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Returned To Sender: Service Suspended

58 total reviews 
Comment from Martie Zuckerman
Excellent
Not yet exceptional. When the exceptional rating is reached this is highlighted

What a beautiful gift you found. I very much enjoyed reading your well written verse that wove such a lovely tale. Thank you for posing the author's notes that expanded on your wonderful verse. Blessings.

 Comment Written 10-Mar-2020


reply by the author on 10-Mar-2020
    Hello Martie,
    So pleased my words resonated with you.
    I thank you for your excellent rating and complimentary review!

    diane
Comment from Frank Jauregui
Excellent
Not yet exceptional. When the exceptional rating is reached this is highlighted

Thank you for sharing. Such memories are so precious. Once found, they only enhance and clarify former memories that perhaps were marred by misconceptions, or our own in sensitivities of the past. Reading poems such as yours, makes the reader think back to their own memories of the past, and perhaps brings a deeper understanding of our memories as well. God bless you.

 Comment Written 10-Mar-2020


reply by the author on 10-Mar-2020
    Hello Frank,
    Thank you for your excellent rating and thoughtful review.
    I am pleased my words resonated with you.

    Thank you!
    diane
Comment from estory
Excellent
Not yet exceptional. When the exceptional rating is reached this is highlighted

The personal account of all the things your father was thinking about; the war, Pearl Harbor, his brother, expecting his first child; that's what made this poem so personal and so moving. You had a solemn tone and a stately rhythm and rhyme that provided a great framework for your theme. estory

 Comment Written 10-Mar-2020


reply by the author on 10-Mar-2020
    Hello estory,
    Thank you for your excellent rating and complimentary review.
    I especially appreciate your mentioning the rhythm and rhyme; I was attempting to make it sound as if I was simply sharing with the reader...like having a "fireside chat" in the front room of my home... regarding what I had found...
    So very pleased my words resonated with you...
    Thank you,
    diane
Comment from karenina
Exceptional
This work has reached the exceptional level

I was captivated by the telling of your tale in a poem written as beautifully as any I've encountered here or elsewhere! My own dearly departed father, much like your own, did not speak of the war--I was not blessed to find letters as you did, but I did piece together his valor and his experiences by speaking to his best war buddies and his brother, who also served. These men were truly the greatest generation and I suspect you and I were both graced to have our fathers return to us...so many did not! Six stars!--Karenina

 Comment Written 10-Mar-2020


reply by the author on 10-Mar-2020
    Hello dear Karenina!
    So very good to hear from you!
    Thank you for your exceptional rating and thoughtful review.
    My father served in the Navy from 1944 -1946.
    Each time I do more research, I discover more pain, more atrocities, more inhumanity...and yes, forgiveness...
    I hope to gather all of my writings regarding my family and place them in a book for my children and their children...
    Thank you again...

    diane
reply by karenina on 10-Mar-2020
    Diane, that is a wonderful idea! I recently completed my paternal family tree and as I researched our clan al the way back to Holland in the 1400's I found myself wishing SOMEONE had thought to chronicle real family anecdotes!--Karenina
reply by the author on 10-Mar-2020
    My father's brother chronicled our family tree, and my husband's sister chronicled the Truelove family. Fascinating!

    Take Care!
    diane
reply by karenina on 10-Mar-2020
    You too! My best to you!--Karenina
Comment from Mastery
Exceptional
This work has reached the exceptional level

A wonderful presentation here Diane from start to finish. What a wonderful tribute you have made in the lines of this writing:

"Across four seas and eighty years,
Through daily life and untold tears,
These letters had traveled through time,
Tucked within text that was now mine."

I like the way you set the entire scene at the beginning.

:) Bob

 Comment Written 10-Mar-2020


reply by the author on 10-Mar-2020
    Hello Bob!
    I am honored by your exceptional rating and complimentary review.
    So much sadness...
    Thank you for mentioning how I set the scene...

    Hoping you are enjoying the sunshine...finally!
    Take Care!
    diane
reply by Mastery on 10-Mar-2020
    Hi Diane. Just fighting a virus right now..(not the big one Thank God) Bless you Bob
reply by Mastery on 10-Mar-2020
    Hi Diane. Just fighting a virus right now..(not the big one Thank God) Bless you Bob
reply by the author on 10-Mar-2020
    Take Care of yourself!
    That's an order!

    diane
reply by Mastery on 10-Mar-2020
    : ) Okay. Bob
reply by Mastery on 10-Mar-2020
    : ) Okay. Bob
Comment from Eve Vasa
Exceptional
This work has reached the exceptional level

This was great ... what a picture you paint for your reader. I loved it and it's the best thing I've read here for a while to be honest. So plain and clear. Plain in a good way, not muddled. The gritty truth of what life is really like, and stumbling on it in the form of a letter.

