This Poem was Submitted By: Regis L Chapman On Date: 2004-01-16 18:59:21 . . . Click Here To Mail this Poem to a Friend!

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pushpull

push pull rush I am too full look left rook right pause and breathe check the pockets for the deceived the castle beats retreat arms gather walking legs would rather do the balking pull set the table push what to do with chair? the answer is right...there call in heroes for repair numbers numbers counting down emotion plumbers with a pleasing sound push pull wait go back push push push three times tack pull pull pull parachute please unpack

Copyright © January 2004 Regis L Chapman

Additional Notes:
Often I feel like the king of subtle references. Poetic license, I suppose. The more obscure the better. I always hope to elicit feeling over specific meanings. I think I have done well in that here, more successfully than in some poems I wrote. Let me know what meanings you take from this. Really good poems I have read lately here. Inspired me a bit.


This Poem was Critiqued By: marilyn terwilleger On Date: 2004-01-29 15:55:21
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 9.48387
Hi Regis, I am thinking you will get a varity of meanings of this piece. Even though it is somewhat disconnected to me it carries a deffinite message. Our lives are full of pushes & pulls...everywhere we look someone is pushing & pulling us in another direction. I can especially relate this to raising a family and being a working mother. It always seemed to me that my husband, children, or the Dr. I worked for demanded more every day. I can remember thinking 'if I just could not accomplish what the ask...maybe they would stop asking'...but I never tried that..just kept plugging along in whatever direction they pointed...."I am too full...(l)ook left look right..pause and breath"...how many times I have felt this way...totally overwhelmed...too busy to take a deep breath...."walking legs would rather do the balking"...what a true statement that is. It is much easier to just say no than to push ourselves to do the impossible. There is a song that says... ..."the difficult I can do right now..but the impossible will take a little while." The last line threw me a little..."parachute please unpack"...but it could mean..just do it yourself! I may have completely fractured your meaning of this piece but I was easily able to relate it to many situations in my own life...good job. Peace...Marilyn


