Jamsbo Rockda
I hope that there are no AI comments on poetbay. I am happy to get any comments, although because of my OCD I worry about offending. What you describe so well is just the modern world I suppose. Oh, and I love the term "darkling clime". Extra bot points for that, lol.
2026-08-26

Jamsbo Rockda
I hope that there are no AI comments on poetbay. I am happy to get any comments, although because of my OCD I worry about offending. What you describe so well is just the modern world I suppose. Oh, and I love the term "darkling clime". Extra bot points for that, lol.
2026-08-26

Artorius
Thank you Sameen for this unique poem, I have been thinking about the contents of your poem for some time now and I think, I wish that I would have been here in the beginning of poetbay. It’s weird, I have nostalgia (or pretend to atleast) to a time where I did not even exist. And I must lament, I don’t write comments alot, because what should I say? I am an amateur myself. Though I will try to make more.
2026-08-25

Ingvar Loco Nordin
I don't understand this lamenting on non-comments! What does it matter? If you write to be commented on, don't write. People won't comment something that is not written, although that usually is the only thing worth commenting on. Most poems I see here - with a few exceptions - are miserably untalented, and BORING.

The following is part of the preface of my coming new book, explaining my thoughts on being commented on, or even read!

”To the possible reader of this text, I say: I never had you in mind.
Writing is sufficient unto itself. Your reading is, in truth, an act of recklessness. You will encounter resistance.
Your motives will be called into question.
You may regard yourself as the natural counterforce to writing – but the counterforce of writing is my listening, not yours.
You are neither welcome nor unwelcome, only shadows in the typography.
Should you step into this text, you will lose your way, as one strays in a forest inhabited by trolls, shamans, and bark brethren.
Marshes and bogs will come seeking you.
You were by no means a precondition for this book, whose sole purpose was to come into being.
Writing was my way of getting the writing done. You did not exist in that equation.
The reader, in their motley attire, constitutes the possible side effect of the text’s pharmakon: penance, the power to heal – nothing more.

It happens that people ask me what this book is about. I answer: It isn't. It dances!

Life is not about anything. It is underway; it goes on – it ploughs ahead in boots of Spanish leather, or boots made for walking. Yet this text is, for the most part, barefoot, and occasionally bareback. And it is never really about anything. I consider my proofreading of it as related to Alfred Shabda Owens's work tuning Terry Riley's Bösendorfer Imperial grand piano in just intonation, prior to the recording of The Harp of New Albion in January1986 – because just as Owens's meticulous tuning of the giant grand piano enabled Riley's outstanding playing, and elevated the singular music in its fabulously pure intervals, my slow and careful work with grammar and stylistics constitutes a similar inner and outer purification of the text, giving it a thorough resonance.

Some curious readers have asked me whom I am addressing. I shall let Vilhelm Ekelund answer, in a poem from his collection The Star of the Sea, published in 1906:

‘I write for no one –
before the wind that wanders,
for the rain that weeps,
my song is like the wind
that murmurs and drifts
through the dark night of fall
and speaks with the earth
and the night and the rain‘

Books like this are not really meant to be read. They are meant to be written – and this one already is.
2026-08-25

Clara Mae Gregory
Thank you for a very fine, thought provoking poem. I think it was overdue. Sameen, your words feel like they were just plucked from my mind and at the same time you have publicly answered the questions I privately asked you. It works for me. This is part of our new reality and I believe you clearly expressed it. Furthermore, by doing so, it is not in vain, you are right and I will do better, for my part, as I hope others that need to, will too.
Again, thank you. I view this not just a poem but a gift. 💞
2026-08-25

William Hughes
I hear you. It's always encouraging to see a comment about my work, whether positive or negative. I should comment more, but get the impression that this is just not the place for serious "criticism." Most certainly your poems are of high quality and your knowledge of poetics is enviable. I don't come here daily, but your poem is an incentive to participate more. Please continue contributing.
2026-08-25

Griffonner
An interesting piece, Sameen. Very thought provoking.
Well, you know my viewpoint on this. I've had insinuations that one of my poems was written by AI. Needless to say it wasn't. What would be the point? I abhor the whole thieving concept of the current AI world! But some people seem to be suspicious of any art these days, subjecting it to searches on Google and AI checkers for example almost as a matter of course. Perhaps in the hopes of catching someone out?
But as I say, I personally can't see the appeal of getting a thieving AI platform to write something for you and then claim it as your own. What could you possibly learn, gain, or grow by doing that!
Many UK and PB poets will tell you how I lament - the same as you - that commenting seems a dying art!!! I remember back to the very early years of PB, and other on-line writer's platforms, when you could virtually guarantee most of your readers would comment.
Although at 83 years I have resigned myself to this change in attitudes, there is a part of me that feels reading someone else's work and not commenting might at best be a tad rude, at worst a kind of theft (not as bad as AI, I must admit!) But I accept I am an old codger now.
I don't write for comments, but hearing how your readers perceive your writing is really a rewarding experience that I learn from. Writing is actually a lonely occupation.
Blessings and thanks for sharing your thoughts on this present day scourge, Allen


PS: The full stop Editorial comment was me. Sorry.
2026-08-25