Border Control
musings while gardening...40 total reviews
Comment from lyenochka
Lovely description of the gardener's endless battle with weeds. I like how the poem begins with the joy of beautiful plants carefully tended and then the change to the invasive plant. The rhythm of the longer first two lines in each verse contrasts well with the shorter last lines which drives home the meaning more. The title is clever, too! Enjoyed reading. Hope the borders are under control.
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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Lovely description of the gardener's endless battle with weeds. I like how the poem begins with the joy of beautiful plants carefully tended and then the change to the invasive plant. The rhythm of the longer first two lines in each verse contrasts well with the shorter last lines which drives home the meaning more. The title is clever, too! Enjoyed reading. Hope the borders are under control.
Comment Written 04-Oct-2016
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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Many thanks for your review and interesting comments, Lyenochka. Much appreciated. Tony
Comment from Joy Graham
I got a kick out of your title for this poem :) It's really cute, and I wish I had thought of it first. I love it when plants do their own thing. We have marigolds outside the garden border that seeded themselves this year. It's like a bonus surprise :)
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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I got a kick out of your title for this poem :) It's really cute, and I wish I had thought of it first. I love it when plants do their own thing. We have marigolds outside the garden border that seeded themselves this year. It's like a bonus surprise :)
Comment Written 04-Oct-2016
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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Many thanks for your review and interesting comments, Joy. Much appreciated. Tony
Comment from heyjude
Tony, of course for those of us living in the United States this has a
lot to say. It is a difficult subject. There are many productive and
wonderful people living here from other countries. Many just want
to have a better life for their families. I like your thoughts.
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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Tony, of course for those of us living in the United States this has a
lot to say. It is a difficult subject. There are many productive and
wonderful people living here from other countries. Many just want
to have a better life for their families. I like your thoughts.
Comment Written 04-Oct-2016
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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Many thanks for your review and interesting comments, Heyjude. I agree entirely. Much appreciated. Tony
Comment from Dean Kuch
Thank you for introducing me to two new words and expanding my vocabulary, Tony. I had to look both "adventitious" and "propagules" up in my dictionary.
Donald Trump most definitely needs to read this, although I fully believe the metaphor would go sailing as swiftly as dried dandelion seeds over his wigged skull.
Picking and choosing who we allow into our respective countries and who we should keep out have generated quite a bit of spirited debate here in the US.
of late. With the Presidential election looming large on the near horizons, it's even gotten more heated.
Speaking of "heated", ..."My heart grew cold"...sums up the feeling of the general populace here quite adequately.
Bravo, Tony. Excellent social and political poetic commentary.
Mystic musings while toiling in the Garden of Good & Evil, I should think.
~Dean
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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Thank you for introducing me to two new words and expanding my vocabulary, Tony. I had to look both "adventitious" and "propagules" up in my dictionary.
Donald Trump most definitely needs to read this, although I fully believe the metaphor would go sailing as swiftly as dried dandelion seeds over his wigged skull.
Picking and choosing who we allow into our respective countries and who we should keep out have generated quite a bit of spirited debate here in the US.
of late. With the Presidential election looming large on the near horizons, it's even gotten more heated.
Speaking of "heated", ..."My heart grew cold"...sums up the feeling of the general populace here quite adequately.
Bravo, Tony. Excellent social and political poetic commentary.
Mystic musings while toiling in the Garden of Good & Evil, I should think.
~Dean
Comment Written 04-Oct-2016
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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Very many thanks for this fine review, Dean, which mirrors my intention. The migration issue is also a hot potato here in Australia and one not particularly well handled.
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It is always a pleasure, Tony.
You're very welcome.
~Dean
Comment from Barb Hensongispsaca
OH my what a different satire and you did it so very slick.
The last stanza pulled it all together...My heart grew cold.
Very different, had to read it a couple of times to understand the satire.
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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OH my what a different satire and you did it so very slick.
The last stanza pulled it all together...My heart grew cold.
Very different, had to read it a couple of times to understand the satire.
Comment Written 03-Oct-2016
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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Many thanks for your review and interesting comments, Barb. Much appreciated. Tony
Comment from Irish Rain
Aha! You have to become the border control and boot their yellow baney butts out! I like this, clever satire disguised amidst the flowers. Great poem Mr. Tony!!! Blessings...
