| A Drive Home
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2026-06-25
You have my unqualified sympathy and empathy. Somehow, life has gotten too hard. You write so well of the pain, and the patience, the expectations and feelings of resignation. Having partner may not assuage all the hardship, but it certainly helps.
I'm left feeling very thoughtful about this poem, it is very real.
jim
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| TRAITS I DO NOT WANT
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2026-06-24
I'm touched by this, and, of course thinking of my parents and their influences, and what I see of them in myself. It's inevitable, and it isn't always what we would choose to see in the mirror.
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| disinhibition
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2026-06-23
I begin to see it.
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| disinhibition
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2026-06-23
Beautifully crafted, and I know Pessoa as I am reading him now. I think I am missing the other references but the whole resonates. It's a rich poem and I will give it more time.
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| bookends of his frame
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2026-06-23
I hardly know what to say, this is so fine, so elegantly moving.
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| Monster
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2026-06-22
I'm fairly sure that if this poem were submitted by Anonymous, I would recognize it as yours. You have a unique voice, and lord knows you have the skill.
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| True pertecters
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2026-06-22
This is so sweet!
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| The Final Voyage
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2026-06-22
This is bittersweetly profound. As Allen said, rich with wisdom, and evidence of a life being well lived.
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| SEARCHING FOR LUDO
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2026-06-21
I've read this several times, each with a tug at my heart for your loss and memories, and for ours, we've had so many pets over the decades, and every loss was hard, but that's part of the process. Letting go.
jim
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| Ouroboros
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2026-06-19
Kudos, and thanks for the ride. I've been transported.
There's a book you might like with this theme, "The Heart," Maylis de Kerangal.
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| Fear: Cloudburst
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2026-06-17
Spot on, I share your sentiments. Tension mounts, nerves taut, what awaits? Fear is real.
Your poem says it all, in an unambiguous and very human way.
A storm approaches as I write this.
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| THEIR PATIENCE IS AMAZING
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2026-06-15
Allen, this is an amazing recounting of something real, yet from a dream!? Absolutely vivid.
Sigfried Sasson and Randall Jarrell and Stephen Crane come to mind, writers who were able, like you, to put their vision into words.
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| Strategic Reserve
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2026-06-15
A living nightmare of a human.
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| Too Many Forty-Sevens
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2026-06-15
My wife and I had a very similar first date, country roads, aimless, a bridge and river, a cafe, she ordered coffee, I had a hamburger—thank you for the memory jog!
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| The Unmagnificent Lives of Adult Men
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2026-06-12
Age happens. Watch out.
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| Land Of Blue Smoke
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2026-06-12
When I was very young my family took a trip to the "Smokies." Coming from the flatland of Illinois, seeing mountains for the first time, was an awakening.
Such a beautiful poem.
jim
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| Superlative, What?
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2026-06-12
To write such a carefully constructed poem that flows this naturally, is so cinematic, and such a pleasure to read, takes . . . persistence!
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| Superlative
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2026-06-12
Your poems exhibit such honesty—this one, and all your poems. I mean this as a compliment, it's rare to read such direct thought-to-words poems, it's makes the reading very personal, very real.
I'm not saying this very well! I like your style!
jim
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| A Sad Rival-less Poet's Balladry
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2026-06-11
No doubt it's lonely at the top.
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| Sparkling morning dew
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2026-06-10
The poetry and the quote both resonated.
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| Mother
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2026-06-10
Ah, you touched my heart with this. Each stanza a unique side of this all-encompassing woman.
jim
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| In Search Of Light…
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2026-06-10
I love this poem of searching and questioning ~~~
I love your use of language and context,
jim
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| Don'tkey!
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2026-06-10
This is delightful. It brings a freshness to the poetbay site.
Welcome!
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| Untitled - Tanka
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2026-06-10
"Fat rats in the dark"
Brilliant.
