Carolina Pastorals
Viewing comments for Chapter 23 "Summer"A celebration of North Carolina
8 total reviews
Comment from LisaMay
I live in a cool climate, so i have not experienced this oppressive heat except on brief tropical vacations.... your poem describes it clearly. We get the feeling how too much of a good thing can be overwhelming, inflicting adversities and knocking us back into apathy.
reply by the author on 24-Jul-2020
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I live in a cool climate, so i have not experienced this oppressive heat except on brief tropical vacations.... your poem describes it clearly. We get the feeling how too much of a good thing can be overwhelming, inflicting adversities and knocking us back into apathy.
Comment Written 24-Jul-2020
reply by the author on 24-Jul-2020
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Thanks for the excellent review and your thoughts on the poem. Summer in the south is a very different experience from what it is in the north, and I wanted to use it as a metaphor for the struggles of life, especially later in life, that wear you down. estory
Comment from thaities, Rebecca V.
You pegged an Alabama summer right down to the nitty gritty. Thailand is WORSE than those summers, but I have adjusted. Mother used to say, "I just gonna make it to Heaven. I can't stand the heat!" ha ha
reply by the author on 24-Jul-2020
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You pegged an Alabama summer right down to the nitty gritty. Thailand is WORSE than those summers, but I have adjusted. Mother used to say, "I just gonna make it to Heaven. I can't stand the heat!" ha ha
Comment Written 23-Jul-2020
reply by the author on 24-Jul-2020
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Thanks for the excellent review and your thoughts on the poem. I am glad the piece was able to capture that sense of the southern summer. estory
Comment from amada
You wrote a vevid, brutal picture of summer, dear poet. I could feel the heat accumulating in my bones. I am grateful I don't live in the South...I was born in winter time in a town near a cold mountain. Head gives me beaches...
reply by the author on 24-Jul-2020
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You wrote a vevid, brutal picture of summer, dear poet. I could feel the heat accumulating in my bones. I am grateful I don't live in the South...I was born in winter time in a town near a cold mountain. Head gives me beaches...
Comment Written 23-Jul-2020
reply by the author on 24-Jul-2020
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Thanks for the excellent review and for your comments supporting this poem. I am glad it gave you something of the sense of the southern summer, very different than those in New York. Although NY can be brutal too, sometimes. estory
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our profound loss when I reached out to you to see if you wanted to join a Hi dear poet, yes, I would like to try the poetry project! I have so many sentiments covered up inside. Anthony would be smiling upstairs. Please let me know how...
Comment from Jesse James Doty
You've written a vivid and haunting description of summer in the south. I could feel the heaviness of the weight of the shadowless sunshine, for example. I enjoyed reading this and learned a lot from it. Your author's notes were very interesting, as well. I like your comparison of how summer wears away at you, just as adversity does to your hope and promise of life. I personally know how adversity can do that to me. I lived for a year in Alabama when I was five years old, and I remember the warm thunderstorms, and the heavy heat, soaked with sweat. Adversity has hit me recently, and I now live in a nursing home, hopefully, temporarily. I injured my neck and needed neck surgery, which I am recuperating from as quickly as I am able. Thanks for this super poem and for letting me share.
Take care,
Jesse
reply by the author on 24-Jul-2020
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You've written a vivid and haunting description of summer in the south. I could feel the heaviness of the weight of the shadowless sunshine, for example. I enjoyed reading this and learned a lot from it. Your author's notes were very interesting, as well. I like your comparison of how summer wears away at you, just as adversity does to your hope and promise of life. I personally know how adversity can do that to me. I lived for a year in Alabama when I was five years old, and I remember the warm thunderstorms, and the heavy heat, soaked with sweat. Adversity has hit me recently, and I now live in a nursing home, hopefully, temporarily. I injured my neck and needed neck surgery, which I am recuperating from as quickly as I am able. Thanks for this super poem and for letting me share.
Take care,
Jesse
Comment Written 23-Jul-2020
reply by the author on 24-Jul-2020
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Thanks again for the exceptional review and all your wonderful comments validating this piece. Best wishes for your recovery. estory
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Thank you for your warm reply and kind wishes for my recovery. I am glad you liked my review.
Take care,
Jesse
Comment from Gert sherwood
estory
You are so right the summer you told us does have
different feel of summer that you described so well was
sort of depressing which, makes one gets very moody.
Gert
reply by the author on 24-Jul-2020
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estory
You are so right the summer you told us does have
different feel of summer that you described so well was
sort of depressing which, makes one gets very moody.
Gert
Comment Written 23-Jul-2020
reply by the author on 24-Jul-2020
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Thanks for the excellent review and for your support of the poem estory
Comment from Marjon van Bruggen
I do not agree with you. This summer pastoral poem is (to me) perfectly your style. Maybe I have not read all you ever wrote, but what I have seen of you has this same, reflective way of seeing things. In this oppressive heat of southern summer I read again your passion for rural life, the hardship of farmers, the struggle and also contentment of simple living with the soil and the elements.
Enjoyed it!
reply by the author on 24-Jul-2020
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I do not agree with you. This summer pastoral poem is (to me) perfectly your style. Maybe I have not read all you ever wrote, but what I have seen of you has this same, reflective way of seeing things. In this oppressive heat of southern summer I read again your passion for rural life, the hardship of farmers, the struggle and also contentment of simple living with the soil and the elements.
Enjoyed it!
Comment Written 23-Jul-2020
reply by the author on 24-Jul-2020
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Thanks for the excellent review and for your perspective on the poem. This poem is in a much more structured, off rhymed quatrain format, and I have done mostly free verse and minimalism over my long writing life, I think. Read Patterns, Fragmentation, and you'll see what I mean. Even some of the ones in this book are much more opened up than Summer. This is completely different than say, Connections, Curvature, Scintillation and Garble from my earlier books. estory
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My pleasure. Thanks for your answer!
Comment from roof35
I live in Florida and you are spot on with this poem. The south is paradise in the winter but almost suffocating in the summer. This is well written and I enjoyed reading it.
reply by the author on 24-Jul-2020
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I live in Florida and you are spot on with this poem. The south is paradise in the winter but almost suffocating in the summer. This is well written and I enjoyed reading it.
Comment Written 23-Jul-2020
reply by the author on 24-Jul-2020
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Thanks so much for the excellent review and for your validation of my description of a southern summer. estory
Comment from Sally Law
Yes, it does hang heavy on most days. I've lived here for most of my life. I found that in Georgia it cooled at night but in Florida, it seldom does unless a toad-strangling thunder storm moves through. I enjoyed this and the fellowship of suffering.
Sending you my best today as always,
Sally xoxo
reply by the author on 24-Jul-2020
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Yes, it does hang heavy on most days. I've lived here for most of my life. I found that in Georgia it cooled at night but in Florida, it seldom does unless a toad-strangling thunder storm moves through. I enjoyed this and the fellowship of suffering.
Sending you my best today as always,
Sally xoxo
Comment Written 23-Jul-2020
reply by the author on 24-Jul-2020
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Thanks for the excellent review and for your support of my description of a southern summer. It's like the winter up north. I guess if I had to pick I would still take North Carolina over NY estory
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I lived near Niagara Falls for eight freezing years. The summers are gorgeous though. ;)
