A Stony Path: Lived and Imagined Troubles

I'm not sure if I can convey exactly how I felt after reading this. The only words I can really think of are: Thank you.

There are so many things I enjoyed in this -- in the short stories, in the poems, in the chapters -- that to list them all would take too long. But, as a frequent avoider of all things poetic (since I struggle to understand most of what it being said), it says something when I'm able to read every one of your poems and feel something. You write from the heart and there's something so personal and private about it that it resonates to the reader in a wonderful way. I actually cried when I read your poems regarding your son. And no poetry has ever had that affect on me before! Your Greek inspired poems were a delight, and I loved the contrasts you did in them.

The stories were excellent. I really have nothing to say on them. They were short, but they made the reader *feel* something, which is the most important thing. My favorite was 'Worms'.

You are truly an inspiration.
~Katya

I've read them all four times. This is a lovely collection, and though I can easily say I loved this one or that one, it is harder to say which I liked the best. I think Carpe Diem? Oh Really? did please me the most overall. I was also very fond of The Best Laid Plans, and the Pearl Bearer made me grin. Your Weevils were perfect in their Nashiness!
I wept openly a few times, and I imagine you know where. It was then that I felt like an intruder, like I should look away because I was watching something very private. Brave work, there. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Having read chaps 3-6 I wish that we could sit somewhere and have a nice, long conversation over a cup of coffee, or a glass of wine for that matter.
Your questions laced with Greek mythology and spiced up by everyday news events sound so interesting, especially, as you often leave the answers for the reader to decide. Having read some of Faust's Butterfly in the past I was pleased to find this kind of poetic depth, and was pleasantly surprised about the poems pertaining to the novel (which incidentally was one of my favourite pieces of writing on this site)

I cannot help but think that the tragic events in your life have given you wisdom and insight, and maybe that is worth more than a life of happiness and carefree thinking. I'm glad I can read your poems, they have stirred me. Ame

I love Allison's poem. It's lovely, and quite poignant.

I thought that I should celebrate your latest achievement by writing you a poem:

This one is for my buddy, Bill
Whose poetry gives us all a thrill.
HIs talent stretches far and wide
Words like his should never hide.
A gentle soul who loves to write
Bill's lastest work is quite alright.
To all of you who seek a treat,
Check out Bill's poems-they can't be beat!

It is hard not to like work that is so varied and interesting. Clearly a reflection of a lively imagination and , dare I say it, a butterfly mind which flits around so many different topics. I am not sure that I can absorb it all at one sitting, however.

Philip John

This is one of the best works I have discovered on Authonomy.

Story and poetry collections are not an easy sell, and the quality often seems uneven when it does, with some pieces not living up to the ones surrounding them. However, this is not the case for William Holt's "A Stony Path." I was mesmerized both by the light, seemingly easy, feel of his works and the gut punch so many of them provide by the end. This is apparent right away in the Flash Fiction and Drama section (which I loved completely; there was not a sour note throughout) and the wisely-chosen first selection "Incident in a Meadow." It was such a short piece, but said a ton to me about childhood nastiness, morality, human nature, and human interaction with nature. The contrast between the narrator and the friend was remarkable, and yet this short short is crafted so well that it feels simple. I loved it and had to share it with my wife right away (something I almost never do; no, actually, something I actually have never done with an Authonomy piece up until now.) "Worms," "Cynics," "The Yogi and the Scorpion"--all the works in this section were just as strong and just as compelling.

The poetry section, I am happy to say, meets the same high quality, with "Of Trees and E's," "Shooter," and "Found Pen" being favorites. It was neat to see Holt's more playful side in a lot of these poems, not that it wasn't there in the Flash Fiction, but that I somehow came away from the poetry with a completely different feeling.

Unfortunately, I only made my way through the zombie poems before other promised return reads pulled me away, but from these first two sections, I can say that this is one particular fiction and poetry collection that deserves every consideration for publication.

I will be back to read more, hopefully very soon. Until then, six stars and a backing. An easy choice on my part.

