*Magnify*
SPONSORED LINKS
Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/profile/reviews/pzakaras/sort_by/r.review_creation_time DESC/page/2
Review Requests: OFF
326 Public Reviews Given
453 Total Reviews Given
Public Reviews
Previous ... 1 -2- 3 ... Next
26
26
Rated: 13+ | (5.0)
Very nicely said, Lizzie!

Very nicely said indeed. I especially resonated with: "I send my book out into the world, like a young mother, sending her child to kindergarten. *Smile*
That's so true! ('Cept, of course for me, I'd be a father, and be sending off my poetry!)

This is very refreshing, your extended explanation. Thanks for putting it out here for us to get a better view of you!

Paul
27
27
Review of The Proud...  
Rated: E | (5.0)
Wow, a TKO, if ever there might be one on the currents now running through this land of ours!
That, and a very well constructed piece of poetry as well!

Extremely smooth flow! So easy to read and be swept along to the final verse. *Thumbsup*

Sadly, we may be too far lost in our fears and closed mindedness, as a nation, to ever face the sunrise again, as we did for so many of the previous 200 plus years...

Bravo!

Thanks for writing it... it's still necessary to point ourselves out to ourselves no matter the end result.

Paul
28
28
Review of The Candidate  
Rated: ASR | (5.0)
Ben, my friend,


This is far and away the most magnificent poem of yours I have read since we've met! Far and away the BEST pure poem in your "Baker's Dozen" !

Once I realized where you were taking me, I still had to be led by the hand... and even then, having realized where I thought you were taking me, you had another surprise in store!

You must take a bow with this, m'friend!
Truly a magnificent work!

Paul
29
29
Rated: 13+ | (5.0)
Bon Jour, Mon Vieux! Thanks for being part of the mix in my fledgling enterprise!

Hopefully, I can dispense with the ooh's and ahh's here.

You are a derriere kickin', sharp witted, fast on the draw writer with more than the required modicum of sense, intelligence, and self-awareness to be able to enrich those who read your offerings!

And this one is "purty durned" slick! I love, read that as absolutely loved the play on "Absence and Absinthe" making the heart grow fonder!

A fine, worthy entry. Please, don't be a stranger to the Cafe! (And that doesn't translate as an invitation to sleep permanently under the bar!) *Laugh*

Seriously though, thanks for the support, Ben!

Paul

P.S. Enclosing the Bonus GP'S for the Virgin Round here!
30
30
Review of Human Dysfunction  
Rated: E | (2.0)
Hello, Lain Athidus , and thank you for your entry this round!*Smile*

Oh, my friend, you're saying something here, but I tell you honestly, I don't get it! And please know, I mean and intend no disrespect to you nor your poem. But reading it puts me in mind of a fire-fight! But instead of bullets, words and intents are flying everywhere, and the reader ends up only remembering the near misses and the impacts, but can't for the life of him recreate what actual experience he's had!

Perhaps you might consider not trying to overwhelm your reader with quantity. I don't know, but this might have read less chaotically trimmed to say, a dozen or maybe sixteen lines?

Sorry, but I just didn't get it. Too long, too overwhelming, too chaotic to be able to take any message from it!

Paul

p.s. I'm including the BONUS GP'S for the 1st Round participants!*Smile*
31
31
Review of CRUSH HOUR  
Rated: E | (4.5)
Hello Paul, and thanks for stopping by the Cafe and leaving this!*Smile*

A very nice little poem of the drudgery of the Work Commute. If such a thing can successfully have the word nice associated with it.

Very good 8888 meter for the most part. The following line works, but requires the reader (me, in this case) to pay attention to the reading, which tends to slow down the rhythm and takes us out of the flow of the poem:

Verse 4, Line 1:
Some hide their heads, reading bad news
Perhaps this: Some hide their heads to read bad news?
Otherwise, "reading" must be pronounced "ree-DEENG" to maintain the rhythm.

Two lines I thought were very clever:

"Germs surf the breeze of each wet sneeze"

and

"They look away. Why? Are they shy?"

Thanks again. I enjoyed this "ride".

Good luck in the contest. Hope to see you in the next round! *Smile*

Paul
32
32
Review of Ballade of Sorrow  
Rated: E | (5.0)
Well done Ben!

Nobly written and sadly sung, my friend!

An excellent form, and you nail it. Masterful storytelling... as the reader, I never noticed the moment I became lost in the current and flow of the storytelling, until I found myself suddenly at the end, realizing I'd been led by the hand!

Your Iambic pentameter is flawless. An absolute pleasure to read!

Bon Chance in the contest!

Paul
33
33
Review of Alas, my lass!  
Rated: 13+ | (5.0)
Thanks Ben...

You do have a knack for rhyme, meter, and turn of phrase, I'll hand you that.*Smile*

I'm not familiar enough with the Rondel without checking a reference, but I noticed that while the majority of the poem ran an 8 count, the following lines ran 9:
The other guys would gawk and follow
And
A guy came round she found she'd follow

Perhaps this is immaterial to the form, as I said, I'd have to check.

