Comments on: What he said to his friend https://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/what-he-said-to-his-friend/ Purveyors of fine poetry since 2003. Sat, 18 Aug 2007 21:50:54 +0000 hourly 1 By: endlessly https://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5517 Sat, 18 Aug 2007 21:50:54 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/16/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5517 What a colourful, bizarre, complex yet oddly precise description that is. I chuckled in wonder.

Endlessly

]]> By: Dave https://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5516 Sat, 18 Aug 2007 00:55:15 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/16/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5516 Thanks for reading.

]]> By: Fledgling Poet https://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5515 Sat, 18 Aug 2007 00:29:30 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/16/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5515 This was so beautiful! Such vivid imagery…thank you!

]]> By: Dave https://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5514 Fri, 17 Aug 2007 02:05:57 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/16/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5514 Thanks, leslee. I’m actually kind of surprised how well some of these things have turned out, considering how little deliberation went into them.

]]> By: leslee https://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5513 Fri, 17 Aug 2007 00:50:36 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/16/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5513 Very nice poem! I’m just catching up here and the last several posts have been gems.

]]> By: Constance https://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5512 Fri, 17 Aug 2007 00:26:48 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/16/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5512 Dave – My bad! :) I was taken by the poem and immediately linked it to the oriental forms I love. Thanks for correcting my assumption. So many poem forms, so little time!

]]> By: Dave https://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5511 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:12:48 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/16/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5511 Peter, how’d you slip that comment in there?! Thanks. I’m especially glad to hear that the ambiguity worked for you.

]]> By: Dave https://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5510 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:08:51 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/16/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5510 Joan – “Basilisk” is a good word. I wasn’t especially thinking along those lines when I wrote the piece (I was picturing a guy who’s chickenshit rather than a woman who’s cold) but it’s certainly a valid reading.

wendy – Sure, why not?

Nancy – Thanks for the links! I updated the addendum to include a link to your comment; sorry it got held up in moderation.

I have that Nammalvar translation – great stuff. Unfortunately, I lost my copies of his translations of secular Tamil poetry some years ago. Their loss fills my heart with restless longing…

sylph – Good point (yikes).

Etain, Tumblewords – Thanks for stopping by.

]]> By: Peter https://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5509 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:07:17 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/16/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5509 The thing I like about classical Tamil poetry is the very detailed use of natural imagery and the intense emotion, both of which translate very well – as opposed to, say, the elaborate word-play of classical Sanskrit poetry, which doesn’t translate at all.

That’s very interesting. And I think you succeeded here.

I like the ambiguity that comes across with the emotion.

]]> By: Tumblewords https://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5508 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 19:22:39 +0000 http://www.vianegativa.us/2007/08/16/what-he-said-to-his-friend/#comment-5508 Nice work! I like the depth, the thought and the sensory words of this piece. Thanks for the links.

]]>