Daniel Rider
"Indian Summer"

The Yogi and the scorpion was a sweet and quaint piece. I enjoyed reading it. I think that this could be the first scene of a very interesting play. It could follow the tourists around different situations where they learn simple but poignant lessons encountering different religions at each stage. May i make a suggestion that it would go very well with the style that Bertolt Brecht used. I think that would suit the play very much.
As soon as I have space on my bookshelf I will be backing this as I love your poetry too.

I am Glad that you still capturing the poetry. Heartfelt; poem splash and don't give cash, great all of them.

i love the line "lest you deserve the mocking epitaph, here lies an optimist that made god laugh" i love the way your lines flow into one another. i think i overuse the term "flow" in comments on poetry but it is the best way i can think of to compliment a poet. i will deifinitely be reading alot more of this book.

i've just read your first poem and had to comment now. it is such a novel idea for a poem. i love the way you have fitted modern technology(the email) into a poem. the rhyme is tactfully done, usually i don't too much like rhyme in a poem but in this case it complemented the words perfectly. i will read on and let you know what i think of your other poems.

I'm not going to pretend to be objective here, as I am commenting on my father's book. However, I believe that, as a poet myself, I have enough objectivity to say that the poems in this volume are more than just heart felt. They are that, but that is only one part of poetry. As Dad taught me, growing up, poetry is a craft, and each poem in this volume has been sculpted, not simply gushed, which is a crucial distinction, as a number of writers in the 20th century fostered the notion that poetry should simply be "the first thing that comes into your head." That's fine, if you're a teenager. I often wrote that way as a teenager. But if you want to write lines that stay with readers, you have to engage both inspiration and intellect, which William Holt certainly does.

I have known many of these poems for years, and have several favorites. I am going to briefly analyze the one that has stayed with me since the first day I read it, at some point, when I was a teen writing (genuinely) angst filled poetry. This sonnet used to be titled, simply, "Legal Matters." While I wasn't mature enough yet to appreciate the full depth of emotion that was being conveyed, and understood nothing of the very skillful use of meter for effect, I still felt the bewilderment and despair in the fourteen lines my father had crafted to describe yet another absurd event in the utterly insane years following my brother Jim's death: staring at two bland, legal documents that required his signature for the sale of my brother Jim's motorcycle.

For whomever these documents are for, these papers are simply for filing in the same types of seeminly meaningles files that fill the drawers of endless file cabinets in government buildings. But for the narrator in the poem, they are one more representation of the familiar absurdity that had haunted our house for the last two years: "getting over" Jim's death. After all, he had been crushed in a car wreck only months after he learned to drive. This hateful fact is stated matter of factly, by the narrator, and yet this same narrator is simply staring at the papers rather than signing them. A careful reader might wonder why this is. And anyone who has suffered a terrible loss, and been faced with a similar mundane task, might venture an answer: signing the paper would make this brutal, unacceptable tragedy real. Signing that paper feels like signing Jim's death certificate, or even his death warrant; perhaps there is an irrational hope, within the narrator, that if he doesn't sign it, that Jim won't really be dead.

That's as far as I will go with analyzing "Legal Matters." I just wanted to hopefully provide a little illumination of what could be going on in the poem, simply on the level of meaning. I'm not going to even touch on the prosodic elements that reinforce the heavy sense of grief in the poem, but they are certainly there, and I think it would be wonderful if someone else were to take up that challenge.

There are many, many other poems in this growing collection that would bear fruit under the same scrutiny. I am extremely pleased to see that so many readers are enjoying this collection. I am also very impressed by the flash fiction; Dad has a way of creating individual scenes that serve as microcosms for characters who are just as frightening as the characters in a particularly grim Joyce Carol Oates short story. If i ever begin to write flash fiction, I will seek to emulate that.

Well, I hope this review is interesting to readers and edifying to you, Dad. You deserve it!

Jeff Holt

I really enjoyed these, William. It's quite an art to create concise 1-piece tales such as these - a bit like writing an article. It's not easy. The constraints of space make it all the more challenging and enjoyable. I shall continue to read on as you have intrigued me! Natalie (The Diary of John Crow)

Dear William Holt,
I echo the feelings of earlier reviewers like Kalya, Hellarthus, Zap, Jessica etc It is a pity that your literary talent has not lifted you to Editor's desk even after 20 months. I claim to be a poet, but only to rue that poetry is not popular nowadays as I have received 20 rejection slips from publishers and literary agents. If you find time, please read chapter 17 of my book (apart from 600 traditonal rhymed poems in my full book)
With great pleasure, today I have backed your book.
Emerld
Third World War .

