Max, thank you for reading and for your thoughtful comments. I’m glad the sonics came through for you, even if the poem felt abstract overall. That’s something I’ll be thinking more about—how to introduce greater concreteness or specificity that deepens the emotional or experiential impact. I appreciate your observation about the girl’s learning arc too—if there are specific areas or lines where you feel more grounding or detail might enhance the payoff, I’d be eager to hear them.
Glenn, you're absolutely right about the dictionary stress on "minaret." I was looking at it through a relative stress lens, à la Timothy Steele—so while the primary stress is on the last syllable (minaRET), in the phrase "minaret prayers", the stress on PRAY- can dominate -RET in natural speech. That would allow for a reading like: mina-RET PRAY-ers, or even (with a light promotion of the second syllable) mi-NA-ret PRAY-ers—depending on delivery and cadence. It's definitely a flexible moment, metrically speaking, and I appreciate the chance to think it through out loud.
Thanks again to both of you for the close readings!
Cheers,
...Alex
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