Accelerated Adolescence

If I made comics I'd make one that says, "The disappointment of removing yourself from Listservs that you never read anyway: an immediate reduction in self-esteem directly related to a continuously empty email inbox."

Yep. But it's only cool when one person does it :)

(I know this comment is off topic. I like the poem, by the way, but I already told you that.)

Hayley, I totally identify! I have also noticed that bad email drives out good, so to speak. I used to get only email I cared about and I cared about all email I got. I used to answer my email faithfully and promptly. Now I get junk, I only check it sporadically and even when I get something I want to answer, I procrastinate. I also miss the personal email I used to get. I love the blogs -- their extended conversations -- but I miss getting wonderful emails.

Mensch, did you write this poem? I think it is beautiful, but I am always a little worried that I am not quite getting something I should. So, I find that I am a little afraid of poetry. I suspect that Rae might have something to say about that.

I recommend Perrine's Sound and Sense. It's a fabulous book about poetry and will not only empower you in the writing of it, but will also make your ego swell to huge proprotions when it comes to reading and understanding poetry. ;) I plan to hunt it down sometime, but have not yet. Otherwise, I would lend it to you.

I did, indeed, write this poem. I wouldn't worry too much about missing things, my poems are usually pretty superficial. I tend to stick to one metaphor per poem and, if you don't get that it probably means it isn't there. But, i'm not the best person to comment on my own poetry. Kristen is right, Sound and Sense is a phenomenal guide to reading poetry.

one metaphor per poem is deeper/better than a bunch. it means y ou've streched it across the entire poem, which is work. It's easy to come up with a mish mosh of metaphors- it's using one for a long time that makes magical peotry- in my humble opinion!