Poetry / The Fisher King

Thank you for the review!  

The narrator is a man who feels not exactly bored, but powerless and impotent—and given the bedroom revelation at the end, it could be read as literal impotence for that section.

That is reflected in a bad dream where the land is withered and wasted, cold.  In that sense, he is the Fisher King of Arthurian legend… the impotent king who feels his dominion slipping away.

A bit obscure, perhaps, and probably too much to take on in so short a piece.  But enjoyable to write.  Thank you again!

I could not ask for more than that!  Thank you for giving it more than one chance.  :)

Thank you again, Peter.  :)
    
This one has seen several incarnations.  Some later revisions are much longer, but I rather like the shorter one.
    
Off to read more Yevtushenko… I was not familiar with him when you mentioned him, so I’m perusing his work.  I quite like him.

I love his imagery, and although his Cold War style can be seen to date his work, I think it is as relevant today as it was when it was written. Also I have a general fascination with Russia and Eastern Europe. Dostoyevsky, Solzhenitsyn etc.
Keep going with the poetry, you have talent my friend.

Hi sadpoet,

     Many thanks for taking some time with this one.  I think you are right on the money with regards to the bleeding thigh bit, I will look to replace that.  I appreciate the comments and the lines you have singled out for me.  Thank you!

Jeff

You’re welcome

     I appreciate it; many thanks.

     You may wish, in the future, to add more detail to a review.  Not that I mind the compliment, of course.  But it is nice to have ones strengths and/or weaknesses pointed out as well, or perhaps a favorite/least favorite line mentioned.

     You will want favorable reviewer stats, most likely, since you have posted work of your own.  So let’s support each other with practical critique, yes?

     Thank you again.  :)

Jeff

High praise, indeed!  Many thank-yous.

Hi LadyMactans,

Thank you!  And thank you for taking time to review this.

I did capitalize “Waste Land” purposefully… the idea is to call T.S. Eliot’s poem, “The Waste Land”, to mind.

The question mark is not supposed to be there.  There’s a formatting error; I’ll see if I can fix it, thank you.

~Jeff

The Waste Land should be italicized, as it’s a lengthy piece that was initially printed on its own rather than as part of a collection.  I had forgotten how to make the word appear in italics on this forum.  ;)

Thank you, Anji!  Yes, that’s supposed to be a closing quotation mark, I have no idea what happened there.  I’ll see if I can fix that.  :)

Hi Kelly,

Thank you for the review… this is an early incarnation of the work, I should post the revision.  Not sure I did the idea justice regardless, but I have worked on it.  ;)  The man here is having a nightmare after being unable to perform sexually… it’s his impotence that links him to the Fisher King.

I like it that your feet got cold.  Something must’ve worked.  :)  But I hope you don’t have nightmares like the guy in the poem.  ;)  Thank you for the review!