Griffonner

2026-06-20
A fine poem written to honour the man who himself honoured you and your family. Thank you so much for sharing this, Melinda, I myself feel honoured to have been given some knowledge of this brave, caring and talented man. Blessings to you and yours, Allen

2026-06-20
A bit harsh, but I see your point. I imagine your more recent poems have softer edges? Blessings, Allen

2026-06-20
A very descriptive vignette. If I knew the places herein described, it would be even more entertaining a read. Nevertheless, it reads well, and the final line is just divine. Blessings, Allen

2026-06-20
A strange one, Albert. When will we be getting richer without marrying into money? My guess is the game is rigged. Blessings, Allen

2026-06-20
Oh yes! Compliment: I had a fancy for that lady. Had she know who she was, it would have been a more striking compliment. Love how this is written.

Crossing Lines: Time for a change, I guess. Well expressed here.

Cupid Deconstructed: You have this skill in portraying moments so well. This is like a double-edged sword: There's the seriousness of the declaration, and then the humour implied on top.

What a fabulous share.
Blessings, Allen

2026-06-20
So lovely to have that relationship, and finely expressed in your poem. Blessings, Allen

2026-06-19
I found this so emotive. It really gets to you as the reader... at least it did to me. Blessings, Allen

2026-06-19
Haiku it is. I'm sure the beggars will receive succor. Yes?
Blessings, Allen

2026-06-19
Great to read it is fixed. Blessings, Allen

2026-06-18
It's a good read, Ann. I know you are Bulgarian, and I know the name Petrova is famed there, but I hadn't heard about his story before. It reminds me of something Adrian Hawthorne wrote.
Blessings, Allen

2026-06-15
It is a powerful poem, no doubt! Your protagonist should know that there is no point in trying to preempt or predict that lady. She's as fickle as they come - as is her train! All any of us know is that we are on the departure platform from the very moment we are born. Blessings, Allen

2026-06-15
That last stanza! So true, and the poem so descriptive of how a child reacts to novelty. Thank you for sharing this. Blessings, Allen

2026-06-15
... or did his body drag him? At any rate his body was a drag.
"Sana in corpore sano" normaly translates as a healthy mind inside a healthy body. He disn't have the latter, did he. Magnificent though, how the human spirit manages to shine through from behind such a physical burden. Bravo on you thought provoking one-liner. Blessings to you and yours, Albert. Allern

2026-06-15
It is when I read poems like this that I wish it were possible to allocate points out of ten (or a hundred, your choice). 10. 100.
Blessings, Allen

2026-06-15
What a gorgeous ending to your adventure. Blesiings, Allen

2026-06-15
Oh how this poem reflects my thoughts so often echoing in my head. Sometimes I remind myself that the one single purpose of time is to allow the perception of change - even in this fine poem, the change between vacation and what you call 'the normal'. And then, of course, paraphrasing, the predestined separation from our loved ones in that final act of living. Blessings, my friend, Allen

2026-06-14
Love it. There can always be light - your light, my light, but it is always there. Deserves accolade this poem. Blessings, Allen

2026-06-13
The Jaberwokey comes to mind when reading this rhyming feast. Well, I call it that even though it is a bit wormy! :o) Blessings, Allen

2026-06-13
Imagination, dear friend, I something that you just can't get away from. Unbridled that your thoughts maybe, recreating them through your writing this way is just brilliant. As an aside - though I have little doubt she doesn't fully understand the word - my cat repeatedly, and very clearly, says, "Hello!" It is so well vocalised that guests are taken aback that i have a 'talking cat'! Blessings, Allen

2026-06-13
This is a poem that invites the reader to contemplate on the unanswerable. For Mankind, as yet, does not have the power to accurately foresee the future. Plus it is very descriptive of Mankind's need to reconstruct. Personally I think the straight answer is that there is nothing to stop it happening again, especially the 'way things are'. The ultimate power of Nature is unstoppable - though, most likely, it is pure chance as to whether it will strike that exact spot again. Blessings, Allen

2026-06-13
I have to say, my friend, that I am not persuaded by your brief thesis about 'God'. No argument - because, as you say, it is your right to believe or not. Thank you for sharing. Blessings and brotherly love, Allen

2026-06-13
I like this. I like the characterisation and the flourishes of him bringing rain. Really nicely done. Blessings, Allen

2026-06-09
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

Blessings, Allen

2026-06-08
A charming piece of poetry. Its rendition here marred by a typo in line three, Blessings, Allen

2026-06-08
Somehow I missed this at its time of submission. Definitely deserves this Front Page accolade. A strikingly poignant meditation on what my mind tells me is a marriage. Bravo. Blessings, Allen

2026-06-08
"Sometimes people wonder at the cruelty of life, forgetting for those moments the heavy sweetness that is contentment, the giddy exaltation of fulfilled desire, and the soft downy mellowness that follows a cordially shared glass of wine… or perhaps, of vodka. It is understandable." Two sides of the coin equal Universal balance which is a form of perfection if only we would, or could, see it. Blessings, Allen

2026-06-08
I hope Lynn realises the universality of these words; that this little negative elf, described in these words, sits on everyone's shoulder? The convolution between the dark and the light in thought alone most likely prevents their creativity? Blessings, Allen

