I am enjoying reading your poetry more lately, now that I know some of the backstory and themes you have that are recurring. I also enjoy reading it more as a story (rather than poetry) since I feel that takes the onus off the reader to try and interpret (manufacture?) meaning or identify with the writer (nervously pretend to understand?) and just enjoy the story as it unfolds to them.
Obviously, anyone can read anything however they want, but I choose to read these like a poetic short story.
Great read, in any case!
A lot of interesting ideas to unpack here, I'd start by asking what backstory and themes you refer to in particular? I assume by "themes" you mean my use of angels, heaven, and other biblical imagery? That is what happens when you're a Jew raised in Israel. Even if I treat Judaism as my culture rather than as my religion, then it's definitely a myth I know a lot about. You can see Greek mythology recurring in my writing as well, but somehow my third main mythic love, Norse mythology, never finds its way into my poetry. Only into my poetic prose...
Though in my "Three Days' Longing" poem, I will admit that I was considering using Loki's torture over Prometheus's.
Now, I must ask you a question about your interpretation of story - do you not think we manufacture the meaning as the readers of a story as well? Is there truly a "story" in those words? And if you and I read the same book, will we think the story is about the same things, with the same meaning? I think those are bold claims that I can't agree with.
It's just that you don't have to work as hard to follow the narrative, in most stories. Then again, is this a feature of poetry, or just of poetry that is not well-written enough, that you can't actually follow its narrative? Or perhaps it's a casualty that is worth having for the sake of imagery. But perhaps rhyme-led can also be joined by imagery-led, at times.
Also, that line, "identify with the writer (nervously pretend to understand?)" resonates with what I mentioned to you recently, about people not trusting themselves to read poetry - because they come to it with a conception that they must resonate with the author, rather than let the poem resonate with them.
And I'm glad you found a way to read the poem that spoke to you, and even if it didn't speak to you (nervously trying to understand ;-) ), that it was an enjoyable (so to speak, this is not a "fun" poem, after all) experience for you.