[Critique Group 2] Poem for October 25

Sun Oct 16 19:33:24 EDT 2016

Hello, Group 2 writers:

     Since realizing the onset of each verse of this six-verse, 318-word 
poem is important in better understanding the meaning of the poem, I am 
offering you--in both the pasted version and the attached version--two 
formats of the poem.  The first presentation is in the typical format.  
Later, below three asterisks is the poem with each verse clearly marked 
midst the format.  If you find the second format unnecessary, please let 
me know at our meeting or in an e-mail.

     This poem was written especially for our critique group:  the poem 
will be read by the four of you first.

Looking forward to our meeting on the 25th,

Alice Massa

ajm321kh at wi.rr.com

*Evidence of Emotion*

by Alice Jane-Marie Massa

In the courtroom of the heart,

I offer you Exhibit A--

clear lenses of glasses

stained with teardrops.

Washing these unnecessarily prescription lenses

on this nearly frosted morning,

I think of the evidence of emotion,

the tear stains,

disappearing beneath

a cascade of water

and the touch of my finger.

Is the sadness of yesterday

now erased, forgotten,

evaluated, or forestalled?

Back in the courtroom of the heart,

an unqualified judge asked,

"Why do you wear these glasses

if you have no vision?"

My testimony began:

"Since I was seven,

I have been wearing glasses:

they seem as much a part of me

as my right hand

and my left leg,

as the clothes

I don each day.

Exhibit A has protected me

from hurt

or from greater injury

when I fell off my bike,

when a door was accidentally slung into my face,

when I encountered a piece of construction equipment

on the Kilbourn Drawbridge.

Wearing these glasses

calms my concerns

about being poked

by a low-hanging branch.

Through so many seasons of walking,

these glasses have shielded my broken eyes

from raindrops, snowflakes,

stinging sleet, and drying winds.

Believe me, I do not wear them for vanity:

I let my congenitally impaired vanity

dissolve decades ago.

Most of all,

I wear these glasses

to catch the tears

of emotions

so that I have proof

that I did not squelch

nor hide

all that I felt

on any yesterday.

I will admit

that I am not

an amateur holder of emotions:

I ascend from Italian descent;

I am

a professional holder of emotions--

a poet

who translates

tear stains

into the adversities of verse,

the joy of injamment,

and the strides of stanzas."

Midst the murmurs

magnifying in the courtroom,

the judge,

with unknown poetic license,

tapped his gavel and bellowed,

"Poetic order in the court!"

October 14, 2016, Friday

number of words:318

number of lines:70

***

*Evidence of Emotion*

by Alice Jane-Marie Massa

(Verse 1)