Re: a comment on Lost In Her Effervescence by ALChemy	Ranger 62.252.32.15	20-Feb-06/5:32 AM
Ah, that makes sense as well. I love your style of writing, it means your poems allow such a variety of interpretations whilst retaining a definite continuity - so bravo!
Re: A Broken man by Mikius	Ranger 62.252.32.15	20-Feb-06/5:17 AM
Makes me think that it should perhaps be a collection of haikus; the natural imagery fits the bill perfectly. Personally I'd change 'Trampled underfoot', as a phrase it's very worn. It took me a second read to realise the 'leaves in fall' bit, I'm not as quick with Americanisms as you are, but it works beautifully.
Re: Ben Fogle by Stephen Robins	Ranger 62.252.32.15	20-Feb-06/5:02 AM
An unsung hero. Until now.
Re: Pancakes by raven_the_poet	Ranger 62.252.32.15	20-Feb-06/5:01 AM
A very charming little tribute, the last stanza made me chuckle. As a student, pancakes are a long-lost joy but I swear in time that will change. On a slightly different note, it reminded me of Bush's speech about America being addicted to oil, very topical indeed.
Re: The Dead Poet's Dream by drnick	Ranger 62.252.32.15	20-Feb-06/4:54 AM
Did you ever read my 'Struggling Poet's Lament'? Because I know precisely what you mean here (somewhat ironically, given the context of the poem). I like how you've dealt with the idea of everyone's interpretation of a poem being correct - especially after the poet's death, and how we tend to be overly praising of a poet posthumously ('He will misspell words/But only in pretend/His rhymes lie perfect'). Very creatively done, and pleasantly concise.
Re: a comment on Somme (A Horror Of War) by Mr Pig	Mikius 129.12.200.48	20-Feb-06/3:35 AM
But so much less fun. :p
Re: You Sang To Me In A Cathedral Chamber by Ranger	Mikius 129.12.200.48	20-Feb-06/3:33 AM
Alas, for this poem, it's no good; you've raised the bar yet again. I'm afraid my angsty stuff is no match, (Not that I won't subject you to it all anyway :p). Keep up the good work. ^^
Re: a comment on A young Man’s Demise by Dovina	zodiac 216.67.6.6	19-Feb-06/8:52 PM
So, um, how do you squash an egg to make it an ellipsoid? Why not simply squash a sphere? Seems easier.
Re: a comment on A young Man’s Demise by Dovina	Dovina 67.72.98.93	19-Feb-06/8:19 PM
An ellipsoid is a solid formed by rotating an ellipse around its axis. The earth is an ellipsoid, eggs are not.
Re: a comment on To drnick by amanda_dcosta	Dovina 67.72.98.93	19-Feb-06/8:07 PM
“When you pray . . . , what do you think happens?” I think that when I pray, I am addressing someone much wiser than I, much like a two-year-old cries out to her parent. Maybe she wants another cookie or to be picked up and held. The parent listens and sometimes yields to the cry, but a good parent will not always comply, and often says no. Only as I consider my prayers as simple begging to a higher mind do they make any sense. Frankly, I cannot find more changes that follow my prayers than I find from pure probability. But that does not stop me, because I believe God exists, and if the only advantage anyone gets as a result of my prayers is my own edification, then that is enough. And if I don’t gain any points toward going to heaven, that’s okay too.
Re: a comment on A young Man’s Demise by Dovina	zodiac 216.67.6.6	19-Feb-06/8:04 PM
Besides, unsquashed eggs are ellipsoids.
Re: a comment on To drnick by amanda_dcosta	zodiac 216.67.6.6	19-Feb-06/8:01 PM
Here's a likely scenario: Pope Ratzinger is probably aware that God isn't moved by human prayers. He does, however, know that God gives special chairs in heaven to people who pray for others. He therefore dupes the entirety of his congregation into believing prayer intercessions are meaningful ways to help others, and then counts on (1) his having helped many, many people into heaven, and (2) his own prayers, which are, possibly, only for his own salvation, to get himself into heaven as well. The only alternative, from his perspective, is simply to tell all his congregants to only pray for themselves or risk being seen by God as disingenuous self-promoters. In which case, no one gets bonus points, and even Ratzinger's own salvation is at risk, as he's helped no one particularly get salvation and he's a soddy Nazi crone.
