[Julie Steiner]

Sam wrote:

There is some stuff I find rather witty (I always look for wit) but more that seems centered on the "family romance." Surely I wrote about family matters when I was young (what else do young poets have to write about?) but to read not-so-younger and older poets still going over their problems with mom, dad, and various uncles (rarely aunts) is tiresome.

Love and death can be awfully trite and tiresome subjects, too, yet some of our favorite poems treat these old chestnuts. I wonder if it's actually not the subject that wearies you, but a certain stereotypical approach to it.

(Although I concede that it could be that you just don't like the subject, period, or aren't in a particularly receptive mindset for it at this point in your life. For the past few days I've been trying to read a book of poems by someone who uses a lot of magical realism, and I've had to set it aside repeatedly because I just can't give this type of stuff a fair hearing while I'm dealing with certain unmagical goings-on in real life. Maybe next week...)

[Michael F]

What indeed is finally beautiful except death and love?

Julie, this is one of my favorite lines of Whitman. In fact, I used it as an epigraph for an appreciation of Whitman (which will be published in a few months, I gather).

[John Whitworth]

Death is not beautiful. It is tiresome though it does hang about like Coleridge's frightful friend. I think one subject very suitable for an old person is going crazy, or, as we English say, losing one's marbles. What rhymes with marbles?

I've forgotten if I ever knew.

Garbles. That has possibilities.

[Jerome Betts]

Just noticed we're not supposed to post links here. Withdrawn.

[John Whitworth]

Dammit, Jerome. Nice one.

[Ed Shacklee]

Originally Posted by John Whitworth

Garbles. That has possibilities.

Warbles, too, John; well, sort of -- then, if you could figure out how to do something with gables. . .

I'm not sure if death itself is beautiful, but laughing at it, defying it, mourning it, those things are beautiful, or can be.

Best,

Ed

P.S. I regret missing Jerome's post before it was withdrawn.

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by Ed Shacklee

P.S. I regret missing Jerome's post before it was withdrawn.

Me too. Since when are links disallowed? Did I miss something?

[Janice D. Soderling]

Here it is, Ed. And a lovely one, too.

(Others can post links to friend's poems!)

http://www.lightenup-online.co.uk/in...ar-consolation

Bill, have you been sleeping on the job?? Just joking. This issue comes up every now and then. It's well-documented (if disputed, if undecided, if unclear) in many threads with poem input at GT, MoM, and elsewhere.

[Matt Q]

Originally Posted by John Whitworth

Garbles. That has possibilities.

"barbels" those whiskery things catfish and some other fish have.

-Matt

[John Whitworth]

This poem is growing, Matt.