Comments on: Downpour

By: houcine

houcine — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:37:59 +0000

hi , i am a stranger guided by google to your blog!
your imagination’s so wide and rich!
my english isn’t powerful in literature so i make an effort to understand you!
have a great day of imagination!

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:42:24 +0000

Thanks for the comment. I think a lot of people do read poetry, and there are a lot of live poetry events so people are writing, reading and getting involved in other ways. In many ways publishing mechanisms have changed a lot of things, and things tend to me more self published on the net these days. Maybe it also says something that a few publishing houses/editors had control of what was considered the mainstream for a good few years, ie they decided what was and wasn’t good poetry and I’m sure more than a few good poets were left out in the cold. Some modern stuff is certainly excellent - but as “on paper” poetry sales and readerships fall, you have to wonder what that says about just where it’s reaching.

I think metres have changed over the years, and certain metres, especially rhyming couplets, have come to be associated with “Roses are red, violets are blue” kind of poetry, which sounds a bit sing song, or comedy poetry, which still uses rhyme predomoninantly. I do play with rhyme, and like to mix it up with assonance and half rhyme, letting the words find a subtler kind of music. In fact someone once said she preferred a poem I did because it rhymed, but in fact it only contained one rhyme - sometimes adding a rhyme can add a little spontaneity, perhaps even complete a poem. I did play around with complex rhyme schemes when I first started writing, but after a while I started to think, do I really want to find a word that rhymes with x here, or would it be better to find a word that contributed more to what I want to say…

By: ekhosama

ekhosama — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:23:58 +0000

You are so write about submitting poetry. It is almost like no one reads poetry these days. I don’t think this period of poetry can even compare with the victorian or elizabethan period. Well, just telling u, honest to god, I like 19th centruy peotry a lot better than what I see now, I always like rymes. Still, ur poem is good, and u shouldn’t let anyone deter your writing. Good imagery by the way. Do you write any rhyming poems?

By: lindsey

lindsey — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 03:17:32 +0000

sweet! i love your word choice! MY CRUSH IS ON YOU

By: Nini

Nini — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 07:00:00 +0000

You are a brilliant weaver!

“It is this white chaos,
Tracer of rain in night,
Makes me stand outside…”

By: Sara

Sara — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 02:26:25 +0000

white choas

what a fantastic description.

By: James Steerforth

James Steerforth — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:20:57 +0000

Very vivid recreation of violent weather!

I also liked your preface.

By the way: I arrived at your blog through Poets Who Blog.

By: Louise

Louise — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:16:49 +0000

I think most of all i like the rhythm in this - the short phrases reflect the content which evokes for me a WWI scenario, of blitz and bullets and a view inhibited limited by the immediate downpour. I like the threat involved in a storm drooling, but also think it a very ’slow’ verb, not pacey like the rest. The transfer to the writing on the page works for me but i think the silence doesn’t leave ‘dryness’ - i think it contains something. Just a thought

By: Crafty Green Poet

Crafty Green Poet — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:04:39 +0000

You’ve captured the power of a heavy rainfall very well there

By: Pam

Pam — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:33:35 +0000

I normally don’t get into weapon/war imagery but this is great. I could feel the storm clouds gather and let loose. Nice work.