FEEDBACK FROM READERS OF PERSEPHONE'S SPRING

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C.S.

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Somber but beautiful.  It really captures the feeling of the quarantine.

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W.L.

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Nature's Rule: Has a "zen" quality.

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J.K.

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They All Die Alone: This poem feels all too real. Chilling. Our somber truth.

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S.H.

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A Seven Week Lockdown: I like the implied comparison of Odysseus' 

uncertainty and our uncertain future. 

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L.M.

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let us pretend: I like the tone of this poem.

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J.N. 

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The Gravity: Nice beginning. Sets the tone of the day and for the rest

of the book.

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J.W.

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No One's Awake Even After Rooster's Crow: Strong back bone form the 

Twain quote.  The "rooster" line is a nice refrain.  Wake Up People! This 

is real.

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N.O. 

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Sea to Shining Sea: I like how you wove the Longfellow poem in.  It works

really well and those are two great lines leading to an excellent couplet.

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L.R. 

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I was very moved by these poems. Perhaps because of the structure and the repetition of lines, they sunk deeper in me. I noticed a shift in the poetry in the last section of the book. The poems were different from the rest of them - as if you changed along with the news of the virus changing day by day. Or, the poems became more personal, less archetypal. I especially enjoyed the last poem, “Will I hear It?” and “I Hear the Winds Moan” was also powerful. The one most haunting to me is “I Don’t Know Why”. I really respond to the line “It came in the light or dark”. I love the mystery here.

 

E.Y.

 

Thank you for your tireless efforts for fighting this pandemic with your poems to express our pains and helplessness. You gave us a solace, some glimpse of hope that we are all not alone and we will pass this crazy time together.

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G.K 
 

I have read your new book "Persephone's Spring," twice in the last two weeks while carrying out various academic duties and conducting research tasks amid the Covid-19 pandemic. I can see what you are trying to accomplish in this book is not just recording your empathy through observations and reflections for the first 49 days of the lockdown in an unprecedented national health emergency. You are building a novel framework trying to resonate with human history on an epic scale. 

 

I am reading more literature and history books on the third try, ranging from Greek and Roman Mythology, scripture from the Old Testament, songs and poems from Vigil and Dante, arts and crafts from the museums in Rome and Athens, divine works of Pope Francis, works by poets from England, Ireland, India, and America, etc. It's like taking a literature course motivated by my own interests and reverie is my life. We can talk over the Line later when all is settled and clarified on what I learned and am inspired by reading your poetry. 

 

In September, I completed three major research proposals, just like what I do in a normal semester. Sometimes, I feel like a hummingbird whirring my wings, pretending to work, and seeking the next flower tree for nectar to satisfy my ever-present hunger. The good thing is, at my old age, I am still a daydreamer for what might come next as a bustling detector with earful of cues. I hope to forge a new path to avoid the next collision.

 

Attached here are the four central figures of your metaphor in “Persephone's Spring,” I took the photos of marble sculptures created by Bernini: "The Rape of Persephone" and "Aeneas Carrying Anchises" escaping from the ashes of Troy to build Rome from visiting Borghese Gallery of Arts in Rome, 2018. 

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