I dont consider myself to be either a good or bad poet, I suppose that I like the mind stretching that it takes to make concepts visable in this medium. For a start I believe in meter and rhyme as a discipline which, for me at least, forces the piece into areas where my mind would perhaps not have ventured,which in turn, seems to throw a sometimes suprising illumination on the concept that I am trying to convey. Here is a portion of a twenty verse poem, -Four lines- about an event that occured during the the 'growing pains' of one of my daughters. But alas 'twas her pushbike that brought her to grief. She was riding 'no hands' and 'no feet. And she left a great hole, in a telegraph pole, That stood at the end of our street. No deep and burning message intended here. Nor any attempt to be particularly clever. To put this event in ordinary prose I think I would have written something like. Niki had an accident with her 'bike, silly girl was riding 'no hands' and ran into a telegraph pole. Luckily she ..... I really think that the rhyme is more fun, covers the event, and allowed room for the reader to creat a personal picture/interpretation and thus become involved.. as with .."left a great hole, in a telegraph pole." Poetic licence used in this line is expected to be understood, The rest is fairly accurate. Thanks benthere and ole hipster.

If my punishment was to be thrown into the clutches of seventy virgins? I WOULD, NO WAY, PUSH THAT BUTTON!

This I know is posed as a question but dosn't really pre-suppose a direct answer. I would like to see your comment on it as a statement However. Because in these pages it happens over and over again.

No child wants/needs a 40 yo?, friend. They meed someone strong enough to make them feel secure. They will constantly test you for this. Ditto for whisdom and love. I am a parent of o supportive and loving grown family of four. And... I think that I made enough parenting mistakes to believe that the above is true.

Personally I find the disciplin of meter and rhyme pushes the mind to search for finer and more succint points of meaning. Sometimes I feel sure that the whole poem lies there in that format, waiting for me to 'brush of the obscuring dust' and discover it? Thanks bluegalpin.

I believe that the astronomical, almost infinite chances of encounter and oppertunity -that chose my spermatosa/ovem union, and thus led to this o-so-brief period of awareness that we call a life- to be so mathamatically, mind bogglingly, vast, that if we are not celebrating life daily, we are missing the point! As for another bight of the cooky? If one can't remember or act upon another awareness. The question is academic, and dos'nt matter?

Interesting how many say the same thing? Thi first "picture" that came to mind was the instant that my youngest daughter. As the first external thing that she did in her life. Was to reach out and clasp my (her daddy's) finger

Yes they blinded me comeing back before I set out!

Just started looking into this.-"Chaos" by James Gleick. Mind boggling, exciting. I have to be agnostic about the math however.

The ones with the best physical potential for their enviorenment tend to stay alive longer and have more chips of the old block as a result?