Loved the title and how it fits perfectly with the poem.

The ending lines are absolutely superb, only if not of the defeated melancholic conclusion of the speaker's impression about themselves.

It took me a while to finally absorbed its meaning, and that's what I loved about your poems. They are deep and almost beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

Fantastic!

I enjoyed the read very much... but wish to caution that it only works to a poet audiance. I think you have a lot to offer and should try to reach other audiences.

I really have read this a few times now and it was different from anything I was expecting it to be lol. I wrote a poem once where I had in it realizing I know nothing about anything, and I love how you ended it with that, how you maybe seem to be out in the world but are still young and prone to mistakes, prone to disappoint, get into hopeless situations. A lot behind the words I can't even pick up yet. These were the lines that stuck the most in my mind:

"my songs are spaces that couldn't
and words that aren't."

Man- this is like a life quote here! I love how personal you make "songs" almost has if it is your daily thoughts, and it makes me think about the potential we have, but how sometimes though we try and though we are who we are, it doesn't always settle well with others and with the times. Interesting write and really takes me into this piece. So unique in the words you chosen, it was anything but cliche or ordinary! Congrats on the win Colm!!!

:-0!!!!

Colm, this is just incredible. I have always been and will always be a HUGE fan of your work. Your wording is like no other....I can feel my brain literally flip flopping always trying to understand and follow your words, yet you always sum it up and make it so easy to get.

Your wording was beyond flawless in this piece. Love the simple title, and also the irony in it. One word meaning "small", held this really BIG message, and large amount of detail...I love when poets throw in irony in a title and that doesn't always mean by making it a sentence long. One word summed it all up.

When I am economical
in sentences and the silence
circles and is saturated,
my songs are spaces that couldn't
and words that aren't.

^ If this doesn't give someone chills I don't know what does...chills that are different than a dark poem, chills that arise goosebumps because of how powerful that statement is. I quite like the use of couldn't and aren't here. You didnt follow them up with explainations, which again is where I found the simplicity here to work amazing in this poem.

Well done and congrats on the win!

Excuse me, this is brilliant. I started to pick out pieces here and there that I liked but couldn't really decide, so instead just know I'm highlighting the entire piece.

This is so different from the stuff I've seen you write before - different good, of course! I'm always in love with all your work, that's no surprise to you, but this pulled me in in a different way. You speak so honestly.. this poem scratches vulnerability in a way that I can really relate to. The beginning is really beautiful, too. I appreciate the consistency of "little".. it's hard to be "big" all the time. Hard to be spot on and always know the right thing to do, say, and feel. To admit that is a certain kind of awesome :)

I really love this poem. See, I'm not the only one who notices your brilliance ;)

Nice poem. Rue my inability that at places thoughts getting garbled. Let there be a little mist but not such a dense fog more so in a valley that is not my own.

I find this a very interesting write and each time I read it, different meanings and thoughts
appear. I've read people saying I only know so little but this, you really put it nicely and with images that a reader can understand the depth.

When I am proverbial
and repeating injustices,
or assimilating small behaviours,
it is small wonder and cure
that my factory heart
remembers to beat
'as for me, all I know
is that I know nothing'

^^This stanza stood out for me and it finishes
the write with a thought saying, "yes that is true" Its like a saying we only learn a handful but there is still a world size that we do not know. Liked the read and congrats on the win:)

"I am usually not much a fan of poems with too many adjectives/adverbs scattered about, but I am willing to make an exception here because I feel like exactly these words are what make this poem so special. The poet knows how to keep his balance of interesting, sophisticated wording and simple everyday wording while also incorporating some sort of melody throughout the poem (it honestly feels like the lines are singing on their own, I especially enjoyed the sibilance of the second stanza). To me this must be one of this week's technically more nuanced poems, but there's more to this poem than that. I like the way its message is illustrated by different scenarios of how a person could be regarded as "little", scenarios that seem to take so little space too (i.e. small lines)! It takes a few reads to truly let the words sink in, because I believe that most would be too enchanted by its melody at first read, but once the reader grasps its meaning, he/she is sure to be blown away. That's what happened to me anyway. Kudos!"

[Weekly Contest 25-02-2013]

I am already in love with this poem, I read it way too many times and I think I still will read it again and again. I must say that the title gave nothing about the piece which made me really curious to want to know what the whole thing was all about!

The first verse was spot on; I loved how all the states you were in led you to where you think your home shouldn't be: smart word choice in here!

One of my favorite things used in poetry is the use of words and songs to describe a behavior or an emotion, thus the last line in your second verse was breathtaking to me.
And last came your final verse which had one of the most touching lines I read in a poem..

"it is small wonder and cure
that my factory heart
remembers to beat"
^^
The factory heart part was so EPIC! Since you referred to it as human made organ rather than it being created of flesh and blood; a normal human heart would remember to beat on its own, it would keep and save memories by itself but in your case use of factory heart leads to the conclusion that it cannot do things on its own and that it should be you the one who control and direct its action.
One of the best poems I read in a while.