Are You Refined? Poem by Linh Dinh

Are You Refined?



I used to paint with linseed,
Now I paint with crude oil.

Draped in cheap oil and sweating oil,
Under an increasingly hot sun, I steer
An oil car, on oil, towards my oil job.

Look at that skyscraper made with oil!
Billboard-size minimalist oils decorating
Spanking lobbies of unctuous firms.

Before meals, I pray and take an oil pill.
To feel upper or downer, I chug a lug oil.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Joseph Daly 03 August 2007

There is a strong pathos to this poem. Once theming of the matter of oil wih the starkness of the form gives this great depth. The opening couplet is almost painful to read and sets the tone for what is a massive enterprise, but yet condensed. The 2-3-3-2 structure of the piece belies just how big this poem actually is. The couplets that sandwich the troilets give the reader the impression of travesty. What is the filling is tragedy. An excellent poem!

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Linh Dinh 17 July 2007

Thanks for your comments, Joscephine. How we organize our communities is a big concern of mine, hence this poem about oil-dependency-Linh

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Joscephine Gomez 17 July 2007

I would have understood your poem were it not for the title which is very thought-provoking. One has to dig the soil that is your fertile imagination to mine all oil and what they represent.

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Linh Dinh

Linh Dinh

Saigon, Vietnam
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