Comments on: The Comfort of Angels Attending the Dying

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:47:33 +0000

Glad you thought so.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:47:10 +0000

Amen to that last thought, Beth, and as for more Clive poems: I sure hope so. We’ll see what happens.

By: lucas

lucas — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:54:03 +0000

Strong!

By: beth

beth — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 09:36:52 +0000

Being a fan of both Dave’s writing and Clive’s paintings, I’m quite stunned by these inspired poems. Fantastic, Dave, I hope you’re going to do some more, and if it spurs Clive to revisit some of these themes, that’s a great outcome too. just as an aside, how marvelous the web is – I feel so fortunate to have met Marly through you and qarrtsiluni, and Clive through Marly.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:19:51 +0000

Be sure to click through to Pete's blog if you haven't already. He not only has a way with words, but his skills with the camera are extraordinary.

By: Clive Hicks-Jenkins

Clive Hicks-Jenkins — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:43:10 +0000

Oh bravo Pohanginapete! You express lucidly what I’ve just spent twenty minutes trying to find words for in an appreciative e-mail to Dave. And the result was, I fear, pretty inadequate. (Maybe this is why Im a painter and not a writer.) I think on another occasion I might ask you for advice!

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:38:06 +0000

Thanks for your generous estimation of my work, Laura. I hesitate to say this too loudly for fear of hexing myself, but I’m hoping to really push myself this month. Other folks are doing NaPoWriMo and writing a new poem a day, and that’s great, but what would be more of a novelty for me is not to post poems until I’m convinced they’re as good as I can get them — without losing that first-draft freshness.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:33:17 +0000

Thanks, Pete. I never have any expectation that regular readers will leave comments — in part because I am often too tired and brain-dead to comment on more than a small fraction of the blogs I read — but I really appreciate hearing how well this poem does what I had hoped it would do. I had a pretty good draft written last night before I went to bed, but the ending didn’t tread any new ground for me, so I wasn’t completely satisfied with it. A second night in a row of scarey dreams gave me the idea (in the shower) for a completely new second half of the poem.

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:20:53 +0000

This is beautiful, as usual. Your metaphors always surprise me. They’re unexpected and yet seem organic. Thanks.

By: Pohanginapete

Pohanginapete — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:55:17 +0000

Been a while since I’ve commented, Dave, but don’t take that as an absence of visits, nor of appreciation. I’ve noticed how your poems seem to going from strength to strength, and this one’s exceptional. All that vivid imagery, those marvellous phrases — ‘bronchial trees’, ‘immaculate desolation’, ‘to bookend your shoulders/& breathe cabbage in your ears’ and others — and that great balance between saying enough to let the reader know what’s happening yet leaving one wondering… I read the poem then looked at the painting; yes, I thought, that’s it. Words that complement and don’t compete.