Poetry Forum

Joe

His lips don't curl when I drop that name
as if it's just another pair of white socks
among many in my drawer.

But it's not a secret, besides,
every woman knows some days
we'd trade just about anything
to wear our favorite pair of socks.





.

A curious little work this one Suzanne. Not sure I understand the relevance of the title. A John Doe is an anonymous dead body I think. Not sure how this relates to socks.

LOL! I crack myself up. It was titled Joe. What a mistype! Who know what I was thinking. Oooh, funny.
My foolishness provides hours of entertainment. Thanks Kev.

Classically me. Suzanne

Hi Suzanne
I confess I share some of Kev's confusion on this. I'm assuming it's an allegory of some kind, a conceit, but it's pretty heavily disguised.

Not that that's a problem in itself. Inaccessibility doesn't necessarily wreck a poem. If it did, TS Eliot would have ended up working in a factory. But I'm not sure this piece engages on any other level, either. It does seem (extremely unusually for you) curiously lacking in poetic device or poetic warmth of any other kind. Hard to engage with it, I thought, though I read it a dozen times or more.

Still, it's always nice to engage with work from you. More will come soon, I hope.

Cheers
peter

Lol. Oh, a holiday can screw everything up. I got rust on my rusted rust.
Well, it is good for a laugh. Thanks Peter. Lol. Oh who can explain it? Not I.
X Suzanne

Oh yeah, a sonnet. That is what I should be doing. Ok.

I'm noting the "as if" I think it's crucial to allowing the remainder of the lines to do what you intend which has nothing to do with socks.
It seems more like an underlying desire captured in the two short verses and that's the poetry you have aimed this at.

Dalena

Underlying desire masked in a common household conceit? Me?
Would I do that? It could just be about socks. Wink.

Nice to see you, Dalena, you are clever and correct about the "as if".
Thanks for this reply.

Warmly,
Suzanne

Hi Dalena,
What?!??? A strong desire woven into my white cotton? Nothing to do with socks?

Nice to see you around. And satisfying to see it was understood by someone. Yep.
Perhaps it is just something us females understand?

The anticipation of a pleasant hug from favorite socks. It can get a girl out of bed in the morning. Lol.

Warmly,
Suzanne

Hail Suzanne,

a blend of sock enthusiasm and sexuality.

Antcliff wrote:Hail Suzanne,

a blend of sock enthusiasm and sexuality.

Ah I should have paid more attention. Not about socks at all. Or are socks a bit of a fetish in your house Suzanne.

Thanks Seth for the Hail. And thank you kevlar for popping back over. Suzanne

Just pondering what the "it" could be. Thought I knew.

I thought there was a kind of sexual subtext to this..but I am just not sure now.

Hmm.

It's in the title.

His lips don't curl when i try to drop it
as if it's just another pair of white socks
among many in my drawer.

But it's not a secret, besides,
every woman knows some days
we'd trade just about anything
to wear our favorite pair of socks

Hello Suzanne, this poem (for me) was lost to abstraction, if that was your intention then it worked, if not it needs revision for clarity, also, there is nothing to engage the senses.

seeya...D

Hi Suzanne--

Joe surprised you, did he? You thought his lips would curl when he saw you were (still) doing it. And you tried not to let him see. But heck, a) It's not a secret to him and b) everybody knows some days we'd even trade a lip curl for a chance to do it. Makes you shiver to think of all the things it could be especially since where I live, socks is slang for condoms. . .

How about a full stop, a semi-colon, and/or a line break after but it's not a secret and before besides?

Very much enjoyed this!

Jackie

Jackie! LOL!

Ha! What an interpretation! Very pleasant twist you saw, Jackie.
Thank you. Poetry is so alive. Gosh. So many different ways to understand the words.

Warmly,
Suzanne

I'm glad you see it that way. I love the way teachers are taught that reading comprehension is making meaning--from the reader's own past experience, and so on. Nonetheless, we continue to give reading comprehension tests in schools that provide no leeway at all for individual responses.

But I'd still like to know how you meant it to be interpreted! You say the clue is in the title--who's Joe?

Jackie

drop it

as in name dropping? You've got me befuddled.

Jackie

every woman knows

as opposed to

every man knows

The gender divide

Yes jackie name dropping. Whew, lol.

Yes mac the gender gap.