Hi Bob,
I wrote a poem not too long ago, that started out as a love poem. I posted it for critique and many of the readers had a strong reaction to the "sinister" undercurrent to it. I thought since it provoked such reaction that I would bring that undercurrent to the surface and it became a chilling portrayel of an S&M type relationship where the victim seemed to not mind the abuse and this is what stuck out in people's minds I believe. I was attempting to use the whole narrative as a metaphor to say that parents should be careful about how they teach their daughters to be "good girls" which, if you think about when parents are saying that to their girls they are telling them to acquiese, to not fight back, to be quiet, etc etc. I had one male reader tell me that this poem was going to make him think twice about telling his two daughters to be "good girls"
and this was the best compliment I could have gotten.
I find it pretty amazing how poems can start out one way and then completely go in the opposite direction as you write it and revise it, a thoroughly fascinating process!
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Regards,
Terri
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