But they do not detract in the least while reading, my friend. And I'd tell you if they did, rest assured.*Laugh*

Thanks again for asking... you haven't disappointed so far!

I'm going to be starting a new forum next month, hopefully, and it's going to be invitation or by request only. I'd like to put you on my short list, if you've no problem with that. I'll be sending out an informational letter to everyone when the time comes, and you can certainly feel free to decline, now, or after the letter.

But I think you're the kind of poet I'm looking for...

Cheers!

Paul
34
34
Rated: 13+ | (5.0)
Kaya,
This is just perfect! Thank you for making me feel relieved that I'm merely a middle-aged male, trying to come to terms with my life!*Bigsmile*

'Til now, I didn't realize how good I truly have it.

1. I've ALWAYS sweated.
2. Cramps, when they came, were the result of doing something stupid, not a result of my sex.
3. I still sweat. Thank god that hasn't changed!
4. My kids are in, respectively, Virginia, and Colorado. I am in Oregon!
5. No one else cares what I look like, either!

What a gem this was to read!

Paul
35
35
Rated: 13+ | (5.0)
My god, Khalish,
If anything was ever worth reading in the currents flowing throughout the world today, this is certainly one!

As you may recall, I also served in the US military, from '71-'91. I readily understand the mother's letter, but more readily understand the motivation of her perspective. She has given 20 years of her life, and now her son makes the same gesture, and it's too much to be able to accept a view that could render their collective situations a delusion. Especially as he is now "in harm's way"!

Your response, though, was very courageous, not being swayed and holding to clear public facts.

And the "Article" you reproduced makes me feel like a "deer in headlights"!

Perhaps we as a race are indeed "going down", and perhaps only we Americans are. There would seem to be only so long one can leave one's head "buried in the sand" before the things we're ignoring lop us off at the neck, leaving our heads buried for all time!

Tell me, what does one do, standing on the beach, once one becomes aware of the tsunami headed shore-ward?

Paul
36
36
Rated: ASR | (5.0)
Hello T.L.

Marvelous! Beautifully crafted and written, and I can honestly say I wish I'd written this.

Congratulations on the award- certainly well deserved, although, had I been judging, you'd have been awarded 1st place... all a matter of personal preference though, I suppose.

Still, I'm happy to be in your company, friend!

Right on Writing!

Paul
37
37
Review of Gracious Death  
Rated: E | (5.0)
Hello Dave,
thanks for your entry this month.*Smile*

Can't say as I'm familiar with the Grossblank form, but then, I don't really need to be. This is a well constructed and written piece, and I presume from the Award, it met the requirements of the form.

In reading this, I almost do find myself among the persons in the house... but as a stranger. I'm there, but I have no idea of whom it is we're remembering; who's death brings us here, this day, in whose memory we warmly experience the good things this house holds for us!

Still, a beautiful requiem!

Paul
38
38
Rated: E | (5.0)
Hello Khalish, Good to see you back!

When I read this poem aloud, then does it truly take wing and sing in its own true voice!*Bigsmile*

I feel you have pretty much tagged the blindness with which men try to "comprehend" women, and vice versa!

Perhaps we're all truly fools, but you'd think after a few thousand years, some truths might become evident? Instead of trying to understand with the mind, wouldn't the heart be a better choice?

Nice job, and a good write!

Right On Writing!

Paul
39
39
Rated: 13+ | (4.5)
Hello SoNNetWolF, and thank you for this entry.

Very curious. I've never seen a cat's perspective undertaken in quite this manner. But very nicely done!

I do like how you take the thought process of the cat, and follow it from, "ok, bad deal now. Gotta get back inside 'tho", thru "Listen, this has gone way past funny and cute" to the realization that life now lies in another direction. And the only true regret is the lost mouse-toy!

Great job - great poem!

Paul
40
40
Review of Cold  
Rated: E | (5.0)
Hello Fel, and thank you for your entry.

Excellent job here. Short, compact, but delivers more than just your feelings about cold.

We actually get your reasonings and your arguments. Nicely done in short strokes so to speak!

Really liked your final two lines, by the way, and the choice to leave the final line dangling like that!

Thanks again for the entry.

Paul
41
41
Review of This world  
Rated: E | (3.5)
Hello WHAT??? It's me!!!
Thanks for your entry.

An interesting poem. A little difficult to follow the point from start to finish 'tho. In all honesty, it reads to me more as a list, a collection if you will, of individual thoughts rather than having a beginning, middle, and end.

I have trouble following from point to point, therefore, the poem loses its power to take me where you as the writer would have me go.

Hope as an asset is a powerful tool, but perhaps that hope must be defined if you would have a reader grasp it?

Poetry is about more, so much more, than writing our feelings- it is about sharing and communicating our feelings that another may ponder and examine their own perspective hopefully in new light!