My father's thoughts, no mistaking;
I tried to read without shaking,
For he mailed these letters with hope,
Unaware of war's heinous scope.

I think this is a seven. Published perfectly, and your opening and closing lines act like a prologue and epilogue and so neatly done. I'm not one to dole out sixes, but this is nothing short of ...

Fab!!! Eve.

 Comment Written 10-Mar-2020


reply by the author on 10-Mar-2020
    Hello Eve,
    I am honored by your exceptional rating and complimentary review.
    Thank you for mentioning the opening and closing couplets.
    So very pleased my words and presentation resonated with you!

    Thank you!
    diane
Comment from victortouche
Exceptional
This work has reached the exceptional level

I have oft wondered how my "manhood"
would have handled that war. The
countless possible sacrifices, and
the real possibility of the
ultimate sacrifice.

No one truly knows until it
happens. All I do know is
those men and women represent
what I deceive myself to be,
a man, a human, a heart.

Very moving,

Doug

 Comment Written 10-Mar-2020


reply by the author on 10-Mar-2020
    Hello Doug!
    I am honored by your exceptional rating and thoughtful review.
    I simply cannot imagine what my uncle - and the thousands of men and women with him - endured...
    Thank you so much for reading and understanding my need to share...

    diane
Comment from Gloria ....
Exceptional
This work has reached the exceptional level

What a terrific poem, Diane. You brought back many memories of World War 2 and the suffering of soldiers and families and the grieving.

Such a beautiful part of your family memorial and something to treasure forever.

Fantastic from start to finish. :)

Gloria

 Comment Written 09-Mar-2020


reply by the author on 10-Mar-2020
    Hello Gloria,
    I am honored by your exceptional rating and complimentary review.
    I hope to collate all of my family poems into a book for my children and their children... Bucketlist...
    So pleased that my words resonated with you...

    Thank you again!
    diane
Comment from amada
Exceptional
This work has reached the exceptional level

I love your touching and simple story. i loved it. You know, my eyesight now is failing and i am trying to get rid of some books, I open one and I have notes written along the pages, the chapter, things that touched me, always thinking that I could come back anytime and read them...Oh, Unfortunately, no matter how I put my glasses, or turn the pages around, it is all a mystery, my own writing, is a stranger to me. I write in the computer with a special Zoom Terxt system. Blessings to your writings.

 Comment Written 09-Mar-2020


reply by the author on 10-Mar-2020
    Hello amada,
    I am honored by your exceptional rating and thoughtful review.
    I, too, have filled many of my books with clippings, photographs, etc.
    And my eyesight is aok... as long as I remember to wear my glasses!
    So pleased my words resonated with you!

    Thank you!
    diane
Comment from pharp
Exceptional
This work has reached the exceptional level



Diane,

Wow! Wow! and a third WoW!

I have never read a poem so beautifully penned as this one my friend. So much history you have shared that brought tears to my eyes. Excellent rhyming throughout and a very smooth flow. Thanks for sharing a most profound read.

Lots of love...Portia

 Comment Written 09-Mar-2020


reply by the author on 09-Mar-2020
    Hello Portia!
    I am so very honored by your exceptional rating and complimentary review.
    Such a tragedy on so many levels...
    Every time I think I have "it" all sorted out in my heart and mind, I learn something new.
    So many people living today possess only a modicum of information regarding the war with Japan and the suffering in the Philippines. I know that as a young woman, the emphasis was on teaching about the Holocaust.
    I just want my children and their children to know about our family and the sacrifices that not only my father's family made during WWII, but the sacrifices of all the men and women who were abandoned by the U.S. government following the Japanese invasion.
    To have found those two letters was deeply emotional for me...They are so small; I cannot believe they went from Michigan to the Philippines and back to Michigan, and then have rested in my father's Navy book for nearly eighty years...
    Thank you again, Portia...
    love,
    diane
reply by pharp on 09-Mar-2020
    Diane,

    It was meant for those letters to be found by you, so that you could share with people all around the world your family's history and the sacrifices of many. I believe your children will continue to share this history.

    Hugs....