Parker Owens

Thanks, jp. I appreciate your hugs, and return them. The memories will always be there with me.

Thank you, Val. The old house will always speak to me, I think. You are so kind to walk down that lane with me.

Very interesting characters; Sam is fascinating and it’s fun to watch him figure Finn out - and vice versa. As for Finn and Christian, you made me hope for them - bravo!

I have spent the last week emptying my mother’s house, where she lived for thirty happy years, and where I spent some of the best days I shall ever recall. It is now a chaotic landscape, full of boxes and tagged furniture ready for shipment to distant relatives, or to my own home. Yet even though the house be empty, the memories will remain. There will be a new owner soon, and I hope he will make this place as lovely a spot as it was for me. I leave you laughter in the garde

Just got a chance to glimpse GA, and saw this. @CassieQ , I am grateful for your thoughts. You are certainly right about feeling rushed at the end, and I appreciate your insight and care in reading this.

You played with light and logic here, to good effect. One can sense the pull of both.

An interesting poem about uniqueness, and the need to connect.

This is an engaging poem in its simplicity. Thank you for sharing it.

I’m already sad, for this tale has the air of melancholy and the drifting smoke of regret. But how well you tell it.

A beautiful story, and a bittersweet epilogue. Thank you.

@AC Benus: This is such a good piece, I keep wondering why I’d forgotten all about it. Wonderful.

Writing stories with dark, difficult themes and action has been challenging for me sometimes. Yet they can be part of what drives a story forward. I really appreciate the advice given here, and I probably ought to have heeded it myself on more than one occasion. I understand that a story tag can convey enough warning to a potential reader. However, the tags must be sufficiently general enough to cover plenty of ground, and the treatment of material under dark themed tags can vary widely, from subtle to explicit. A warning may have some use, as a GA novel may not have the same kind of cover a physical book does. The Story Description becomes the analog of the jacket blurb. It ought to say enough to tell readers what kind of take they’re getting themselves into. Perhaps that’s why publishers have professional jacket-writers; it seems to be an esoteric art form.

I like this poem. It is structured powerfully, and it speaks with quiet authority.

Excellent chapter. Sam has lit a fuse under Jackson. Now what is Carter’s move?

Wow. What a great story. Compact, powerful, stark... love all the things I can imagine because you left them untold. Thanks for posting this.

So very beautiful, and wistfully melancholy. How hard to be so near in spirit, yet so far away.

I love this final chapter. So wonderfully warm and gentle and full of light. Thank you for writing this story.

This is captivating, giving me a chance to see you and the spring together. But then, you add to the wonder with Pegasus on a sapling branch, and the greening of life becomes enchanting. Thank you for your reflections and keen sight. You have brought me some true spring.

This poem touched a chord with me. The image of hibernating Kodak prints, dormant until memory brings them life again, is perfect. I love this poem. Thank you for sharing it.

Hello, Larry. Glad you’re here. Welcome.

Thank you for sticking with the story, even though parts of it were hard to bear. I hope the characters will live in your memory, even as they live in mine.

You make me glad to see your comments. Thank you!

But Andy had Zander, and Zander has Andy and they love one another more than any fear can deter or hurt. They are together now, and supremely happy.

It’s all too real, and painful and awful. And now Becker has to rethink and regroup and possibly emerge.

I add my congratulations! Wonderful!