The 18th Arrondissement (Short Story) - 8/12/2024 12:00:59 PM
Quite an interesting experience! I can see why it was forever emblazoned in your long-term memory like so many incidents of mine. Unfortunately some of those incidents tend to get a little frayed on the edges of facts as I look back at research I did about what happened after.
My experience like that was as I turned the corner to take the highway south in Mexicali, I had my window open and I heard a coach's whistle blowing. I stopped and the young Mexican officer ran up and explained in English… "Go to police station… pay fine."
I envisioned being thrown in jail for having little cash and my car impounded. I convinced him that I'd mistaken the stoplight didn't have a left arrow when I made the left turn in green. He started to let me go when an older officer came and they argued in the street as I drove away.
Ron
When I Paint My Masterpiece (Short Story) - 8/16/2023 11:20:35 AM
Although it could be fiction certainly seemed like a memoir. With a very good lesson. Teachers matter. I still remember my D- for math in the 2nd grade from that old battleax. In my senior year in high school I scored 2nd class genius on the state mathematical test.
And as I look at the two horsemen and one horse woman sidesaddle riding on the beach painted by disabled painter on my wall, I can see how she managed to make the images so real I feel like I am there, on the beach with them, watching.
My twin brother was much better, at age six, at drawing horses than I. Also at short stories. In my junior year in high school, my epic tale of tragedy river run by canoe fell flat, regardless of the grade I got for it. It took me another 40 years before I dared to write another.
Ron
When I Paint My Masterpiece (Short Story) - 8/12/2023 3:15:09 AM
If Mrs. Harris had said the right thing in the first place, she wouldn't have needed to apologize for her inappropriate response. It's kind of you to see her in a different light.
Rain (Short Story) - 6/19/2023 9:22:16 AM
I sold my bicycle in my sophomore year of high school, growing up to cars. But when I was 21, with my hands and arms paralyzed, going back to college I put my sister's midsize bike in the huge trunk of my hundred dollar DeSoto, and rode it to class from my rented room six blocks from campus. The front basket was a convenient place to put my books and my hand splint.
Years later, I took my twin brothers on an adventurous seven day canoe trip to the boundary waters between Minnesota and Ontario. It rained five of the seven days, until one day one of my younger brothers, nearly cracked until we got a fire going when the other brother found dry wood at the base a dead tree, the rain stopped, and we had a hot meal of fresh caught fish. Everywhere, you could you could dip your glass in the lake or river, and drink it without worry. A true wilderness nurtured by plentiful rain.
Your story is remarkable. Just the ability to ride your bicycle from Chicago to Florida without mishap is story enough, but you have shared your great knowledge of both literature and song as well. But to make that ride with all that rain makes it even more remarkable. Serendipity like mine led you to that half-price motel room just when you needed it. Wonderful.
Recently, I have listened to Brook Benton singing that wonderful Tony White song. It gives a feeling you probably had in that motel room. Reminds me to listen to Elvis sing about the "cold Kentucky rain." A similar mournful song of loss.
Post more.
Ron
Generations of Leaves (Poetry) - 8/12/2024 11:47:46 AM
I normally don't like haiku. But these certainly evoke great emotion as I read about family occurrences in your work. Kudos.
Ron
Generations of Leaves (Poetry) - 8/12/2024 8:59:56 AM
Thoughtfully composed, stark, and effectively imaged. IMO, you exemplify the 'art of brevity' in this, and maintain your 'growing old' theme very well throughout. "Dementia" brought tears. I will share this with my wife. Thank you, Robert. Very much enjoyed. Peace. r
Two poems related to Japan (Poetry) - 1/9/2024 12:36:56 PM
Thank you. Without your explanations I don't think I could fathom these 2 poems. I really had to laugh at the last one. Because it is really contemporary culture rather than anything really Japanese.
The Colonel never served in the military. Just an honorary title by the governor of Kentucky.
Ron
The Perfect Enjoyment (Poetry) - 8/12/2023 11:16:54 AM
Touché! I ne'er could use words so elegant as thou. Suffice to say, 'twas good.
Ron
The Perfect Enjoyment (Poetry) - 8/10/2023 1:28:12 PM
A well-written poem does not really have to rhyme, as long as the author knows when and where to separate the lines to allow the readers to come to a closure of the line of verse, take a breath and then continue to read the next line of verse. It must allow the stanzas of verse to sink into the reader's mind to form an emotional connection, thus allowing to the reader to feel the poem.
A well-form constructed poem with rhymes but without any connection to the reader's emotion is easily forgotten. The only thing it does is give a smooth reading, and that's about all.
Well, that's just MHO. I'm not a well-versed poet. I just write what's on my mind most of the time.
Sandie
Evening at Kastro's (Poetry) - 6/19/2023 8:25:38 AM
A wonderful memory beautifully spun. I recall ouzo, too. From a Turkish student in an apartment in Atlanta. Nothing like the exotic location of Mykonos, whitewashed by the sea.
Ron
waving goodbye (Poetry) - 6/17/2023 9:52:37 AM
This sequence is filled with sadness brought about by your parent's deaths. The emotion is strongly felt. I remain 1300 miles away from both my parents when they died, unable to go there and tend to them at all. So I don't feel that great emotion even though I have many memories of how my mother and my father both treated me and confided in me so differently.
Ron
waving goodbye (Poetry) - 6/16/2023 7:33:11 AM
When I write Haiku poems, I like to write in the traditional 5-7-5 format.
I don't think these are Haikus you have written, I think these are Senyru poems you have written as Senyru deals with emotional expressions and Haiku deals with scenic expressions.
The traditional format for both Haiku and Senyru are 5-7-5, which I would follow every time I write.
Your stanzas are interesting to catch my attention as each expresses the phase in life that we may have gone through at one time or another. I enjoyed this.
Thank you for sharing!
Sandie
