William Hughes

2026-08-31
An exciting and inventive rhyme scheme there. Dust in the wind, as an old song used to say--I personally try to keep focused on the here and now, though I am a Christian and truly believe that this is not all there is. Tightly composed work and with your usual finesse and expertise.

2026-08-31
Superb way to take advantage of rhyme and meter:
''The strawberry.
The kiss.
The Chinese miss.
Exotic bliss.''
A perfect ending for this poem.

2026-08-29
Perhaps we can marvel in the quietude of a lunar eclipse without eclipsing our social awareness of all the pain and suffering in the world, which has been with us since the beginning of time. At least that's the way I look at it. Not only carpe diem, but seize the moment.

2026-08-29
Skillfully penned. One of my favorite songs lately is 'What the World Needs Now (Is Love, Sweet Love).'' Perhaps a simple truism, bit corny, but sometimes truth seems sentimental ad saccharin, but isn't.

2026-08-29
Very good observations. Surely we write for various reasons--and often multiple, seemingly contradictory, reasons. There were the Confessional Poets, like Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, who spilled their guts at the drop of a hat and published a great deal of their work; and then there was Emily Dickenson, who apparently wrote reams of verse, most of which the public never saw until she met that gentleman who ''Because I could not stop for Death - He kindly stopped for me.''

And of course Robert Frost defined poetry as ''a momentary stay against confusion.'' (Though I have written and seen poetry that seems to multiply confusion). He also preferred structured poems because writing unstructured poetry was like playing tennis without a net. I think using rhyme, rhythm, measure, etc. just make writing more fun. But perhaps I am in the minority there.

2026-08-28
Carpe diem. Maybe we starve and neglect our present moments because we're always looking forward and backwards. Your poem is a reminder to stay in the moment, because we'll never have another one just like the present one. Cheers.

2026-08-28
Brilliant comparing and contrasting of various emotions. The cellophane image is very potent. A covering so thin and transparent that it's barely there, yet so impermeable and stifling.

2026-08-28
An altogether bad day! I've certainly had my share of those. I like the slender, curvaceous form of your poem.

2026-08-28
Please keep writing. There's the delete button, but also your mind's ''ignore this'' button.

2026-08-28
Sweet homage to your new partner. Maybe we should always be trying to make someone smile. Your poem is a smile in itself--and makes me smile. Cheers and blessings.

2026-08-26
Nice, consistent wordplay and selective rhythm and rhyme. Surely most of us who write ultimately want to be read. I suppose Emily Dickinson was an outlier. She apparently had drawers full of poetry that was never read in her lifetime.

2026-08-26
Interesting poem. Love is one of those words that has so many shades of meaning (and lack of meaning) that perhaps it is a noun that always needs to be qualified when used. The Greeks had 3 words for it: Agape (ἀγάπη): Unconditional, charitable, and sacrificial love that puts others first. Eros (ἔρως): Romantic, passionate love and physical desire named after the Greek god of fertility. Philia (φιλία): Close, loyal friendship and deep affection shared between companions
Lately there has been an ad on some of the YouTube videos that uses the old David/Bacharach song ''What the World Needs Now is Love, Sweet Love'' in the background. ''Lord, we don't need another mountain,'' etc. A simple lyric, but such a beautiful lament. Enjoyed reading your work.

2026-08-25
The beaches on the Gulf Coast here are so different from southern California ones. They are specked with casinos and nobody much is doing acrobatics or surfing. But I do remember going there as a child with my older sister and basking to an exotic bronze. I can still smell the Coppertone and Bain de Soleil. Lovely poem from you as always.

2026-08-25
"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind;And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

Not sure this is applicable to the message or of your interesting poem, but the JohnDonne quote came to mind.

2026-08-25
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
Perfect in both form and content. The scene comes to life and shouts out: Pay attention! I appreciate the use of the senses, sight, smell, touch. Lovely ode to petals and their glory.

2026-08-16
A rousing, suspenseful narrative. I think of Robinson Jeffers, who wrote about hawks. Nice work.

2026-08-16
Your poems are not only fine tale-telling, but also informative. I learned quite a bit about livestock and the terminology that goes with it. I remember an old movie with Pat Boone called State Fair. Watching it as a child, it made me want to go to one--but I never did. Cheers,

2026-07-04
We can read histories of various regions of the country. but only the artists (painters, musicians, poets, novelists) can make us ''feel'' the region. Willa Cather was good at this--and so are you.

2026-07-04
A long time favorite about aging and the family and friends who are long gone,

2026-07-04
Amen!

2026-06-16
Brava. It is very difficult to write a highly structured poem while avoiding an awkward or artificial effect. It's difficult but IMO so very rewarding and fun to write. It takes a great deal of concentration and self-editing. Nice work!

2026-06-06
Relationships are always complex. Most of the long-married couples I know do learn to laugh at some of their disagreements and faults, and combine this habit with avoiding too much clinging, but pursuing their own interests without sacrificing the bond of love and caring. On the other hand, I have also known couples who like nothing better than a good knock-down-drag-out fight, with both participants putting all their passion into the battle, and then kissing and making up. I guess it takes all kinds.

2026-06-04
Nice. Love, a classic theme in poetry doesn't get enough attention these days. You express it well.

2026-06-04
I love the tease on Edith Sitwell. As for poetry, Marianne Moore said in her famous poem "Poetry, I too dislike it" and then proceeded to say how much it meant to her. It's one of the oldest writing genres and has never completely been extinguished. Rap is mostly rhymed iambic pentameter. In my favorite poets, such as t.s. Eliot, I'll be reading along and suddenly encounter a line that is so beautiful it makes cry. Seldom can prose do that. Nice stylized poem.

2026-05-22
I suppose that the key lies in trying to create more moments like that and in recognizing them when they occur. But sometimes spontaneity doesn't allow for preplanning. :). I love a starlit night or an unexpected thunderstorm, but the joy is doubled when there's someone there to share it with.

2026-05-16
This describes quite a few of the young men who lost their way. Nicely penned.

2026-05-16
Delightful. Don't return the tulip, even if they double your refund.

2026-05-08
Very difficult to rhyme every line of a stanza without it feeling forced. You did it well. Sometimes when we observe something beautiful, no need to wax poetic or pen a sonata or paint a masterpiece. Just look and feel, and turn off the phone.

2026-05-07
Niice the way that you began with an ordinary day in an ordinary time and segued into your thoughts about other times and places and contrasting them with memories. I remember visiting a church in Guadalajara Mexico where the statues looked so real that I expected them to say hello.

2026-05-06
People who have passed away still haunt us in thought, ghosts, but friendly ones.

2026-05-06
Dignified and sincere. We all need someone to be there for us.

2026-05-06
Excellent cadence, and a sustained theme and analogy.

2026-05-01
When someone we care for wins something or other, it's a whole different ballgame. Lovely, positive poem.

2026-04-28
Delightful. Having children around is such a bountiful blessing. They force us to look at things from a different perspective. Every child needs that sense of being special.

2026-04-28
Everybody Talks About the Weather, But Nobody Does Anything About It--Mark Twain.

I think it (the weather) is a good ice-breaker (no pun intended). Or just about anything that people have in common. When I was a kid I wanted to be a meteorologist.

2026-04-20
Another great poem I'd never seen. I tell the kids to stop wishing they were grown and just enjoy being young.

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.