drain

I will take this in sections, and then the overall work. I really liked the first stanza, if I may call it so. That each line builds on the other is great. One syllable, two syllables, then four syllables. As I am a fan of haiku, I will admit to finding an agreeable degree of perfection in this construction. (Yes, I know it's not 5-7-5, but I felt a sense of 'rightness' that was, for me, emotional.)

My expectations were shattered in the second stanza. (Yes, I understand that it is free verse, but for me, poetry is emotional and lyrical, even free verse.) I will take the blame for setting myself up for this disappointment. That being said, the use of the word 'naught' didn't work for me. I actually like that word, but I would think that "nothing" would make if flow better. In fact, something like this works better for me.

til there
is nothing left
but the dregs
of a man

or even like this

til there
is nothing left
but the
dregs of a man

Aside from the 2-4-2-4 scheme, the last line now places emphasis on both "dregs" and "man" when read aloud. (I am a lector at church, so reading aloud is something I do often and enjoy. To me, poetry is meant to be read aloud.) With the original construction, the emphasis on "man" was slightly less when I read it aloud.

I will admit to being clueless as to why as-if is in single quotation marks. That being the case, it distracted me, and therefore detracted from the overall effect of the poem, which was very good. Placing the hyphen after "sink" in "insinkerator" places added emphasis on "sink", which links me back up to "abyss" in addition to the visual of being ground up. Again, this is more pronounced when real aloud. Excellent choice.

The poem as a whole is short and sweet (or bittersweet). It tells us something with a minimum of words. From personal experience I am aware that the choices for categories can sometimes be a little too constraining, and "sociopolitical" is far too narrow a scope for this work. The images and meaning here can apply to almost any facet of human existence. Love, for example. In order to get a wider audience, I might recommend adding some additional hashtags, as your very good poem (aside from my quibbling) speaks to a much broader scope of the human experience.

It was quite enjoyable.