Re: a comment on You Have It Backwards by LilMsLadyPoet	4-Jan-06/7:17 AM
a beautiful vision. sadly, i don't think it would ever work. the ones getting a "hand up" would become pawns in the endgame between the ones giving the (yes) "handouts".
Re: a comment on You Have It Backwards by LilMsLadyPoet	4-Jan-06/7:15 AM
roger that, wilsco. seriously, responsible citizenship starts with responsibility to oneself and one's family. then, it may spread a bit at a time IF AND ONLY IF IT DOES NOT JEOPARDIZE ONE'S SELF AND FAMILY. the social worker/volunteer that runs around feeding and sheltering the "less fortunate" but spends no time with their own kids and wonders why little Billy grows up committing crimes and doing drugs is just substituting the problem from one individual to another. they are not doing anyone any favors. likewise, the people that are able to use "the system" to get by are not really getting a leg up on anyone except the working class folks that are paying the most (proportionately) into that very system. yeah the playing field gets levelled: the middle class people are sinking while the folks getting welfare are able to drive "pimped out" Lexuses. meanwhile, the so called "upper class" keep on getting wealthier and wealthier. i am sorry, but social responsibility, can kiss my backside. i saw the result of socialist society in post-wall east germany. not a pretty sight. and they all thought they were better off because they got a fat check from the "new government" that allowed them to buy brand new cars. no real change. the fact that the wall fell is testament to the inability for a truly socialist society to exist. it goes against human nature, i guess.
Re: You Have It Backwards by LilMsLadyPoet	4-Jan-06/6:59 AM
you use a lot of words to convey your premise, but if it is - as i suspect - a rant, that is forgivable. i also think that one point hidden in there is that a certain amount of wealth (somewhere between wealth and poverty, shall we say middle class?) allows for leisure time. it can be said that those with intelligence tend to spend their leisure time in some sort of artistic or inventive pursuit, thereby bearing the fruits of intelligence. the one who must constantly struggle (work several jobs to make ends meet, forage for food and shelter) will have very little spare time to bend their mind to "leisurely" pusuits. i agree that wealth does not beget intelligence. however, being of humble means myself, i do recognize that wealth does open many, many doors of opportunity to those who can pay for it. alternatively, as one who is neither minority nor immigrant nor poor nor female, i do see that in my country many who come here are offered more opportunity with fewer "strings attached" than i would ever be offered. does that mean they are more or less intelligent than i? more or less fortunate than i? or just more qualified to receive assistance than i because of many convoluted and - in my eyes - unjust principles that define our government. but to get back to your essay (?), i think it could benefit from more clearly constructed ideas and more succinct phrasing. in general, i do lean toward your side of the debate.
Re: a comment on light [edited] by lmp	4-Jan-06/6:39 AM
sigh... the glow of morning is upon (her) soft skin. the yellow rind (tinged pink) fades in comparison.
Re: Between the Edges by woodstock20000	3-Jan-06/3:50 PM
nice. very introspective. i like.
Re: Goodbye Sad Door by woodstock20000	3-Jan-06/3:47 PM
i agree with Dovina, but maybe: "and so I continue to knock at the iron door will I never know his starlight again?" i tend to like the mystery and hope in that sort of ending. the imagination of each reader will keep the poem alive, rather than a clear finality ending it. the imagery is wonderful and my mind can see this door, perhaps even see the iron dust falling from one of the starlit slivers to the ground with each booming knock.
Re: Whipped (With Preface) by OneFingerAnswer	3-Jan-06/3:32 PM
aptly titled. i think the preface detracts from the haiku; the title alone with the poem would suffice.
Re: Privacy Compromised by Dovina	3-Jan-06/3:22 PM
huh. so you write from your bed, posting to a (this?)website as soon as you awake after a wild night partying at a gala event and rubbing elbows with those who pick apart your ideas and offer critique of your work. and you try to maintain a facade, a mask to hide behind lest they hurt the real you. that's what i get, anyway. so, who is Tom? <grin>
Re: when i met sky alone by Prince of Void	3-Jan-06/3:15 PM
i will wait for the other parts before voting, but so far it feels a bit disjointed: first two lines read like an opening scene for a overly-dramatic "private-eye" novel, then it becomes personal and ethereal. the next two lines lead me to believe your neighbors made too much noise for you to finish writing...
Re: a comment on light [edited] by lmp	3-Jan-06/3:07 PM
ok, well, this was rather personal. i was eating a grapefruit in the bedroom next to my new lover, watching her sleep.
Re: a comment on The Forgetting by Dovina	3-Jan-06/3:01 PM
poets, i suppose, exercising their license?
Re: The Stickmen of Fools by embersandenvelopes	3-Jan-06/2:47 PM
sounds like a reaction to a visual art installation at a museum. you know, the ones that are technology-based with scrolling signs and all, in contrast with the more "classic" painting art form. my overall impression is that you don't think to highly of the "newer"-style art, no? 7 for interesting sentiment.
Re: a comment on The dance as old as time by wEdible Underpantsw	3-Jan-06/2:36 PM
dross? hrmm. a term coined by a hoon on a planet not yet deemd ready to support life?
Re: a comment on Incommunicado blues (fixed, except for Dovina) by zodiac	3-Jan-06/2:28 PM
hmmm. i feel the same way, but i cannot justify having more children than to replace my spouse and i. striking a balance between Dovina's Zero Population Growth, the primal reproductive urge, and making sure that the human race doesnt become overrun by those who "hain't able t' reed, no' rite, no' do rithmetick."
Re: a comment on This Is Me by PoeticXTC	3-Jan-06/2:09 PM
oops... the hands would be worn, cut, and scarred
Re: This Is Me by PoeticXTC	3-Jan-06/2:07 PM
there appear to be some conflicting descriptions here, about a tight compact frame and yet a soft cushy tushy. strong hands worked to the bone, yet they would undoubtedly be a bit work, cut, and scarred from hard work, and i don't get the idea that your vision of them is as such. the part about the orthodonture work is refreshing; a part of the "perfection" that was coerced into existence rather than happening "naturally". the hint that there may be something wrong (last verse) is also good; very little is ever perfect inside and out. and maybe the real substance of this work is in the last line. if i may offer: edit the desciption down a bit, but expand on the "view from the outside in" and the bit about sin.
Re: The Forgetting by Dovina	3-Jan-06/1:58 PM
i like the image, and the hint of living time in reverse (perhaps?). I am confounded however, by the last line; is "pasteless" a typo? or maybe this is a fanciful land where the collage of the child smelling a rose comes to life and "unpastes" himself... quaint and lovely nonetheless, it stimulates conjecture.
Re: The Ballad of Fraser Allonby Q.C., Barrister-At-Law by wFraser Allonby Q.C.w	30-Dec-05/2:12 PM
ok, i am sure that this was written before the premier of the TV show "Boston Legal", but Will Shatner's character (Denny Crane) comes to mind here. well done, a riotous romp at pomp!
Re: Divorcing Tennessee by Dovina	30-Dec-05/2:06 PM
ugh. hope i don't ever go there. ;p i know i will live and die where ya get changes of seasons, too.
Re: Zin/Enough/Things/Squeeze/Flow by gregsamsa222	30-Dec-05/2:02 PM
well, i creid. i smiled, i nodded with understanding of those emotions. hopefully, i will not ever have to endure the "squeeze". ugh! as others have said, the reverse works for me. it also leads us in an interesting slow growth to the painful climax, and then a joyous denoument, and then the ominous ending lines... the impending doom of the garden would itself make an interesting stage for another piece of writing. sorry for the long comment. and sorry for your loss.