Quaterns: Observations on Life
Viewing comments for Chapter 17 "For a Friend who Died too Soon"Assorted Reflections
103 total reviews
Comment from Nescher Pyscher
I think the premise of your poem is maybe just a little ambiguus. The voice kinda seems condemnatory and then the ANs contradict it. I assumed it was about a drug user unil you clarified it.
Divorced from the ANs, this is a powerful poem. Read in conjuction, I was kernfused.
:0)
(Hi, Brooke! Miss me?)
reply by the author on 22-Jul-2009
  |
I think the premise of your poem is maybe just a little ambiguus. The voice kinda seems condemnatory and then the ANs contradict it. I assumed it was about a drug user unil you clarified it.
Divorced from the ANs, this is a powerful poem. Read in conjuction, I was kernfused.
:0)
(Hi, Brooke! Miss me?)
Comment Written 22-Jul-2009
reply by the author on 22-Jul-2009
-
It is about a drug user, and it was intended to have an ironic tone - saying I was not going to make her sound all innocent and sweet just so people would feel sorry for her - I am pissed by people who make distinctions and think they should only feel bad for the horrible deaths of innocent people who got AIDS from blood transfusions or from unfaithful husbands but when it comes to someone who got it through drug needles or unprotected sex, those people deserve it and have it coming to them. Thanks, Nescher, and yes, I just told you in my last response, I have missed you!!! :-) Brooke
Comment from MaureenLocher
What a fine tribute to your friend. I'm glad you explained the story in author's notes as it's not your usual style of writing. Very thought provoking. Fine use of picture and color to set the desired mood.
MaureenLocher
reply by the author on 12-Jul-2009
|
What a fine tribute to your friend. I'm glad you explained the story in author's notes as it's not your usual style of writing. Very thought provoking. Fine use of picture and color to set the desired mood.
MaureenLocher
Comment Written 12-Jul-2009
reply by the author on 12-Jul-2009
-
Thank you, Maureen - yes, I am usually much cheerier, but I felt this needed saying :-) Brooke
Comment from zydecosal
You did an excellent job with a very tragic subject. Many good people die from AIDS, so we better not judge them, unless we be judged. The picture is sad too, but it fits the poem.
Sally
reply by the author on 12-Jul-2009
|
You did an excellent job with a very tragic subject. Many good people die from AIDS, so we better not judge them, unless we be judged. The picture is sad too, but it fits the poem.
Sally
Comment Written 12-Jul-2009
reply by the author on 12-Jul-2009
-
Sally, thank you for your most insightful comments. Brooke :)
Comment from Gaye Hemsley
Dear Brooke What a beautiful piece of poetry for a young person who because of circumstances died much too soon. we all know ours is not to judge. Good Bless
reply by the author on 12-Jul-2009
|
Dear Brooke What a beautiful piece of poetry for a young person who because of circumstances died much too soon. we all know ours is not to judge. Good Bless
Comment Written 12-Jul-2009
reply by the author on 12-Jul-2009
-
Ah, were that true that we ALL knew that. So many of her own relatives turned on both her and her mother just when they most needed them. Another friend of the mother's and I were the ones who took her to visit her daughter 99% of the time - the family was quite vocal in their judgments and kept quite a distance. Thanks so much, Gaye. Brooke
Comment from stormwolf2
First of all, Brooke, let me just say how sorry I am for your loss. Aids is a terrible thing, some make choices and take chances and yet others have no say in the matter.
Some partners do not tell of their disease and pass it on that way. But all of the victims of Aids do not deserve to suffer the the slow death that they do.
And as for bed sores ... I will never forget the experience I had when I first saw them. I never imagined that it would be so horrid, and a picture that I cannot to this day get out of my head.
Written with passion and emotion. The picture speaks for itself. Sad--but well written.
Best wishes,
Malcolm
reply by the author on 11-Jul-2009
|
First of all, Brooke, let me just say how sorry I am for your loss. Aids is a terrible thing, some make choices and take chances and yet others have no say in the matter.
Some partners do not tell of their disease and pass it on that way. But all of the victims of Aids do not deserve to suffer the the slow death that they do.
And as for bed sores ... I will never forget the experience I had when I first saw them. I never imagined that it would be so horrid, and a picture that I cannot to this day get out of my head.
Written with passion and emotion. The picture speaks for itself. Sad--but well written.
Best wishes,
Malcolm
Comment Written 11-Jul-2009
reply by the author on 11-Jul-2009
-
Malcolm, thank you for such a compassionate and perceptive response to this poem. Brooke
Comment from debskatz
hey brooke,
a sad tale indeed. i've lost quite a few friends to AIDS, all through sexual transmission. one friend believed that he reaped what he had sown. sad to hate yourself. as your friend also hated herself. none of them deserve that existence or that kind of death. and all deserve our compassion and love.
thank you for sharing your friend with us.
deb
reply by the author on 11-Jul-2009
|
hey brooke,
a sad tale indeed. i've lost quite a few friends to AIDS, all through sexual transmission. one friend believed that he reaped what he had sown. sad to hate yourself. as your friend also hated herself. none of them deserve that existence or that kind of death. and all deserve our compassion and love.
thank you for sharing your friend with us.
deb
Comment Written 11-Jul-2009
reply by the author on 11-Jul-2009
-
Deb, thank you - yes, nobody should feel self-loathing - the world offers up more than enough OTHER people to hate someone. Brooke :-)
Comment from darkgreennights
it deserves six stars, I'm out, except in spirit. It was...magnificent, she sounds like a good friend and I have no doubts that you were one to her. Of course aids is not a punishment for a lifestyle, for those who believe that I wonder what they say about...oh cancer, car wrecks, strokes, heart attacks, IED hits, I could go on, but you and I have always understood each other.
reply by the author on 11-Jul-2009
|
it deserves six stars, I'm out, except in spirit. It was...magnificent, she sounds like a good friend and I have no doubts that you were one to her. Of course aids is not a punishment for a lifestyle, for those who believe that I wonder what they say about...oh cancer, car wrecks, strokes, heart attacks, IED hits, I could go on, but you and I have always understood each other.
