Bleu

Sam, I marvel at the skill of these two beautiful poems. We can feel both longing and love, hope and despair. Dolores has analysed Tatters quite nicely and I'm not sure I can add anything to her review. Supposition is one of my favourite poems by you. Love can make you face the most daunting dangers, and no one is assured to find what they expect at the end of the quest.

Thanks Dargon

This poem offers us quite a journey, from frightening Light to saving Light, from loss and anguish to happy reunion! I feel like there are many ways to interpret this, though none really wins over the others. I guess I can re-read it each time and find new meanings in it Thanks for sharing this with us, Jian. This binding Eternal Light will be a beacon of hope in my memory.

Nephy, thanks for your kind words. For the very short time that this has been going on, the Light has indeed shone more brightly than ever. It's still very early days, so no talk of a wedding as yet, haha . Besides, gay marriage is neither legal in my country nor in his. I guess we'll just have to settle for a very happy relationship

Awww, thanks to all of you, and to all the people I saw in chat as well. It feels so very very good to be this happy. I highly recommend it Believe me, I measure how incredibly lucky I am. As for who the mystery person is, how could you possibly know him?

I don't follow any particular diet; however I try to limit the amount of bread I eat (which is tough for a Frenchman), and often have just a salad and a fruit/yoghurt for dinner. I have printed the Spartacus routine indicated by Vic but haven't put it into practice yet. I run about 30 miles every week, swim 1.3 mile, and try to do my 250 crunches every day. That's plenty to use up all the calories I ingest. In fact, I've lost about 5 pounds since the beginning of March. I'm now about 137lbs. My objective is 133lbs, so really not much to go now.

Yes, strange how some things become irrelevant in the wake of other, more important events.<br><br>Wishing the best of health to you, Bob, pipe or no pipe. <br>

Hahaha, lol Circle... I think there's a room where they keep luggage in the hotel I've booked. You could borrow a pillow.

Blue sky shows up when you least expect it. I will admit that my last blog entry was a little dejected. I don't tend to fall for the first cute face I see on the street, or the first guy I meet. Between July last year and this March I used the services of a dating site. In all, I met 4 guys. For various reasons which I won't get into here, two relationships blossomed and quickly died. I was very drawn to a third guy (although I never got to really know him), but he wasn't feeling the same towards me. After the last attempt to get a date with him, which I described in my last blog post, I unsubscribed from the site. I vaguely planned on using another dating site: I even started filling an online form, but couldn't be bothered to finish it. I decided to give dating a break for a while. I wasn't giving up on love, just giving myself the time to think about my priorities. Meanwhile, there had always been another guy on my mind, someone I'd met through a different site. I had developed a big crush on him, but he had been on and off the site, and I had never really planned on telling him about my crush, perfectly convinced that he would not be in the least interested. He was someone whose personality was both appealing and intriguing, whom I quietly admired from the sideline. Over the months my crush had settled in my heart; it was part of me. I hadn't forgotten about it, but I didn't exactly expect anything to happen. I left clues here and there but they were so subtle that there was no way he could really detect anything; that was the beauty of it: being able to satisfy my need to give small signs of my interest for him, without having to reveal myself. Who wants to see their feelings reduced to ashes in one instant? Then a few days ago, right out the blue we ended up chatting, and lo and behold, my crush seemed to find its match in him. I couldn't believe my eyes at first. A small part of me thought that it must be a prank; a bigger part of me was frantically trying not to mess it up. But he was actually more nervous than I was, and in the end, instead of losing my mind, I felt strangely elated and serene all at once. Let's just say that the past few days have been interesting and rewarding. I have only felt this kind of buzz once before. This time, however, it feels—for want of a better word—purer. It doesn't feel like we're trying to seduce each other, to play the dating game. We know that the road ahead is a rocky one, so we're just trying to discover each other by spending all day chatting. Whole aspects of his personality have become known to me now, in as much as you can get to know someone through an online conversation. All the right signs are there: my heart beats faster if I see him online; I want to rush home to speak to him when I'm out running errands; he makes me smile and laugh with just a few words… In this emotional rush we are aware that all this, though necessary to start with, does not make a relationship. For it to work out, we have to build the rest together, and it will take time. But we're in this together, getting strength from one another, so why doubt that we can make it?

