Vixility
  Gold Member

You, my friend, have made my day, week, month and year by this generous post of yours. I mean, wow!

I was thrilled to the bones to see you placed! Same goes for Sue’s win as well. I feel I have many talented poets here on this platform that—on my side at least—I consider friends, and many more who I deeply admire and look forward to the seeing of their works. I feel as though my inspiration and new ideas comes from my reading the works of other poets—both here and abroad—and I feel challenged here. A good thing.

I never, EVER feel offended if those who I admire or deem close to me vote for a poem other than mine, and I’m sure you feel the same way—although who’s gonna lie, winning a poetry contest isn’t exactly unpleasant.

That said, you were right to vote for Steven Golden’s poem—a powerful piece—because it is the one that spoke to you.

And about poets on this platform … you have got to be one of the most broad spectrum subject finders out of this whole group! It’s AWAYS exciting to see what SD comes up with. One can NEVER guess what angle you’re going to come from. You’re like an unpredictable kickboxer throwing left double jabs, shin to head kicks, and right left uppercuts all in a moment’s notice. That kind of writing adaptability—especially in poetry—is a virtue seldom seen in others, and one I wish I had.

Again, I really appreciate you taking the time to leave those comments. And again, very excited for your win. more »

Oh man! Thank you for stopping by and checking out the poem. Having become one of the biggest fans of your own writing, your comment is for me tremendously meaningful!

Thank you, Sue

Agreed! This is really good and not at all overindulgent—a theme I see similar to the first poem of yours I read: Savage.

Have you considered promoting this poem? or any others? Just for a little exposure? more »

Love love Marley …

Perfect amount of sensuality!! Loved the read for sure …

Uh … wow!

Reading through your works and I agree with Alan, you’ve got a style that is unique and skilled. Curious if you have any poetic influences, or poets whose style you admire?

Nice tribute poem. Very appropriate and well done …

Wow!! How the hell did this slip under my radar? The existential constraints we find ourselves born into almost seem inescapable! Born under bad signs. Reminds me of something said by Jean Jacques Rousseau: Man is born free but everywhere is in chains.

Let me see if I’m reading you right. We are born into a gender, a language, a culture, a country (the list goes on) which impose upon us their limitations along with their biases (our snipped and bridled condition) and somehow (if we are to live as authentic individuals) we must find a way to break away from the sway of these constraints?

It is as if an individual is born between two polarities where we are split as an essence: complete subjugation (the constant eventuality) and limitless freedom (the mercurial). The latter state seems an impossible dilemma since we already seem to be born into constraints.

However! We can witness a soul’s survival (from the bridle) through miraculous manifestations that are beyond belief; that is to say, despite our condition, we can achieve an authentic existence that rises above the subjugating conditions we find ourselves born into.

Whew! Am I even close? more »

This sounds like a very tough and arduous journey—a journey whose end brings him well deserved happiness. Nice piece.

Excellent poem! The third stanza—oh man, so relatable.

I have a question. There is a Russian poet (Fyodor Tyutchev) whose works I love, but I only know them through the translations given by another one of my favorite writers: Vladimir Nabokov (whose translations I trust)

Do you find it difficult to transmit the essence and beauty of a given poem by converting it into another language whose words not only sound different but might have slightly different meanings? For example: would a Dutch reader of your poem perceive something slightly different than that of a French reader?

I’ve always been fascinated by this question and thought I would take advantage and ask you here since you have linguistic and aesthetic access to all three translations. Hope you don’t mind the question.

In short, is the substance of a poem ‘lost in translation’? more »

What I love about this poem is the realness of its subject matter and the rhythmic cadence used to express it. The poet clearly put a lot of effort into the production of the piece … well done!

I agree with Randy, I’ve loved your works for a long time now. Congratulations!

It made me chuckle when I read you chuckled lol … thank you for the vote. Congratulations on your well deserved win!

Thank you thank you for the vote!! I was definitely aiming for a subject that was a little ‘different’ so to speak. Fun poem to play with …