Short stories are usually 2000 words. Mine grew to between six and eight thousand words. That's when I started writing novels. However, there are a couple of literary magazines that publish short-shorts as they are called. You can find them in the Writers Market. Your poems are more suited to newspapers rather than literary magazine and no,. no commercial magazine publishes poetry, not even the great poets writing today. It's getting to be a lost art.
My only advice is to try to make your stories longer, say 2000 words or more. Good luck with this. Three stars.

William,
Enigmatic would be the word to describe your collection of literary gems. Your persona shines through not only your poems but also through the essays in the beginning and the three chapters of fiction toward the end. You have mastered the art of double entendre, making your pieces worthy of rereads more than once, every visit a new enlightenment. The irony of the spider sepukku, the whodunnit riddle of the kestrel and the dead girl, the panning of old poets all served to stimulate and titillate. Thanks for sharing.

Kenneth Edward Lim
The North Korean

This book is utterly brilliant, poetic and praising, I am totally in my comfort chair, relaxed, smiling and at ease with your style of writing. Brilliant...well deserved I will be backing this book and rating many stars.

Would appreciate if you could return the comment and rating, also backing if genuinely enjoy Be The Human Sunshine Clare :)

I love poetry and those of yours I've read so far invoke so much emotion while remaining simplistic enough in style to be enjoyable to read!!! OH! And the reference to Splinker- haha!

Hello William, I thoroughly enjoyed your poems, and have highly stared you.
Although you probably wouldn't normally take a look at my book I would be thrilled if you would take a peak at my poems. There is one in each chapter.
With best wishes Karamak Faking it in France.

Your structure make your book reader-friendly. I love facet of emotions you conveyed

I don't normally read poetry or short stories but I have been reading here all weekend and needed a change.
This is the perfect book to dip in and out of. It would make a good companion for travellers who need a quick read on and off planes and trains etc.
It struck an ideal balance between the emotional and humourous, there is something for everyone here.
You are obviously a highly talented writer and I think this collection should be on sale!!
Full stars
Jayne

From what I've read so far I can tell you have an amazing talent for writing. Everything is clear, fluid, and easy to read. There are no errors that I noticed, and I truly enjoyed what I read. I'll be back to investigate further! Thanks a bunch.

It is difficult to impact others and say something profound with the limited amount of words in each of your pieces I read from chapters 2 and 3. And yet you manage to do it quite well. Every word was chosen carefully, and I turn away from each thinking and feeling, especially after the relaxed conversation about killing a husband.

Like you said, poetry does not have much of a market, and I too am struggling with that. But I can picture the short four-lined poems about particular people in an illustrated poetry book with quirky, character sketches of each person. Sometimes these groupings of silly poems sell!

Very nice, Mr. holt. Thank you.

-Cassandra Porter
Love, Death, or the Gift of Happiness

Would love to curl up with a lovely bound copy of these. Very accomplished. Thanks for sharing.

A fascinating mix , both in content and style. No doubt there is more where this comes from. Or put another way:

William Holt
Is no kind of dolt
He writes with great style
That stands out a mile

Regards

Philip John

William, it's been a long time since I've read poetry, it's not something I've previously enjoyed. Yours though, I loved. I picked and chose. Loved the clerihews (never heard of such a thing before) was moved to tears by the poems about Jim - my own son is the same age - and laughed out loud at the ones about Phoebe B. Peabody Beebe!

Six stars and thanks for showing me how good poetry can be.

Melanie
La Vie en Rosé

I read three poems.

Exposed: Insightful as well as evocative. Touching. Revealing. Poignantly intimate.

Seven haiku: I cried after reading #2. 'All healing leaves scars' (from #6) is so very wise.

Seven by seven by seven: Heartfelt. Hopeful.

William, thank you for sharing yourself so openly.

I'm not sure if I can convey exactly how I felt after reading this. The only words I can really think of are: Thank you.

