jim

2026-02-15
Your poems are like a "gentle zephy," they always resonate with me. Thank you for sharing

jim

2026-02-07
Here we go! This triggered a memory of my father and I flying a kite in a park—something I had forgotten, or at least hadn't thought of in a long, long time. I wonder at the sheer quantity of forgotten memories, and what fun to have one brought forth, such as this kite-flying day.

2026-02-07
Each stanza feels like a separate exploration of a vast world, silence being, in a way, infinite. I really enjoyed and appreciated this poem.

2026-02-03
Looking back . . . bittersweet memories, but remembering being a kid and playing is the sweetest of all—that is what your poem does for me, awaken the kid in me.

Thank you, this rings true for me.
jim

2026-02-03
Sweet!

2026-02-02
Fascinating! You have a style of writing so unique, all your own. A joy to read.

2026-02-02
You write so well, so easily it seems. This is great, though it is a tough subject—lack of sleep.

I wish you sweet dreams tonight.

2026-01-29
A rainbow of a poem—water and light—appreciative and beautiful thoughts.

2026-01-26
I think "bear it" says is all, says it perfectly.

2026-01-26
This is touching and lovely and true, and so gently written.

It's so nice to see your poems again,
jim

2026-01-24
This is exactly why I keep coming back and back and back to poetbay.

Just a wonderful, lovely, sweet, somber, welcoming poem, Ray.

2026-01-24
You ask good questions, Alan. I have the same questions, we all do, what comes next? Perhaps, a seance is wanted?! Are dreams a glimpse of what's to come/ It is chilling, you expressed it just as it is. This has me thinking of futuristic thoughts. Thank you!

jim

2026-01-23
How can a poem be so vivid and so ethereal? And, entrancing? And readable? And tell such a tale?

I don't know, but you do.

jim

2026-01-23
Chrisie, this feels so real, so true and heartfelt, so many touching lines. This rings true with me:

"while my own nights
turned into echo chambers."

~

You ask, "who finds the finder
when no one’s looking?"

Maybe we do, your readers.

jim

2026-01-23
You write the undeniable truth.

2026-01-22
You bring a refreshing breath of life to poetbay, a musicality and frankness which I appreciate.

jim

2026-01-22
I love the starkness, the reality, the matter-of-fact, almost noir tone—the unadorned truth.

Yet, the emotion is there, and I felt it.

2026-01-22
Love endures and grows, that is my experience Infatuation, perhaps that is what fades bit by bit. That, also, has been my experience.

Vivid, but cryptic! What was the gift . . .

2026-01-22
We're expecting the same storm in the midwest, and I'm feeling the same anxiety, though I've lived through a lifetime of these storms—and here I am.

Once more into the breach.

2026-01-22
Beautifully written, elegantly written. I appreciate the language and the sentiment very much.

Bookmarked (which means I'm saving it to read again, and think about again).

jim

2026-01-18
Could a poem be more original!? It is transportive, the images lively and vivid. I don't know if it get it or not, but I certainly enjoyed reading it.

jim

2026-01-18
This reminds me of a friend from my teen years who waxed rhapsodic about the sensuousness of holding hands with his girlfriend. I think he thought as you, another sense, more than the sum of its parts, a "language only fingers can understand."

Vivid images, the taut sheets, the stillness. You make it real.

jim

2026-01-18
I love the variations on a theme of these Hilma poems, subtle and intriguing changes, compelling images (nectar in the knees!).

Very pleasing to read and contemplate.

jim

2026-01-18
My circle is very small. It is so heartening to know you have such a support group. I understand the value of it, and hope someday to find such a group.

Beautifully written and expressed, as always!

jim

2026-01-16
Hi Ann, and happy birthday! Wishing you the very best!

jim

2026-01-11
Hearing those words as a child may explain, in part, why poetry and poetic thoughts resonate so deeply with you.

2026-01-09
I'm having a hard time putting into words what this poem means to me. So I won't keep trying. Suffice to say it has burrowed its way into my psyche. I'm not sure what I feel, yet, beyond the power of the words and imagines. There is despair and hope. There is the weight of woes which lie upon us, "us" in the greater sense of the world, and the hope which wants to emerge despite all.

I'm sorry Allen, if this comment makes no sense,
jim

2026-01-08
"this existence defies logic"

I find this irrefutably true. I appreciate your poem.

2026-01-05
Beauty is subjective. The mirror tells the tale, and if there is no mirror who's to know?

This one is for the pig!

2026-01-02
A companionable dog can brings such joy! Wishing you a happy new year!

jim

2025-12-31
A sweet tale! Intoxicating!

Best wishes for the new year!
jim

2025-12-07
This is true to the essence of what it means to be human—beautiful sentiment, beautifully written, Isabelle.

The song is so simple and so profound.

2025-12-01
Begin the day in positive anticipation—it says a lot about you as a human-being, positivity doesn't come to everyone.

A great analogy, Allen.

2025-12-01
Would not the unkindest punishment be to be forever amid the throng?

I have an uneasy feeling after reading this. It went visceral.

jim

2025-11-29
What is it about this month that stirs so many strong and wary emotions?

I love this poem, and appreciate it, and take comfort in it.

2025-11-28
What a clear vision of November!, to me the month that most invites reflection.

jim

2025-11-28
You've hit the crux of it, eloquently and vividly. I can picture the scene, the movement, the connection, the resolution. A pleasure to read and imagine.

jim

2025-11-28
What a frightening scenario you've written. These angry, judgmental men are emboldened by leadership from the top? Men with power, who know how to abuse power? That is what I read in your words. A lack of human kindness and tolerance and respect and scruples and faith . . .

jim

2025-11-28
This mirrors my own experience and reflections, differing only in detail—a lingering marigold rather than a rock rose.

November invites reflection.

2025-11-20
Touché

2025-11-18
Old and technically challenged I find this other-worldly, and not in a good way. As an aging-boomer I'm grateful for a long history of letters written on paper, meals cooked in our own kitchen, and shenanigans between two loving and consenting people.

At the same time, the contemporary human beings I see in my life, I mean younger people, are largely engaged in work and their world, a lot of it via devices, but still a lot of real time life going on.

Who are these zombies you describe? It's a rhetorical question, but I don't see them, though I don't doubt you at all.

jim

2025-09-07
"a dirge for what she thought was true,
would endure,
would see her to the final act."

We of a certain age are watching the destruction of basically everything we worked so hard to achieve, primarily decency, respect, equality.

Your poem conveys so well the feeling of sadness, but also the peace that can still come from within.

jim

2025-05-18
That is a very cool bike/scooter!

2025-04-05
I concur, "poignant" is the right word. The mother-son relationship being unresolved is hard. The reaching hand implies resolution may be near.

A wonderful, touching poem.

2025-03-31
I rode my bike to school every day until high school. I miss it, the ease and familiarity of it, riding no-handed, free & easy.

Casual comments that hurt should be ignored, but "should" never works.

jim

2025-03-17
I agree with shells (I always have). This is magical, so light, so . . . there.

2024-10-12
There is something magical about the way you meld past and future—the ripples touching both.

2024-08-13
I appreciate, and understand it, so much, down to my core. Thank you sharing with us these intimate feelings.

2024-07-19
so many great and true phrases and thoughts here, wisdom

dig the real

2024-07-16
to love and be loved
to touch and be touched

it's the best humans can offer one another ~~~