I'm how the middle makes a life.
Mediocrity's midwife.
Doula to the dearth that's left
beyond your row to hoe.
I'm the lowered expectations
befitting of your station
where the trains all run on time,
but have nowhere to go.
A First Line / Last Line poem (the first line comes from the last line of an old poem) for Susan's Mini-Challenge at Real Toads.
23 comments:
Some wonderful lines in this poem. I love:
"where the trains all run on time,
but have nowhere to go."
I have longed for the middle, but not to be the catcher of new born "lowered expectations" and "mediocrity." Your poem shows the middle as a knife slicing off the meaningful. Powerful and painful.
I'm impressed with the way you seamlessly transition from one image to the next, each line succinct yet vivid.
"Mediocrity's midwife" - so powerful. The poem is really really good - as are you, about as far from mediocrity and lowered expectations as it is possible to go and still be on the planet.
You know I liked "Miss D'Meanor", so it's neat that you chose that one to reprise, or at least, take your opening line from.
Sometimes I count the words in your poems, to see just how compact they really are. Again and again, you suggest a whole world in just a very few words. (40 here).
I love that you used the word "doula". It's a cool, kind of unusual word.
The whole thing reads nicely, but it's those last two lines that are a killer.
Lots and lots in this compact little telgram from the interior--and as Shay says, with so few words--each one is golden here. Excellent work with a prompt that totally confused me.
snap...that second stanza is fierce...so much in so few words...with a sting...
Are you spying on me???
You echoed my condition in your last stanza.
Wonderful. Know the feeling that you capture so skillfully. k.
Reality is bleak at times. But hope lifts us up.
Mediocrity's midwife. What a concept!
In case it was not clear, I enjoyed this very much, MamaZen.
One of your many strengths as a poet is the impact you create with your last lines, and this was a case in point. Now as a first line, it delivers an intellectual whack to the brow and sweeps us along on a new journey. So good.
Love the last two lines!
The trains run on time, but have nowhere to go.
Sadly, I can feel that line all too well.
I love the middling reflections ~
Good job MZ ~
Love the last two lines!
I adore this but I wouldn't describe you as mediocrity's midwife, no way. well done
I wouldn't describe you as mediocrity's anything, but of course this is poetry, so it can be anything you wish.
I also love the last lines. We're traveling by train in Italy soon, and I do hope they're on time and also have somewhere to go.
K
Thought provoking poem, especially that last line. Wow!
yeah, wow, last line. i think a lot about trains. and about being in the middle, and how really, i am so much not in the middle. anyway i really like this!
"Doula to the dearth that's left"
Wow!! Mama!! I love that!
This reminds me of a decent into a journey...feels like a Tim Burton movie! I <3 it :D
love this, MZ, but you have raised expectations too high again for the rest of us. except maybe Shay and hedgewitch. you're all just too damn good!
♥
Now those two last lines would make an awesome poem as well... You never fail to impress!
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