Scaly

re zehra

my turn to apologize. of course, there should be discussion if you want it. :)

shabaz,

i dont get the tragic in king lear either.i turn red and mumble when faced with ``art`` (would that be painting etc?), as for developing those sensibilities...eat more fish is what my mother always told me.the wonderful thing about poetry is that there is no right and wrong meaning to it.the reader has the right to interpret it any way he/she likes. so if this makes no sense to you, dont worry about it.

shandana

Zehra,

You are quite funny yourself:) Sorry yaar, aap to bura man gaye. Yes your opinions are your opinions … and my cat is my cat and my couch is my couch and my kursi is mine only!

From the top of that darn literary plateau

Faisal

re: faisal.

your response made me smile. :)

i thought it was cute u used ``big words``, phrases and all this mirch masala to throw me off :))

there was no reason for you to get all hostile. My opinion is my opinion and should be respected as such. my thoughts are my thoughts and should be respected as such. my simple words are NOT trying to reach some vague literary plateau which u are obviously on top of, so plz don`t mistake me for trying to sit above you all.

The poem, managed to hit some imagery for me, that i would like to have seen discussed and seeing that this is ``chowk`` and we are allowed to voice our thoughts, i did ;)

thanks for the positive response to my ideas....nearly blew me away with all the ethusiam faisal..not to mention all those positive vibes.

regards,

z. rizvi.

Re: Zehra,

Yes, condescending sound quite right. Your inane critique regardless of its reach-for-literary-plateau was quite futile in instigating reflective delimiters. Freud may burn in Wilde’s Hell… but that is not the point you see. Most replies for this poem would be- in Blachot’s words- “The one that stands apart from me.” And that, in my ‘baikar’ opinion, is quite enough.

Regards,

Faisal

Re: BG

Well, with comments like Neat!, loved it! suberb! and such, i didn`t feel that people were really reading it. i thought that perhaps all the pretty words just fell into place for some and were pleasing to the eye but no brain candy. perhaps a condescending thought on my part, but i felt that the deeper issues were being missed. but then again, everyone has their own reading and what they take back from literature, so its not up to me to judge who had a more complete reading of the poem and who didnt. i was looking to illicit more commentary on the piece , rather then a `Bravo`.

you, yourself don`t feel it needs commentary but mebbe someone else out there like me does ;)

One of the most entertaining pieces of writing to appear on CHOWK. Great Job.

Ras H. Siddiqui

slinky, any more poems for us to read?

re zehra

yes, the sexual innuendoes (does one spell that like toes?) were obvious. was there any reason to highlight those as opposed to all the other themes?

as you said, all the pieces fit perfectly, no commentary required (i thought)....

Superb imagery. You said a lot here! Married to a reptile who is lubricated in the right places - the phenomenon, I would say is quite pervasive.

Really loved this poem. Thank you.

Anita

Why is it no one has commented on the sexual overtones and imagery yet?

They are fairly leaping out at us :))

MY first read illicited a reaction of..damn, that was some ride. second, wow, check out all the sex there. ( im gonna be a good freud patient) and third was a lil bit troubled. perhaps i am reading way too much into the poem, but ``childhood nightmares and `John, Don`t``` are all preceeded by and caused by the long, hard, moist (and scaly) aliigator. Fear of sex as a child and as a grown up a more complete understanding of it??

all in all....i think it was an...Interesting poem and im prolly gonna back, read it again and deconstruct it some more. It reminds me of the way i used to dress freshman year in college. nothng really matched but it all fell into place perfectly, and no one could do that but me :) People did try to dress the same way and it just did not work. same thing here....people will try to emulate this style but it is pure minhas :)

z. rizvi.

ps. love the suburbia connection :)

BRAVO! This is by far the best poem I have read on chowk. Larkin meets Brodsky over teeter tarts. Unbelievable!

Faisal

i love it. i love it. i love it.

thanks people :)

shandana

Good stuff !

Yeah, I know what it`s like to be hated for a haircut.

And I think I know a couple of women here in Karachi who got married to subhumans out of sheer desperation.

Great imagery!