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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Aha! You have to become the border control and boot their yellow baney butts out! I like this, clever satire disguised amidst the flowers. Great poem Mr. Tony!!! Blessings...
Comment Written 03-Oct-2016
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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Many thanks for your review, Judy. Sadly, in life as well as the garden, we are apt to treat as weeds those who do not fit our pre-conceived notions.
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I've found that the odd, the 'flawed', the misfits....are usually the most real and interesting, it's a wonderful poem.
Comment from Mastery
Hi, tony. great job. what are they dafodils? No matter that's quite a mix, you listed in the poem. I have some Fuchias and love them. but they are thirsty buggers. I loved this part of the peom especiaally well. Nice finish
"that broke my pre-set rules
with adventitious propagules,
Invasive plant and uncontrolled.
My heart grew cold."
Bravo, my friend. Bob
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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Hi, tony. great job. what are they dafodils? No matter that's quite a mix, you listed in the poem. I have some Fuchias and love them. but they are thirsty buggers. I loved this part of the peom especiaally well. Nice finish
"that broke my pre-set rules
with adventitious propagules,
Invasive plant and uncontrolled.
My heart grew cold."
Bravo, my friend. Bob
Comment Written 03-Oct-2016
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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Thanks for your review and observations, Bob. The flowers are called Soursobs here in Australia. They are a kind of Wood Sorrel, quite pretty in their native habitat but a proscribed invasive weed here. Best wishes, Tony
Comment from Wabigoon
Tony --
This seems to me to be metaphor for poetry, the kind of very tight, ordered poetry that seems to be...The Thing here. A garden where we plant this or that in rows with rules and hopes no damned milkweed or "volunteers" appear. The milkweed do attract monarchs, all the way up from Mexico so I have learned to be tolerant of them. I see, however, little tolerance here for that outside inspiration that is being excluded for the really tight, anal rows of sonnetdom. I think there needs to be some. Oh, I comprehend how the immune system, if conscious, needs to take control of its garden of the body -- but there are a few "weeds" that really need to be allowed. The trick is to know which ones.
Thanks
Wabigoon/Jeff
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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Tony --
This seems to me to be metaphor for poetry, the kind of very tight, ordered poetry that seems to be...The Thing here. A garden where we plant this or that in rows with rules and hopes no damned milkweed or "volunteers" appear. The milkweed do attract monarchs, all the way up from Mexico so I have learned to be tolerant of them. I see, however, little tolerance here for that outside inspiration that is being excluded for the really tight, anal rows of sonnetdom. I think there needs to be some. Oh, I comprehend how the immune system, if conscious, needs to take control of its garden of the body -- but there are a few "weeds" that really need to be allowed. The trick is to know which ones.
Thanks
Wabigoon/Jeff
Comment Written 03-Oct-2016
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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An interesting interpretation, Jeff. There is often a serendipitous beauty in the unexpected additions that nature brings to a garden.
Comment from RoostyNester
I liked your border control poem about plants and flowers. Anything left unprotected, will encourage the wrongs things to enter in. Very well done.
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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I liked your border control poem about plants and flowers. Anything left unprotected, will encourage the wrongs things to enter in. Very well done.
Comment Written 03-Oct-2016
reply by the author on 07-Oct-2016
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Thanks, RoostyNester. I appreciate your review. Tony
Comment from Mark Valentine
First, thanks for expanding my vocabulary with "adventitious" and "propagules". Second, this poem, I think, has just the right level of satire to make for an effective social commentary. It's neither over-the-top goofy, nor in-your-face angry. The metaphor speaks for itself, and I absolutely love the ending you chose.
"My heart grew cold." Let the imagination take it from there.
A great poem.
reply by the author on 03-Oct-2016
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First, thanks for expanding my vocabulary with "adventitious" and "propagules". Second, this poem, I think, has just the right level of satire to make for an effective social commentary. It's neither over-the-top goofy, nor in-your-face angry. The metaphor speaks for itself, and I absolutely love the ending you chose.
"My heart grew cold." Let the imagination take it from there.
A great poem.
Comment Written 03-Oct-2016
reply by the author on 03-Oct-2016
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Thanks very much both for your kind review and for the six stars. Both much appreciated. I think the satire went right over the head of quite a few people! Perhaps Trump has it right - you have to speak plain and simple to reach your audience!
