i agree, some writers lack a story and meaning b/c they write for perfection and for sales. i like to write poetry b/c it helps me express my feelings and i like the idea of how words can help inspire others. when i am dancing alone, i don’t care about being pretty or having the crowd’s attention to my talents, i dance b/c i am truly me being lifted by the music and letting the words of the music tell me how to move myself. i like the idea of posting the poems in short snippets. i am currently reading a book called “To the Hilt.” and it’s about a father who is in financial trouble in london (his trusted advisor Norman Quoron betrayed him and his King Alfred’s brewery and he should have trusted Tobias Tollright) and asks his stepson, Alex to help him. Alex leads a simplistic life as a painter in scotland to help salvage his reputation. Alex realizes he must help protect his stepfather’s horse Golden Malt which is a racehorse and also King Alfred’s Golden Cup from becoming assets to pay debts. Alex who enjoys living in the Scottish Highlands in solitude where he can paint golf scenes now finds himself being part of the business world. I like Alex’s attitude when people like his friend emily (and says Alex’s paintings sell to golfers and people they “capture the perseverance of the human spirit” pg 60) who trains racehorses think him a bit strange to be a painter because he says “I paint what I like. I earn my bread. I’ll never be Rembrandt. I settle for what I can do, and if that is to give pleasure, well it’s better than nothing.” (Dick Francis pg 61). Alexander talks about how people think he is strange when they see his long hair in curls and also his paint-splattered clothes and how society thinks people are a team and doesn’t like solitude, but he thinks more creatively when he is alone and he doesn’t care if he is odd. I also didn’t know that “diminuedoed” was a word until i saw it in the book describing the horses hooves decreasing in the distance. it’s an italian term that applies to musical sound and it’s synonym is decrescendo. plangent means loud sound like a bell and largo means slow.