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Experiment with scale (Now or just Forever)

(I wrote this piece as a song, and although it works as a poem, it works best with the music because the piece plays with time and pacing, and where the music slows and speeds up is significant. The present, painful situation is slowed down while the past positive experiences are sped up. I will be putting the song in my final project so you will be able to see what I mean then.)

A day with my head, below the water

A week with my body, buried in the sand

I give myself a minute now to catch my cold dry breath

After years of breathing sweet air turning now bitter endeavor

I wonder is it now or just forever

I wonder is it now or just forever

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The Deep Notes

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·         The overprotective mother seems important to the context of the story. Tom isn’t able to experience life in part because of poverty, in part because of his heart condition, and in part because of his mother. I understand the concern of course, but I think that if someone is on their way out they should at least have some good experiences before they go.

·         I can’t even imagine how miserable that life must be, the kind of life where any excitement could kill you. Really makes the reader sympathetic to Tom.

·         What was Ruby doing underwater? Was she just collecting rocks and exploring? And what was with the pump? What that how the air got forced through the hose so she could breathe?

·         Man, at first it’s cool Ruby talking about all the stuff she wants to do when she gets older, until you remember that Tom isn’t really going to have the chance to get older, then it just gets depressing.

·         Very interesting how the story is set to shift from a relatively stable economic climate to a period of depression. Is that why Ruby doesn’t come as much anymore? Maybe it shows that her dreams are sort of falling apart too, although not really to the extent Tom’s are since he was never really even given the opportunity to dream.

·         I feel like showing that Tom makes it to 20 is just a way of giving the reader hope that he might actually make it so it’s even more depressing when they kill him off.

·         This story gets me really depressed. It’s beautifully written.

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Revelation Notes

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·         I like that Mrs. Turpin talks for Claud. Seems to show how the power dynamic works in their relationship. Also gives Claud the appearance of an indifferent if somewhat annoyed adolescent.

·         Also like that Mrs. Turpin tried to make Claud move but then told him to sit down when she noticed some lady looking at Claud in a sort of a “holier than thou” kind of way.

·         The lady keeps suggesting that a child will move to make room for Mrs. Turpin, but she never moves herself.

·         When does this story take place? The ashtray in the waiting room and the fact that $5 a day to stay at a hospital seems to indicate that it was around the middle of the 20th century.

·         Seems like the part I’m up to in the story now is either introducing characters or actually about trying to draw inferences about people based on superficial features.

·         The racism in the story is also interesting. I wonder if that is heading somewhere or if it just meant to give details about the characters and setting.

·         Shit, it’s amazing the front that Mrs. Turpin puts on when you get to see what she’s really thinking, putting people in a box oven and all.

·         Mrs. Turpin and the lady she’s talking to each seem to show the same superficiality and superiority. It’s almost disturbing.

·         I like how the narrator describes the people in the waiting room as the “audience” to the black man, seeming to imply that everyone is observing him. Then as soon as he leaves, even though he was perfectly friendly, the racist talk starts up again.

·         “There was nothing you could tell her about people like them that she didn't know already” She seems to think she knows everyone by more or less superficial features.

·         Wow, didn’t expect the girl to lose it like that.

·         It’s amazing the way she tells the story omitting details to make herself still seem like a good person even to just the people she expressed the most disdain for, people who are black and poor. She clearly changes who she is depending on who she’s talking to.

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Poseidon Notes

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·         I love the way Kafka turned being a god into a desk job. It makes you think about all of those jobs that seem exciting until you realize that there’s only a little excitement and a ton of paperwork and bureaucracy and everything.

·         Poseidon is afraid of change, not the way one would usually picture him.

·         Waiting for the end of the world to see it. It’s like how everyone has things they want to do and places they want to go but so many people just put it off until it becomes impossible.

·         You rarely see stories commenting on how boring power can be. I like it.

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My Appearance Notes

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·         I had a little trouble following, did they jump back in time from them getting prepared for her appearance on Late Night to when she got the call? I feel like he’s doing some weird stuff with time here.

·         Her husband really doesn’t seem to like Letterman. Either that or he really wants his wife to be prepared for any scenario.

·         There doesn’t really seem to be any real evidence that Letterman is doing anything wrong in the story. I guess the story is trying to present us with opposing viewpoints.

·         Is the random crying supposed to be a sign of poor mental health? Maybe she has depression and the Xans bring it out worse?