I found love at 20, from a direction I was not looking at (i.e. in a a woman ). Sadly, disease and death brought our relationship —not the love— to an end. I sure am hoping to find love again, wherever it may come from. I think that, as you age, your capacity for love is not affected. The feelings can be as strong at 60 as they were at 16. However, your experience makes you more prudent with how relationships work. Also, most of the time, by then you've found your place in society (job, friends, neighbours, etc.). So even if you fall head over heels for someone, there are many elements that will prevent you from demonstrating that love in exuberant ways. Whereas, when you're younger you're basically starting from scratch, so you can give yourself entirely, wildly, to that new love.

From utter loss and despair to some glimmer of hope; pain is not erased but is somewhat tamed. *sigh* I like your use of a formal frame that evolves through the poem.

I am quite fond of poems where the author uses a formal constraint to guide their writing. In this poem, where so many things are scary and unknown, it seems like the words themselves are the only stable elements, the only lifeline. Thank you!

I quite agree with this analysis. I can be attracted to the whole range of colours and ethnic backgrounds, but I find that my gaze tends to linger on non-white guys.

I agree whole-heartedly with Maria's analysis: they're such men, each minimizing his pain in turn, first Coop with his headaches and then Mich with his bruises and black eye; and then, instead of talking this through, one of them ends up walking out the door. Thank heavens for the wise grandpas of this world!

Thank you, Sam, you are very very kind. I am not sure that this is the best kind of poem: it is close to a narration at times, and probably not poetic enough, but I had to tell that story, and I had to anchor it into reality with prosaic words at times. Thank you again for your encouragement on this project.

Thanks, Jian! Yes, this poem was born of personal events. The theme is not a happy one, but it corresponds to what "Into the unknown" evoked for me. I'm glad you liked it

Very sweet chapter. The teasing and tenderness between those two is lovely to watch I can't help but feel some sense of foreboding about those nice villages and people though. War is an ugly beast. Looking forward to the game of Asenshi: it sounds interesting. And also looking forward to the "meet the parents" scene.

This is not really a review of this chapter but rather a thought or two on why your writing style works, in my opinion: you always give readers so much with your characters: they are rich of feelings and emotions, of motives and past dramas; they have depth. And also, your trademark perfect mix of serious and comic moments, with a pinch of suspense to spice it up. I'm already sad that this will only be 3 chapters

Wow! This is a real treasure! And the person doing the voice-over has amazing talent.

The uncharted, elusive, and frightening Unknown Shifts size and shape, and wears multiple masks. If, brave, you seek to discover its nature, It will slip away the moment you appear to grasp it. If, fearful, you shy away from it, It will torment you endlessly. If, foolish, you choose to ignore it, It will reclaim your attention when you least expect it. Spring Your hand slowly seeks mine and elicits a smile. * * * * * Tonight, the balcony seems such a peacef

At times in our lives, the Unknown pays us an unwelcome visit. This is a poem about death and love.

Hahaha, I was most certainly kidding. I would not be spending the money to come from abroad if I couldn't at least afford a couple of nights at a hotel. The first one who suggested sleeping under a bridge was Circle and I'm pretty sure that was some dry humour from him as well. I'm sure he'll confirm that sooner or later. Happy to see you joining us, Robyn!

There is no better proof of love than taking the time to create an elaborate present. I'm not sure how to define "romantic" but this was definitely very thoughtful from Coop. He is a very considerate and loving character. As you said in the discussion thread, this is very much in tune with how/who Coop is. And Mitch knows him enough to embrace the game and complete the search for the letters. I'm looking forward to seeing what Mitch is going to ask in exchange for the IOU. I'm assuming the IOU is for a "present" and not for a set sum of money, which would be very un-romantic and un-Coop like.

Thanks. I wrote the poem in the heat of the moment, while I was feeling this anticipation. There was also a battle within between the wish to believe in love and the rational thought telling me I was getting way ahead of myself.

Thank you John Coming from the King of Sweet himself, it is really appreciated.