Man, I really tried giving Seibles the benefit of the doubt here, but what a challenging read. The “no periods” choice is defensible, but all the others are too inconsistent. I can’t help but read it as messy. Don’ or Don’t? Just or Just? No spaces on an emdash or one space? Elisions or no? We dropping g’s or no?
The typography and form are being trashed. Clearly intentional. Still, I can’t help but read it as lazy mess.
Man, I really tried giving Seibles the benefit of the doubt here, but what a challenging read. The “no periods” choice is defensible, but all the others are too inconsistent. I can’t help but read it as messy. Don’ or Don’t? Just or Just? No spaces on an emdash or one space? Elisions or no? We dropping g’s or no?
The typography and form are being trashed. Clearly intentional. Still, I can’t help but read it as lazy mess.
Someone help me.
This poem hits like someone speaking from the edge of a long, tired day.
There’s a kind of worn‑out honesty in the way he keeps circling the idea of running away, as if escape were the only thought that still feels true.
You can almost hear the sigh between the lines, that quiet “I don’t know anymore” that we rarely admit out loud.
The mother’s saying, the churchgoers, the sky — they show up like familiar scenery, but none of it really helps him steady himself.
And then that line about the body being the arrow and the heart the bow… it lands softly, but it stays.
It feels like he’s trying to understand his own impulses while the world keeps tugging at him from every side.
Music becomes the one place where he imagines breathing without effort, where life feels less heavy.
The poem never pretends to solve anything — it just lets the confusion sit there, unashamed.
By the end, he’s not running; he’s simply admitting he wants to, and that honesty feels strangely tender.
It’s the kind of truth you only share when you’re too tired to pretend you’re fine.
8/10
Loving this.
This is such a unique variation of the form, giving it extra stanzas, and the variation works quite well, given the subject matter