Comment from lyenochka

Excellent

Thank you for sharing this! I really enjoyed your compilation of the amazing art and history that Venice holds for us. And if it is sinking, so much would be lost. I hope young people are being taught about the vast cultural heritage of all the great cities.

 Comment Written 11-Nov-2023

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reply by the author on 11-Nov-2023

Thanks for your excellent review and it means even more to me since I admire your own work so much. I wanted to celebrate the culture of this city, but also let it serve as a kind of warning that we are losing contact with so much of our past as social media overwhelms society with its popularity wave of lowest common denominator art. Young people today almost have no interest in the music, art and dance of Europe, in my opinion. It's all hip hop and the global urban culture. estory

Comment from Sally Law

Excellent

I so enjoyed your worldview and I quite agree with you, estory. The world has changed and not for the better. I love quiet and solitude, writing and deep thought, and communion with the Lord. I have various tastes in music and read alot though blind. I also own a manufacturing company, have a family and grandchildren. I'm published and also active in my blind community and help with the fundraising events to raise money for cures. My life as a blind person is simple, but rich. I feel if you seek these wonderful things, you will find them.
Sending you my best today as always,
Sal :))

 Comment Written 03-Nov-2023

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reply by the author on 03-Nov-2023

Thanks so much for your excellent review in support of my poem and your perspective of life. It is really not the things we build or create, it is the people around us that matter. estory

Comment from Navada

Excellent

I really enjoyed this read and I echo your sentiments about the erosion of culture across the world. I think it's there, but we may have to look harder to find it! One suggestion for improvement is to double-check your spelling - there are several errors and this proves a little distracting. I enjoyed your depiction of the history of Venice, the artists and travellers and tourists who have passed through, and the impact they have made. This poem reminded me of the images we saw on the news of Venice during Covid when all travel stopped and the waters began to teem with life once more. I found that a telling metaphor.

 Comment Written 03-Nov-2023

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reply by the author on 03-Nov-2023

Thanks for the excellent review in support of my poem. I will take a look at the spag and do an edit and clean it up. Glad you found the images so evocative. They are a big part of this piece. estory

Comment from Dolly'sPoems

Excellent

Venice is such a wonderful city filled with gorgeous scenes and everywhere you look there is a picturesque view. I have so many lovely photographs of the place. I enjoyed your wonderful poem to pay tribute to those scenes and I felt I was back there walking beside those gondolas again. It is a pity you think it is in decline, I haven't been recently though, when did you last visit? Love Dolly x

 Comment Written 01-Nov-2023

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reply by the author on 03-Nov-2023

Thanks for the excellent review of my poem and your perspective on it. There is beauty there, but it is also not really a living city anymore. It is a museum and a tourist attraction. This is one of the main points of my piece, that the world we came from is disappearing. I have never been to Venice, but I have seen it on Rick Steve's Travels in Europe. I also saw a documentary on how they are trying to save it from the Adriatic. I sort of think it is a lost cause. The sea will only continue to rise, and I think all this beauty will be lost.
But that is life. Change is inevitable. estory

Comment from BethShelby

Excellent

I was in Venice in '89. Even then, the shabbiness of some parts of the city had it's charm. I guess if sinks into seea we will still make trips by helicopter to marvel over the ruins. I'll say this for Europe. In spite of the earthquakes, volcanos, wars and floods, things last a lot longer there than they do in this country. America is not that ol.d but magnificant building I watched being built a few years ago are and being demolished and replaced. I enjoyed your poem. You enjoy writing about the bad things that happen everywhere. Nothing last forever but all change isn't necessarily bad.

