Romell

Arlan, good luck with this fantastic undertaking. Romella

I found this poem very interesting due to the concepts concerning sound,maybe even language in the first stanza. And, silence as representational of interchange between two people. Few poems deal with sound in this manner. It is a unique vantage point. The halved buildings, their sliced in half histories also caught my attention. Great poem. Honored to read it.

A great poet. Truthful work. The poem it seems or the details within continue to become more and more inclusive.

An excellent book. The explanatory of human life on the personal, cultural and universal levels very clear and without subterfuge. Re-reading various poems is a form of revisiting them and expressly intending to do so. These are wise, flesh and blood poems that have lived, loved and laughed in a candid, warm, open manner. Forthrightness and intellect merged. Ed Ochester is one of the best American poets there is as are many of the poets he refers to in his beautiful poems and we are privileged to read about them in such a vivid poetic context. The poems almost engage the reader in a form of literary time travel. We see stages of the poet's life and benchmarks of various events so clearly. These poems are exemplars of a human being with spiritual kindness, emotional maturity and insight engaged on the page.

Thanks to Bill O'Driscoll and Kayla Sargeson
for publishing this poem and sending the gift card. It was very kind. I enjoy the poems by other poets published in Chapter&Verse very much.

Bernadette has read at Hemingway's Cafe in Oakland a few times. It is always a treat.

Kayla, great poem. U write w/ such verve. Sista-poet.