Critical Response to Kelsey Buck’s “Recognition”

Another eerie poem. Much like Xan’s “Rinds in the Loam,” I found myself getting wrapped up in the overall mood of the poem and the great, but strange, images. The real strength of the poem, I feel, is that it has created a world within itself and it is one which I am able to believe in. Lines like “As I emerge from bracken walls” and “Racing between dark silhouettes” are just plain good and create this creepy dream world which draws the reader in and allows the reader to be chased and claimed by the “something sinister.” This all being said, there are a couple of things which I think could really help the poem. The first would be to strike the line “Nowhere to hide, nowhere to go” from the last stanza and move the last line, “My shadow finds me. It claims me”, to the top of the stanza. It maintains the quick resolution of the poem, but it leaves the reader hanging with the image of the “bleak, faintly breathing world.” The other suggestion which I had was to expand on the sinister something which chases down and claims the character in the story. The elaboration does not have to be a big, long thing but it would help to just have a better idea of maybe how the sinister thing moves or how it smells – something to personify it without describing what it looks like (since that seems to be the point). Also, the line “fleeing superfluous freedom” really confused me. I don’t know if it is really important to the poem, but I would probably suggest, again, expanding it if she wants to keep it or cutting it. Overall, however, I really enjoyed it and I would love to see what she does with it later.