Re: a comment on A young Man’s Demise by Dovina	zodiac 216.67.6.6	19-Feb-06/7:56 PM
Squashed eggs are not typically ellipsoids. Don't believe me? Try squashing an egg. re "An English gentleman would also know that an adjective cannot follow a preposition unless an noun follows the adjective": Your grammar is beyond appalling. Check and mate.
Re: a comment on A young Man’s Demise by Dovina	Dovina 67.72.98.82	19-Feb-06/7:28 PM
As any English gentleman would have immediately recognized, I was speaking of bowls, a game played on a smooth lawn with wooden balls, which are rolled to stop as near as possible to a target ball. The balls are ellipsoids (squashed black eggs), and the players wear white uniforms (lily-whites). An English gentleman would also know that an adjective cannot follow a preposition unless an noun follows the adjective. Furthermore, your extrapolation of an implied circle in my perfectly understandable sentence is absurd.
Re: a comment on To drnick by amanda_dcosta	drnick 24.176.22.254	19-Feb-06/6:56 PM
I think the only reason people pray (other than the fact that they haven't thought about it in your way) is that it makes them feel like their helping someone without actually doing anything to help them. I'm sure it makes them feel good about themselves. Don't worry though, Jesus loves you...even if it IS in an inappropriate way.
Re: a comment on Lost In Her Effervescence by ALChemy	ALChemy 24.74.100.11	19-Feb-06/4:53 PM
Yes "swim". It just felt weird putting something you were feeling in your bones in quotations but I think you're right. I'm American and you know how ignorant we tend to be about other countries holidays so although Mother's Day, because it falls on sunday, came into play(more so as an afterthought) the term Mothering Sunday was unknown to me until now. It started more as an auditory word play on the opposites "mother" and "son". I have a tendency to stray a little from the structure of my poems in the last lines because I like how it makes them stand out and it seems to give the poem better closure. In this case it sinks the poem into a sense of surrender I think.
Re: Lost In Her Effervescence by ALChemy	Ranger 62.252.32.15	19-Feb-06/4:12 PM
Line 8 - is it meant to be 'cry out "Swim..."'? That would seem to make more sense to me. I like 'mothering sun', I take it that is a semi-play on 'mothering sunday'? It makes that passage a neat little metaphor for life. I'm not totally sure about the last line, in a way it unbalances the 'positive/negative' equilibrium of this piece.
Re: You by terbenaw	Ranger 62.252.32.15	19-Feb-06/4:02 PM
Sadly the world rarely slumbers in dreams of tranquility, but the occasion would be a wonderful thing. Anyway, this is very softly written and I like it. Personally I'd change 'velvety' to simply 'velvet' because that entire analogy is very good. Again, I like the way you refer to the moon, although I think that you could find something better than 'phosphorescent' - just my opinion though. Sadly the line 'pecan brown treasures' made me think solely of -=Dark_Angel=-, quite a shame as it's a lovely line. -=D_A=-, you have tainted my reading of poetry with your embrowning. Actually, I'd quite like to see him use that line in a poem(e)...
Re: a comment on To drnick by amanda_dcosta	-=Dark_Angel=-, P.I. 86.135.203.170	19-Feb-06/3:57 PM
Because you're only doing it for the bonus points, obviously. Look, either you believe God will help the person you're praying for BECAUSE you are praying for them, or you don't. If you don't, then you're obviously only praying for them because you think it will get you into heaven. That isn't going to fool a Jesu. If you do, then you've got to accept that you believe in a pretty bizarre sort of benevolent God. The sort of God who would forsake someone simply because nobody happened to be praying for them. It just doesn't make any sense. The whole explanation Christians have for sufferring is that God doesn't intervene because He wants us to have free will. The second you bring prayer into it, you're talking about an interventionist God. If He's willing to intervene to alleviate the suffering of so-and-so because such-and-such prayed for him, why doesn't He just do that all the time? It can't be because doing so would make so-and-so run out of free will. Nine times out of ten, so-and-so has no knowledge or control over who prays for him.
Re: a comment on A young Man’s Demise by Dovina	-=Dark_Angel=-, P.I. 86.135.203.170	19-Feb-06/3:53 PM
The thing is that 'lily-white' is an adjective, not a noun. Even if it were punctuated, we'd still be talking about one prime bollock of a sentence.