·         Rudy is a really paranoid character, needing to check to make sure the driver couldn’t hear them. Even if he could, it was only the driver. Drivers aren’t spies for their companies. It sort of makes it harder to believe some of the things he says.

·         I don’t understand why Rudy is so afraid of Sue ending up in a ridiculous situation. It doesn’t seem like any Late Night situation could be harmful to a career or an image or anything. It even said she was a sitcom actress. Sitcoms are supposed to be ridiculous and most of them aren’t even really that funny or entertaining.

·         The husband is really concerned with the wife’s image. I guess because television is a very superficial industry that thrives on people’s perceptions, but still the ridiculous scenarios don’t really seem like they could be harmful.

·         I get that appearances are important in show business but I don’t see why Sue making herself seem ridiculous is better than Letterman making her look ridiculous.

·         I really like how the author keeps playing with perception.

·         “…betrayed what looked to me like tenderness.” Like that even when just describing each other they talk about ambiguous perceptions.

·         Talking about the applause cams and about how Letterman appears in clothes that aren’t particularly nice, all of it just keeps building on the appearance factor.

·         He does a lot of really cool things in this piece, like sporadically bringing up that Sue wants a Xanax. It adds a cool effect to the piece.

·         It seems like the whole marriage between Sue and Rudy

·         It seems as though the only reason people fuck up with Letterman is because they’re nervous and over think things, so Letterman has to make a joke for it to still be entertaining.

·         I didn’t expect Susan to take Dick and Rudy’s advice, interesting how she combines the appearance side with who she actually is.

The ending was amazing. It makes you wonder who is sincere and who is putting on a façade. I can’t even tell if Sue is sincere after that ending, it didn’t really make it clear one way or the other

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Omelas Notes

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·         I’ve heard of this story before, I remember an old friend telling me about it a couple years back, about how there’s this perfect place except one kid gets tortured. I wanted to read it but I never got to it. Pretty nice I get to read it now.

·         I like the philosophical talk about how in the city they focus on happiness rather than pain. I don’t exactly agree that artists talk about pain because we think that pain is inherently more intellectual than pleasure, but I do like the idea of a place where people really focus on finding happiness.

·         Why doesn’t the narrator know what kinds of technology Omelas has? Is he trying to make the story more realistic by saying he doesn’t have all the details, meaning he isn’t making it up?

·         I can’t tell if the narrator is trying to make this place seem more realistic or if he is simply giving ideas on how the reader can imagine this perfect place.

·         The narrator says that the child looks 6 but is actually 10, but the way he talks about people going to see the kid makes it seem like it’s been there for at least a generation or so.

·         The story poses a really interesting question, should the few suffer if it helps the many?

·         Also seems to be a comment on how a lot of our comforts were made from other people’s suffering. Chocolate, clothing, coffee, precious metals, et cetera are often made by slaves, child laborers, people working in harsh conditions for low pay. Also interesting to say that the only thing you can really do in this situation is walk away. Like how the only thing you can do to not support the exploitation of workers is not buy the products from companies with unethical practices.

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Crazy Glue Notes

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·         I have no idea what the author is trying to do with this story. I suppose I at least saw the foreshadowing, figured the wife would try to hang from the ceiling with the glue.

·         Did the wife know the husband and that was why she glued all of the stuff together? If so why wasn’t she mad?

·         I feel like this story would have worked better if it was longer. I don’t really get a good idea of the characters and I feel like in this story it would have been better if we got to know the characters.

·         I don’t really get why the author would have the husband notice that the image on the glue was just a picture turned upside down if he was going to have the glue work for the wife.

·         It’s already surreal that the wife is able to glue herself upside down but it gets really crazy when the man is floating in midair.

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In a Grove Notes:

·         It’s weird only getting the dialogue from one person. Although it’s easy enough to guess at what the other person is asking, it’s still strange hearing questions answered that we never see asked.

·         I wonder what time period the story takes place in. With characters with bows on horseback it makes me think of the somewhat distant past.

·         Tajomaru is a pretty interesting character. He seems to be very much against the current system. I wonder why the fact that he thought the woman might be a Bodhisattva made him want to kill her man or capture her. I don’t think people had power just for being enlightened so I don’t think it was for power. Maybe he could have gotten ransom or something.

