hello dearest Styxian this is very beautiful, sensual and romantic…I have a garden dream to I always picture wisdom is there walking through the garden having philospohical conversations with Eve it is a curious thing… this is beautifully written and your metaphors are just right to evoke deep feeling ❤️

Hey Crims! I’ve edited this one so many times, trying to get the rhymes and meter tight. I’m not much into this type anymore, but it’s good practice for my ol’ brain. LOL
Thanks for letting me know that the effort paid off!

I love this. The rhyming is sooo good!
Dare I say perfect, yes I think I will.
I think about your back yard and all the hibiscus 🌺 back there.
This isn’t too far fetched 🙂

Love it and you!

Beautifully penned, Mark. A very passionate write indeed my friend. Excellent work as always. Appreciate you.

Damian

Look at you going all rhymey! This is so lovely, well done.
❤️k

This has such a ye olde sonnet vibe to it. It flows and builds great imagery. Trying to write in a rhyming fashion fractures my brain. Well done!

Trust me, it wrecked my brain big time! I hacked at it quite alot. I actually had some more “ye olde sonnet” type words in it, but took them out because I didn’t want it to seem pretentious. If that makes sense. I also doubt that I can ever write one quite as solid as this one, as far as the build of it. again. Maybe if I break out the old pencil and paper, so I can erase a hundred times. LOL. (I still write on paper sometimes, because it holds a unique touch to me.
Good to see you Willow. Hope you are well and enjoying life!

I’m not used to seeing rhymes from you so this was a pleasant surprise. Your poems are always a pleasure to read. Great job here, this to me is a dedication poem and one well written.

Hello Tim. I started out as a rhyming kid. LOL. But as I got older and read more contemporary material, it changed my preferences. It was more in tune with my “feelings”.
But, I have a few attempts here and there, to stay mentally sharp I suppose. So I appreciate the nod for my result. these ain’t easy for me. If for anyone.

I second this addiction. I feel lost and unfocused if I do not write.

I third this addiction.

I love the written word..mine and others.

Great write,right,rite,wright….lol

Very relatable Willow. Thank you for sharing 💕

Brilliantly penned, Willow. Into the book it belongs! Infectious vibe your words and the musical arrangement my friend. It’s the one addiction that I feed and I refuse to kick. You summed it up well as you always do. Loved this one Willow. Excellent work. Appreciate you.

Damian

You express perfectly what most of us here feel, dear Willow! It’s the same with me – I scream, weep, bleed and laugh my soul onto the paper.

It’s horrific, that ‘silent scream’, the self-reflection not seen in the mirror, the expression held inside. I hear your pen, Willow. It’s LOUD!!! But I welcome it. Let the ink flow, make Rorschach’s of rage across the page. Just know, you are seen!

Curt

Brilliant work.

I don’t run the pen. It runs me, girl. As Shrek said…Better out than in. Excise the wounds so they can heal clean. Thank you, girl. You wield a mighty pen yourself

Thank you, Thomas

I feel this. Know that you are not alone feeling this way. the statement of “I am tired” cut deep. At one point the feeling of it all and feeling that no one gave a damn was so much…let’s just say I would not be here if I did not have someone. We all do not have that “touch stone” person. I do understand.

Absolutely gobsmackingly brilliant,powerful,honest,scary and sad.
When I read this, the only question. I had was why?Why does one keep holding on when there is nothing left to hold on to?
Why,if God exists,would he torture his children?

Why are we even alive?

Take care my friend.The tide can turn quickly and bring you back to shore.🙏

🤗

Tired,, but alive, broken, but the pieces are all there, they fit together, like the way rain brings flowers. Our tears fill the oceans where all life began. And our scars (whether visible or unseen) become the instruments of our music and can be heard in the cosmos. Willow, your poem resonates like violin strings, hauntingly and with grace. Not sure if you see or feel it, but you give us all the strength to continue, to disturb the universe, like pebbles thrown in the pond, creating ripples that go on forever.

I do not know you, Willow, and have only read a few of your poems, but I am happy you are here.

Curt

Powerfully penned, Willow. The armor does get thinner with time I think it’s part of facing mortality. At least that’s part of it anyways. There are layers as I always say, but it’s tiring indeed. Time catches all of us eventually, but our scars lend to wisdom, even those earned by trial and error. That’s what popped in my head anyways. Excellent write my friend, I can relate. Appreciate you.

Damian

You nailed it. Fantastic work. It’s hell to get old.

This is the first piece of yours I have read, but HER suggested you for membership in our new Spoken Word group. I took her at her word, and though I have not heard any audios by you yet, I wanted to take a peek at just some of your words first. If you have audios, I certainly want to hear them, on the strength of the words you have left here, not what someone has told me. This is brilliant work, Willow, tough, strong, gut-wrenching, sad; it touches all the emotions and pulls the reader in. I will read more, and I want to hear what your work SOUNDS like.

Corruption and ignorance go hand in hand. Yes, I whole heartedly agree with you. We must see the truth and act on it. Powerful write.

As if you read my mind and what I was thinking as as articulate. 🙂
I almost got ht by one of those flagy pickups yesterday. 💚

hello beautiful Willow powerful write the darkness threatens to swallow me whole I feel you ❤️

Powerfully penned, Willow. Into the book it belongs! This is’t a write it’s a statement my friend. Excellent work. Appreciate you.

Damian

WHOA!!! Some truth telling going on here. It didn’t fall on deaf ears, cause I be listening. America has always been 2 countries within one country. Today’s fascists were yesterday’s slave owners and slave bounty hunters. Thank goodness there are still wide awake decent people who in their millions took to the streets a few days ago. And even better, there is, beginning Nov 5, the determined, nonviolent, movement to oust these MAGA maggots’ regime.

Yes, it is often true in history that people were warned but didn’t listen, sometimes people just need to have a fire lit under their arses, before they can see straight. I think we poets have a role to play in this eye opening!! Your poem Willow is a welcomed salvo (or perhaps to be consistent with the metaphor), a welcomed match for that fire.

Thanks for the much need poem Willow.
Curt

damn good write.

Raw and unflinching. You’ve caught the weight of complicity and the ache of resistance in a way that feels both urgent and true. An incredible read!

Okay, now I know. You not only know how to write beautiful, powerful words , you also know how to deliver them. I certainly want to speak to you, Willow. Please visit with me.

Who made you promise not to cuss? In the immortal words of my old coworker…”fuck that!” I hear what you’re saying. And not saying. Thank you, girl

whooee, thanks 🙂

Superb work.