Sincerely, The Misleader

My favorite poetry strategy we've learned so far is title analysis. The title sets up the poem and is crucial for readers to interpret it as the poet originally intended. As a writer and a poet myself, I love leaving things open for interpretation (but maybe I'll save that for a future post) and I love creating misleading titles. I hate when other writers leave things open for interpretation, because ambiguity as a reader is annoying and frustrating, but as a writer it is so much fun to do! With misleading titles however, I love creating them and I love the ones created by other writers. I love titles of works that make you think they are about one thing, but then are about something completely different. I have intentionally and deliberately titled two of my own poems in such a way that they are misleading as to what the audience will think their subject matter is.

Counting

When he looks me in the eye

I cry tears of sorrow

Because instead of searching my face for a sign of love

He is counting my scars and pimples

When you look me in the eye

You make me smile and laugh

Because you are searching for my dimples

While he looks at my damaged cuticles holding my hand

You stroke my fingers

And imagine them wearing your wedding band

He counts the lines on me as wrinkles

But you read them like a fortune teller

Promising me they say we'll be together forever

When I look at him

I see pity

I see a man trying to fix what he thinks could be pretty

But when I look at you I fear no judgment

Because all my imperfections and flaws

You count as your blessings

Because they make up me - your one and only

          Personally, if I only read the title of that poem, I would immediately think it is about math and would be very boring. Instead, it denies yet exceeds all expectations because it actually tells the story of someone finding out what true love is. Also, I encourage you to try to chunk this poem. I intentionally didn't put it into stanzas when I wrote it. It makes the stream of consciousness about the two men switch constantly and rapidly back and forth between them, which to me, indicates the confusion I was going for and all the complicated emotions that come with that situation. But how does that decision affect the way you read and interpret the poem? How would the way you read it and interpret it change if it were broken into stanzas or chunked in a certain way beforehand?

Here is my second poem with an even more misleading title.

Bleeding

You walk everywhere

No umbrella

No shield

No cover

When it could rain at any moment

You talk to everyone

Head held high

Shoulders back

A confident aura surrounds you

When an insult could be thrown your way at any moment

I walk covered in bandages that hide the scars of my mistakes

Comforted by their ever present hold on my skin

Shielding me from the questions about their origins

And the ridiculing for my reasons

I talk to no one

My hood becomes my turtle shell

I walk with my head down

No one sees my eyes

As I avoid theirs

I see only feet

I think if I don't talk to them

I can't get hurt

If I don't talk to them

I can't embarrass myself

But you have climbed mountains

Those personal ones that you thought would forever block your view of the sun

You have scaled over

You have traveled the world

Through the people you talk to

Who share their journeys with you

I see now that having no shield is a tactic

Not a mistake

Less motivation for predators that way

If they can get to you that easy - why bother

I slowly peel away my bandages

Revealing scars from past memories I would still like to hide, to cover up

But you taught me how to bleed

Let myself bleed into the souls of people

Let my blood fall onto the sidewalks and fill the cracks

Paving my path

Marking my way

So no matter how far I get

I can remember where I came from

Never to go back there to retrieve the bandages

For they have lost their stick

The blood has dried up

My wounds are open

My scars revealed

My heart is on my sleeve

And I am ready to bleed

          Didn't think it was going to be about that did you? For this one, I encourage you to ponder the second to last stanza. I think on a first read it may sound contradictory, but it's not. It just has a subtle deeper meaning.

Sincerely,
The Misleader

P.S.

I love country music and one of the things that makes it the best genre of music in my opinion, besides the fact that every song tells a story (believe it or not all the songs about "drinking" are not really all about drinking - they're called metaphors people), is that lots of country songs use a play on words for their titles and then in their lyrics as well. It makes country music constantly surprising and exciting to listen to. Here are a few examples I recommend listening to, even if you don't like country music, just so you can see what I mean.

"Second Guessing" by Florida Georgia Line

"Feel It In the Morning" by Rascal Flatts

"Problem Child" by Little Big Town