CANNOT believe i didn’t leave a comment on this because the hunter, the poet and the pheasant was phenomenal! i think you saw me mention this about your postmortem, but the way the story unfolded was incredibly realistic and almost intimate even in just the back and forth of dialogue without inner narration. i thought it suited the nature of this game very well – the juxtaposition of the father and son as well as the pheasant and the hunter very clearly comes through. the poetry was very charming (even if you might not have enjoyed writing it) and i really liked seeing how andrew would bend and change its words depending on what his father said. it felt like we were losing all his whimsy and joy to the real world manly ideal his father wanted him to subscribe too. it was hinted at, but i do believe he’s queer? that’s why his father, even saying that he loves him, wants to kill the only real part of him and leave behind the performative shell of his son.
i also wanted to say, briefly, that i thought the dad was really hot….sorry…..i know hes very toxic masculinity but i liked that he was like im protecting my wife……..sorry……….
but anyways i also thought the three endings were so fitting; either you go one way or another and you revel in the misery that brings, or you straddle the line and end up miserable in a different kind of way. i really liked that you had a half-hearted wishy-washy ending because i feel like that’s where i landed and where a lot of people land too–trying too hard to appeal to both sides, killing more of yourself as you do so. but i think you lent so much realism to the father as well; arguably, he DOES love his son in his own way even if it’s the worst way to love your child. it’s because he comes from a place he believes in that elevates this to a universal experience where love and outcome are completely separate.
there’s a lot of feelings that this left me with, and it’s so hard to put them into words! but i think there’s just a depth of emotion and narrative that makes this work so well in the way it does. you’re not them, in my opinion, refers to how the son could never become the hunter his father wants him to be. he’s the poet and he’s the pheasant and though he can take the gun into his hands, he can’t live with the shot he makes. hunter poet and pheasant is my new soldier poet king now…