Comment from juliaSjames

Excellent

This is a gorgeous period piece. I admire the research you must have done in preparation for writing this poem. Bread is the staff of life in many cultures. The smell and taste of home made bread invades the senses with goodness.

Thanks for sharing

Stay safe healthy and blessed

Julia

 Comment Written 03-Oct-2020

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reply by the author on 05-Oct-2020

Thanks so much for the excellent review and your wonderful comments supporting the poem. Yates Mill is a great place. I'm going there tomorrow. The fall colors are coming already here. Ahead of schedule for sure. estory

Comment from royowen

Excellent

Yes indeed, the grain and goodies from the field are so important to our bodies' insatiable need for nourishment. We don't give enough credit for those that labour in the field for essential needs to be fulfilled, and like the soldier who defends our shores from invasion, they are life savers in their own way. Beautifully written, and thanks for your thoughtfulness, well done, blessings Roy

 Comment Written 02-Oct-2020

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reply by the author on 03-Oct-2020

Thanks for the excellent review and your interesting comments and perspective on the poem. I wanted to draw connections back through this common denominator of the production of grain to generations that have gone before us and our shared culture. estory

reply by royowen on 03-Oct-2020

Well done

Comment from equestrik

Excellent

This is a nostalgic write and your writing is clear and interesting and brings us to your writing after the poem. I agree completely, we are more connected to the natural world, even today, than we think.

 Comment Written 02-Oct-2020

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reply by the author on 03-Oct-2020

Thanks for the excellent review and for your wonderful comments supporting the poem. I am glad that you enjoyed it and that it evoked feelings for connections with nature and the past. estory

Comment from Tina Crute

Excellent

This is amazing. Period. You had my vote at the first stanza that did indeed make me feel like I was watching time turn as the mill wheel did. That stanza set the stage for further time travel, to the wagons and roads, between turning wheels, to the grains that fulfill dreams of bread...and the wheels keep turning to fill our plates and our consciousness.
This deserves a six, but I have none at the moment.
Have a great weekend. Thanks for this treat, that I will read to my hubby later.
Tina

 Comment Written 02-Oct-2020

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reply by the author on 03-Oct-2020

Thanks for all your flattering remarks supporting this poem. I am glad you enjoyed it and that it was able to evoke that feeling of the waterwheel going around. The construction of this owes something to Heaney's Relic of Memory. Short lines creating that sense of a circling rhythm. estory

reply by Tina Crute on 03-Oct-2020

The technique really works!You are welcome for the review. It was a multi-faceted poem, in a class of it's own, truly. If I read more poems like this, I would grow as a poet.
Tina

reply by the author on 05-Oct-2020

Flattered by the remarks. I have been heavily influenced by Yeats, Heaney, Levertov, Anderson and maybe a bit by Frost too. Read those and you'll see where I came from. estory

reply by Tina Crute on 05-Oct-2020

Aha! I do see the Frost influence! I am most familiar with him. The others I need to read more of:)
Tina

Comment from Dolly'sPoems

Excellent

I could hear the mill turning in your words here and the wheat cracking as the grinding takes place and the flour is used to make bread, the rich harvest feeds us all, much enjoyed, love Dolly x

 Comment Written 02-Oct-2020

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reply by the author on 02-Oct-2020

Thanks for the excellent review and I am glad that I was able to pull off that sense of the mill wheel going around in the rhythm of the poem. This poem owes something in construction to Heaney's Relic of Memory. There's a similiar short line construction. estory

Comment from Gypsy Blue Rose

Excellent

Yates' Mill
by estory

Hello, my friend,

Beautiful poem about grinding grain and making the bread. I love bread... especially french bread. You make good use of imagery. Well done.

 Comment Written 01-Oct-2020

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reply by the author on 02-Oct-2020

Thanks so much for the excellent review and your wonderful comments supporting this poem. It was a fun poem to write and I tried to recreate something of the rhythm of the mill wheel in the short lines. The imagery is always important in my poetry. estory

Comment from Miss Cookie Atkinson

Excellent

i like your poem very much it captured my attention from the first word to the last.
I remember visiting a Aunt down south and she was still doing things the old time way.
thank you for sharing
cookie

 Comment Written 01-Oct-2020

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reply by the author on 02-Oct-2020

Thanks so much for the excellent review and your wonderful comments supporting this poem. I am glad you enjoyed it and it brought back some happy memories...estory

reply by Miss Cookie Atkinson on 02-Oct-2020

Your very welcome have a nice evening
Cookie

Comment from Mary Vigasin

Excellent

Years ago I visited a former mill that was now just a tourist attraction.
This poem not only brought back the image of that mill but gave me a more vivid experience of the working mill.
Very well done and written.,

Regards and stay well.

 Comment Written 01-Oct-2020

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reply by the author on 02-Oct-2020

Thanks for the excellent review and your interesting comments about the poem. Yates' Mill is still a working mill and a beautiful spot, especially in fall here. They take kids on tours to show them how bread was made in the old days. estory

Comment from evesayshi

Excellent

In my opinion, a visual work, with selective verse and accompaniment, providing the distinctive imagery that flows evenly throughout the poem, like listening to a radio transmission decades ago - beautifully created...

 Comment Written 01-Oct-2020

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reply by the author on 02-Oct-2020

Thanks so much for the excellent review and your encouraging remarks on the construction of this poem. Glad you enjoyed it estory

reply by evesayshi on 02-Oct-2020

It was a superb read - you are so welcome. Thank you for sharing...Eve

Comment from Jasmine Girl

Excellent

I enjoy reading this poem about farming and the process of harvest. In the end you connect waterwheel to history of harvesting and fasting, from emptiness to consciousness.

I like your explanation about your inspiration.

Well done.

 Comment Written 01-Oct-2020

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reply by the author on 02-Oct-2020

Thanks so much for the excellent review and for your wonderful comments supporting this poem. I wanted to recreate that sense of the rhythm of the waterwheel and also to draw those connections back through time in culture and society around a basic human need. Have we really come that far? estory