Keep working on this, as the message is important.

Thanks again, friend, for the entry!
42
42
Rated: E | (4.5)
Hello Khalish. Thank you for your entry. (I haven't forgotten your invitation either!)*Smile*

I was quite taken with your "take" on the purpose of words in poetry, how when merely spoken, they may sometimes fail to find the mark, yet when the heart utters them in poetry, they can become infused with a subtler, indirect healing quality.

Wounds of the heart does true poetry nurse,
What can't be healed by balm is healed by verse.


Eminently phrased and written!

The only difficulty I see is the change in inflection from the 1st verse to the 2nd, then back again to the original flow in the 3rd.

Otherwise, a perfect sonnet.

Thanks again,

Paul
43
43
Rated: E | (5.0)
Hello Shannon!

Just cruising Karis's entries, and I'm so glad I did.

What a wonderful thing you've done with this poem. Make me realize that I too tend to look up after the fact, and then so much time has passed...

Now, I think, I have letters to write and calls to make!

A terribly well written poem, too! Lovely flow, easy reading- carried me right along with it requiring no effort on my part. Well done!

Right On Writing!

Paul
44
44
Review of If Been  
Rated: E | (5.0)
Hello Flip. Thanks for the entry.

This poem give me visions of Gene Kelly with issues "Singin' In The Rain"! Meant in an entirely good way.

I do like how you've related your flood of past memories as rainfall, which pays no heed where it will fall or who it will soak!

And your final line provides the umbrella!

Marvelous. Well done!

Right On Writing!

Paul
45
45
Rated: E | (5.0)
Thank you for this! You just save me a ton of angst!

I try to give honest reviews, but tend to rate a bit higher than is probably merited, solely through the desire to encourage.

Perhaps now I'll have the intestinal fortitude to honestly rate.

Merci Beaucoup!

Paul
46
46
Review of Guilt  
Rated: E | (4.0)
Hello Renee, and thank you for your entry.

Well, an interesting piece...

But I'm afraid I don't get it.

The poem reads well enough, but when taken in its' whole, it doesn't seem to drive it's point.

Please understand that this may just be my reading, and that I am most definitely not slamming your poem.

I want to understand, to follow, but perhaps the short, staccato manner it's written in is the inhibitor?

This I noticed: the word endeared probably ought to be endured.

Won't you please respond, and let me know more? I would like to see more of your work, and I will visit your port.

Don't let me dishearten you, whatever you decide. Poetry is personal, and I encourage your desire to write!

And I hope to see more entries from you in the future!

I am at your service.

Paul

47
47
Rated: E | (4.5)
Hi Jaimie, and thanks for your entry.

Such a lovely, sweet tribute! Very poignantly delivered, and eloquently written. I sorrow for your loss.

Your voice sounds sincere and hopeful, although I know there was grief in the writing.

As a tribute, this is perfect, and I'm sure your Grandmother is proud of you, and it gives her reason to smile.

As straight poetry, the "off" lines, meaning the lines not repeated throughout, could benefit from a bit more attention to meter. Be assured, this is only a suggestion. Do as you see fit, whenever that may be.

A beautiful write. Thanks again.

Paul
48
48
Review of Starting Over  
Rated: E | (4.0)
Hello Clueless_Poet, and thanks for your entry!

Finally girding for another Dance with Love- who of us can't in our hearts can't be hopeful of this?

This is a lovely poem, though you might wish to pay more attention to the meter. It seems to roam loosely throughout each verse. The need for meter in rhyming poetry relates to "flow". Flow lets the words run, even cascade, to the end, bringing the reader along with them without realizing he's reading.

You have a very good poem here, and with just a touch of sanding and polishing it's a definite five star!

The only typo I spotted was bussom. It should be bosom.

Again, thanks for entering, and please, keep writing. You have the muse!

Paul



49
49
for entry "Invalid Entry
Rated: 13+ | (5.0)
Sir, a marvelous thing! As an American Soldier, for long, long, years, I do not hold with what we do now!

Bless you, for your willingness to stand against the wind!

There is much here to read, and I expect to spend much time here.

If you would, when you would, might you read the following:
"Into The Valley..."  (18+)
There has to be a better resolution solution, because this coin is too expensive!
#1358170 by PaulZ ~ Je Suis Le Reve ~


Thank you.
50
50
Review of Fruit of a labour  
Rated: E | (5.0)
Hi Jaya! Thank you for your entry!

I think you've done a really marvelous job with this poem!

The labor of love, the labor of life, and the result can only be sweet, luscious fruit!

I like the way you've danced between the fruits of life, and the fruits nature being indistinguishable and one in the same!

Very nice job!

Right on Writing!

Paul
75 Reviews · *Magnify*
Page of 3 · 25 per page   < >
Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/profile/reviews/pzakaras/sort_by/r.review_creation_time DESC/page/2