William Hughes

2026-04-16
The road inside him. I suspect we all have one of those. Innovative language and a firm beginning and end.

2026-04-15
Stubbornness can be an asset as well as a liability.

2026-04-15
Lots of powerful language and narrative here. Sorry, system saved this twice.

2026-04-15
Lots of powerful language and narrative here.

2026-04-14
I miss the old Easter rituals also. Like Christmas it's become a commercial holiday (a word which originally meant ''holy day.)'' Happy belated Resurrection day to you also.

2026-04-14
I love the photo, and how your poem elaborates on the ritual of shaving. Now, since facial hair is back with a vengeance, I suppose the analogy of father-son could go back even to the 19th century, or further.

I agree with Jim that this particular poem is heavier than some others of yours I've read. A little like some of the ''Confessional'' poets' work. Enjoyed thoroughly.

2026-04-14
I love your perfectly formed shape poems. More, please,

2026-04-14
Most definitely. I'd say OVER-consuming media is the main culprit. All the media we really need is right there--open the back door and walk through to a plethora of sensation. There is more stimulation in nature than in YouTube videos and FB likes. We just have to retrain ourselves to listen and look once more. Children know this instinctively. The birds are singing, the flowers are flowering, the trees are swaying in the sun--what a panorama!

Your poem says a lot in a few words--as good poems often do.

2026-04-13
The older I get the more 'thens' accumulate like like water against a dam. But when the dam feels like it has a breach, I remind myself that it wasn't all peaches and cream back then. Though I miss people, places and times of back then, I look for new people places and times in the here and now. Lovely, reminiscent verses, and it's important to remember the good times.

2026-04-13
Gentle life-is-good verses. Very different from his famous Bateau Ivre (drunken boat).

2026-04-12
Exquisite. I'm pretty sure that your series of poems has little to do directly with John Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, but I appreciate the reference to a poet who used to be considered right up there with Shakespeare but who is pretty much neglected today. Your poem flows gently but determinedly and ends with a summation of your thesis: There's beauty to be found in unexpected ways.

2026-04-11
A wealth of vocabulary is a poet's tool. Your ''flourishes'' are not superfluous or strained. Enjoyed.

2026-04-11
Ah, another master of longish poems. I usually run out of gas after 4 or 5 verses, but you keep our attention all the way to the last line. Large crowds of people have always been a ''battlefield'' for me, but I guess it depends upon who you came with. Enjoyed.

2026-04-11
Pensive and wise. Sometimes just because we can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.

2026-04-09
My grandparents all died while I was still very young, but I'll bet they had a ton of tales and requiems for the dead. Lovely poem.

2026-04-09
Love is a many-splendered thing, as is your poem.

2026-04-09
Charming!

2026-04-07
Unique imagery. Very nicely composed.

2026-04-07
Everyone should fly a kite at least once. Lovely lines revealing a little slice of life --Yours and the kite's

2026-04-06
Tes poèmes écrits en français sont si différents de ceux en anglais — peut-être parce que tu es plus à l'aise avec le français. I enjoyed the poem.

2026-04-06
A beautiful day sometimes can be as satisfying as a juicy tangerine.

2026-04-06
Beautifully composed.

2026-04-06
A vibrant description of a vibrant plant.

2026-04-06
Sometimes writing, music, art, can heal wounds when other things don't work. Keep writing.

2026-03-21
Love the Brylcreem reference. So many vivid and original images. Reminds me a little of the Beat Poets.

2026-03-21
Expertly composed poetic narrative. Good work!

2026-03-16
Some unique and effective imagery in this poem, e.g., her smile a marshmallow of fun and play. Indeed unfiltered words can really hurt

2026-03-16
Layers of dreams. I don't remember ever speaking in the dreams that I can remember,, but they are so easily forgotten. A good example of saying a lot with a minimum of words.

2026-03-15
Nice internal rhyming. Spring is a season special to poets.

2026-03-13
I do know a few people who seem to have no sense of rhythm whatsoever. When they hear a catchy tune, everybody else is dancing or tapping their toes, but they sit dumbfounded. I think a poem does not necessarily have to have rhythm, but if it does it, like rhyming, should not appear forced. Innovative way of writing a sonnet.