There are so many things I enjoyed in this -- in the short stories, in the poems, in the chapters -- that to list them all would take too long. But, as a frequent avoider of all things poetic (since I struggle to understand most of what it being said), it says something when I'm able to read every one of your poems and feel something. You write from the heart and there's something so personal and private about it that it resonates to the reader in a wonderful way. I actually cried when I read your poems regarding your son. And no poetry has ever had that affect on me before! Your Greek inspired poems were a delight, and I loved the contrasts you did in them.

The stories were excellent. I really have nothing to say on them. They were short, but they made the reader *feel* something, which is the most important thing. My favorite was 'Worms'.

You are truly an inspiration.
~Katya

This is such a lovely eclectic mix.
I loved the opening Incident in a Meadow and so admire the range of your poems esp. Pearl Bearer to a Predator, Of Trees and E's and Halfhearted plug. Then I got caught up in worrying about how much reading I have to get in before I'm 78!
One of the secret treasures on Authonomy, I think.
Best,
Kate
The Licenser

An odd mix of stories and poems. I liked the spider story but many others felt to me as one dimensional in style, complexity, morals, characters, symbols and endings. The poetry is amusing but the rhyming feels forced with simple rhyme schemes such as aabbcc or ababcdcd, and too the point with little room for imagination to play.

I love your bits and pieces, Bill.

I have dipped and dived somewhat and found a number of treasures and nibbles. I thought the spider story at the very beginning was very well done and I wouldn't have gone with that person again either. This is a fun piece of work in parts and a poignant piece and then there is real sadness, I enjoy poetry - ergo I enjoyed your work.

I enjoyed the short stories; sparely writeen and effective Incident in a Meadow was beautifully done I thought.. Like you I enjoy writing flash fiction, very good for the style! At the moment I am just dipping into this and that like a hyperactive food taster. I will put the book on my watch list if that is all right and read more at my leisure.

I have only started to read your work and you have upset me and made me laugh in the space of ten minutes. ( yes, it took that long, I'm a slow reader.) Incident in the Meadow, I expected it to be short and sweet, instead it was short and horrific. We leave the spiders in our house alone, once we had one so big my husband said we'd have to put it on a lead and walk it. Cynics, I love this, In my mind it played out like a stage play set in the 1930's. I think the language used set it in that era for me. This would make a hilarious play. I look forward to reading more of your work. You are a very talented man. Six stars, backed and loved.
Best wishes,Olive.

Bill--I love it. Best wishes with it (even if it must be on Faust's coattails.

You are on my Watchlist and five stars (for now) and I want to get you up on the shelf at some point.

Jim Workman
Christopher Hitchens At Heaven

I am not quite sure how I stumbled upon you an your poetry...but what a delight! I would never pick up a book of poetry. I always got the "deep alter meaning" wrong in LIt 101. But, so many of yours appear, to me at least, to be straight forward. I really enjoy the subtle humor in some. Very enjoyable!

Hi William,

I read your first three short stories and I'm really impressed. I'll be reading more and leaving comments. I've never been good at writing short stories. Maybe I can learn from you. You're writing is amazing.

Susan/Greenleaf (Chameleon)

A STONY PATH
This is a book with a great combination of poems. The one about selling the motorbike was heartbreaking; we’ve all had to do that with something a loved one left behind. The funny ones are truly funny. I also read the chapter on flash fiction. The worm story is eerie. The one about killing a husband I liked best. The story made it sound so simple. Altogether, a good read. Highly rated and added to my shelf. Wanttobeawriter: Who Killed the President?

Lovely piece.

Dear Bill

Thank you for inviting me to browse your book of stories and poems today. It has been a moving experience, sitting here, reading about your life.

I especially liked your short stories, your poem "Trees and E's" and two of your autobiographical poems, "Exposed" and "Love and Fear Recollected in Tranquility". These last two poems say so much, with so few words, that I am at a loss to convey how wonderful they are. In small matters, greater ones are exposed and lovingly understood.

I am grateful that you have shared your world. Bless you.

