Flaubert Eats Breakfast with His Mom

God is out walking his dog as over us
white bees hover like angels of clotted milk

Marvelous piece, Bill - and what a closing image. *

Oh, you! I started to smile as I read this concrete wonder and my smile just grew and grew. Nicely done, angel, nicely done. *

This is pretty delightful. I like it more every time I read it!

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"white bees hover like angels of clotted milk"
OMG!
Now I know what they mean when they say: "Holy Cow!"

I love how this is two poems as it is two conversations and two states of consciousness with a sudden new state that umbrellas them. Like two plants existing next two each other in the wild, together and apart. Or it could be three, four... *

(BTW, because of my browser, I thought it said in the notes that this was first published in Penthouse and I was like "did reality shift hard with the lunar eclipse?")

Flaubert in a country garden with his mum. Brilliant. *

Bill Yarrow. No one writes like this... no one. And that is just a fraction of its charm.

Good to see your work here again.

You are lovely people to comment so favorably! Thank you all. I've missed hearing from you. It feels very good to be back. I look forward to getting back to reading and commenting on your work too. Stay tuned.

I wrote this poem over three years ago. It was rejected by Cha, 32 Poems, The Cordite Review, Artichoke Haircut, and FRiGG. It took 18 months (and a lot of tinkering) to finally get picked up by Skidrow Penthouse and then another 9 months before publication. I provide these details because otherwise you might think that I pop out poems and boom the acceptances just billow in. Well, except for a couple of lucky exceptions, that's not been my experience. No matter how many rejections I get, I keep polishing, and I keep sending out. My patience "has grown deep like the rivers." TMI, probably! Sorry!

Enjoyed this very much,

Oh my. Glad I got around to this.*

Damn. This is sublime. Keep raising the bar.

p.s. Not TMI at all, I appreciate the background information and your humility. Thank you.

Yes *

Excellent, surprising, delicate, unusual and original stuff!

Yay! Bill's back! *

So clever and so lovely. That last image, "white bees." I love it. And thanks for posting the comment about rejections and rewriting. If you get rejections, the rest of us shouldn't feel badly about ours. *

Exceptional

God is out walking and Bill is out writing. All's well with the world. *

Wow, Bill! The sun is bleeding over the flowers and the last line of white bees like angels which has been mentioned. Yes, yes, all of it! And I appreciate the side bar note as I have been tinkering tinkering tinkering too. Great to see your work here again!

Now I see. Forgive the oversight. But this is very fine, the subtly rendered feeling and the rich, ironic diction and edged form. Formidable.

I saw all of the faves so I knew something good must be under the click...and WOOO! Definitely worth the wait for you and the click for us. *

Thank you, Sam, Joani, Carol, Jerry, J.A., Daniel, James, Gary, Gary, Misti, Christian, Darryl, Jake, Tina, Larissa, Beate, Emily, David, and Mathew! Wonderful comments, each of which made me smile. Every writer is grateful for his or her readers, but how privileged I am to have readers like you! I appreciate you all.

HA!

Surreal and ethereal yet grounded in the simple realities of everyday existence. A masterfully executed piece of work. Bravo!

"otherwise you might think that I pop out poems and boom the acceptances just billow in."

The thought never occurred to me.

;-)

Holy smokes. I'm right there, man. The joy of the music of this piece is crazy hypnotizing. *

God is out walking his dog as over us
white bees hover like angels of clotted milk

Thanks for reading and commenting, Roz, Sean, Zlatko, and Bud.

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Thank you, Larry.

Really, absolutely perfect. Astonishing.

Thanks, Steven. Appreciate your comment very much.

Gorgeous, thrilling language here - fantastic.

Thanks for reading and commenting, DJ.