This Poem was Critiqued By: Claire H. Currier On Date: 2004-01-27 08:08:27
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 9.56364
Well here goes my stab at the kitchen table and the push pull effect some have with food.......Is today the day I diet or can I fill my face with what lies before me.....oh, I need to get up and move away from this plate before I intake all that is before me......get up to leave but something is pulling you back to sit and start over again.........for someone with a porblem involving food this might remind them of that....actually I like the way you structured it and the word flow makes it an easy read and for me the image of food does jump in and out for I often find myself standing at the kitchen shelf searching inside for something to eat then once it is fixed take to fighting the temptation of something else....sick, very sick but a way of life for some......thanks for the post, the interesting read, the allowance of my views against the words written for I know that is not the point here for it could touch on life in general and how we are always pulling in different directions.....be safe, God Bless..... I would not change a thing and the title is quite becoming the piece.....
This Poem was Critiqued By: Mell W. Morris On Date: 2004-01-17 14:42:44
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 10.00000
Regis: I like your poem but find it more than subtle...recondite and abstruse are the words that come to mind. The lower case, lack of punctuation seem fitting for the piece and the pacing is well executed. I found myself racing to the end and had to go back and reread slowly. The title is unique and seems a commentary on our daily lives with so many commitments, being pulled in one direction then tossed in another. "push pull rush I am too full look left rook right." I am too full is enigmatic unless you refer to your hurried life but then we get into tables and pushing them so you may mean literally full. I like the fact that the deciphering is left to the reader and my take is one filled with ditherings. Then you "rook" which tells me this is a chess game or else you use the chess game as a metaphor for our stresses. "pause and breathe check the pockets for the deceived the castle beats retreat." You again use the rook/castle imagery and poet cautions himself to slow down and breathe...I found myself holding my breath on the first read. Check the pockets for the deceived (a pool term) but I think you mean your own pockets and I'm reminded that there is lack of trust for those at the table... have they pocketed a pawn or relieved your pockets of money? Intriguing enigmas throughout which I find pleasing for I like to exercise my brain a bit. I feel I'm missing the import but once posted, the poem belongs to the reader so I am always quite content if the poem is good (this one is) with my own misinterpretations. Herein I feel elevated to a higher plane and that is a rare delight. "arms gather walking legs would rather do the balking ...my exact sentiments... pull set the table push what to do with the chair? the answer is right...there." I'm unsure what is occurring here...seems an indecisiveness about the table and the chair. I'm sure they are representative of something else...the sole idea in my head is a reflection of the many decisions we must make daily and the pushpull me of same. "call in heroes for repair numbers numbers counting down emotion plumbers with a pleasing sound. push pull wait to go back push push push three times tack pull pull pull parachute please unpack." This section is as esoteric as the others but my favorite phrase lies herein: "emotion plumbers with a pleasing sound." Quite special linguistics of delving to feelings with harmony. Then I come to "tack"....change directions or sail against the wind...and the unpacked parachute so now I am sailing (what's it called..parasailing?) I must say, Regis, this is a oner...haven't seen anything quite like it...and I have not unraveled its meaning. But you asked that we recount our meaning derived and you referred to feelings of the reader. My favorite poems are metaphysical and I would put this piece in that category. Every word you include seems indicative of something else. I know there are metaphors and symbolism and I didn't delineate your poetics altho I noted same. Overall, this seems to be about frustration and mixed feelings and how best to make apt choices. Again, I feel charmed and elevated by the poem regardless of your intent upon composing. I would read this poem again, would buy the book if I found this piece inside, an is indicative of talent, more IQ points than I have to summon. (And I'm quite intelligent). I hope you will share your import upon replying but that, of course, is the poet's choice. I can only add kudos for the accomplishment of a poem of this caliber which comes along infrequently. Best wishes, Mell
This Poem was Critiqued By: arnie s WACHMAN On Date: 2004-01-17 14:40:28
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 6.85714
I really don't know what to make of this piece except everything we do has a push pull effect... a yin yang thing. I sit by the ocean here and wonder at the rise and fall of the tides and wonder about that. Is there less water in low tide? Where does it all go? Anyway, thanks for making me ponder. Good title though.
This Poem was Critiqued By: Mick Fraser On Date: 2004-01-17 13:25:01
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 8.50000
Hello Regis; OK...employ poetic license, but I don't agree with you that the more obscure the better. I prefer writing that can lead to many different interpretations that are perhaps all justified, but being incomprehensible because of obscurity is a potential result. I am not certain where this piece falls...somewhere between obscure and clear as mud I guess. Regarding my interpretation of this offering...I am not that bright and easily confused and writing like this only adds to my utter confuzzedeness...but here goes... Playing chess in this life, (I love the rook right line)...the plumbers and numbers is transitional for the challenges that face us and how we react and the final leap of faith out of the Cessena is saying...what the hell we gotta trust in the push pulls and packing we have done... If I am way off base, I guess that you should be happy...lol. Take care and thanks for the puzzle...very entertaining. Mick
This Poem was Critiqued By: Robin Ann Crandell On Date: 2004-01-17 12:25:13
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 1.00000
A great poem. There are many meanings I get from this peom, however, I am afraid it is not what you expected when you wrote it. I will tell you anyway though. push pull rush I'm too full That to me is saying in now-a-days busy life.. you have to "push, pull, and rush," to eat breakfast, lunch or dinner. And you get full because you had to "rush." On the other hand.. of a more poetic stand point. I think that might have a reference to relationships. The reason I say that is because in relationships you are getting pushed, pulled, and made to rush. And with that, without relaxation you get too full of the relationship too quickly. look left rook right pause and breathe check the pockets for the deceived Now, with this one I have more of a life experience just like the other line. When I read this stanza, I am thinking of someone being on the corner of the sidewalk waiting to cross the street. He/She gets bumped into while waiting, then checks his/her pockets because they are afraid that their money is gone..."for the decieved" I know I am think of this poem in a today standpoint, but this is just what I feel, so I will keep telling you. the castle beats retreat arms gather walking legs would rather do the balking This one is more tricky. I will keep having to read this part of the poem before I can give you an honest critique on this part. pull set the table push what to do with chair? Like I told you before, this is probably not the critique you were hoping for, but this poem reminds me so much of my today life. So, this one reminds me of like a holiday. You set the table, and you have one too many chairs. You are unsure of where to place it. On another standpoint, It could read that the table is being set, like in a war.. and we are unsure of how to fix the table, thus the one chair that we are unknown about. the answer is right...there call in heroes for repair This to me is refering to war. There is so much broken in the previous stanza, "set the table,"..."what to do with chair"... and then in this stanza, "call in heroes," "for repair." They both fit together like a puzzle making this poem easy to read and understand. Although, readers interpret things differently, this reader enjoys this piece very much. numbers numbers counting down emotion plumbers with a pleasing sound "numbers numbers," means to me that troops are on there way out. "counting down" means that war is about to start. (I just want you to know that I just recently seperated the military, so that might be why I am relating these stanzas with the military) "emotion plumbers" this I had to look up. I wasn't sure the exact definition of "plumbers" With this line I take it like everyone is so worried of their loved one in the war.. and they are very scared or worried. "with a pleasing sound" this could be for very different reasons. It could be the voice of a loved one, or the sound of a news reporter stating that a certain battalion is safe and out of harm way. push pull wait go back push push push three times tack pull pull pull parachute please unpack This is waiting to jump out of an airplane. You get pushed, pulled. Then you wait and go back for the order. It's time to go, so... "push, push, push"... getting ready to jump out in a hurry. "Three times tack," means that they are used to doing something in that certain method. "pull pull pull," really got my blood boiling... I was scared while reading this wondering if everything was going to end up okay. "parachute please unpack," Only my thoughts and prayers are with the members of the military. Praying that their parachutes unpack. It's a scary thought, knowing that some of my comrades are still out there.. Great poem. I am sure it will have a lot of different meanings to every reader. Which makes a great poem even better. Keep up the work. i love it.
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