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"The Cauldron of Love" by poetic_line

A short inquiry into the nature of love. Is it real or a chemically induced haze that nature forces upon us to inspire pro-creation.

Category: Contests / February Poetry Contest

Tags: Poetry, love poetry,

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The Cauldron of Love


By Rosalyn H. Marhatta


Two hundred twelve degrees Farenheit

Is nothing compared to

love’s fever

Induced by the release of

Dopamine,

Norepinephrine,

And phenylethylamine.


Nature’s chemical cocktail

So potent,

That men kill

And women die

For the momentary

Insanity inducing intoxication.


As nature plays her games

With us,

Rationality and respectability cannot

Defeat the burning,

Burning caused by the brain’s chemical chains

To ensure survival of the species.


Oh, love!

You are true deception,

A mere dilation of pupils

As eyes lock and pour out secrets of the soul,

A flow of oxcytosin that binds us,

One to the other.


Yet our human souls

Deny it,

Deny cold quantification

Of hot passion.


We deny your deception

And call it

True love.

How we dream of love!


We dream of the greatest love

And dreams are reality yet unborn.


Oh love,

Are you more than

A chemical release?

Are you truly the cool calm or

The hot passion?

Or are you true deception?





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Category Name: My Thoughts

I didn’t care for this poem at all. It lacked originality, purpose, good word choice, or was otherwise uninteresting. This poem was okay. It would have been better if the poet had given the theme, word choice, or form more careful thought. This poem was great. The form and word choice seemed natural and added to the main idea the poet was putting across.

This section is for overall comments and general ideas. The score should reflect how much you enjoyed the poem.

Category Name: Theme / Subject Matter

The poet does little to make the theme or subject matter seem important to me. There are some cool things about the way the theme or subject matter is handled, but it could use more originality or clarity. The poem makes the subject matter new and exciting. Even if the subject matter is ordinary, the poet gives it a new angle.

Is the subject or theme poetry “worthy?” Is it original? Is the subject treated in such a way that makes it interesting, funny, creative, beautiful, surprising, enlightening or otherwise worthwhile? Ordinary subjects make for great poetry if they are treated in an original way, and great subjects make for bad poetry if they are just like every other poem written about it.

Category Name: Word Choice

The words chosen for this poem are dull, contrived, or hastily chosen. The words seem almost right, but there may be some wrenching or some words that don’t quite fit into the overall idea. The words choice is great. The words seem exactly right to convey the theme. They are beautifully or creatively chosen, surprising or exciting.

Poetry is language in its most concentrated form. More so than in any other type of literature, this requires the poet to carefully choose each word. Do the words chosen convey a specific intention, feeling or purpose? Do they feel deliberate but natural, or do the feel forced, awkward, or hasty?

Category Name: Form & Structure

This poem seemed spewed onto the page without any thought given to form of any kind. The poem has been thought out, but doesn’t quite fit the form or seems a little forced or unnatural in some places. The poem naturally conforms to the form, or the free verse takes meter, enjambment, etc. into consideration in an effective way.

Form is the defining structure of a genre or type. Does the poem follow a predefined form (sonnet, haiku, villanelle, ballad, etc)? If so, does it conform to the rules of the form (meter, rhyme, syllable count, etc)? If the poem does not follow a form, does it make sense not to? Is there something that differentiates the poem from prose?

Category Name: Mechanics

The poet seems to have taken little or no thought for the punctuation in this poem. The poet has some really interesting things going on with the punctuation or line length, but it could be more exciting or surprising, or it could be scaled back to be less distracting. The punctuation compliments and adds to the meaning of the poem’s words or theme. It is deliberate and well thought out.

Punctuation (or lack there of), line breaks, enjambment, capitalization, lineation, etc. Not everyone can be e.e. cummings and eschew all punctuation and convention of line, but poetry doesn’t always need to follow strict grammar rules either, as long as whatever punctuation is or is not used adds to the overall idea of the poem.

Inline comments are the most helpful and important aspects of your review.

Click on a paragraph or highlight text from the paragraph to provide inline comments. While detailed grammar correction is welcome, the purpose of inline commenting is to spark the author's creativity. This is best done by expressing feelings, questions, and concerns you have about the story while you are reading.

1. The Cauldron of Love

2.

3. By Rosalyn H. Marhatta

4.

5. Two hundred twelve degrees Farenheit

6.

7. Is nothing compared to

8. love’s fever

9. Induced by the release of

10. Dopamine,

11. Norepinephrine,

12. And phenylethylamine.

13.

14. Nature’s chemical cocktail

15. So potent,

16. That men kill

17. And women die

18. For the momentary

19. Insanity inducing intoxication.

20.

21. As nature plays her games

22. With us,

23. Rationality and respectability cannot

24. Defeat the burning,

25. Burning caused by the brain’s chemical chains

26. To ensure survival of the species.

27.

28. Oh, love!

29. You are true deception,

30. A mere dilation of pupils

31. As eyes lock and pour out secrets of the soul,

32. A flow of oxcytosin that binds us,

33. One to the other.

34.

35. Yet our human souls

36. Deny it,

37. Deny cold quantification

38. Of hot passion.

39.

40. We deny your deception

41. And call it

42. True love.

43. How we dream of love!

44.

45. We dream of the greatest love

46. And dreams are reality yet unborn.

47.

48. Oh love,

49. Are you more than

50. A chemical release?

51. Are you truly the cool calm or

52. The hot passion?

53. Or are you true deception?

54.

55.

56.

57.

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