I enjoyed this poem very much. It has a nice homey and folksy tone to it and it flows well.
It is a longer poem, but since it is a story it needs to be longer.
One thing you might consider doing to make it appear shorter is to arrange the lines as couplets. For instance, in the first two stanzas you have:
out west of The Great Divide
where the summers dry & hot
where the Wiradjurie did reside
& where my dear mother's from
the Cudgegong River soothes it's way
as old Mount Frome looks on
he shakes a shiver they say for the day
he watched this story unfold
If you combined every other line it would look like this:
out west of The Great Divide where the summers dry & hot
where the Wiradjurie did reside & where my dear mother's from
the Cudgegong River soothes it's way as old Mount Frome looks on
he shakes a shiver they say for the day he watched this story unfold
That is just a suggested possibility for this story type poetry.
I also noted that you like to use the ampersand (&) instead of spelling out and. This seems like a "trademark" in your poetry, I have seen it in your other work. It is certainly okay to have a trademark, but just so you know how it came across to me, symbols remind me of advertising and office communications or shorthand and seem out of place in a homey, down-to-earth tale.
I love all the local place names and the vivid description of the area. I feel like I have visited this area after reading this and I also feel like I know your family.
The story drew me in and I enjoyed reading it very much. A great honor and tribute to the strength and resolve of your mother.
Some noted typos and other errors. In Stanza one, line 2, you have where the summers dry & hot. This should either be summer's (contraction for "summer is") or it should be summers are.
Second stanza, first line, it's should be its.
Fifth stanza, first line, for hours their daughter to visit was driving the phrasing is awkward. It would be better to say, for hours their daughter was driving to visit.
Stanza seven, second line needs a space after the comma, and in line four of this stanza it's should be its. You missed spaces after commas in a number of other places, so check for them all.
In stanza eight, line two you use the abbreviation Mt Frome but earlier you spelled out Mount Frome. You should pick one or the other for consistency. In line three, you have two dots. There is no such punctuation mark as two dots that I am aware of. It should be three dots which is officially called an ellipsis. Wherever else you have the two dots it should be changed to three.
In the fourteenth stanza, you should consider changing 5ft to 5 foot. I assume you want foot for the slant rhyme with took.
Stanza sixteen it's should be its/i} and in stanza seventeen, its' should be its.
Stanza nineteen, line four, no comma is needed after died.
Stanza twenty, line four, why is Babe/i} capitalized?
Stanza twenty-one, line one, since a girl of this tale I've known is awkward wording. Work something else out that is more natural.
Stanza twenty-four, line two, again, it's should be its.
Overall your rhymes and slant rhymes follow no set pattern. Sometimes you use an a-b-a-c rhyme pattern, other times you use a-b-a-b, others are a-b-a-c, still others are a-b-c-a, and you even vary from this.
A little bit of work on the rhyming with a set pattern and figuring out the general number of syllables you want for each line will strengthen this work immeasurably.
The heart, internal consistency, flow and pace are all remarkable and make this a very endearing piece. It does need some work on the structure, pattern, and technique employed.
A very wonderful read and heartening story. Great piece. Many kudos to you.
David E. Navarro   |
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