoMik
you cast the sparks of redemption and set the pattern of verse in all of us to see.

Thank you my dear friend. Yes, I'd return them both like library books that disappointed me.

I cannot thank you enough for what you've said. No, I won't overtake me, but it's good to be brought very low and then to rise.

Your insistence of redemption with this helps bring a sense of peace.

I feel this, see it in a conscious fog in front of my eyes, know of it, this ink that is thicker than blood, words of liquid obsidian. The meaning is not lost on me.

Oh my God guys, I can't actually even formulate a comment right now. I'm genuinely overwhelmed, and honestly was when I wrote this last night anyway 😢 My gratitude for you all is enormous <3

dear Overwhelmed,

a gem of a rite

Thank you Uncle Dan!

Great alliteration used here!!

I totally get this, I can picture this introspection taking place in front of a mirror. I rather enjoyed the language you shared.

My many thanks! It's harder the less dusty and clouded the mirror is...

Damn! This is one of those  pieces I stumbled upon and makes me think, “Why didn’t I write this?”

Bravo!

I know that feeling well! I'm surrounded by greatness in this wormhole. Thank you very much!

This is one of my favourites of your so far it is a dream to read out loud, trips of the tongue like treacle containing just the right amount of venom - Loved it, easy RL add :-)))))))

"I don't want this heart          
throwing thoughts of          
men          
like Campbell's cans          
clattering into shopping carts" --------- superb imagery - WOW factor :-)))))))))

Ahhh! David thank you, that means a lot :)

This made four words into my next under used word challenge. I loved the piece it literally stretched the mind to grasp one's own faults and shop them about in paper sacks of worth weighted in the vegetable section. Great work.