My Paper Soul

There you are with the lilacs again Jose- nice one ;)Pia

I just love the 'lucid lilacs', Jose;-) Tina

Stunning on so many levels, this is my favourite line: And twist And kiss the Insides of my skull-- so good and I know too well how that feels.

Confessional poetry usually follows one of two tangents: it either degenerates into bathos (i.e. the writer trying too hard to say something that is overly personal or private or blatantly neurotic. I think some of Sylvia Plath's verse (certain writers here may hate me for saying this) was totally over the edge. At the opposite extreme, it's just damn good poetry, which is how I view your poem. How do I know this? My first impression is to shy away from something so personal and transparently painful. Then I come back for a second or even a third reading and go away glad that I took the time to read your poem and that you were willing to share the sentiment with us. One might argue that there is a voyeuristic quality involved here, but I would argue that your poem, My Paper Soul is so carefully constructed, precise and artistically sound that it simply stands on its own merits. This is a tough poem to read. It must have been a bitch to write. I admire your artistic integrity.

One last thing and I promise I won't belabor you anymore. Here's a funny story. A college professor - I believe he taught at Radcliffe - was teaching an exclusive creative writing course. Students had to submit examples of their poetry in order to be consider for admission to the class. One woman was rejected because the professor felt her 'confessional' style was too morose and demented. The student needed psychiatric counseling not help with dangling participles and split infinitives. That student who never got a feminine foot in the door was Sylvia Plath. Many years later the professor defended his decision and said he would reject her a second time on the spot despite Plath's eventual notoriety and literary acclaim. Life is weird!