·         Tojamaru has a very interesting set of principles and code of ethics, and I feel like as I go on I’ll come to appreciate his side of the story

·         He seems to be very honest, too. I think I trust him as a speaker.

·         Kind of set me off the principled killer track when I found out he’s a rapist.

·         Why would she have Tojamaru kill her husband? Did she just want to get away? Did she think her husband could win (I assume not since she ran)?

·         Now that the wife’s side is presented, Tojamaru seems a lot less honest. But at the same time I wonder if she is telling the truth.

·         Why would either the wife or Tojamaru confess to killing Takejiro if they didn’t do it? And were men back then so shallow that they would hate their wives for being the victim of a rape?

·         Weird that they use a medium to give voice to the dead. Is the medium more likely to be reliable than the wife or robber? Would someone at this time have thought of mediums as reliable sources of information?

·         Was it normal to marry your rapist at that time in Japan?

·         Jesus, did everyone just feel so guilty about the death that they would falsely incriminate themselves?

l

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Younger, Grisha, Speech Sounds Notes

Younger:

·         It’s really interesting how we are presented with two perspectives of the same event. The older sister’s nonchalance seems to call into question the severity of the situation that the narrator perceived.

·         I’m curious as to whether or not something was actually wrong. It seems to me that it could easily have been nothing, since the dad only said don’t open the door and the only thing to happen is someone knocked too long (which could have easily been for a package or something), and the fact that they got left home alone, although they were supposedly too young be home alone.

·         I feel like the incident is supposed to be nothing, and the narrator making it seem suspenseful is just supposed to help us get into the head of the younger sister.

·         Much of the piece seems to just be a profile of the mental illness developing in the younger sister. Of course I could be wrong and maybe there was supposed to be something wrong, perhaps a suicide attempt or something by the mother, but it really seems like she is just obsessing and over thinking, which is why her sister is able to move on in life but she is stuck in that one moment.

·         Although the mother’s “suicidal juggernaut” makes me second guess, the younger sister seems to get too distressed by the fact that her sister doesn’t see things the way she does. Perhaps she is trying to convince herself she is not losing it and when she can’t it distresses her even more.

Grisha:

·         Telling a story from a third person narration that follows the mind of a baby is very strange to me.

·         A baby’s perspective on his first time out in the world is a very interesting topic to write about, though. It’s a pretty huge moment where you experience a ridiculous amount of stimuli that you’ll likely experience the rest of your life for the first time.

·         Very interesting seeing Grisha discern the purposes of the people in his life.

·         It’s also cool seeing the world first from my own perspective and then from the perspective of someone who doesn’t understand much language, can’t communicate well, has no life experiences, and has never even seen the outside world before.

·         Funny, Grisha’s nurse takes him out for drinks with friends and gives him a little bit. I wonder if that was acceptable for a nurse to do in that culture or if that’s as messed up for a nurse to do there as it is here.

·         The end seems to suggest that all of the new experiences were a little overwhelming for Grisha.

Speech Sounds:

·         In this story it makes it seem like the biggest difference between humans and animals is language. Although they still have the technology in this world, the grunting and mock fighting and real fighting really makes me almost picture orangutans instead of humans.

·         It’s really cool how we don’t even get to know what the fight is about because it can’t be communicated. It sort of puts us in the world with them.

·         Just something to think about, how can there be a bus driver without language? First off just the existence of technology like a bus seems like it should’ve taken some collaboration, then there’s learning how to drive, and learning streets and everything would be a bitch without language. I know it’s not supposed to be important, that’s just where my mind went.

·         In this post apocalyptic scenario, was the thing that made the gas shortages, took out the government, et cetera the same thing that got rid of language? Did language used to exist here and the removal of it was what made everything go to shit?

·         The narrator refers to people as “impaired” and “least impaired”, how was the impairment caused, and what exactly is it?

·         Maybe the fact that there is not language isn’t the only thing that turned these people into animals, because the “more impaired” are also angrier and apparently less intelligent or capable of seeing the bigger picture. Or maybe that is another comment about language.

·         A lot of my questions got answered really close together, I guess that was just a point of exposition where, since the story is changing from her on the bus with a fight to her in the car with a stranger, they didn’t need to be hidden anymore.

·         I wonder if the intensity of her brief hatred of the bearded man due to jealousy was a part of the impairment since it seems to cause rage or if it was just to show how jealous she was that he was literate.

