Fingers, shining, reach out to grasp
starlight as I
wrap myself in a heartless blanket.
Stretched out across the horizon
trembling needles shoot
rays of eternity into my eyes.
Windless,
without even sound
as my companion.
I sing my solitude up
and cast reflections in the heavenly face.
Who will help me to
pull the sky down from above
so that
I may feel held in its cold embrace?
I like it, James.
Me too. I especially like the end:
“I sing my solitude up
and cast reflections in the heavenly face.
Who will help me to
pull the sky down from above
so that
I may feel held in its cold embrace?”
Very nice James. I didn’t see the “cold” embrace coming at all – I expected sentimental crap to be honest, I mean, after that whole “eternity into my eyes” line, ugh! but you got me. Thanks! 
TUM,
Just curious. Is there no room for the sentimental in poetry?
Is this work NFG if James had used the word ‘warm’ instead of ‘cold’? Purely academic question of course. Obviously he didn’t and, had he, the meaning would have changed significantly. In fact it would be a different poem entirely, one perhaps that could not have come from this particular writer.
Still, in that case, would the whole thing have made you go ‘ugh’?
Thanks for the comments, guys.
You need to have the right kind of heart to appreciate sentimentality in poetry.
Regards,
James
Maybe Jerry, I’m not sure. Generally, yes, my personal taste is to go ugh! when I read something too sentimental. Which, I guess, is not to say that there is no room for sentimentallity in poetry – though, who the hell am I to make such a proclamation? It simply, doesn’t affect me in a postive way, that’s all.
For example, many people love Pablo Neruda’s poetry – I like many of his poems myself. Yet, despite him being one of the most internationally celebrated poets, I find him many times too sentimental for my taste. As far as James’ poem goes however, I most probably went ugh, not only because I thought that line was too sentimental, and I’m very cynical and grouchy in the winter, but because it was cliche as well. I mean, stars, eternity . . . get what I’m saying?
Well, cliches can run both ways. Sentimental poems or dark, nonsentimental poems - both potential targets of the cliche.
But, yes, I understand your point. Probably whether one is more likely to accept a cliched sentimental poem or a cliched dark, nonsentimental poem depends on the mood of the reader, I suppose.
james: the first thing i thought of when i read this was Kant’s Critique of Judgment. The coldness and overwhelming nature of the sublime as aesthetic…what do you think?