Monthly Archives: April 2015

4 Star Review of The Widow’s Cliff and Other Poems


4.0 out of 5 stars A worthy collection February 25, 2015
By Peter Reeve VINE VOICE
Format:Kindle Edition
A collection of 32 poems. The first poem, an appropriate scene-setter, describes the dreamlike (or rather, nightmarish) quality of Kuhn’s poetic inspiration. It is clear from the start that his military experience has played a significant part in forming his poetic voice. His poetic journey is in part a survey of the battlefields – both metaphoric and literal – on which he has fought.

THE GIRL WHO LIVED BEHIND is an extraordinarily powerful poem, an account of a suicide. It is my favorite of the collection.

Kuhn does not employ strictly formal meters, but he makes extensive use of rhyme, and occasional alliteration and assonance. Most lines have their own internal rhythm

A great strength of Kuhn’s work is that he explores human suffering, including his own, without a hint of self-pity. There is thus a heroism – strength in adversity – pervading his work. It is not so much an expression of existential angst as a stoical acceptance of what life throws at us. These poems are the means by which the poet comes to accept his (and others’) suffering.

An interesting contemporary poet who is well worth reading.

I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review, which is the only kind I give anyway.
[Peter Reeve]

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Followup on Dan


I wrote last week about a friend of mine who has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This is the second friend who is a veteran of the Vietnam War. Both men belonged to a group that met almost weekly for years. The group has grown smaller with death claiming several. We don’t meet as often now. We may get together once a month. If lucky we can see one another twice a month. Anyway, Dan is an Airforce Veteran. His health history is really amazing. He is the only known person exposed to anthrax who lived to talk about it. He is very fortunate to have survived that. We are hoping that he will survive the cancer as well. I will write more later about Dan.

Writings of a sad day


K. G. Bethlehem has dedicated himself over the years to the task of helping others, mostly children. He has an interesting past and has seen his share of sadness. He is worth your time to visit and to read his thoughts.

KG Bethlehem

www.michaeltoddserr.com http://www.michaeltoddserr.com

The Gifted Others

Mortality is always this quiet verbiage,

The ending thought to all who could listen,

The last words.

So thoughtful and quiet esteem

So less with life and full in wanting more.

It is a quiet thing, so train in darkness and silence.

Incapable or reasoning

Detest—I’m assuming of mercy,

Of an enterprising thoughts well done

I prolong ..

Mortality.

I run from it

I trick it as my thoughts betray

To the worldly pleasures of self

And gave such pronounce beauty of family

And of love

And of lost hope in my talks with death.

I am so sorry for thinking universal law

Was so translucent,

I am so sorry

For your loss.

I am.

–K.G. Bethlehem

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I’VE BEEN THINKING


good thoughts to recall each and everyday of life

keithgarrettpoetry

I thought i’d call to you and talk awhile,

I’m sitting here alone, I’ve been thinking.

What can i do to make this world a better place,

Let go of anger and sometimes terrible thoughts.

Do not waste this time that I’ve been given,

Smile and say hello to a passerby.

Lend a hand to a less fortunate soul,

Put a little trust in man, this I’ve been told.

Do not take a life, be there for a friend,

Teach a child right from wrong.

Love as much as you can, hate is not a gift in hand,

Do not steal or act in violence,

I’ve been thinking god, I just needed you to listen.

Keith Garrett

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Dan … a sad phone call.


A friend of mine called me on my cell phone yesterday. She caught up to my wife and I while we were shopping. Wonderful things, cell phones. They can bring you sunshine with friendly voices, sometimes they carry sorrow, and, yes, sometimes annoyance with pest calls.

Sunshine comes from friends who want to chat. Sorrow comes from those calls no one wants to make and no one wants to get. Sometimes though….. ……sometimes  …. Sometimes they just have to be done and so we were shopping for light bulbs at a Home Depot and the phone rang. I almost dropped the phone trying to wrestle it free from its new belt clip and was afraid I wouldn’t get it off and open before the call ended. But I managed it and I immediately recognized the voice of the caller and she said she had bad news.

I always hate those words: I have bad news.

She paused, waiting, thinking of the right words to say and waiting for me to say it was okay and for her to go ahead and tell me what she found the need to call me about. But I dreaded that. I knew it had to do with one or more of my friends and so I took a deep breath and with a sigh told her to go ahead and tell me what she had called about.

She, being Gina, was in Florida at the VA Vet Center in St. Pete where she works as a counselor and Jan and I being in GA visiting friends and our alpacas on Ted and Pat Kraft’s farm in Albany.

“You weren’t in group today,” she began. Group is a collection of Vietnam Vets that meets at the Center. “I’m in Georgia,” I told her. “Oh, yes, I forgot. You told me you were going up to shear your alpacas.”

A long pause.

“Bad day for me,” she began again. “I lost one of my World War II vets. He died suddenly.” But I knew it was more than that and I said I was sorry and then waited for the next hit to come as she sighed again.

“Dan called and said he had gone and had some tests made because he didn’t feel right and well…..he has pancreatic cancer and they gave him 3 months to live.”

lijkeddie ….. IAN


Oh good grief…. I cannot believe I crossed two posts. What a mess.  This post is about a writer named Ian….NOT Maggie. I already had posted that and somehow in the past when it went into draft the two were overlapping and so when I pulled this one up it was about Maggie…WRONG NAME… this is about IAN. So I have written this to cover IAN.

Ooops! I started this on Feb. 27, or so my records say. It went into the draft column and somehow was forgotten. So, here it is.

IAN I  have posted three links below to him.

http://en.gravatar.com/ijkeddie

https://ijkeddie.wordpress.com/2014/10/11/your-newtons-cradle/

https://ijkeddie.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/time-to-lash/

StarDustPoet64


Stardustpoet64 started following me today. She has an impressive following on twitter of over 5,650 followers. Whoa! I would say she is doing something right to attract such a following. I don’t know how many I have following me and right now I don’t want to look as I will be depressed I am sure.

Anyway, she has a strong attraction and rightly so:

http://en.gravatar.com/stardustpoet64

https://www.facebook.com/PeaceAtLast/about

https://flowofstardust64.wordpress.com/2015/03/04/winter-words/

She is well worth visiting.

And, thanks Star Dust 64 for visiting my site.

 

 

Wild Sound Review


Please meet a new follower, Wild Sound Review, you an get information on them at:

http://en.gravatar.com/wildsoundreview,

Interview with Molly Driscoll, winning TV Spec writer (Arrow)

Introducing the FREE – 140 character VERY short story contest

I think you will all be mildly surprised by her blogs. I enjoyed her writing and look forward to seeing more of it.