Poetry / The "L" Word

Very powerful. It was abstract, which at first I didn’t like… but as I reread and reread it I fell in love. The emotions are clear and so is the voice. You’re discription makes the reader feel the pain of the author… excellent. I loved this piece, keep it up!

nice strangely disturbing i liked it

wow. This is great. I love the flow of it

The imagery had little impact on me… if the imagery were improved then this poem would be more effective but as it is the descriptions evoke little emotion or response in me.

Eh. Overall just didn’t do it for me, felt like entirely too much love poetry I’ve read before. Wasn’t poorly executed for all that, just couldn’t take another love/fear/self-doubt work seriously enough to get over the subject matter. Some original, if disturbing, imagery. Title a bit trite for the heaviness of the work—I mean, if we’re talking disemboweling fear, call it by its rightful name in front of witnesses, create some word image as distressing as the fear is, leave it untitled and let us get the love angle from the words (which is possibly the best choice, in my opinion).

“To the tattered flesh” would work better if you replaced to the with into. I also think you should insert an a* after *blistering and a hyphen after once in line 9. I hope the “L” word is “lesbian,” because otherwise I keep reading homosexuality into places it doesn’t exist. Well, I guess it could also be “loser…” If it is “lesbian,” then the poem is pretty depressing. It’s about someone who wants to escape who they are because of the negativity around them. I guess it is the same for “loser,” but being a “loser” is literally a negative thing, whereas being a “lesbian” isn’t negative, it is just part of who you are.

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November 27, 2007

by Fastbody

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35	M	Phoenix, AZ	October 08

the word the title alludes to is actually “Love.” It can be one of the more painful experiences in life when you lose it or cannot attain it regardless of your sexual orientation.

November 27, 2007

by Sean_Allen

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21	M	Berkeley, CA	September 09

Bam! I don’t how I overlooked the BIG L word. Wow…

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Okay, it’s the title that pulls me in on this one. The L Word… like the show? As in lesbian? Well, that’s the interpretation that I’m going to go with, anyway, and if I’m right, you’ve certainly provided a unique viewpoint. It shows sexual orientation as a real struggle, calling it a disease, I really like the concept. And as far as the writing goes, I would try some punctuation or a stanza break or two, I feel like it’s moving too fast and I don’t have a chance to slow down and really digest the words.

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November 27, 2007

by Fastbody

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No. of Reviews	Overall Quality	Comment Followup
44	88.2% (17 votes)	27.4%

Age	Gender	Location	Last Login
35	M	Phoenix, AZ	October 08

The relation to the show is purely coincidental. I wrote this poem back in the early 90s shortly after graduating high school. I’m actually thinking of following some of the advice of one of the other viewers and removing/changing the title.

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Very powerful writing.  The need to be free from such torment is captured well in this poem,
x

whats the L word? the first time i saw the title i thought lesbian because of that show that i heard about once. so i assumed it would have something to do with that. then i saw “this torturous disease” and i don’t know any diseases that start with the letter L (i really don’t know any diseases) but leproacy popped into my head. i don’t think its that but is it? if not, what is it? still, good poem i liked it because i was hoping it’d tell me what the L word was. : )

I know what your talking about but the poem doesn’t really explain it very well.