Comment Written 11-Jul-2009
reply by the author on 11-Jul-2009
-
Hey, some of those people really do think that way - I forget how many televangelists claimed the flooding of New Orleans was God's punishment for the city's sinful ways. It is a way of thinking that goes beyond all understanding! :-) Thanks so much, Kathleen :-) Brooke
-
yes, flooding of the cities Black section,,,interesting view isnt since pound for pound our African American brothers and sisters tend to be at LEAST as religious as us white folks is lol. Maybe they meant it was Gods vengenance on the poor? A group he is known to shun lol
-
I also love the opposite belief - that if one has a big old McMansion and a job promotion, that is physical evidence of God's pleasure with a person. There are huge huge huge churches growing in size every day with this as one of their major tenets
-
Golly Brooke you blaspheming creature! Whats next are you going to start disagreeing with "that man of God" Joel Osteen who says God wants him to be rich? P.S. I dedicated Jungle Rot to him, hope he's flattered lol
-
Don't get me started on all those mega church, televangelist people - I've been a Christian all my life, and they give us such a BAD NAME. There truly are Christians who have a compassionate, liberal theology and who don't believe God goes about smiting people and who don't believe in a literal translation of the Bible, etc etc - but try telling that to comedians like Bill Maher, who thinks any Christian has to be a kook because of these idiots. And I really love Bill Maher. LOL
Comment from Lynne
My friend passed away last year at the hands of prescription drug abuse. Still doesn't make it any easier to swallow. Very, very sad. Such a waste. Lynne~
reply by the author on 11-Jul-2009
|
My friend passed away last year at the hands of prescription drug abuse. Still doesn't make it any easier to swallow. Very, very sad. Such a waste. Lynne~
Comment Written 11-Jul-2009
reply by the author on 11-Jul-2009
-
No, it's no easier to lose a friend at all just because the friend was a bit flawed. Thanks so much, Brooke :-)
Comment from CALLAHANMR
Hi Brooke:)
Thank you for your powerful depiction of a young lady who died before her time. I feel for the plight of those struck down yy AIDS, but it is symptomatic of the life style that grew out of the permissive 70s life style of experimentation with powerful drugs and easy sex.
I like the lines:
She pushed that needle in her arm -
she made her choice and took the chance.
and
She slept her way to ill-repute,
her compass pointed straight to fail.
These sad depictions almost tell the story of AIDS; a new disease spread by ancient means.
Those who lived the lifestyle have no one else to blame. Those who contact the disease though accidental contact are the victims I reserve my tears for.
I spent several years researching AIDS in the late 80s before I retired. I concluded that we were years away from a cure and that due to the nature of HIV, it is unlikely there will be a vaccine.
Only education and a healthy lifestyle appears to offer hope for future generations.
Thank you for writing this significant poem.
Roger
reply by the author on 11-Jul-2009
|
Hi Brooke:)
Thank you for your powerful depiction of a young lady who died before her time. I feel for the plight of those struck down yy AIDS, but it is symptomatic of the life style that grew out of the permissive 70s life style of experimentation with powerful drugs and easy sex.
I like the lines:
She pushed that needle in her arm -
she made her choice and took the chance.
and
She slept her way to ill-repute,
her compass pointed straight to fail.
These sad depictions almost tell the story of AIDS; a new disease spread by ancient means.
Those who lived the lifestyle have no one else to blame. Those who contact the disease though accidental contact are the victims I reserve my tears for.
I spent several years researching AIDS in the late 80s before I retired. I concluded that we were years away from a cure and that due to the nature of HIV, it is unlikely there will be a vaccine.
Only education and a healthy lifestyle appears to offer hope for future generations.
Thank you for writing this significant poem.
Roger
Comment Written 11-Jul-2009
reply by the author on 11-Jul-2009
-
Roger, you're right - they have no one else to blame. But what do we do to punish serial killers, serial rapists, the most horrific criminals in the world? At worst we execute them in the most merciful manner we can invent. We do not torture them for months and months, boring holes in them down to the bone. Nobody should die the death I watched this young woman die, no matter what mistakes have been made. Thank you, Roger. Brooke
Comment from EllieKaye
Brooke,
You are one of the most sincerely kind people I have come across here. You have influenced so many, and I am one of those. You did a fine job with this poetic reality--the description and the tribute. I think it is of professional quality.
reply by the author on 11-Jul-2009
|
Brooke,
You are one of the most sincerely kind people I have come across here. You have influenced so many, and I am one of those. You did a fine job with this poetic reality--the description and the tribute. I think it is of professional quality.
Comment Written 11-Jul-2009
reply by the author on 11-Jul-2009
-
Ellie, thank you for such thoughtful comment - I so appreciate you and your kindness. : -) Brooke
