Reviews from

January

January thoughts

38 total reviews 
Comment from Gypsy Blue Rose
Excellent
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Excellent entry for the Sonnet Poetry Contest. I love the sound of your rhymes and meter, it doesn't sound forced and flows nicely.

Well done!

Gypsy


Well done!

Gypsy

"Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason" -- Novalis

 Comment Written 16-Jan-2025


reply by the author on 16-Jan-2025
    Thanks, Gypsy. Now I've got to get ready for February.
Comment from jaded831
Excellent
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Winter is beautiful, if you don't have to venture out in it. With the ice and snow comes dangerous conditions, and the worrying about loved ones on the road. Your poem reflects my own heart and the longing for spring.

 Comment Written 16-Jan-2025


reply by the author on 16-Jan-2025
    Thanks, Carolyn. This January hasn't been too bad here in Maine. February will probably give us a kick in the pants.
Comment from estory
Excellent
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Every cloud has its silver lining. This is a nice, pastoral romantic poem in a classic style, and it digs a little bit into our own love / hate relationship with winter, more than the average extolling of the silvery snow landscape. We don't feel comfortable in the cold, and we all dream of the sunny spring days with the flowers blooming and the birds singing. But winter has its charms too. estory

 Comment Written 16-Jan-2025


reply by the author on 16-Jan-2025
    Thanks, estory. I think our winters are becoming milder.
Comment from Sugarray77
Exceptional
This work has reached the exceptional level

Hello Paul and good morning. Your sonnet is superb and I can feel your chilly weather in your well chosen words. We had a wonderland of white recently, but it only remains in the shadows. Great job and good luck.

Melissa

 Comment Written 16-Jan-2025


reply by the author on 16-Jan-2025
    Thanks, Melissa. We've got a little snow, but not as much as we use to get, years ago.
Comment from Mrs. KT
Excellent
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Good morning, Paul!
Ah!
You are definitely a kindred spirit to write of January with such familiarity.
Here, in northern Michigan, as much as I love winter, I, too, am "Just waiting for the winter to be done."
Smooth lines, excellent iambic pentameter.
Now... Think spring!

Best Wishes,
fondly,
diane

 Comment Written 16-Jan-2025


reply by the author on 16-Jan-2025
    Thanks, Diane. I have a neighbor friend and poet who use to live in northern Michigan. Her name is Frances Vigeant.
Comment from Tom Horonzy
Excellent
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Mixed emotions for the Granite State. I suspect Maine is much the same. Been in both though NH briefly. Found the provinces North of them to be as intereesting, like P.E.I., Nova Scotia and St JOhns.

 Comment Written 16-Jan-2025


reply by the author on 16-Jan-2025
    Thanks for the review, Tom. I spent 10 years in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Those winters were really cold.
Comment from Douglas Goff
Excellent
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Good Lordy, Paul. Where do you reside that it thaws in January? We do not thaw until April around these parts.

Please invite me down. I, too want to thaw. Great poem!
D

 Comment Written 16-Jan-2025


reply by the author on 16-Jan-2025
    Thanks for the review, Doug. I don't know if it truly qualifies for a thaw, but the temperature will just edge up over 32 degrees for a day or two.
Comment from Gloria ....
Exceptional
This work has reached the exceptional level

This is a superb sonnet. Great iambic pentameter, solid rhymes and overall a landscape of country living, mainly back in the day, but still around in very rural areas, and sometimes in town too.

Wishing you great luck with the Contest Committee. :)

Gloria

 Comment Written 16-Jan-2025


reply by the author on 16-Jan-2025
    Thanks, Gloria. I'll have to write one about February pretty soon.
Comment from jake cosmos aller
Excellent
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a nice winter sonnet in traditional format. Well done. Here in Korea it has been cold but not too bad, most days in the low thirties (0 c ) dropping below freezing (-5 c) by sunset, but thankfully not too much snow yet.

 Comment Written 16-Jan-2025


reply by the author on 16-Jan-2025
    Thanks for the review, Jake. Hope your winter continues on the mild side.
Comment from Debbie D'Arcy
Excellent
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Thank you for sharing this very pleasing read to which I can definitely relate. The meter and rhyme are excellently crafted and I like the contrast of the cosy warmth and dreams with the chill of winter. Maybe it's a personal thing but I always like to see sonnets broken into three stanzas and a rhyming couplet to enable the story to evolve clearly. Also, I don't really get - (They're) snowdrifts.... when 'with' would add far more fluency. But a very worthy contender and I wish you luck, Paul. Debbie

 Comment Written 15-Jan-2025


reply by the author on 16-Jan-2025
    Thanks for the review and suggestion, Debbie. I have made the change.