·         There is a ridiculous amount of violence in this world. I mean I understand that without communication a lot would fall apart, but I wouldn’t think that rape and murder would be so acceptable.

·         For a short story a lot happens here. Things change really fast in this story.

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Coffee Shop Dialogue

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Dan sits drenched in a t-shirt and jeans smoking a cigarette under the awning of a coffee shop, back towards the door, at times stopping to stare at the ember in contemplation. Plastic wrap lies on the table to show it is a fresh pack. All other patrons are inside. Hannah walks under the awning with a half forced smile dressed for the rain, and sits across from Dan. You can tell by Dan’s drenched clothes, and the drops still falling off Hannah’s raincoat, that the rain was falling hard earlier, but at this point it is more of a light, steady fall. When Hannah sits down, Dan looks up and smiles, then looks down at his cigarette, takes a long drag, and they sit in silence as Hannah’s patience dies out.

Hannah sighs

Hanna: Look Dan, you can’t keep doing this.

Dan takes a drag

Dan: Doing what?

Hannah: I haven’t seen you in months, all of a sudden I get a text, “Hey Hannah, can we talk”, then when I show up you’re like a fucking zombie. Dan, what’s wrong?

Dan, without looking up: Have I done that before?

Hannah: Last time I saw you, last time Julia saw you, Eric tells me you get like this all the…

Dan: When’d you talk to Eric?

Hannah: That’s not the issue he… (trying to say here)

Dan: Who said there was an issue?

Hanna sighs

Hannah: If there’s no issue then why did you call me over here?

Dan: I just haven’t seen you in a while, I just wanted to see you. What’s wrong with that?

Hannah: You say you just want to see me here I am right in front of you and you just sit there staring at your cigarette like you don’t know if it wants to kill you or fuck you, and like you don’t even know which you’d prefer. What’s the matter, Dan?

Dan: I’m fine.

Hannah: You’re always fine.

Dan: Damn right I’m always fine.

Hannah: No one’s always fine, and you’re a hell of a lot less fine than the rest of us.

Both sit in silence for a few seconds

Hannah: I’m gonna go get some coffee. You want anything?

Dan: No thanks, I don’t drink coffee.

Hannah: Then why’d you tell me to meet you here?

Dan: ‘Cause you like coffee.

Hannah goes in to buy coffee. Dan listens until the door behind him closes, takes the flask from his back pocket, takes a deep swig, and replaces it. He looks at the butt of his cigarette and puts it out in the ashtray on the table.

Hannah comes back carrying coffee and a scone, puts the scone in front of Dan, and starts sipping her coffee.

Dan: What’s this?

Hannah: A scone, I remember you used to like ‘em.

Dan: Yeah, but why’d you get it?

Hannah: Because it’s literally the least I can do for you, and since you won’t let anyone do anything else for you, I figure you might at least let me do this.

Dan smiles, it’s slight but sincere.

Dan: So how’s Diana been?

Hannah: You didn’t hear? Got busted with coke again. Parents took her home (Dan’s smile fades, he looks down and says “shit” under his breath as Hannah finishes), said she wasn’t responsible enough to live on her own. They’re sending her to some community college back home in Bumfuck, Who-gives-a-shit.

Dan grips something in his pocket

Dan: How are you taking it? You getting by?

Hannah: Yeah it’s been okay. I mean I still got Thali so at least it’s not an empty room.

Dan: Thali! I forgot about her.

Hannah: Of course you did, you’d never come around when we would hang out with her.

Dan: I mean you can’t really blame me, Thali always hated me.

Hannah: Thali was perfectly indifferent to you, still is, you’re just always reading to every little detail, you just decide that anyone who doesn’t love you must hate you.

Dan exhales a laugh, again slight but sincere.

Dan, smiling: That mean you love me?

Hannah, laughing: Shut up.

They sit smiling at each other for a few seconds. Hannah looks at her phone and frowns.

Hannah: Ugh, I gotta get going. Shift opened up for stage crew and lord knows I could use the money. (Tone shifts from mild disappointment to sincerity) It was really nice to see you again.

Dan: Yeah, it was nice to see you, too.

