Parker Owens

What an end of year blast - at Christmas in New York, and then to LA. Wow. I may never make it back to either place, but you’ve given me a vivid and happy tour of both. Nice of you to let us tag along.

It’s good to get all these things out, to tell those of us who care. I weep for your pain, my brother. I hold you in my thoughts, hoping for healing. If you did not write, how would we know what to hope for?

Thank you for such a beautiful, exquisite, deeply personal moment.

That’s exquisite. Thank you for sharing this.

Thank you for writing about your lives and about the Life. You illuminate and help me see; you help me understand things I barely grasped, yet feared.

Jordan’s journey was supposed to be drama free. He was sliding perfectly well into Brody’s heart and pants, before another tragedy strikes. Now it’s time for Brody to prove he is a real gentleman as he has so far shown himself to be. Brody probably can’t travel with Jordan, but I’m sure he will understand; perhaps he’ll send flowers. You’ve given us ample reason to see Jordan as a man who is moving on, and rightly so. How will he handle the loss of his father? Noah’s will have a much harder time moving on. Although he still has his siblings, he has lost his parents. In some ways, his situation is worse: at least one parent is actively crazy. And really, while he may think about trying to win Jordan back, you have made it plain that the break between them is largely irreparable. I look forward to seeing if Noah can piece a new life together for himself, and to Jordan’s new long distance romance with Brody.

Thank you for your kind comments. I’m glad these could call up happy images from your journey in your mind. These were fun to compose.

I loved this; it’s just what I needed today! I read each stanza and my smile grew wider. Some heat and spice can be very, very nice...

This is a great addition to the AAA collection. I agree with @Mikiesboy that @WolfM is fine poet; I was delighted to read @MacGreg's thoughts about his characters. Thanks so much for this!

I am sad you had a bad night, and I weep that you were in such pain again; but I felt heartened that you fought it and managed to get through a day. You are right. You can do this, you will be all right. And as you heal, slowly, incrementally, there will be many of us supporting you and cheering you on as I do now.

Your poem is riveting. It moved me deeply and makes me want to weep for what you endured.

Again, you leave me thinking. So many things to consider and think about; so many who need support and recognition of their lives and difficulties. So many times fuck this, I’m going home means shit, I don’t know what to do with this guilt. Great set of poems. You realize I’m going to be kept up late thinking, right?

Diarmad is being pigheaded, and Nico is working hard to make Diarmad change the way he has been thinking. I’d rather negotiate at the UN. However, the results were highly entertaining. You write this exceptionally well. Now I want more!

As it happens, there were quite a few takers. I will post a few of them on Live Poets, pethaps

I’m sad and shocked at Noah’s parents. Couldn’t they temporize? Seek guidance? Play some kind of delaying game? But essentially, they threw Noah out of their house and lives, destroying a relationship and a family. The mother particularly seems rooted in another time and place. You have ave made me feel sad for Noah on several levels - his parents’ rejection, and worse, his own contemplated self harm. He surely feels bad about himself. I feel sad that he chose to give up joy for hatred; and that none of that joy is likely to return to him. I will be interested in how you write about the rest of Noah’s family. Will they follow the mother’s line, or not? And what of Jordan’s new love life? Jordan is opening up to a whole new world. It seems Brody the Banker is very interested!

This is nearly hypnotic. I could not stop reading. It’s also hard reading; your boy feels so small and insignificant. Excellent writing.

I hear the voice of hope in this. You have used some good strategies, and you are writing about what you experience. It appears the passage of time, along with what you are doing to combat your difficulties, may be allowing change for the better to set in. You have displayed great courage in all this. I applaud and celebrate you, even as I send hugs for cheer and strength.

You have developed Kevin Malley from someone with one or two dimensions - Becker’s hot lover - to someone far more complex. Your detailed storytelling has been worth waiting for. But where (or to whom) can Kevin turn to find any kind of peace at all? I’m too invested in him to see him self-destruct.

I guess one of my favorite reviews was a critical response to a late chapter in A to Z. It is way too long to quote here. It was polite and respectful, but at the same time took issue with problems the reader encountered in characterization and plot preparation. What I appreciated most was that a reader took time to think carefully about what I’d written, and then took further time to write a note that both supported me as a storyteller and helped me understand what bothered him.

I’m glad the dawn ice clouds stuck with you, as they did with me. January provided enough observations to merit a set all on its own. Thank you for this poetry prompt challenge. I enjoyed working on it immensely. In fact, I was so taken that even though there was integral calculus waiting, I went off on a tangent in class about writing Haiku, and offered extra credit to any student turning in a Haiku (as outlined in the prompt) with the assignment.

Thank you, Michael. Those clouds were an amazing sight. I had to write about them. The owl is always fun to hear in the morning.

You saw the same sunrise as I did, perhaps. I’m glad these resonated with you and your experience of the recent storm. Your comments are most kind.

I’m glad this particular poem appealed to you. Complexity is my downfall, I fear. I frequently fall into that trap. Thank you for your observation.

Thank you, tim, for reading these. Cardinals are amongst my favorite birds. Bright and beautiful in the snow, against the forsythia in spring, in the spruces at summer, or bidding farewell to the migrants in the fall - they never fail to make me smile. I wasn’t sure of the owl’s bass solo, but it seemed to fit best.

Yes, you have the image I held in mind exactly. The snow was in such a hurry this week... thanks for reading these, and for commenting.