The Tangled Branch Discussion Forums

Your re-entry to TTB and always thoughtful comments are greatly appreciated Tracy. And you know Barth--extra stars for that.

You know how, after you've lived someplace for about seven years and got the place fixed up just the way you want it, including the right coffee pot on your granite counter-top and flowers blooming furiously in the yard, not a weed in sight and the bathroom towels and washcloths all match, even you...

press my mouth  against your emptiness, words  whirl like tiny wrens above saying Come back soon and tell me everything Since you have a break followed by a single word that does duty in place of some other punctuation why not separate "saying": press my mouth  against your emptiness, words  whirl ...

Read and reread---I'm certain I'm on the brink of solving the mystery of who/what this figure is. A mythical figure on the order of Sisyphus? a simple soul contemplating a life that could have been better spent (but then why thousands of years?) A song of human evolution as sung by a single voice? D...

In Barth's first novel "The Floating Opera" the protagonist muses on life as being like a showboat that plies up and down the river. The audience stands on shore and so only sees disjointed parts of the play that is being performed on deck. There is no schedule or organization to the way the play is...

Not quite the same as your 'shared' intention; but it's something she'd do for me if I'd only drink from particular cups. While these things apparently mean nothing they indicate so much. For older couples the Devil is always found in these minute details :D  "Older" is one word we might use---I pr...

Tim wrote Surprised about the attachment to Flash in the title...he was pretty washed up by the 1950's... I could do w/o the commentary of S's 2 & 3...but strictly a personal choice.  What little girl could resist? My memories are fuzzy. I went with the family up 2 blocks from us to the matinees oc...

Thanks for the read and comments Phil. Would you simply use commas to list?

I often read a poem with, not just my reaction in mind, but with that of the general readership---whoever that might be. Those of us who have lived through the era this poem refers to will react differently than those who have only "heard about" such things. :)  I reflect on what I do now for fun, w...

I can't decide if I agree with Marc or with the way it is presently written. On the one hand I like a little surprise twist at the end of some things but on the other it is confusing and might irritate some readers. I like to work at a poem if there is a payoff once I get it figured out. The payoff ...