Critical Commentary 1, Week 6

Response to Taylor's Improv 3, Week 6:

So bypassing the obvious hyperuse of the word "pearl", which was clearly an intentional bit of play and thus saying it was somewhat overused would be unnecessary, I will jump in to say there are moments here worth keeping. I always find it interesting when poems utilize repetition in order to force a certain awareness into me as a reader on the way words function. Generally that repetition forces me to create new meaning or different understanding of the function of the word as a verb or noun. However here, because the word “pearls” never really changes how it works, this leads to the feeling of triteness. Lines that I feel like could be carried over to another draft: Told us something in Chinese  / that mentioned pearls; and shakes his head at pearls. / nods his head at pearls. I also like the ending question, like a method of purpose from the writer.