THE POETRY OF BETTYSRAINBOW

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THE POETRY OF BETTYSRAINBOW
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.02-27-2010 at 09:44:36 AM

cousinsoren
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THE POETRY OF BETTYSRAINBOW
.ForumsPoetry Events & NewsMORE ABOUT BETTYSRAINBOW'S POETRY

MORE ABOUT BETTYSRAINBOW'S POETRY

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.02-27-2010 at 09:42:00 AM



cousinsoren

Posts: 527

MORE ABOUT BETTYSRAINBOW'S POETRY

AINBOW











Ms, Robert’s poems tend to be personal, which means that they arise out her experience and are given birth’ through her affinity with people, things and events that are around here, and which arouse or stimulate her poetic sensitivity, from time to time.



In her poem , “Halloween”, her brand of poetic sensitivity is dominant without making effort to be humorous. Yet a humorous quality is pervasive. . “ Ghosts, goblins, and scary things” She captures the witchery in simple, almost prosaic language in a light-hearted mood. Her descriptions and details of movements are cinematographic. Her word pictures are concrete. Her vivid and theatrical treatment of themes appear in “She Danced “, in “ The Thunder Roared “ and many other of her poems. In “Halloween;” Ms. Roberts gets herself fully immersed into the fantasia and delight of the event. Nothing of consequence is overlooked., :””Children all dressed up for the night’;”Mommies and daddies will follow.” The imagery is flawless with no pretence to flowery figurative elements. “Down the trail



that leads to homes/Where tuck or candy waits” A rare skill is evident wherein the poet skilfully clings to a prosaic edge and yet preserves a pleasing and immacu-



late poetic tone.



Ms Roberts repertoire contains versatility and a wide variation of themes.



“When the sun sets , you will see me leave/ I will smile ride heaven bound.’



She is capable in a masterly manner of deep religious sentimentality, The theme of hope and faith are well sustained in this poem by a one line refrain,”When the sun sets,” This technique of bridging stanzas , and sustaining unity of theme by a refrain line or two lines ,appears in many of her poems Ms. Roberts is very conservative in her use or metaphors,. Only one metaphorical line , “When the sun sets” referring to death, is evident.



In “It’s Valentine’s Day”, Ms Roberts confesses that despite all the gifts. “I love to eat the chocolate / In the fancy heart-shaped box,” what she wants most is simply and piquantly expressed, “I want to walk hold your hand/ To hear the sound of your voice only/ To hear the sweet things you say.” In all her poems, her personal sentiments are unpretentious, sincere and crystal clear.







In her poem entitled “Blue” a lover is missed, and she resorts to sustain the theme and unity, by beginning each stanza, except the last, with the phrase “Blue is….” The mental feeling or emotion of this poem is poignant. The concept “blue” is usually perceived as unhappy,. Ms Roberts has piquantly explored this concept in this poem.:







“Blue is my heart, when you are gone.”; ….”When I lie down / Be my blue soft……/ My mind floats away/ Deep in the ocean.”







Once again, Ms. Roberts avoids pretence to metaphorical imagery. Her concrete imagery is familiar and is deeply felt by just the right choice of mostly dissayllabic words. Her lines in this poem follow her forte of being quasi-prosaic without losing their poetic quality,. “Blue is the ocean . Blue is the sky” are poetic clichés effcctively introducing the mood of this poem. .







“Empty Arms” is another display of how well Ms. Roberts masterly manages romantic themes in a narrative mode. “It was snowing when they met./ Their love was one of a kind.” She continues in the same vein, as in many other of her poems, using the motif, “It was snowing when……” concluding with , it was snowing when two lovers were united once more, by death, This is a sorrowful poem which convey very well the tragedy and grief of losing a loved one by war. “It was snowing the day he left army bound”; ”His letters stopt coming / He didn’t return.” Ms. Robert captured to well the experience of two lovers separated by the call to military service, . explored the feeling of loneliness and desolation, and concluded with a bit of mild fanfare of joyful fantasy: “ Outside the window, it was snowing,/ There he was with open arms to meet her,”