They hug, and Dan uses the opportunity to slip a 5 into Hannah’s purse for the uneaten scone. Hannah walks off, and Dan sits back at the table, lights another cigarette, and watches her go. When she’s gone, he takes from his pocket a pill bottle with the label torn off (some of it still visible, but all information removed). He stares contemplatively at it for a few moments, then opens the top. He looks at it for another few seconds, takes a drag from his cigarette, then covers the bottle and puts it back in his pocket. He walks in the same direction Hannah had walked through the rain, which has died down enough that he can continue smoking his cigarette on the way.

º7o !¿.ME7¸ü_Ñà

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Writing Lab 4

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Might as Well be You

When I catch your desperate gaze I wonder

Is there nothing else you’d rather see?

But in your chasm hiding from the thunder

I realize it might as well be me.

Our islands separated by desire

But not for us, it can’t be reconciled

I, shiftless sea and you, a mighty fire

You’re hungry for a change, I for the wild

But hey, I’m lonely, nothing else to do,

I realize it might as well be you

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Panda Notes

·         An interesting quote to open with, seems to imply that this piece will be really taking apart Kung Fu Panda in order to better convey a message. I personally never knew Kung Fu Panda even had a message.

·         Opens with an odd mix of media. I can’t even tell what the YouTube video screenshot is about, though I assume it’s a clip from the movie, but the shoes seem to only relate to the text in that both have something to do with pandas (loosely speaking).

·         I found it entertaining every quote is pretty much the same, but still conveys a slightly different message to give you a deeper look at the main character in Kung Fu Panda. What is it about the movie that the author is so focused on?

·         Are these quotes all collected from different reviews or summaries of the movie?

·         Later includes quotes about the movie in other languages, and some later quotes seem like they were pulled out of a YouTube comment section (ex: I think I am the panda because lot of things he goes thru I go thru it too.)

·         Scrolled through a little longer and it’s just the same shit over and over again but written slightly differently each time. I’m still not really sure what the purpose of making this piece was, although I’ve come to realize that purpose isn’t always that important in art. Intentionality is sometimes overemphasized. My problem is that if something has no purpose it should at least be entertaining or aesthetically pleasing. This is funny at first but I don’t know if there are many people who could even make it halfway through the book.

Seven Controlled Vocabularies and Obituary 2004. The Joy of Cooking ... Notes:

·         This piece seems to be poetry about writing poetry, making an art of explaining an art.

·         Seems to compare poetry to other forms of art (ie. painting and photography)

·         At points it gets really abstract, so it is obviously not intended to teach. It seems as though it is an attempt at adding an aesthetic beauty to teaching, emphasizing the aesthetic more than the teaching itself. This seems to relate back to the theme of the aesthetic that is repeated in the piece (ie. poems “to be looked at”)

·         I really liked the statement that the novel can be too bourgeois. A lot of times when you read a novel from an author who’s not one of the greats, or doesn’t use their own voice when they write, you get similar kinds of ideas, tone, imagery, et cetera, because that’s how a bourgeois, educated individual is likely to learn how to write. It can get irritating.

·         Changes color with no real explanation. The only reason I can see is that the idea of the piece also seems to change a bit (talking about how long it takes to read a line and then veering back and forth into a discussion on short term memory research).

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W8ING Notes:

·         It seemed like for most of the messages the two characters just kind of talked in circles, not really saying anything.

·         Why are they waiting for this guy? Why can’t they leave and why do they have to come back later?

·         I just realized, if characters in this interpretation of the play have cell phones, why don’t they just text the guy? I mean maybe he doesn’t have it on him or maybe it’s off or something, but neither character even suggests it.

·         The only defining characteristics of each character that is really apparent is that one wants to leave and one wants to wait.

·         The line “you should have been a poet” just sort of comes out of nowhere, like he didn’t say or do anything poetic.

·         I feel like written as texts with choppy dialogue and no context, this story sort of loses a lot of meaning, or at least a lot of the meaning had to be changed or contracted so much that it’s hard to notice

·         Gets pretty boring just watching a text conversation.

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Writing Lab  (When Yesterday You Saw Me Smile)

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Mom and dad,

I know I’ve left more questions

Than the answers I can give

And through the faults in our hollow exterior

Drove a jagged wedge

But please don’t blame yourselves

For never noticing the ledge

How could you know I’ve been dangling out the bedroom window

All the while

When yesterday you saw me smile

 And to those who called me “friend”,

I never could be sure

Did you know you let me down

So many times before

Again in subtle clarity

I realize how could you?

For in silence when I dreamt reproach

How could you have heard?

And when in darkened shrouds I hid

How were you to see?

