Ph: Poetry Writing: A Devolving Disaster! Poemhunter's Editor Poem by Brian Johnston

On the Loss of a Friend (Who Still Lives!)

Though it happens quite seldom, a friendship can wither and die
on the vine that we may not see coming, and pain smokes a peace
pipe with loss. Do I insult again an old friend who won't speak?
Should I cry, " Mea culpa! " (assuage friends' hurt feelings) , or hint
I'll send packing a truth that my heart feels, gain friends with untruth?
Let me not ply this trade! Could my doing so cost me Soul's Wife?
What's the point, if forgiveness is absent? What meaning has Grace
if mistake with no ‘malice of forethought' means heart I can't win?
Is a rose misconstrued that brings harm to one's love with its thorn?

Let me not steel my pride should a friend say goodbye as if I
am the victim, all pain is their fault, their dismissal caprice!
Can I know their heart's truths, or they mine? Won't hypocrisy reek
if I claim to, are feelings wine's pedigree, even its tint?
Can a friendship ‘restrained' find it thrives in a cage or a booth?
Let me ‘speak' friends whose absence on most days still cuts like a knife!
One seems dead, fool for Trump, but loved yet! (Loves my ex! Filled void's place.)
And another loved too! (He thought ‘rhyme's song' judged ‘free verse' a Sin!)
Is there life that can fail, at love's leaving, to mourn child unborn?


Brian Johnston
10th of August in 2020


Poet's Notes:
I spent at least 4 hours trying to make revisions to this previously submitted simple poem to get its format the way I wanted. But programmers at PoemHunter of late seem asleep at their posts. There is no simple way to address long outstanding problems with the editor either.
For example:
1. "Mea Culpa, " adds a space between the comma and the quotation mark following it!
2. A parenthesis can add unwanted spaces too, as in "I complain (they ignore me) , but hope still exists this Sleeping Beauty will awake! "
3. Very frequently the edited changes to a poem will not appear in the exhibited poem at all though the edited features do appear still when I attempt to re-edit the poem.
4. And recently comments on a poem by other members do not attach to the poem at all or perhaps take days to appear, though they do seem to show up on the Manage Comments page!
5. For what conceivable reason does PoemHunter make the submission of problems or suggestions for improvements so difficult for the poets who are actually users and fans of this site?
6. The support for formatting a 'free verse" poem is almost nonexistent! What are you thinking?
7. And why in the world is the form "Rhyme" not included in your 'Form' list? "Syllabic Verse" is only an approximation of the word 'Rhyme! " A "Rhyme-Metered" should also be on the 'Form' list!
8. The only way I was finally able to publish this poem in a manner approximating how I wish it to appear, was to delete the original poem from the system completely, give it a different title, and sacrifice the comments and ratings given to the earlier version of the poem. Dear friends at PoemHunter, your potentially excellent site has a C- - editor! You don't need to dance to our tune, but I would pay to improve your hearing or bring your programmers back to work if they are on vacation!