This is great! You should write more often.

Thank you! I’m working on it amigo.
I got a promotion at work and I don’t have the time as much.

Thanks for your snaps!!

Dear A,

I love the momentum in this piece. For me it really looks the gratitude and potential of relationships and events that occur during a year in the life. How fast they come and go. Congrats on your promotion! Life to see your writes.
H x 🌷

Hey my little busy Bee! ’25 was such an awesome year for you! Besides Daisy, of course. But your life has so much going on in it. Even getting your book out there in the world! Thank you for sharing it with me. All of my highlights of ’25 involve you!
This write of yours is so positive and empowering. I love the feeling of determination that is being carried within it. And I’m glad that you got some creative results out of the Taylor movie. I will be more kind when talking about her from now on. LOL
I’m all about my Adelphina! Woo hoo!

Beautifully penned, Adel. An excellent write my friend. Merry Christmas to you and Mark, hope all is well with you both. Appreciate you.

Damian

Love this, great to see you writing Lady

The beginning of each new year is another reset of our aspirations. We have a chance to start anew with hopes for a better year, a more productive year as long as we persist in our endeavors. I hope yours is all that and more Adelly. Best wishes to you. 🙂

This reads like a prayer and a dare at the same time. I love how 2026 is treated as a living witness—something you’re negotiating with, not wishing on. The imagery of ink, doors, courage, and the red carpet earned through work (not luck) feels honest and earned. There’s vulnerability here, but also resolve. It doesn’t beg the future—it challenges it.

You brought in the New Year with pizazz my friend. This was a great fiesta of a poem. One that made my heart dance like raindrops on a banana plant leaf. I could feel the exuberant hopes encapsulated in your poem.

John

Hi John,

I love the idea of a blank new year. Nothing has happened yet, but oh the possibilities it can bring:)
Happy belated New Year my friend.

Del

hello dearest Styxian so much of what you wrote gave me comfort I’ve been pondering today different things and this gave my racing mind some peace Snow must be beautiful indeed if she inspired this from you ❤️

This is a very well-written piece, and I can tell she means a lot to you with how you thought every minute detail to put in it. Form the way you eat to conversations, of her writing will be met with the fire. Nice done. I would love to read her writing.

I’ve asked her if I could post something of hers, several times, both on DUP and now here. She always says no. I respect her wishes.
I can’t stress enough how much her own writing changed my “limitations” on what is considered creative writing. Some argue what is and isn’t actually poetry. I do not care. I enjoy writing, and that is what matters. Yeah?
Merry Christmas Fia!

Dear M,

Wow! I love her commitment to writing for herself and like Buddha whomever is lucky enough to catch a fleeting glimpse of her words will last them a lifetime. Im choked up by the influence she has given you in this telling story. It’s a lovely tribute and beautiful write. H🌷

Beautifully penned, Mark. Such a heartfelt tribute my friend. Grabs at the old heartstrings, she sounds like a wise and humble mentor. That is a special bond indeed, we learn so much from the people who have influenced and guided us. Some people are meant to alter our lives for the better. Excellent work, thanks so much for sharing. Merry Christmas to you and Adel. Appreciate you.

Damian

This is tremendous poetry Mark. I consider myself to be blessed to have encountered good folk like yourself in the DU dark portals.

I buy a fair amount of contemporary poetry and your scribbles could easily sit beside the writers. Betty actually has a paperback to hit the shelves shortly and it’s an absolute privilege to be friends with you all.

I wish A and you the most beautiful 2026 and everything you wish for yourselves.

Your Welsh comrade, Rob

This is one of the best pieces I’ve read from you:).
All the details and meanings behind them.
All the mini scenes flow into each other just like currents of snow:)
That is my favorite writing.
As writers we tend to connect instantly with other writers who are able to express themselves uniquely. It’s a talent we tear ourselves up with because it takes a unique ability to express it with words. Written or spoken. It’s not easy so when we spot talent we tend to get inspired. It’s part of being in the creative field.

Beautiful tribute sweetie! I hope she reads this!

This is fierce and intimate at the same time—hunger, devotion, and grief braided together. The stork/swan/fire imagery carries real weight, and the way poetry becomes both sustenance and sacrifice feels earned, not romanticized. There’s a hard honesty here about loving words that were never meant to last, and still needing them anyway. This stayed with me.

Her influence did you well. She affected you in a way that made you a better writer. I can’t top what others have said, so I’ll just say: great poem, Styx.

Thank you, Tim. I was an okay writer back then. But when I started reading her material, and others like it, I really amped up my sense of creativity. I get so much motivation from good writes. So write!

The white bird play is so evocative. Like, holy shit, the symbolism shoots you between the eyes; a stork is a harbringer of life while the song of a swan is a harbringer of death. The interchange between a character at the end of a story to a character bringing a new story… and then you wend in the scrolls and smoke and narrative fusion.

FUCK IT’S GOOD!

I’m basically a product of my environment, when it comes to creative writing. I will read a few good writes and get some cool ideas. Then hopefully it just spews out pretty flawlessly. I live in my head too much. LOL.
Hey, good to see you around!

Perfectly poemed in my humble opinion good sir .. and correspondingly muchly enjoyed .. Neville

Thanks a bunch, Neville. I’m supposed to be assembling my material into a book. Yet, I end up creating new material to add to the stack instead. LOL.
Stay awesome, fine sir!

Having read the note, I think appreciate the friendship between folks who have never with an affinity for poetry. The line where you canceled real bodies to read shows a beautiful and meaningful this can be. Not many people can claim they’ve had friendships that last decades, let alone a friendship with a poet in another part of the world.
Amazing write.

There are words that warm you even after winter.

Yep. Some we carry around for ages after.

Cool intro/ Looking forward to you unpacking this suspense thriller some more

Much respect

Naaj

Pretty cool, Daniel. I like the visions that it creates easily for the reader. With an artistic flair of course.

The opening lines set a fragile, haunting mood that carries through the poem beautifully.