Poetry Forum

Thanks Ros. The siege of Münster was arguably the most brutal event of the reformation. The poem is drivel I know, but thanks for the encouragement. B. Hello Brian No not drivel. All old wrongs need to be revisited and discussed. That's what you are doing here. The other thing to be said is that th...

Hi everyone

Thank you so much for your varied responses. Much appreciated. Yes I realize the piece is prosey in some sections. Let me consider that. I appreciate the help.

Chris

Thanks for your input, Ray.

Chris

For Ann Lovett Here is where she gave birth in the Maria grotto under the statue of the Blessed Virgin. Earlier the January wind scythed across the patchwork of fields, swirled around the drystone walls, ruffled the wool of the sheep, drove starlings like duckshot across the gunmetal sky. Normally ...

Hi Suzanne Nicely written. Fine poem with great details throughout. My main nit has to do with the personification of the sun which really sticks out and mitigates against the strengths of the poem -- The sun visits my stoop every morning, stays past noon, deeply admires the grooves in the pine, war...

Hi Ant

Simply stated and well put. A pleasant observational/philosophic poem on the implications of spud planting and harvesting. Great work, Ant. Enjoyed.

All the best

Chris

Hi Ray et al. Risible, you think so? Historically, writers have been seen as threats to totalitarian regimes because they don't follow the rules and can spread disaffection against the regime. And getting back to David Smedley's argument that this piece is not poetry but prose because it lacks poeti...

Thanks, Seth. k-j... I see what you meant. The whiff on "queer" came from my pasting the copy of the poem from another forum where I had posted it and where such bowdlerization is needed otherwise you risk getting a row of asterisks. When I realized that was not needed here, I changed it. ...

Hi David

Fair enough. Thanks.

Chris

Thanks, k-j. I appreciate the feedback. Not sure about bowdlerization... people did and do speak that way.

Best regards

Chris

Attitude Adjustment Our new president does not like poets: as soon as he came to power in the bloodless coup I was one of the people ordered rounded up and put in a camp. Along with immigrants, queers, adherents of disapproved religions. I am here for "attitude rehabilitation," to be refo...

Hi David, Ros, and Ray

Many thanks for your kind comments and suggestions which I am taking into consideration. I appreciate your interest in my writing.

Thanks for the support.

Best regards

Chris

Baskets of Severed Hands When the white-skinned visitors arrived, the Capucho offered no helping hand. Cardinal Rosario, garlic-breathed and plump with satisfaction, offered them the comfort of the flesh and blood of Jesus, yet they liked best their jade gods and their promise of eternal sunrises. ...

Hi elph

Thanks for your positive comment. The book is on the way.

Chris

Hi Ian

I would agree that it's no earth-rumbling piece. Rather it provides a light and witty look at how people use libraries.

Chris

Hi David Many thanks for your detailed comments. No Morse isn't in on the subterfuge, except to the extent that he is the paid interpreter for the supposed travel writer. But he has his own neo-colonial views of the Indian miners which I tried to mirror. And to be clearer about it, Wyndham is interv...

Ha Ha. Very finely done, both in the writing and in the performance! Much enjoyed. Reminds me of the collaboration of such writers as Adrian Henri and Nell Dunn. Clever piece, Ian.

Best regards

Chris

El Oro del Glaciar Wyndham shivers in his insulated McMurdo parka as their all-terrain vehicles scrunch across the sun-dazzling ice field; he's masquerading as a National Geographic writer, escorted by a Spanish-Quechan translator -- an anemic lad as frail as the actor who portrays Endeavour Morse....

Thank you, Macavity and JJ. I appreciate your nits and observations. I appreciate your criticisms and suggestions. Sorry I have been away so long.

Best regards

Chris

Hi Ros, Elphin, Seth, and Ray

Many thanks for giving me your reactions to this poem. I appreciate the criticisms and pointers for improvement. I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment.

Best regards

Chris

The Accountant of Auschwitz The ex-SS sergeant, 93, leans on a walker: white hair, diamond-ribbed sleeveless sweater, everybody's olde-world jolly grandfather. He tells the court, "I share morally in the guilt -- whether I am legally guilty, you must decide." Humble -- he seeks forgivenes...

Thank you, Peter and Seth.

Chris

Ha ha. Thanks, David. I am preparing for a reading here in Baltimore in a couple of weeks. I only have ten minutes -- I am one of a number of writers appearing -- so a short poem like this would fit in along with some longer pieces. Thanks for your encouragement and interest.

Chris

Thanks, Mac. I should know better than to post a picture which in itself evokes an emotional response. However, it is the image that inspired the poem and seems to fit despite the downside. Thanks for your feedback on this short piece, Mac.

All the best

Chris

Mother

Mother dearest:
your head on the pillow
fading from me now

Christopher T. George




Henry Lamb, Death of a Peasant, 1911