The Tangled Branch Discussion Forums

Hi Gyppo, Not sure which two you mean by binary, but oh, yes, this works for me: Stepping back into a single skin when convention requires it is like  wearing clothes a couple of sizes too small. Don't we spend our speaking and writing lives code-switching depending on the person or the situation we...

Powerful poem, Colm, and powerful song, Gyppo. 

Jackie

Eric,    This describes so perfectly the transformation that happens in moments of passion.   To me, lines 3-5 could stand a touch-up. They summarize, while the rest of the poem uses such concrete imagery, and passions speaking loud but wordless(ly) seems a bit ordinary.   May I also suggest a re-w...

Hi Dave,  I do like being in your landscape but I still stumble at the idea of women dancing in a market. I'm not keen on re-writing people's poems, but maybe you'd consider a tad fewer words at the end: ... like women dancing around a gossip of houses whose roofs remember red dimpled cheeks.  Jackie

Thank you, Colm and Eric. I'm glad the message comes across.

Jackie

Mark — Thank you for kind words. Linda — I am glad to know the parts that work for you.  Once gray, one is defined more by one's age, less by gender for one thing. Yes, but more than that one is often over-protected from imagined harm. The elderly of any gender bear a lifetime of scars earned from a...

Linda, I do like the allusion to the voice of God in your poem. To me, this art is that disturbing because these blazing palms are sources and spreaders of wildfires in California. It seems like pretty unsettling art to have in an airport. You always have your eyes on the big picture, however concis...

People-watching. People whose dressing and adorning styles identify the philosophies they once, and still, find relevant. Personally, I prefer people who dress their message, to those who approach with speeches and pamphlets. I like the turn in the middle, Gyppo, where you re-see these two people. J...

Silverback   Hold me less precious in your hands and see as awards this dappling, this graying I have become. I am the pilot left white-locked,  a paid toll from overflying spewed volcanos;  I am the sprinter of my dream who wins again  despite her gaping chest hole. I am Silverback who still grasp...

Gyppo, this is such a delightful vignette! And all three characters are needed.

If she has to be called Jackie, at least I'm glad she gave you coffee and biscuits.

Jackie