literature

Negative Space

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pretty-yin's avatar
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Literature Text

I do not love you
     for your interlocking skin cells.
I love the number of hues that take me from
     his olive to your rose.

I do not love you
     for your spider-web irises.
I love the distance on the palette that separates
     his fawn from your forest.

I do not love you
     for your void of melanin.
I love the contrast I must shade from
     his darkness to your light.

I do not love you.
I love the space you made between our tenses.
In the middle of writing this, I switched the speaker's sexual preference. That was fun!

Feedback is always appreciated
discussion topics(!):

What techniques can you identify, and do you think they are appropriately utilized?

Can you identify with the speaker, despite gender or preferential differences?

What is your interpretation of the final line? Does the title add to or change your initial perception of the use of "our"?
© 2011 - 2024 pretty-yin
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cwedmart's avatar
Techniques used - parallelism, where the first line of the stanzas are the same - and lots of contrasted imagery (olive to rose, fawn to forest, darkness to light, etc.) I also noticed a touch of alliterations (fawn, forest, between tenses, <--- my personal favorite example, etc.) Did you use these techniques effectively? Very much so.

Can I identify the with the speaker? I have read this over and over and have thought about this in several different ways. I considered it being a person talking to oneself in a mirror about a family member or a loved one, and doing a sort of comparison, drawing inspiration on all of the countless 'in-betweens' with two people. In that respect, I can identify with this speaker.

I get this as a reflection on the wide spectrum of variations involved in the human race... I mean at a glance that's how it impacted me.

The last line really abstracts it all, which I personally like. I think the reason for that is, while the rest of the poem seems to utilize words that paint pictures (olive, rose, fawn, forest) the last word in the poem is something that indicates a time difference *tenses*. Way to change it up!

The title adds meaning to the use of the word "our" and to the entire meaning of the piece, and I will tell you why: The concept of "negative space" is basically "unused space' around or bordered by an object. it's also called "white space" like blank parts of a canvas, unpainted in a painting. So, with the idea of negative space in mind, as I read about the changes in shade between "his olive and your rose", or "his darkness and your light", I have to think of these changes as the the endless possibilities on a blank canvas, as opposed to an actual, concrete thing.

It adds meaning to the word "our" because it identifies the speaker, and the other party(ies) as the positive space.

Well I have read this over and over again, have interpreted it, and now my brain is spiraling out of control.

Very good work!