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<p class="aolmailmsonormal"><u>You have put forward a serious subject in a tongue
in cheek, yet well considered manner.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 
</span>The piece is both light and heavy. You ask questions that I have asked
myself.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span>Great writing. Great job. I
would like you to elucidate your last verse.</u> </p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">Between Clinton,<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span>Indiana's
Mulberry Cafe</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">and the Rockville Packing Company building</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">was the Smith-Alsop Paint Store,</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">where,</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">when my dad was buying paint and/or brushes,</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">I thumbed through twenty-by-twenty-four-inch books</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">of wallpaper samples </p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">in floral and geometric designs,</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">textured in various ways</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">to initiate </p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">interior design dreams.</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-.25in;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:
Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">       
</span></span></span><u>I like the descriptions of the wall paper,
especially the feel of the paper. It brings back my own memories when I father
use to wallpaper our house when I was a kid. He did the whole kit and caboodle.
</u></p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">[Stanza  </p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">Five decades later,</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">I, once again</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">in the midst of wallpaper dreams,</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">wonder if I should wallpaper</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">one wall, one room,</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">or the small bathroom</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">with the poems</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">of my retirement years.</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-.25in;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:
Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">       
</span></span></span><u>Are you really considering that? What an
interesting idea. Are you talking metaphorically?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">   </span>One problem is that when you wallpaper, you
have to cut out pieces. Talk about editing.</u></p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">[Stanza 3]</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal"> </p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">Surely, online, I should</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">be able to find</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">a "design-your-own-wallpaper" company</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">to whom I can send my poems.</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">Then, the company will send me</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">rolls of my poetry</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">so that someone with a straight-line concept</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">can decoratively paper my walls—</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-.25in;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:
Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">       
</span></span></span><u>I dare you to do a Google search.</u></p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">well, the walls of my small, mid-level bathroom</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">where house guests will be face-to-face</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">with my pasted poems—</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-.25in;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:
Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">       
</span></span></span><u>This is hilarious. I can picture it in my
mind. People are always looking for something to read when sitting on the John.
<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span>Talk about a captive audience.</u></p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">flush against left margin, </p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">sprinkled with coordinating art.</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">Guest readers will see</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">that these poems mirror my life:</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">as the house guests peer into the bathroom mirror,</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">more reflections of poetic creations</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">rush into view—</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-.25in;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:
Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">       
</span></span></span><u>I’m not sure how this would work from a
technical point of view.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span>The mirror
would be reflecting the looker and the background behind him or her. But most
of the poems would be blocked out. What they would see would be unintelligible,
unless the reader had the unusual ability to read mirror writing.</u></p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">an usual<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span>way
to read the poems on the back wall.</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal"> </p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">[Stanza 4]</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal"> </p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">Have I gone too far</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">with these wallpaper dreams?</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">You think the better placement</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">of my poems</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">is in a traditional book?</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-.25in;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:
Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">       
</span></span></span><u>Now you are getting into serious stuff. In
some ways, the value of what we do is dependent on who reads our work.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span>How many readers we have. How many readers do
we really reach? the situation you have set up is either people reading what
you have written in juxtaposition to flushing.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 
</span>Or on the other hand, putting it in a traditional book and not having a
personal connection to the readers.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span>I
know this is an understatement of the complexity of the problem. But a serious
question is there, and I think most writers have thought about this issue.</u></p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">[Stanza 5]</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal"> </p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">Later, Leader Dog Willow recommends</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">photos of herself</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">for the design-your-own-wallpaper company.</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">Well, I do already have</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">towels with a Black-Lab motif.</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-.25in;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:
Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">       
</span></span></span><u>If I were a dog, I don’t think I would be
concerned. But who knows. On the other hand, I would want to get a lot of
attention. As a dog I would prefer the bathroom option.</u></p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">[Stanza 6]</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal"> </p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">We will creatively compromise:</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">two walls of poetry</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">and two walls of Willow,</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">who will transfer better in mirror image.</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal"> </p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">[Stanza 7]</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal"> </p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">Celebrating 68 years,</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">I happily and artistically</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">surmise an overview</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">of my dream-fresh life</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">in wallpapered</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">paws and poetry.</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-.25in;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:
Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">       
</span></span></span><u>Please explain this verse. </u></p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal">July 19, 2018, Thursday</p>

<p class="aolmailmsonormal"> </p>

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