Ms. Roberts possesses the skill to create invocations of mood ranging from the fan-



tasy of Halloween to the sorrow of parting to the fervency of religious adoration and prayer. “And Jesus Said,:” is one of her longer poems exploring a religious theme. This poem begin a fervently simple prayewr:



“I come to you ,Lord,/ Down on my knees.” This introductory imagery of someone in a familiar prayer posture effectively sets the mood for the entire poem. She uses familiar religious clichés to reinforce the fervency of the theme , such as: “In the name of Jesus”; “ Again, her style in this poem is almost prosaic and is consistent in ‘the application of what seems to be the trochaic metric foot.







In her poem. “The Thunder Roared,” Ms. Roberts vividly describes the horrors of a thunder storm. “There was a time long ago / When the sun set long before the day.” This poem is a good model of her mastery of narrative and of her technique of inducing a conversational stance in many of her poems. by creating an opening line that immediately discloses what is the theme is of the poem. She hardly depart from her simple quasi- prosaic style. In this poem, she her imagery is vivid . Her descriptions are cinematographic, dramatic, sinister and emotive: “The sound of the wind softly carrying / The sound of the hooting owl.” ; “A gentle misty breeze / Turns into a roaring thunder.”







In “Where There Is A Way,” like in many of her poems, she is almost prosaic. This poem is didactic in nature. It is a treasure of reassurances, admonition , counselling and resolutions. It advises that if one is determined to solve a problem, one will find a way. “The way cannot find itself the will/ It is up to the will to find the way.”



She concluded that this poem was created from her own experience, thus making this poem a personal testimony with which many a person may identify.







“There Is A Knock On My Door.” There is a veneer of homeliness and common-



place domesticity and sincerity about most of Ms . Roberts’ poems. As mentioned before, many of her poems commence with a sort of conversational entrance line: “Door” is a sort of soliloquy, a whimsical poem.. The poet hears a knock on her door. Random thoughts passe through her mind, as she advances towards the door;”The bearer of bad news perhaps,.” She is pleasantly relieved to discover that it is the “pizza man.”. Ms. Roberts induces us to enter with her into the suspense of the poem and then into the relief. This poem treats of a trivial situation, but effort-tlessly induces a smile and a chuckle.







“”Hunger”, “Children peer through the Window,” “It’s another day/ Another day of hunger.” This is an example of Ms. Robetrt’s concern for the human condition. Imagery , pathos and invocation of sympathy are well sustained. She speaks clearly of hunger in the city. In “Close Your Eyes,:” is another of the prolific range and variety of her anthology. She masterly handles her romantic ..themes with the same skill as she treats other kinds of poetry; without being erotic or flowery, “Close your eyes and come with me,/ Let me take you back / A time when life was full of fun.”







“She Danced” is definitely one of Ms. Roberts’ masterpieces. “mystically she dances floating across the floor”. The imagery of this poem holds one breathless as Ms, Roberts induces all eyes to focus on a single dancer on the floor by a dynamic attention drawing opening line which seems to be the hallmark of most ,if not all, of her poems.



“Her feet barely touching the floor.’ Short, rapid verses suggest lightness, symmetry and grace and sustain the focussing of eyes on the dancer. Ms. Roberts’ metrical discipline and conservative use of figurative elements is effective in this poem,when it is enough to concentrate on the dancer only . A single metaphorical image is effectively composed.. “She is the prettiest of flowers in the bouquet / Her bud opens like a flower in bloom / Arms outstretched -- take a bow..”



The eyes of the poetess concentrates on the dancer, but she does not ignore the other admiring and spell-bound onlookers. She includes them, thus perfecting her poetic cinetographic creation: “The crowd claps like hale slaps the ground / Roars like ththunder they exist,” suggesting that there was large audience.







THERE WILL BE MORE NEXT WEEK ABOUT THIS TALENTED POETESS