Comment from Selina Stambi

Excellent

The daffodil in frilly skirts .. so apt - so precious!

I didn't know the collective word for jellyfish - thank you Brooke!

Miles of smiles and more ... and Sawyer is growing so fast!

xxx

Sonali


and cackling crows .... how about .. cawing crows? (I've never quite thought of crows as cacklers ..:))

 Comment Written 12-Apr-2014

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2014

Thank you so much, Sonali :-) I Googled cackling crows before I settled on it, and it is used quite frequently but not so much as cawing, which is why I prefer it. Brooke :-)

reply by Selina Stambi on 12-Apr-2014

I guessed you had a reason .... who am I?? (Jean Valjean ...:))

Comment from mfowler

Excellent

Who hasn't watched ants at work? And I don't mean as a child? Fascinating creatures.your poem explores the range of great natural choices but comes back constantly to the and, obviously point of your Poe. I like how you've develop the quatrains with that 8-6-8-6 pattern; works swell. Great poem.

 Comment Written 12-Apr-2014

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2014

Thank you so much, mfowler :-) Brooke

Comment from TAB_that's me

Excellent

I agree, it is easier to watch the butterflies and the daffodils than the ants but I'm sure they have there place in this world too. Good luck in the Quatrain contest Brooke!
Teresa

 Comment Written 12-Apr-2014

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2014

Teresa, thank you so much :-) Brooke

Comment from lancellot

Excellent

Ha, you are so right, no one pays attention to the ant because all it seems to do is work, and we don't like to think about that. But your work is marvelous. You have quite a vocabulary. Well done.

 Comment Written 12-Apr-2014

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2014

Thanks so much, lancellot :-) Well, if nobody else appreciates them, Sawyer does. LOL

Comment from Tomes Johnston

Excellent

This is yet another lovely poem from the author in this piece of writing. Ants are very interesting creatures indeed. I am in awe of their social structure. Ants along with termites are very organised insects indeed.

 Comment Written 12-Apr-2014

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2014

Tomes, thank you so much :-) Brooke

Comment from L.L. Mccue

Excellent

Great job! I love it, humorous yet truthful. Your rhymes are elegant and the rhythm of this piece is delightful. Lots of luck in the contest, hope you win.

 Comment Written 12-Apr-2014

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2014

L.L., thank you so much for your encouragement :-) Brooke

Comment from Preston McWhorter

Exceptional

Hi, :-)Brooke,
"Then There is The Ant" is an exceptional quatrain structured poem with rhyme schemes consistently followed with excellent rhyme and flamboyant and imaginative figurative language and imagery (humongous hippopotomi, crocodiles and crackling crows) and good meter. The title refrain is effective.
Preston

 Comment Written 12-Apr-2014

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2014

Preston, thank you so very much, my encouraging and generous friend :-) Brooke

Comment from Sandra Stoner-Mitchell

Excellent

Some lovely happy words there, Brooke. I can understand his fascination with the ants, they truly are very well behaved. Each has his job to do, no question, or moans, their life is to serve the queen. Can you imagine us like that? Sawyer can learn a lot from them, even though they are a pesky nuisance!! Loved the photos, and your poem finishes off beautifully. xsx Sandra

 Comment Written 12-Apr-2014

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2014

Thanks so much, sandra - yep, I murdered my first apartment invader of the season today after posting the poem - talk about feeling like a hypocrite. LOL Brooke :-)

Comment from Phyllis Stewart

Exceptional

humongous hippopotami << Once in a while a phrase comes along that you can't stop saying. This is one of those. I lovvvve it. I changed it to singular tho, and I'm having fun with hubby making jokes about a humongus hippopotamus. Mark said that his name should be Hieronymous Hippotamous, and he prefers to remain anonymous 'cause he can't remain monogamous.

Anyway, it's a fun kids' poem like all of yours. ANd the photos are wonderful as always. :)

 Comment Written 12-Apr-2014

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2014

Phyllis, thank you so much for the sixth star and the laughs :-) I'm so glad your husband enjoyed too. Brooke

reply by Phyllis Stewart on 12-Apr-2014

I tried to correct my spelling in the review, since I had a weird mix of US and OUS where they didn't belong, but I found it was impossible when you give a SIX rating... the SIX option doesn't show up so it won't let you award a number and you can't complete the edit.

I sent a screenshot to Tom to show him the problem. I also sent him a screenshot proving that the INDENT features are grayed out and unavailable in the posting box. I really MISS them, as doe a few other poets. I hope he can return this feature.

Seems the more "maintenance" he performs the worse things get! It's been many months and the site STILL shuts down every day. Do you have any inside info on the problems? I suggested he hire someone who knows how to fix it... think I offended him since he didn't reply, but clearly he is not able to do it right. I wouldn't mind paying five bucks more per year to pay a programmer!!!!

reply by the author on 12-Apr-2014

I have no influence, no inside info - I know some folks think I must, but I fear it just ain't so :-) I dread any mention of updates because they always cause difficulties. I still haven't gotten over the time they replaced the red lines with purple lines. LOL

reply by Phyllis Stewart on 12-Apr-2014

We are all complaining about what's going on but Tom is too stubborn or cheap to hire someone who KNOWS how to program. Whoever is doing it has no clue. Here is an email I just sent to him. If I suddenly disappear, this is probably why, but he HAD TO BE TOLD!

Tom,

I just tried that. It isn't grayed out at first. So I clicked it and then typed in the post box but it was not indented. Then the Indent icon grayed out and was no longer useful. So, bottom line, it does NOT work. However, it USED TO WORK! So something has messed it up. Just put it back.

Again, I really think you need to hire better programmers. You still shut the site down every day for "maintenance" and nothing gets fixed. Just more things are broken that used to work fine. These new layouts you added were NOT needed. The things we lost WERE and ARE needed. So after many months of "maintenance" for two hours a day, the site is now worse than it ever was. Fire your programmer and hire someone who can fix all the problems. I'd be happy to pay another dollar per month to get this site back to working again. The increase would be enough to hire someone GOOD and the site would get fixed in a week and there would not be that very annoying downtime every single day.

Can you imagine how FRUSTRATING it is for us members to see the site down so often and having things stop working? It's really verrrry annoying. If I sound upset, it's because this has been going on for soooo lonnnnngggg now. I've never seen a site that only got worse over time, but that's what's happening to Fanstory, and it's a real shame, since it's such a great site in most ways.

Please, Tom? please hire someone who can make it work the way it should. I speak for several of my FS friends, many of whom are afraid to "make waves" and fear angering "the boss"... elderly women are a large segment of your membership, and they tend to be far too timid for their own good. I'm only telling YOU what everyone is telling ME.

Phyllis

Comment from evilynne

Excellent

Thank you for this wonderfully whimsical work. It is very enjoyable; it is easy to read and understand. The best of luck in the poetry contest!

 Comment Written 12-Apr-2014

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2014

evilynne, thank you so much :-) Brooke