Every Eden Has It's Apples

we can never hide from who we are even tho we my run sooner or later it will inevitably catch up. This piece speaks to the many times I felt the same way. Thank you

Gypsy Red

I am glad you like this poem. I was thinking about what to post last night and you influenced my choice. It's just a vibe I get from you but I actually thought to myslf, "what would Marie like to read?", really, I did. Great minds think alike, HA!

Classic depiction of Truth. This is a great piece.

One thing though, just my opinion....I feel that it should not use contractions I'll and It'll seems to lesson this particular work titled so regal. I will and It will keeps more to the epic if you will.

First, I am glad you like the title. It actually was the inspiration for the poem. I was writing a letter to a friend and basically complaining about my life and how I was the one to blame for my situation and was thinking the grass is always greener on the other side, but I didn't want to use that old line, and it just popped into my head. The next thing I knew, I was writing a poem.

On the contractions, I use them a lot in poems, but not because I like them, it usually has to do with reciting them. In this poem, when I am reading this out, saying "I am" is a stumbling block for me, it doesn't sound as good to me. Not sure how it sounds to the audience, but I write them the way I speak them. As I am sure you are aware, writing and speaking do not always align well and contractions roll off the tongue more easily for me.
 
Sometimes I use contractions to fit a sentence in one line. That may be weird, but I hate having a line that has one word too many to fit and jump down. When I was putting together my books, I found numerous examples and started putting contractions in wherever they would help a line fit. Maybe it's just me, but having ADD causes me to get distracted easily. If I am reading poetry and get into the flow of the words, I want the thought to be complete in that sentence. There are poems where the writer will deliberately make the last word of a sentence the first word of the following sentence. I absolutely hate that. It's like stubbing my toe on the sidewalk, I have to stop and look at what tipped me up and then think about taking the next step and reading on. I know it is a popular tool in poetry, but whoever thought it up should be flogged, in my humble opinion. But that's just me. If I were only writing poems to be handwritten on paper, I would probably never use a contraction. But typing on computer and setting up a book, I like to keep the stanzas all lined up. I've put a lot of thought into that, as you may be thinking right now.
I am the same way with fitting a poem on one page. When I was putting together the manuscript for publication, I was very careful to put poems that ran more than one page where they would fit on pages facing each other. I didn't want readers to have to flip the page to finish the poem, as I know how much it disturbs my train of thought. Some poems ran longer than two pages and I had no choice, but in every case where a poem was two pages long, they face each other. You'd be surprised at how hard that can be when you are putting together volumes of one hundred or more poems with chapter pages and pictures. There were places it just wouldn't fit so I put a picture in to knock the poem back a page. OK, call me crazy, but I gotta have it my way when my name is on the spine.

After all that, you are right, when reading a poem, contractions can take the poem down a peg. I was considering having two versions of many of my poems just for that reason, one for the book and one for me to recite at poetry readings. Bob Dylan did that with many of his early songs. Lyrics did not always match was he was singing.

Oh, in case you weren't aware, I have a tendency to be a little long winded.

Actually, I needed the wind so to better picture the point....ok, I am glad that you have reason to your rhyme, contractions were not in error or ignorance. Anything you apply thought to then apply is a choice and a right. I now have even the more respect for this piece. Where can I obtain a copy of something you have published...with illustrations?

Well, as far as illistrations, there are only a few of those, but there are also some pictures of me, my family and some scenes in my neighborhood. I am not much of a drawing or painting kind of artist. I have dabbled a little over the years and in music, attempting to play piano, guitar and various percussion instruments. I even used to sing in choir in school and acted in a couple of plays, but poetry is really the only thing I do with any consistency. OK, I warned you I am long winded. All I had to do was tell you were to get a copy of my books and I am on my way to writing another book.
ok, Amazon.com has both of them. If you go to
http://astore.amazon.com/albany-ny-poets-20 mine are the first two in the A-store. Amazon has a special free shipping deal on orders over $25 and it juuuuuusst so happens that the price of $12.59 for each book will save you the shipping costs buy purchasing them together, he says in his best commercial ad voice while trying not to laugh. I hate being a salesman, and considering I spent about 10 years in sales, that's kinda funny to me. It's even harder when it's my poetry, and if you read my poem Artificial Artist, you will see that I am not very fond of the business aspect of the art world. I have a few others like that in the book Seeds And Weeds. Passion & Pain is the flip side of that coin, so they make a perfect set for your coffee table, bookshelf or bathroom. Illistrations on the cover are also by yours truely. Operators are standing by. And if you buy now... HAHA!

If you are one of the first to respond, we will give you TWO, yes, TWO for the price of one and you can give that special someone that gift they have always wanted..but act fast, quantities are limited!

Thank you kind sir!