Wow, this was a wonderful and powerful poem @owasco. And an amazingly competent ballad given that you have never written in this form before! The ballad How To Say The Word Kiss engenders pathos and a sadness, that touches my heart personally as I was the only person by my grandfather's bed side as he passed and heard him utter his last words. He, unlike your father, remained very bitter until the end and his final words were of that mindset.

Your poem shows how many people change and mellow in old age with a life well lived, and this often manifests in the most profound realizations at that transition between life and what comes after.

Thank you for such an accomplished and emotionally vulnerable ballad @owasco. It means so much to me to me to see great poetry like this posted to The Ink Well, and knowing that my prompt even had the smallest part in inspiring someone to challenge themselves as a writer makes my heart soar.

From a technical stand point this poem has many examples of modern poetic devices that show craft and artistry:

Alliteration, in-line rhymes and half rhymes:

scraps of napkins

He told a tale I’d never imagined
of longings, lust and love

a tapestry of nearly never-told stories

some of us wear them well

Using modern devices like this is the calling card of a contemporary poet writing in an ancient form. A meeting of two styles and times, expressed through poetry. This is what I strive for when writing in form, and what modern published poets do so well, bringing new poetic devices to the constraints of form. You do a masterful job of the ballad, especially given you write almost exclusively in free verse 🙂

As a freestyle poet, I took some liberties with the ballad form, I know. I hope you will forgive those. They work for me.

No worries, so did I with the poem I used as an example in the prompt post.

But when the prompt was (finally) posted, I was a bit crestfallen. “What? I have to write a ballad?!” I had never done any such thing and at first it seemed an unwelcome imposition on my usual freestyle of writing poetry.

Ha ha, I am a cruel taskmaster ;-) But the form was optional, but in your case, I think that you have made something amazing and unique through challenging yourself with the form of the ballad.

I wrote something very unlike anything I have ever written before. And I like it. I am grateful for that opportunity. Thanks so much for reading my work.

I'm so glad you got a lot out of it.

In conclusion I would just like to say that your final verses were sublime...

“All moments of chaos eventually settle
into islands of exquisite calm and bliss.”
“All that matters is the k
when you say the word kiss.”

Wisdom that almost comes from a place transcendental, poignant and cathartic.

This is @raj808 commenting from the community account.

Thanks again for such an accomplished and excellent ballad 🙂