I'm ecstatic that you: I'm ecstatic that you perceived an epic quality in my journey, that you appreciated the accessible style I chose and that you took the time to deeply, and I mean deeply, analyze my vision.
I often break rules with impunity, so it's greatly satisfying and vindicating when you interpret a poem's intent with precision and acceptance, then define it with such contemplative brilliance.
Your encyclopedic knowledge applied to my expressions is a great honor and a treasure.
There's never any need to: There's never any need to apologize. I understand! I'm immensely grateful for your astounding feedback in spite of your physical pain.
Trust me, you're making a difference in the lives of many people. We're blessed beyond words by your presence here.
Your prose has an engaging: Your prose has an engaging charm, conversational wit, striking word choices and a cunning voice.
". . . thick as a telephone pole and heavy as bad news. But once it achieved liftoff speed, even Tennessee summers kindly dipped their hats and strolled off yonder with their humidity and their heat."
Some knockout wordcrafting that took a small slice of Americana and turned it into cleverly understated social commentary and pure pleasure. Score!
My gosh, what inspired this: My gosh, what inspired this one? Why does the ghost haunt only once a year, and where does the ghost go on the other 364 days? I have read quite a few ghost stories over the decades and, again, this one is very unique in my reading experience, especially in the questions it raises.
I failed to reply to this: I failed to reply to this one, as well, and can only apologize with the utmost sincerity. This was just after my release from the hospital, and I had a bit of a rough patch transitioning back home. Please know that none of my failures to reply are intentional. But I am so scatterbrained, especially when I am ill, that I make too many omissions on too many things.
In this poem, Patricia has: In this poem, Patricia has given us an epyllion, a poem that feels like an epic, and yet does not require the large space that most epics occupy, or the verbosity that most epics present. I figured this out when I reached the poem's center of gravity, which is the line "on your way to Ithica." This is allusive not only to Homer, but to Constantine Cavafy's poem, Ithica. The poem's implied speaker is advising the poem's reader, almost as if Homer had written the Odyssey in the second person voice in order to help Odysseus on his journey. (I am not a big fan of Odysseus, so I am glad he is actually not the primary character in Patricia's poem,) "Fossilized stories" and "keychain gods and monsters" will be met on the way to Ithica; thus forewarned, the reader will know how to deal with, or to avoid, them while moving toward Ithica.
The poem has two different mechanisms that work very smoothely together, and very efficiently, to convey the poem's message: the use of metaphor and simile; and the sense of forward motion which is maintained by an unfolding catalog of descriptors (which is where the metaphors and similes function). Momentum is also maintained by the shortness of her lines. During my reading of the poem---and I was certainly bedazzled by it---I thought of the images moving upon the screen like a kind of kalaidoscope.
Here I must confess something: although I admire Cavafy enthusiastically, and many of his poems have touched my life exquisitely, I do not enjoy his poem, "Ithica." I think----and I am not writing this simply to curry favor---that Patricia handles the same sort of poem with much more success. Cavafy's poem sounds like an invocation; Patricia's is, instead, a conversation. This makes the poem more credible and more grounded in the quotidian experience that each of its readers bring to it.
No problem! I was aware of: No problem! I was aware of your suffering and everything that was going on at the time, and I always give you the benefit of the doubt in every situation. It was very gracious and considerate of you to follow up. Take care.
Some no doubt will be: Some no doubt will be breathless while many will continue with a whole lotta shakin goin on. His personal life would probably not make love sweeter for you. It's been a long journey since drinkin wine spo-dee-o-dee.
And this could be adapted as: And this could be adapted as an anthemic guide to all we do even here at this site in particular. Good going mate!
P.S. Sometimes feel like that kid in the bitchute clip attached here.
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