All you knew, could have known

All the while

Yesterday you saw me smile

 To Kyle whose spit is still caught in my ears

And Thomas who laughed at my fistful of tears

To Jared who left when he saw I was weak

Took my throat and left me unable to speak

And to all who’d gnaw at my confidence

Even you, set yourselves at ease

You who manufacture the tools of torture

You were never smart enough

Angry enough

You never suffered enough

To know how to use them

 But I was

And I did

And I did it well

 You who struck at my worth

Could never diminish my worth

 But I could

 You who told me what I was

Never made me what I am

 But I did

 You can cut my feet

But never stop me from walking

Can break my hands

But never stop me from fighting

Can piss on my mind

But never tell me how to think

Can rupture my heart

But never kill me

 But I can

 And in a swell of poison words

I’ve never even heard before

I wonder why today

It had to end this way

When yesterday I smiled

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Writing Lab 2

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Kevin  Gaughan

Writing Assignment 2

 Before

…

Remember

…

Had

 A fuzzy bear, I kept him

In my mother’s eyes

Are dotted, t’s are

Crossed the street alone today, at least that’s what she

Told me you’ll come out of this

Dead, yes, everybody has to

Have a purpose son, that’s what God

Is dead

 Proper nouns should be capital

 -ism, or sociali-

Nteraction promotes higher

HIGHER push me high

Off my ass, watching the smoke

-D meats, dead, burnt flesh

And sweat, flesh and sweat

-er, wear your sweater, your grandmother

Is dead

 Life is work, and work is sacrifice

 Your time, sacrifice your money

Is greed, destruction, but I need

You, I can’t live without you

R tits and cunt, sex, not love

You, I swear I do, I swear I love you

R soft breasts

Mother’s milk

Child’s love

Their mother

Is dead

 There’s still time

 Is running out

Of the hospital, screaming

At his daughter, looks too much like her

Mother’s dead, never meant a

Damned, damned if I don’t repent

Repent for what? For wasted time

Is running out

Is running out

Is dead

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Writing Lab 1

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There is evil in the world

You know it to be true

Felt its icy lifeless grip

Antithesis of you

 The evil, the aristocrats who from their towers plot

Against the helpless huddled masses left behind to rot

Nearly evil as the man who says that we have not

Ability to someday have what evil men have got

The evil men who had the chance but just stood deaf and dumb

To bring in from a barren land the crying dying numb

Unless of course they’re evil too, they might as well not come

Release the toppled monarchs send them back to where they’re from

 The evil that would take what we have worked so hard to earn

Would strip from us our titles and would watch our cities burn

The answer to these anarchists, I easily discern

Is cash for arms until all the fanatics have learned

Evil feign an outstretched hand for the wandering refugee

Until it clasps The Devil and sets the monster free

 (Evil, evil, evil, the word strikes at my ear

Evil, evil, harder, harder, harder now to hear)

 Evil, the pretend defenders, rather see me in a cage

Tell me what you call my “crime”? What is it to you? What has it done to you?

 Evil, those who break the mighty code

Would see it all dissolve to time. Who is mightier than the code? Who is wiser than historic wisdom?

 Evil, he who tosses the mighty book aside

Evil, the reader of the wrong book

Evil, who tells me I must live by their book

Evil, that would not burn the book

 And you who wander in the dark, say are you friend or foe?

Are you cop or criminal?

Conservative or liberal?

Do you come from God’s mighty legions?

Or with the outcast rebels hide?

 Are you black or white? Blue or red?

And yet what does color matter in the dark?

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Acconci “RE” Notes

·         On the first go around I’m not sure what to make of it. The first thing made apparent in the poem is the empty space in the poem between parentheses. I guess this must be a “things left unsaid” kind of deal. Especially since it ends with “I do not say… all I say”.

·         The next thing that stands out is it kind of plays with some cliché expressions like “here or there”, then actually chooses one of the two. Can’t really tell why yet, maybe it’s sarcastic (like you give him a choice so he’ll make it), or it could portray the speaker as overly serious.

·         I noticed a weird symbol that looked something like a D with a line through it, I assumed it meant that a decision was being made.

·         The more I look through it, the more I get the impression that this is a “things unsaid” kind of poem, but there’s so much missing it’s hard to tell what is unsaid or what the discussion is even really about, except that the end discusses simply the fact that there are things unsaid.