Beyond the Corridor
26 August 2022
"The dark passage is only life's score / Let not your fear triumph in this fight / Be brave, take those steps towards the door"
RAYMOND SIGIMET
There's something beyond the corridor
For the air is filled and sour with fright
But be brave, take those steps to the door
Each step squeaks and squeals along the floor
Fear abounds and races through the night
There is something beyond the corridor
The dark passage is only life's score
Let not your fear triumph in this fight
Be brave, take those steps towards the door
Take heart with each step to the door
Amidst shadows standing silent as the night
There is something beyond the corridor
And that something wants you to explore
It's not out of reach, just out of sight
Be brave, take those steps through the door
Thank you for your compliment, Jim Moore.
I don't much like poetry either, I'd rather look for a poem that I may enjoy reading and re-reading, a single poem that speaks to me despite a poet's priming or posing, an occasion that comes about like cleverly devised magic.
It is very reassuring to have your readership of our PNG poems.
Your story of the Jimi Road was good reading too and having seen part of the road back in 2010, still unsealed, I marveled at the task but could readily appreciate the labour that it took.
Although I hear that the road is sealed and in much better condition, I have yet to take that trip.
Posted by: Michael Dom | 03 December 2022 at 07:26 AM
Ah, Michael, iambic pentameter.
That took me back over 60 years to my school days at what was thought of at that time as one of the best Catholic schools in Adelaide.
As part of English Studies in the Leaving Certificate, we were forced to study poetry, but in such a manner of teaching that on leaving school, I immediately and deliberately forgot it all.
The sole thing that has stuck in my brain concerning poetry since was the term 'iambic pentameter'. I still have no idea of what it actually means (something to do with rhythm and cadence?) but all that meant I hadn't read a line of poetry since school.
Please take as a compliment to your and other's writing skills, the fact that I have recently actually read and understood a lot of the poetry by PNG authors appearing on this site. Real stories, real feelings, real convictions, written with skill and polish.
Perhaps that all means we are never too old to learn something anew, and to find teachers in unexpected places.
Thank you, please keep writing.
Posted by: Jim Moore | 01 September 2022 at 03:35 PM
Thank you Michael for your take. Appreciate much your input. It was done on purpose. Composed it a few years back and decided to send to Keith to have it up on PNG Attitude.
Posted by: Raymond Sigimet | 30 August 2022 at 06:01 PM
Hi Raymond,
There is a smooth and refined language in this poem and with shortened iambic pentameter that makes each line seem breathless, and reading it like a breeze.
It looks like an incomplete villanelle, missing the ending quatrain, and maybe you've done this on purpose.
I think a strong quartet would really round this poem out nicely, in the villanelle.
And by that fixed form the ending couplet would be;
When something's beyond the corridor
But be brave, take those steps to the door
But if we explore other possibilities, like this;
At shadows that bar the corridor
Let courage guide you through to the door.
Then we may fill in the two preceding lines in the quartet with something like;
Adventure wants you to endure
Though you may quiver and quake with fright
And thus the full quartet to end the villanelle would be;
Adventure wants you to endure
Though you may quiver and quake with fright
At shadows that bar the corridor
Let courage guide you through to the door.
Posted by: Michael Dom | 29 August 2022 at 07:24 PM