Fran xx :-)

Bill - a writer's mind is not always a poet's mind. I struggle to find the keys, I try too hard with the hippocampus - if that's the part for speech - and forget that poets are more like musicians and painters. I've just let these wash over me like a spring tide on a Galway beach - not questioning or analysing, only allowing image and feeling to come in, before word and intellect get in the way. The one that got to me, even to a lump in my throat, was the 'Farewell to the Faculty' - those young spirits in their new-built, frail, confident little craft that we have to let go. I saw my grown up children there, heading off into their oceans. And the first butterfly poem, the horror and the beauty. I don't know if this is helpful or welcome, but as I say to my daughter [who IS a poet, and I never knew how to teach her to be one] - just, don't stop doing it.

Hi William,
I am not really a poetry fan... but I liked the Limericks.
Hope Fausts Butterfly does well... then this can fly too.
I shall put it on my shelf for a week and again... thanks for the Limericks.
Tom Hull
"King Arthur and the Secret of the Universe"

I am so glad that you posted in the Shameless Plugs. I LOVE your poetry! It is the sort that creates wonderful imagery and uses words beautifully. Please keep writing!

Having read chaps 3-6 I wish that we could sit somewhere and have a nice, long conversation over a cup of coffee, or a glass of wine for that matter.
Your questions laced with Greek mythology and spiced up by everyday news events sound so interesting, especially, as you often leave the answers for the reader to decide. Having read some of Faust's Butterfly in the past I was pleased to find this kind of poetic depth, and was pleasantly surprised about the poems pertaining to the novel (which incidentally was one of my favourite pieces of writing on this site)

I cannot help but think that the tragic events in your life have given you wisdom and insight, and maybe that is worth more than a life of happiness and carefree thinking. I'm glad I can read your poems, they have stirred me. Ame

Hi William

Will definitively have a nose through this as I have a few spaces on my book shelf and WL. Would you be so kind as to have a quick look at my book - The List. Feel free to leave a comment.
ta very much.

David J Baron

hi Bill, chap4

it was intersting to see how your poems developed and gained depth and layering. I don't want to write an essay, therefore I shall just make a couple of comments.
You may be surprised that I like Military Intelligence, but I value a strong beat, and this one keeps in step as if I was watching a film of actual soldiers marching. I admire words which can purvey the feeling of an image. The repetition is not overdone, and the mind of the soldier becomes somewhat tangible through the stances.

The Haikus are all well worth reading. I feel mostly drawn to No2, as I think that it follows the rules the closest, by giving an image of the season and nature in connection with life in general. This one also brings a thoroughly modern aspect of the car in the drive-way into the picture. I have so far not seen that done in such a skillful way. It should become an additional Haiku rule (just joking).

And then, words fail me over the poems for your son. Such feeling, such shock and devastation are brought onto the page that I can scarcely comment. You describe how it happened with such intimacy while still being totally removed as if you were light-years away. And I suppose that's how it is, as the person has been removed from our lives and taken somewhere unknown.
I watched my 14 year-old die in the streets after an accident, and I have never been able to voice that in writing other than in allegories and symbols. I admire your gift of poetic detachment in this matter.

And 7/7/7 was my favourite for the wrestling and hoping and wrestling again. Actually, that was the last poem I managed in this chapter, as my eye-sight was clouded by tears. Thank you, Bill, like-minded human. I shall return.

Ame

Hi William,
I read chapter 3 and the following are my favourites:

The Best Laid Plans - I feel gently rocked by the structure and strict adherance to rhythm and rhyme, making this a soothing read. You touch on the futility of telling others how to live and also refer to the 'mental veil'. This is a deep subject - the hypnotism of people until the veil gets lifted by hard reality, or maybe the 'snap' word which manages us to wake up. Sometimes years may pass before that happens, if it ever does. And the comparison with 'dopes' fits perfectly into the picture. We can be like under the influence of repetitive drug-abuse, unless there is some sort of alarm-clock which may interrupt the slumber.

You also mention the futility of placing oneself in the driving seat. It is not enough to simply wake up, we have to realise that a multitude of factors is running our lives, and making plans within that complicated map of future happenings, can be virtually impossible. Yet we try. Making plans is one of the crowned pedestals of human kind, where people worship in vain, and so many go wrong. Have we not learnt anything?
And then, a genius line - ' You'll not forget they stand on something crumbly'.