 Comment Written 01-Nov-2023

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reply by the author on 03-Nov-2023

Thanks for the excellent review and your perspective on the piece. I think Europe appreciates its past a little more than this country does, maybe. My point here is that the works of man are ephemeral, and we put so much emphasis on things that are not really important. Venice was written during the time when my dad was dying, so I was a bit depressed when doing this book. estory

Comment from JSD

Excellent

Well. Lots of thoughts. You don't mention the cruise ships which I understand are one of the main scourges of this stunning city. I was lucky enough to visit Venice between the two main waves of COVID, and it was empty! (A picture would be nice for this poem.) I was going to say this is too prose-like, then I read your note. Nevertheless, personally, I would prefer a tighter structure to the lines and more regularity to the stanzas. I genuinely think this has the makings of a masterpiece. Some of the phrases are superb and you stimulate so many thoughts in my mind as I read. Thank you.

 Comment Written 01-Nov-2023

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reply by the author on 01-Nov-2023

Thanks so much for your excellent review and your wonderful comments in support of my piece. I am glad you found the images resonated so strongly, I put alot into that. This prose style was developed to great effect by Jack Anderson, as I mentioned in my notes. I would encourage you to read some of his ground breaking pieces, especially the ones in The Clouds of That Country. Cafeterias is wonderful, also The Mysterious Sound, Meditation on Christian Science Reading Rooms, and the title piece itself. estory

Comment from Debbie D'Arcy

Excellent

I think this is absolutely beautiful in expressing the decay of culture. Your metaphor of Venice works poignantly and well and your helpful and fulsome notes complete a strong, inspiring and thought-provoking post. Your sentiments in this free verse also read with pleasing clarity and fluency, so much so I would be grateful if I could bookcase it. Well done! I'm sorry it can only be a virtual six from me. Debbie

 Comment Written 31-Oct-2023

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reply by the author on 01-Nov-2023

Thanks so much again for your wonderful words of support for this poem. It is so encouraging to get reviews like yours after all the work I put in. estory

Comment from jim vecchio

Excellent

You did my work for me in your notes, saying all those feelings that coursed through me while reading this great piece of writing. Last year, in the Hospital, I watched a "Discovery" special channel tht toured around the world, giving great insights into the locations. When it came to Venice,
I was surprised to learn that much of the lower floors of the buildings are closed off and under water.

 Comment Written 31-Oct-2023

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reply by the author on 01-Nov-2023

Thanks so much for the excellent review and your words of support for my poem. I really thought the situation of Venice would make a perfect metaphor for the decline of western civilization. The city really isn't a lived in city anymore, as much as it is a museum of European culture. There is something about museums that resemble mausoleums, I think. It is in many ways a place of the dead. But in seeing that, it doesn't make it easier to face an uncertain future, or leave behind our feelings and memories. I wanted to get that across in the poem as well. estory

reply by jim vecchio on 01-Nov-2023

I don't think I'll ever get to visit Venice, but, if I do, I want to see Marco Polo's home where he was first intrigued by traders from Turkey.

Comment from Jesse James Doty

Excellent

I've never been to Venice Italy so I don't know all how it will be missed. This poem with its new font which is easier to read by the way seems like a roundabout way of talking about Climate Change and how it is affecting wonderful places like Venice. Your extensive notes are a bit much as far as telling us what you intended to share with your poem.
Climate Change is here and we better get used to it.
Jesse

 Comment Written 31-Oct-2023

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reply by the author on 01-Nov-2023

Thanks for the excellent review and your perspective on the piece. Most people found the notes pretty informative about my process. As for climate change; certainly we will feel the effects, and we do have to get used to it. But accepting change also comes with a price; and it doesn't make it any easier to face the uncertainty to come or the loss of our feelings and memories. I wanted that to be a big part of this poem as well. In the end, it seems to have got a lot of people thinking, and I like to do that. estory

reply by Jesse James Doty on 01-Nov-2023

I know what you mean. I like to get people to think as well.
Jesse

Comment from papa55mike

Exceptional

It's incredible how time changes things. Once, it was Venice, and now it's Vegas, baby. My late Mother's favorite playground. Sad, so sad. What a wonderfully written poem. Best of luck with your writing!

Have a great day, and God bless.
mike

 Comment Written 31-Oct-2023

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reply by the author on 01-Nov-2023

Thanks again for the six star review. I appreciate it. estory