Photo by Matthew Wheeler on Unsplash How do we express the tenderness of love without using the word “tender?” How do we say that our hearts are about to explode from the thrill of a moment without telling the reader, “My heart exploded?” How do we convey that we want to “jump someone’s bones” without using this tired cliché?
Your poem "Backlight' was wonderful to read. It made me think of Haiku poetry. I recently learned that Carl Sandburg's poem, "Fog," was influenced by his studying the Haiku form. Your discussion that poetry is about showing, not telling, thinking of images--sights, tastes, smells, and kinesthetic images--is required. Those images are the same as what is needed to write poems in the Haiku style.
Doug Gillis
Your poem "Backlight' was wonderful to read. It made me think of Haiku poetry. I recently learned that Carl Sandburg's poem, "Fog," was influenced by his studying the Haiku form. Your discussion that poetry is about showing, not telling, thinking of images--sights, tastes, smells, and kinesthetic images--is required. Those images are the same as what is needed to write poems in the Haiku style.
Your lyrical poems stir up pleasant memories of the mountains and the beach. They are a pleasure to read.
I love these poems from your book, Excavating Light. Both are rich, vivid and beautiful whether melancholy or joyful.
Revisiting Backlight, it's fun to know that a first-reader expects to be lulled by a moonlit night but then bam! Feels and more Feels 🙂
And Nostalgia is where my spirit lives, of course, here on my Atlantic.
Thanks for sharing, Diana.❤️
Very beautiful!