2026-03-10
Some of my favorite poems are in traditional iambic pentameter. Rhyme and measure aren't necessarily intrusive, but give a poem order and form. The sentiment in this poem is not forced but sincere and describes the miracle of dawn with precision and beauty. Pity those late-risers who never experience the thrill of dawn.

2026-03-09
A skating party with the great 19th century American intellectuals. How I would have liked to have been there. But as a spectator, since I have never been much of a skater, roller or ice. Original and well composed poem.

2026-03-07
Once again it's proven that laughter is the best medicine. You're a real trooper.

2026-03-06
The image is powerful. Just watching the occasional hummingbird outside my kitchen window makes me feel exhausted. It seems impossible that something so small could make such a fuss. Take care of yourself and keep writing poems.

2026-03-06
The image is powerful. Just watching the occasional hummingbird outside my kitchen window makes me feel exhausted. It seems impossible that something so small could make such a fuss. Take care of yourself and keep writing poems.

2026-03-06
It's the hardest thing. I sometimes find an old pill bottle that was my sister's and it sparks a thousand memories. Well crafted and moving.

2026-03-06
Yep. The older one gets, the more we hear that qualifier " ...for your age." Nice poem

2026-03-06
Yes, aging is very hard. There was a time when the elderly were honored for their hard-earned wisdom and experience. Nice read.

2026-02-27
As for myself I think getting older makes me long to simplify my life. Too much clutter, to much ruminating on things that happened in the past that can't be undone, demanding more from life than I really need. When I was younger, ''kibbles'' weren't enough--I wanted the whole enchilada. Now fait, hope, gratitude--and Nature, of course, are enough. Lovely poem.

2026-02-26
Original and striking metaphors. ''...as river water and sea water
afloat together in the wet blue'' nice image.

2026-02-26
Another poet I'm not familiar with to expand my reading pleasure. I had to google Mertensia. It's a blue flower, related to borage. The personification of the birds and plants on the narrator's path works really well in describing the mood of the hiker. Loss and longing. This is a very traditionally styled and lovely poem.

2026-02-21
Masterful use of rhyme and form.

2026-02-21
I especially like the extra spaces you use between some of the phrases: after the coyote's tread, the extended space before purposeful is very effective. The chill of winter reflects the wintry emotion and thoughts. It's been my experience that these dark feelings come and go. Everything is waves.

2026-02-16
Your battle with multi-flora Rose makes me think of the highly invasive wisteria we battle in my neck of the woods. Majestic clusters of purple flowers with a mission to take over the world. A lot said with an economy of words. Cheers.

2026-02-15
A break-up lyric that Taylor Swift could never compete with. I guess that relationships always need to begin with honesty and end with commitment. Enjoyed.

2026-02-15
A impressive manifesto of life. ''...like a room that forgot where the door is'' is a very original simile that has a lot of connotations. Cheers.

2026-02-08
Beautiful and inspiring. Rhyming poems are much harder to write than most people think, especially a good rhyming poem.

2026-02-07
I used to make them out of old newspapers and flour paste. Do kids even play with kites now? Do they even know what they are. Maybe it should be mandatory for every dad to show his kids how to fly a kite, a much more enjoyable way to learn about aerodynamics. I love memory poems. Maybe I'll buy a kite for my neighbor kids.

2026-02-07
I think that sometimes when we begin to ask ourselves questions like this, it's possibly a sign of an awakening, a desire to get back what we've lost. Or, perhaps to find other ways to get back that feeling of riding a bike downhill or experiencing the heat of the sun and the exhilaration of a windy day. Maybe we all spend too much time in our warm little boxes. What helps me taste again that sensory feeling of youth is when the neighbor kids come over and everything is new for them. Catching a grasshopper is like walking on the moon. Or as Woodworth put it, the child is father to the man...

Your writing is always thought provoking.

2026-02-03
Dazzling and dramatic. Longish poems, I think, are the most difficult to write. I usually run out of muse-fuel by the 20th or so line. I think just about everybody has ADD these days, if there really is such a thing. Excellent composition.