The Tangled Branch Discussion Forums

April 14 No Title Some poems float down gently from the ether, good-natured, docile. Others fight tooth and nail; subject and predicate, resisting all attempts to be wrestled to the ground. Words fly, potential escapes this way and that until at last writer and written lie exhausted. (that's all I ...

First a handmade sewing chair designed to fit just her. While he shaped and glued the wood and made minor adjustments she sewed the cushions, a comfortable but solid match like their life together. Hi Gyppo, Normally I comment in the other realm but this one has a history here. Reading this, I want...

Deb, Your #14 is breathtakingly beautiful. https://sandiegopoetryannual.com/ Do you know of this publication? Your work would be a fabulous addition. There are several events around SD county in conjunction with it including scheduled readings by contributors. And some of the poets are well-known--l...

Indar: A "triolet" belongs to family of medieval songs like the "rondeau".  The first line appears three times.

When you publish your chap book of triolets I suggest a beautifully rendered drawing of a trillium for the cover art.

Oh for heaven's sake I just noticed the 3 time repetition; lines 1, 4 and 6----never mind.

Triolet 12 We enter the Temple of Whole Foods. Together, in coolness we forage. We hurry oft compelled by our moods. We enter the Temple of Whole Foods. We measure our bliss by the tonnage. We enter the Temple of Whole Foods. Together, in coolness we forage. Marcel, I've been in a silly mood lately...

Perhaps they are old
and somewhere a broke old man
could tell stories of his favorites.

OK Lisa you got me with this one. Life neglected, animal or human can send me into a funk because I know it's out there with a million ways to tell the story. Both the man and the horses in this telling.

the bag of knitting beside her rocker, its mouth of needles and wool, the slippers she is shaping. Hello bird woman :D I can't find a favorite part to your poems they are so consistently wonderful throughout. But the sharp-shouldered hug, the bird-like aspect so exactly right. I commented on your b...

April 13 Falling Asleep to Music Girls in blue gauze streamers run glimmering through time tunnels: phosphorescent trails. Gibbons turning summersaults  handspring onto long, loose arms: lifting, lowering pivot points. An infinite layer of manta rays swim in undulating perpetuity: dark, temporal wat...

My Catholic mother prays like a devil she would...I put her through hell. She knows which specific Saint to phone when a favour is needed.  When she starts talking to herself I won't get her sectioned   I'll contact the Pope  to begin the process of her canonisation. She's old, we both are, and I h...