2026-06-08
A brilliant observational poem that ends.. no... that contains a colossal sting in its tail. Deserves accolade I reckon. Blessings, Allen

2026-06-08
I enjoyed and much admire this poem. For me, it's graphical imagery can be applied - as metaphor - for many other situations. Brilliant. Blessings, Allen

2026-06-08
Oh, Mickeko says it for me, and does what I do about the sometimes unavoidable act of killing! This is an honest meditation about the hypocracy practiced every day by a large proportion of humanity. I heard someone say quite recently,"I eat meat, but let someone else do the murdering" I thought it was the ultimate truth of the subject. Well, of course I would as a vegetalien - itself an hypocracy: As if fish aren't living creatures! I recognise, reluctantly, that I have lived a lifetime of this hypocracy. But then, if you are like me, you recognise that everything that is potentially food, vegetables and fungi included, are living organisms - we cannot win in this respect! Blessings, Allen

2026-06-07
A rectitudinous tale if ever I've read one, and with a very sad ending. But written in an intriguing style. One could say it is a fairy tale about a cotton tail. :o) Blessings, Allen

2026-06-05
Perhaps it is best not to wait, but blithely go on planning and plotting , doing and making, creating, so that when she comes it will be a surprise.... not one to fear or find terrifying, but one where the excitement of a new adventure is at the forefront of our reaction. I send out thoughts that you have a long and rewarding life, dear Melinda. Blessings, Allen

2026-06-05
Hi my dear friend, This is sad news. I have such empathy for your situation. I think we oldies all understand how our health can let us down - some more seriously than others we say. I am sending out positive energy to you and your dear wife. May your God bless you.
It's no consolation to know about other people's problems, even those you assess as being worse than your own, because when these things enter your life only you know what level of significance you yourself assign to them, and we doubt that anybody actually wants to be ill, don't we.
Keep up the good fight, Alan.
Blessings and brotherly love to you and yours, Allen

2026-06-05
Bravo!
Blessings, Allen

2026-06-04
I grew concerned seeing the title, but upon reading and following your conversation with yourself(?) determines you had in fact overcome the desire. To be honest (as I'm sure you know) I reckon all modern poets feel this at one time or another. I know I have.
There is a saying I have used before which goes, 'you are where you are because you are meant to be there'. I think this applies in both the spacial sense and the artistic one. How do you explain that? Well, I reckon by just saying, 'because....' :o)
Blessings, Allen

2026-06-01
I know the song must have been popular around WWII time, because I remember my grandmother singing it when I was very young. A nice reminder. thank you. Blessings, Allen

2026-05-31
A fantasy all on its own. Intriguing, educating, beguiling and poetic all in one. Reminds me of the style that has permanently pleased me by the book "If nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things". Definitely one people should regret not having read! If only they knew! Blessings, Allen

2026-05-30
A lot of thought went into this fine piece. Hope springs eternal they say. I say it HAS to, or else we are all doomed! I like the pathways to evolution you express. Blessings, Allen

2026-05-30
Brave you! :o)

I wish that I could feel that I was sinking into a cradle of comfort. Mine is not bad, but the memories of youthful 'tucking in' are never met in old age I feel.

Blessings, Allen

2026-05-30
Naughty mind, pulling tricks like that!

Blessings, Allen

2026-05-29
An aching face in such circumstances is the marker of one of Life's special moments. Lovely. Blessings, Allen

2026-05-29
Don't I remember that feeling! Nicely presented, my friend. I am sorry that you still cannot hear the song of those birds. Is the scent of flowers escaping you too? :o) Blessings, Allen

2026-05-29
I am enlightened by your explanation. Goblins aside. :o) Thank you.
Blessings, Allen

2026-05-29
I like the frank conversational tone of this poem. I stumbled on the racial and misogynistic expectations though. It became uncloaked for me. Blessings, Allen

2026-05-29
Your poem makes me want to say: Who cares about journalists! Those who love you are all that matters. Blessings, Allen

2026-05-29
You said it! Blessings to you and yours, Allen

2026-05-29
I found this an emotional read, because you have described something I have experienced, though through different fields and towns where peeling paint reveals other secrets. It is an exceptional poem IMHO. Beautifully crafted with haunting phraseology. Blessings, Allen

2026-05-28
This is an intriguing poem. When I got very close to the end of it I thought maybe you are describing a kite with bow on her tail, along with the final two stanzas, but the beginning beguiles that theory. But yet... it is thought provoking, which I much enjoy. Blessings, Allen
PS: Nice to see your work on PoetBay again.

2026-05-28
A beautiful poem of reminiscence. I felt what was indirectly described in this....LOVE. Thank you for sharing. Blessings, Allen

2026-05-25
It is a conundrum, I feel. In the UK there is an inbred anger and resentment that in 1914 when WWI started men (canon fodder) were told this would be the war to end all wars. The horrors those men endured; the price so many of them paid; equated with that ideal of that promise. Yet just a few score years later came WWII. And since then the world has become so accustomed to war, and the leaders continue sending young men (and women) to their slaughter without question or compassion, whilst the arms industry promotes war by inventing new ways to maim and kill for profit of the monetary kind the sales of which depend on their successful use in war! Who was it who said mankind is an abomination? The syllables of that word say it loud. Blessings, Allen [gets off soapbox and exits stage left] :o)