Not the sinking sands here, but a new image, which ties in perfectly with the metaphor of decay, history and the passage of time. The epitaph rounds it all up. We have to die, plans or no plans, and while most people would like to imagine that their lives are deserving of something great, the average fool has to contend himself with being laughed at. Making God as questionable and untangible as the laid out plans, by placing his name in a grave-stone quotation, is both sarcastic and very, very humorous, like throwing up a chess-board in the air when the game is about to be lost.


Divorce Imminent - a Triolet
With a few lines you capture the basics of marriage break-ups, being characterised by a lack of meaningful communication, and that is precisely what can happen after years of being familiar with each other. They don't talk any more. While the two still exchange words with each other they do not gain any answers, and frustration sets in. 'You've asked me that same question time and time again!' . . . 'And why didn't you answer it properly instead of avading the subject?'
One can feel the electricity crackling and while the bolt of lightning doesn't happen, the channels are blocked.
Male/female interaction has ceased to be a source of encouragement or positive energy. 'She' probably resents her role as sock-washer in charge of the household appliances, and he demands his right as the husband who's always from the beginning of time has had his wife doing these things for him. Both have stood on the same platform, but have taken different trains. And what has changed the most? The love is missing.
Instead, there are contradictions in the perception of time, presenting each with a certain level of irrationality. 'Why ask me that question?' 'Because you're making no sense. I demand a rational answer!' The wrangling over trivialities becomes a daily focal point, while the repetition of daily actions adds to the grinding down of respect for each other.
Here, it works like some Chinese water torture. And neither understand what's happening because they don't talk, they just winge. Brilliant, how you have portrayed this.

Poet and Horse - I loved the horse placing a question as a sign of awakening in him. He's not as closed to the possibility of interaction after munching the nice apple, and quite unexpectedly, seems to have opened up. Of course, that's what poets do. They open up pathways inside ourselves of a coherent animal body experience which would otherwise not be accessible.
'Who are you? Why did you do this?' These questions start to bubble up after satisfaction in the stomach area has been achieved, and the offer of repayment is a touching feature. They show the duality within us, and the plight of the human condition of wishing to reciprocate with each other. Here, animal nature and human mind and creativity find a level playing field.

I also liked of Trees and E's - It is more self-explanatory while keeping a steady beat and a succinct stream of thought-processes to inform the reader of the parameters for the comparison. Again, the passage of time is addressed here and holds a mirror to our faces. What have we become? How far have we strayed from nature to be slaves to this?

I thoroughly enjoyed the reads and shall come back for more! Ame

Wow, Mr. Holt! What a collection! I'm very impressed!

Ch. 4: "Putting it Off" ... I cringed when I read the lines, "the car, tearing against concrete, turning over, tossing him out and landing on him." My son -- my only son -- died just that way June 16, 2010. How can that loss ever be borne?

Joyce ~ Slave to Grace

I claim I don't understand or appreciate poetry, but this is fun -- yes, that's the word, so far anyway, in spite of the tragic spider to begin with.

Thanks, to you and to Leelah for recommending this.

Mrs. Job

Your little vignettes are chilling! My compliments! I have watchlisted you and may add you to my bookshelf soon.

Joyce ~ Slave to Grace

Ah What a relief. AT LAST poems that have poetic quality and not just short lines in a stack.
I think of ogden nash a lot when i read your short poems - and the longer too. Added to watchlist and starred with a 5 -
best of luck!
Leelah saachi, "When fear comes back to Love", non fiction
-(and i am going to write you a friend-request.)

only stay, wait, read
your poems, touching mind and heart.
'tis now for howling.

now howled out, loud,
your poems, touching mind and heart
stay wait read the more.

Harehound Haiku

Fascinating to see a lifetime's work sort of stitched-together in this form. I like the the spider thing.

Poetry's really not my thing, but these were easy and elegant reading. The couple of short fiction pieces were a good start. I was rather hoping something would happen to Lester; nasty person.

The verse abut the emails and trees made me laugh and the sonnet about your cat Victoria was delightful. Some of the other verses were very personal; it seemed that you gained solace from writing them and I would have hoped they helped at the time. Overall, Bill, a clever collection. I admire your skill with words.