ouroboros by Gilbert

Ouroboros signifies the snake swallowing its own tail to represent an eternal cycle : 'Our Rob or Ross' if you're a Red Dwarf fan. I was relieved by the small belief that remained and suspect it nursed him as much as he nursed it.

What a beautiful poem: I love 'the abacus of days' and "....These small variations of no-one speaking hang like rhetorical questions in the room`s astounding whiteness. " This poet is great at depicting different types of (deafening) silence (just read some of Gilbert's other poems too; ta).

This is how I wish I could write a poem. Subtle and speaking volumes. Nice. Lisa

Very ably rendered - does recall very powerfully the moment after an argument and a storming out. Watching the stars go out, the glass needle, the abacus of days - all strong lines. I'm unsure - as I was with GIlbert's 'Fisher King' poem, which is also really good - about the use of different kinds of emptiness. I love the idea of 'variations of no one speaking' but the 'towering waves' of silence and the 'astounding whiteness' seem to be stretching for some new way of describing that absoluteness of absence without quite getting there. 'Empty as a broken promise' is also a little jagged - a broken promise could have been made and kept with consideration and care up to the point where it is, through some unforeseeable occurrence, broken. So it isn't necessarily empty. I think we need a kind of promise that is more evocative of a quick fix with no thought behind it - a promise to make it up to someone, or to be there next time, or to get onto it right away maybe.

This poem is amazing. It is solemn and powerful without being cliched or dramatic. I really enjoyed it and i think many canconnect with it. I love the title of the poem and it almost encompasses the entire meaning and message in that one word. Thanks

Thanks for the positive comments-all much appreciated. It`s interesting to read Hen`s interpretation of the poem-it wasn`t exactly what I intended, but offers another valid viewpoint. I didn`t know if the title was over-obscure, but good ol` Red Dwarf! Cheers, G.

I enjoyed this too. I loved the glass needle whirring. I didn't like 'empty as a broken promise' either, but not for entirely the same reasons as Jack. I just felt it was a bit cliched and easy in a poem that is otherwise full of surprising fresh language. My other thought was that, for me, the first stanza wasn't adding anything. I like the poem more if I read it as starting at stanza two. "On the silence`s towering waves" feels heavy handed, to me. And a bit too melodramatic. I found "cool ivory" to be a bit icky too, a bit too familiar. Thanks for this! Joe Although I did like: 'bed-squared sheets' as a phrase.