17 Comments
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Ann Collins's avatar

Quenching & lovely & bittersweet. Thank you, Dick 💛

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Dick Whyte's avatar

Awwww, such a pleasure Ann. Thanks as always for reading and just being great. 🖤

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Hasse's avatar

Blue Undershirts reads like something that could have been part of a postmodern poetry collection, today.

Your poem says a lot with few lines. Love the adjectives you use for mud.

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Dick Whyte's avatar

Omg - absolutely - Blue Undershirts is one of my favourite poems of all time tbh. I don't know what it is about it which gets me, but it really does. I go back to it all the time. And cheers for the lovely words about my poem as well. It holds a lot of specialness for me that one. Also - I am super curious what the poem "says" to you? I often write from that place of not entirely knowing what it is I am saying, or what others will get from them - and I love to hear what others see in them. So, if you felt like unpacking your response at all, I'd love to hear it :-)

Also - sorry I missed a bunch of your comments recently - just for clarity, I really appreciate your words Hasse! And it always a brightens my day to see a comment from you! x

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Hasse's avatar

Yeah, I don't know. Maybe Blue Undershirts is a reminder that there is poetry out there right now, whether anyone bothers to write it down or not.

If I'm being honest, in regard to your poem, I remember reading it once and taking it in, and then I read it again to try to look for a "red thread." I could only see it if I squinted, but I could see that that red thread went far and wide in a limited space. I was hard pressed to describe it in any greater detail, which is probably why I wrote the way I did.

Giving it another look now, and forcing myself to land on a more firm interpretation, I read it as a poem about the predicting nature of the human mind. It has been said that this is what our minds really seem to be for, in the grand scheme of things: to try to predict what will happen. That may be a reductive perspective, but I think there is at least something to it. And now, I read the last stanza as the rewarding experience when our predictions -- whether subconscious or not -- are affirmed... and emboldened.

Not sure this is what the poem is about, but that is how I read it today :P

Also, no worries, Dick! I'm happy you appreciate the comments, and I know you probably have a lot going on -- in life, Bluesky, and other places. :) Thanks for the kind statement.

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LeeAnn Pickrell's avatar

Lovely poems. And that last stanza of your response is just superb.

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Dick Whyte's avatar

Awww thanks LeeAnn - super appreciate the kind words. Took me a long time to find that last moment! But it got there in the end.

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Margaret Ann Silver's avatar

Lovely and sad. And a wonderful tribute poem.

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Dick Whyte's avatar

Aw thanks Margaret. Really appreciate yr kind words about my offering 🖤

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Harley King's avatar

Somewhere made me laugh. Thank you.

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Dick Whyte's avatar

Yeah that one always gets me. Such a lovely, lighthearted poem.

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John Tessitore's avatar

Wow. These are extraordinary but that first one!! Thank you.

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Dick Whyte's avatar

Such a pleasure John! Yeah, that first one is a favourite of mine too.

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Kim Nelson's avatar

The Little Flowers! The ultimate poem of hope.

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Dick Whyte's avatar

Definitely. It always gets me right in the feels.

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M Sarki's avatar

I see some similarities to Dr. William Carlos Williams. Same school.

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Dick Whyte's avatar

Yeah for sure - there were a lot of poets at this time trying out similar things. Such a vibrant time poetically!

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