Parker Owens
-
Posts
19,024 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Forums
Stories
- Stories
- Story Series
- Story Worlds
- Story Collections
- Story Chapters
- Chapter Comments
- Story Reviews
- Story Comments
- Stories Edited
- Stories Beta'd
Blogs
Store
Help
Articles
Gallery
Events
Everything posted by Parker Owens
-
You’re very kind in your comments on this story. Robert changed his hateful colors after high school, but Jamie never knew that. There’s such sadness in the could-have-been thread in this tale. I can only wish that Ed and Robert remain connected and can help each other move their grief into hope. Thanks again for reading.
-
Thank you very much for your kind comments. Words have their limits as we try to fully understand and describe our fellow human beings.
-
Thank you very much for your response. Yes, the written word, as perfected as it might be, is yet limited in its power to get at the essence - and this must be all the more true as one writes about another complex human being.
-
You say it so well. The painting needs a viewer, and the writing needs a reader. Our arts still leave us on one shore, searching for ways across to the other, where full understanding lies. Thank you very much for your thoughts.
-
I’m very happy you think so. Thanks for reading!
-
Thank you. You did indeed get the idea: each one of us defies definition, we are too complex for that. The question yet unasked is why do so many people insist on turning their neighbors and acquaintances into one-dimensional simplifications?
-
Billy wrought wonders in language. This poem is but the palest shadow of his skill, yet it makes my heart sing to know this made your mind recite him. Thanks for sharing your reaction.
-
Ten thousand thousand words might we deploy in service to description of a man that colors him as subtle, sharp or coy to picture him as well as artists can which lets us see such light as there may be at play upon a face or outward frame acknowledging some confidence or glee or thoughtful contemplation of the same. But plentiful though dictionaries prove, they have but little power to express what makes the inner soul and spirit move nor ma
- 12 comments
-
- 13
-
-
The blackness ahead, the bright sun behind... such a vivid scene you set for us, and a description worthy of revelation, too.
-
Jordan raises questions that intelligent people have brought up for a long time. This is a thought provoking read, and an invitation to probe both broad philosophical and theological writings.
- 78 comments
-
- 11
-
-
I really liked this story. It’s sweet in its way, without being mawkish and it remains true and direct.
-
What a grand story of a beautiful friendship. Thank you.
- 27 comments
-
- 11
-
-
-
Thank you, for sharing this prompt with me, and for blowing my dim, dull embers back to life. Robert and Ed’s different stories intersect at Jamie, and might run more closely in parallel hereafter. It can be hoped that each will allow the other to be a part of healing. If these things come through, then I can rest content. Thank you for your kind words and for your encouragement.
-
I’ll agree with @Mattyboy both in terms of Ouch, and the bitter taste that lingers in each successive line. This is an excellent and yet difficult poem.
-
Thank you so very much for your comments, which are both kind and encouraging. Writing has been clogged, if not blocked, and this helped break things free, at least a bit. Ed forced Robert to face his actions, things he’d prefer to have left buried. He took the chance that Robert would respond without defensiveness or shutting him out. Would that Robert had taken such a chance with his own brother. At least there’s a ray of hope for them both in the last lines of the story. Thanks again for reading and for your thoughts.
-
There does seem to be a common thread, as you say. Certainly tragedy has struck Robert twice, and Ed, too. They can choose to take the chance to befriend one another (and become less distant, to use Ed’s word), and in my own mind, they make that choice. I’m very glad you could get a clear picture and sense of the scenes from the text; that tells me I’ve done something right. Thanks so very much for reading, and for your comments.
-
Thank you very much for your response to this story. It was most kind, and I’m very glad to know it held your interest. If it spurs you to make stronger connections of your own, I shall be doubly cheered. Once again, many thanks.
-
I agree!
-
Thank you so much for your very kind thoughts concerning this story. There isn’t much action, yet the conversation between Ed and Robert covers plenty of time and ground. Each man unfolds to the other in a way they hadn’t dared to earlier. @AC Benus indeed gets my fulsome thanks for getting me out of my funk enough to write and for his help in editing/beta reading.
-
I love the way you put it: Like Robert, there are things in my own life I’d rather leave behind. Many must feel that way, as you suggest. Robert certainly changed in some ways. The death of his and Jamie’s parents must have affected Robert in a such way as to make conversation stilted, superficial and, as Ed put it, distant. That is both sad, and yet common enough. I’m so glad you thought this was a worthwhile story. It felt good to write a story again - thank you for your generous response.
- 49 comments
-
- 11
-
-
Your words in response to this story are most kind, and I thank you. I also remain indebted and grateful to @AC Benus for the original prompt in this story. His encouragement got me writing again. In this final draft, if Robert can find a ray of hope and even a little redemption, then perhaps this story will have succeeded. Thanks again.
- 49 comments
-
- 11
-
-
-
I’m very grateful for your response, which is most kind. I’m glad Robert’s narrative felt real. Thanks so much for reading.
- 49 comments
-
- 10
-
-
-
Thank you for reading. I appreciate your thoughts and kind words.
- 49 comments
-
- 10
-
-
-
Thank you for your kind words, and especially for reading this story. Your last question is perhaps the most intriguing and the most problematic: once anyone (Robert is an example) realizes the wrong one has done, then commences an endless what if ? It’s so hard to gauge what our ripples actions will cause in the seas of life. Even if Robert only knew in part what he had done, he can only sail a new course through those dark and troubled waters. Thanks again.
-
What a world, and what a cliffhanger! Or, more properly, a branch hanger. Well done!
