Writing Yesterday [E]

[Charles]

Oh Yesterday,
You?re a blessing now spent.
Time no longer up for borrow.
Gone before I knew where you went!
Today you make possible tomorrow.

Oh Yesterday,
Like light, your reflection easily bent.
Now, a memory fresh in my mind
Slowly withering to my repent.
You grow smaller as you?re left behind.

Oh yesterday,
Sometimes a source of torment.
You elope with beloved people and places
How long can their memories lie dormant
When you?ve left behind their traces?

Oh yesterday,
I should take back things I?d never meant!
Sometimes I wish you up for review.
But a change could rupture my best moment.
Now you?re a dream too good to be true.
Oh yesterday.

[Kamuro]

[SIZE=1]I read this poem over several times trying to find a specific idea to grab onto until I found I was reading it wrong. Sometimes things are just overanalyzed and this poem is one of those things, at least for me. It flows really well if you just sit back and read it. It rolls off your tongue and the words form thoughts on their own, rather then any assumed ideas you had before actually reading it. I actually thought of my own "yesterday" while reading it. Things I'd done and mistakes I'd made, and regretful as I might be, they've made me who I am and without them, yesterday would mean nothing, cause there'd be no tomorrow. So after all that rambling I'll just say I like the poem cause it makes you think, I created a picture of my own and found the poem highly relatable after some thought. Hopefully, thats what you're going for lol.[/SIZE]

[Charles]

Well, yeah, you're accurate. The meaning of the poem is fairly straightforward. People often dwell on the past; they often wish they could change it. They wonder how their lives would be different if they could alter decisions they've made.

Time moves along at such a brisk pace that people sometimes take "Yesterday" for granted, which is the meaning of the first stanza. Sometimes we don't consider how fortunate we are to be around yet another day because we don't expect today to be our last.

The second stanza discusses the fragile nature of the past. Just think about how many "Yesterdays" simply disappear for you. If I ask you where you were on a series of obscure dates or what you did, how likely are you to remember them all? Despite society's emphasis on schedules and being on time, I don't think time is too precious to us in a philisophical sense.

On the other hand, we often spin reality based on our own perceptions of fading memories. Sometimes we look back on our memories and make them either better or worse than they really were. Some people even torture themselves by scrutinizing "Yesterday" too heavily.

My inspiration for the third stanza is quite simple. Life moves people along in such a way that they lose contact with friends. For example, think about graduating from school and losing contact with friends whose paths are going to be quite different from your own. It's inevitable to at least lose some friendships over time. But, their shadows still remain in your memories. They'll always be keeping you company in the past.

You've stated the meaning of my last stanza well:

[quote]Things I'd done and mistakes I'd made, and regretful as I might be, they've made me who I am and without them, yesterday would mean nothing, cause there'd be no tomorrow.[/quote]

Yes, you just wouldn't exist as you are now if not for "Yesterday."

Thanks for reading and replying to my poem. I didn't think anyone would, which was upsetting. I'm happy now.

[Kamuro]

[SIZE=1]No worries, I've posted many a poem that no one replied to. I see the veiws and know that one person or another might've glanced over it and who knows, maybe they liked it. And even if they didn't at least they read it, and that means something. But I know it's sort of nerve-racking wondering whether anyone will post a comment about something you've actually written or not. But in the long run it really only matters what you think.[/SIZE]

[Mitch]

I really don't have much to say about the poem, I guess many people don't. Its meaning is clear; and I like the repetitive, almost song-like quality of it, and the rhyming is well-executed as well. I didn't find this poem to be particularily amazing or anything, but that's obviously not its purpose. It wasn't mindblowing but it was good.

[Charles]

[quote name='Mitch']I really don't have much to say about the poem, I guess many people don't.[/quote]

When do they? It's not about Naruto, Sailor Moon, DragonBall or any anime. What a shock. But, that's not to say that you couldn't find anything to say even if you tried in the slightest. I myself wrote five or six paragraphs on it.

[quote]Its meaning is clear; and I like the repetitive, almost song-like quality of it, and the rhyming is well-executed as well. [/quote]

Thanks.

[quote]I didn't find this poem to be particularily amazing or anything, but that's obviously not its purpose. It wasn't mindblowing but it was good.[/QUOTE]

I really don't know what constitutes a mind-blowing poem. I wouldn't say that any poem is mind-blowing. A poem's effectiveness is usually due in part to whether or not the general reader is able to identify with it. As is the case with most of my other poems, almost anyone can identify with what's being said throughout. They can draw from its simple, yet powerful meaning and remember times where the lines relate directly to their lives.

I just think that most people typically don't give a lot of complex thought to what's being said so they undercut their ability to pull anything worthwhile from what they're reading. That is, unless the subject at hand is simple and superficial. Others write poems with the intention of being impressive, or "mind-blowing", as you put it, and confuse what they're trying to say until what they're left with is an incomprehensible mess. And then people [i]can't[/i] comment. So, it's tough to find a decent middle ground. Obviously, I've found it in writing poems dealing with double meanings and sex, but I tire of that after a while and become content receiving fewer replies instead of typecasting myself in exchange for more attention.

[demonchild781]

[FONT=Arial Narrow]I very much enjoyed reading your poem. A straight forward meaning that creates a lot of thought. And being that I don't want to sound repeative, I'm just going to agree with Kamuro up there.

And just a comment to your last post on this thread, and I hope you don't find me rude by saying this, but some of the best poems written are cluttered and choppy. I think they represent the chaos that one feels when emotions have become unbarable. Now I say this as a writer myself. Ok...I think I'm going to shut up now :animeswea.

Hope to see more of your poetry up.

DC[/FONT]

[Charles]

[QUOTE=demonchild781][FONT=Arial Narrow]And just a comment to your last post on this thread, and I hope you don't find me rude by saying this, but some of the best poems written are cluttered and choppy. I think they represent the chaos that one feels when emotions have become unbarable. Now I say this as a writer myself. Ok...I think I'm going to shut up now :animeswea.

Hope to see more of your poetry up.

DC[/FONT][/QUOTE]

Thanks. :)

To clarify my point, it's possible to write a quality poem with an offbeat structure--if that's what one's intentions are. However, I'm a firm believer that even if the chaotic nature of their poem is supposed to be representative of one's emotions, it should still be functional. When writing an irregular poem, a writer shouldn't randomly throw together a jumbled mess of God-knows-what. It should be supported by a clear intention. A large degree of craftsmenship has to be employed to make such a poem work.

I wasn't speaking out against this approach. It was actually a response to the vague idea of "mind-blowing" poetry that was brought up. Or the idea that people didn't have something to say because my poem isn't "complicated" enough. Almost anyone should be able ot reply to this poem with a statement along the lines of "I know exactly what you mean by this line because ____ happened to me and influenced my life in this way."

Something doesn't have to be complicated on a techincal level to be impressive. I'm just as comfortable in simplicity and find it equally impressive. If I purposely tried to make every single poem complex just for the sake of flaunting what I can do, the writing wouldn't sound natural--and it would probably be confusing. That's what I'm trying to say.

[demonchild781]

[FONT=Arial Narrow]*nods* I understand what you're saying. Look forward to more of your work.

DC[/FONT]