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| Untitled - Haiku
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2026-06-10
I agree with Sameen, this feels very natural.
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| Present Bound - A Sonnet
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2026-06-10
This touched me, it's truly beautiful.
jim
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| before my time
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2026-06-10
I identify strongly with this poem. It's more than memories evoked, it conjures the intangibles that connected the house and myself as a kid.
I haven't thought theses thoughts for a long time.
I also like the symmetry of the 4-3-4 stanzas.
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| The Tyger
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2026-06-09
I imagine the tyger saw you . . .
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| Dutch revisions
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2026-06-09
I enjoyed this very much.
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| I’m Thinking of Ending Things
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2026-06-09
Imagine a time before paper and writing tools, your poetry would have been sung, and remembered, and passed from one to another, a living form of poetry, unlike our databased unsung songs.
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| Tongue Twisters
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2026-06-09
Sage words, wrought from experience?
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| Crocodile Tears
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2026-06-09
You're talking about two different things: cruelty and conscience. You're not responsible for the shop's owner's cruelty. Were the goat lovingly tended until the axe dropped, it would be a very different poem. Then it would become a poem of conscience.
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| Folding Clothes
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2026-06-09
The first two stanzas describe my life at this moment. The latter lines give me hope.
Maybe I need a little Billie Jean in my life.
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| Human Beings
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2026-06-03
You write with the certainty that comes from experience.
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| Sing a song
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2026-06-02
My music partner and I sing this song (soulfully, heartfelt) ~~~
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| NO RECALL
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2026-06-01
Having just read "Twelve-Thirty-Eight, then this poem "No Recall," I imagine time playing tricks—the tiny girl is in fact someone important in your life, the rock-strewn beach/battlefield an important place in your life. Why not? There is magic everywhere, if you know where to look.
I was captivated (entranced may be a better word) by "Twelve-Thirty-Eight".
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| Pelicans Flight
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2026-05-31
Perhaps it is good to remember that the classic forms are hard, and take time and effort.
This is masterful, I love the theme, watching pelicans whirl and flash and crash in the sea, this is magical.
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| ONE SMALL PARADISE
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2026-05-31
Elusiveness, to hold and let go. It reminds me of the tai chi pose called grasping bird, reaching and touching.
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| The Valley Commedia
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2026-05-30
Amazing.
I was transported by this, Antonio.
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| Conversations no 6
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2026-05-29
: ) !
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| For Lack of Nightingales
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2026-05-28
Not Keats, but John Clare comes to mind, another searcher among the mundane.
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| Loving Her
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2026-05-27
Triolet lends itself to romance, to love.
Wonderful.
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| Fellow Poets of Poetbay
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2026-05-25
Perhaps you could write a challenge, choose a poetic form, explain what it is, give some examples. It could be a good starting point for Fellow Poets, including me.
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| Master Jack
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2026-05-24
I take this line to heart:
"What matters is how I get on and handle life,"
Your poem rings true for me, thank you for sharing,
jim
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| workshop on the hill
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2026-05-24
What an image/tale you've created, bravo and thank you.
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| AWAY WITH THE FAIRIES
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2026-05-23
My thoughts echo Sameen's comment, your writing is still rich with humor and love and life.
jim
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| landing
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2026-05-14
There are so many possibilities of whom "They" might be: warriors, fisherman, adventurers, travelers returning from an Odyssey. I'm intrigued and have visions of each possibility.
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| The Battle Wages On
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2026-05-14
Though I write, I cannot express myself as you can. I appreciate this poem, I share the sentiments wholeheartedly.
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| The Glass
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2026-05-09
Not surprisingly, your poem brings memories of my father and his glass, scotch, not bourbon, and his death, and my presence at his bedside.
I did not say, "Cheers" to my dad, I said, "it didn't have to be so hard."
But I love this poem because I loved my dad despite all.
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| Winter in May
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2026-05-09
You speak, write, the truth.
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