Poetry Forum

Thankyou Camus and Arcadian. You're very kind. There is at least one cliche - tides race in her blood. I've changed this to 'sea walls brace tidal blood' which is less obvious.

I love rhyme because of the sounds and the possibilities for construction. Rhymes can add a hypnotic quality to a poem, and strong rhymes can jolt the reader from one point to another. They can also be used to suggest fractured thoughts etc etc. Rhyme is just another tool in the poet's kit. You can'...

Selkie With day submerged she drowns in gin to wash away a sea sore man; she sounds beneath tsunamis past, but brine can't quench a whalebone thirst. She flees his mast to float back home in song on dunes; a lantern fish arcs through the gloom and sheens skin silver, licks red strands: anemone in f...

I think your reply to the comments reveals my problem with this piece It's excellent as far as it goes, which is not very far. This feels like an episode in a broader narrative. Agree that the last line sounds cliched, but I think in a longer poem you'd get away with it. The cliche is not so much a ...