Comment from lancellot

Exceptional

Okay, this is what I call a masterpiece. The setting, the words, the story all combined to make the reader feel and experience your tale. DAMN GOOD!

 Comment Written 27-Sep-2013

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reply by the author on 28-Sep-2013

Thanks very much, lancellot. I truly appreciate your kind words, as well as the generous rating...

Comment from mfowler

Excellent

I love your choice of background and style. The language style is also very suitable, gives it that blend of olde and scareee. The rhyme and rhythm work well and the narrative is well exposed in this format.

 Comment Written 27-Sep-2013

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reply by the author on 28-Sep-2013

Thanks so much, mfowler. I truly appreciate it!

Comment from Giddy Nielsen-Sweep

Excellent

Oh, I love your presentations, Dean. This one is no exception. the bird calls really add to it, especially being a Halloween poem about graveyards and ghosts and mysterious murders. Great rhyming, great story and great colours. Giddy

 Comment Written 27-Sep-2013

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reply by the author on 28-Sep-2013

Thanks very much, Giddy. No problems seeing it, was there? I just received a three-star rating because yeltel said the poem couldn't be seen. I've not haven't had any trouble, have you experienced any? Please let me know if you do...

reply by Giddy Nielsen-Sweep on 29-Sep-2013

Dean, I'm very aware of printing that is difficult to read. I usually just ignore it. But because of past criticisms, I always bold my printing and enlarge it to size 14. But in that wonderful red and black presentation of yours, I had no trouble at all. I'm surprised to hear you say there was a complaint. Sorry to hear that, Giddy

Comment from angelface2

Excellent

wow quite a scary Halloween scene. The music is kind of witchy too. don't go out into the cemetery at night! Maybe not even in the daytime. LOL Nice one. Miss Sally

 Comment Written 27-Sep-2013

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reply by the author on 28-Sep-2013

Thanks so much, Miss Sally. You're right, it's best not to venture into a cemetery at night, especially a reputedly haunted one...

Comment from Cry the Vile Rebel

Excellent

Your "quiet, quilted valley" started this off in deceptive lulling peacefulness.
Luckily, the savvy reader knows the paths your writings love to wander : )

You have the complete package here, a chilling tale, well told, ambiance and a back story. Good luck in the contest.

 Comment Written 27-Sep-2013

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reply by the author on 28-Sep-2013

Thanks very much, Cry. I appreciate it!

Comment from Evelyn Fort Stewart

Excellent

Wow,is rhis supposed to be a true story, or folklore? I believe in "spirits' good and bad. We never did much with Halloween as it is tied into satanic rituals. Good piece. Miss Evelyn is back at Hiram Shaddox - 620 Hospital Drive - Mountain Home, AR 72653 = Room 110 - Evelyn Stewart. God loves you and we do too.

 Comment Written 27-Sep-2013

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reply by the author on 28-Sep-2013

Thanks so much for your wonderful review, Janie. And thank you for the address, I'll be sending Miss Evelyn a get well card ASAP!

Thanks again, my friend.

Comment from GWHARGIS

Excellent

This was a really cool poem/story. I liked the style of this and the background music was slightly creepy. All the elements molded together to form a really great experience.

 Comment Written 27-Sep-2013

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reply by the author on 28-Sep-2013

Thanks so much, GWHARGIS. I am very pleased that you enjoyed this one...

Comment from Sagnik Das

Excellent

Dean, this is OUTSTANDING! Your works (as I had even stated earlier) possess Byronic overtones, fraught in elaborate style & magnanimity. This one bears no exception! You have rendered here, a haunting repository to the misadventures of this undaunted lad--& that too, with such vibrant narrative exuberance--as reminds me of a work by Walter De La Mare--'The Listeners' (whose Romantic fervor, I found, has been reverberated to a degree in your lines of verse):


'"Is there anybody there?" he said.
But no one descended to the Traveler;
No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
To that voice from the world of men...' -- see, so akin to your fervor! that same ambiguity; that same sense of premonition... & (hah!) I am getting impulsive!


Now, as regards the vitality of this extravaganza, (you take it from me), this is ONE OF A KIND - the employment of Medievalist imagery (akin to what one finds in the Middle-English Metrical Romances [if you have heard of them]), serves its desired intent well, with sublime dramatic overtones, & emphasis, which in turn add much to the vitality of the piece. In a word:- SENSATIONAL! (you don't require my affable wishes [for the contest] anyway; do you??... LOL.

 Comment Written 27-Sep-2013

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reply by the author on 28-Sep-2013

Coming from one who is a sincere as you seem to be, Sagnik, I've no doubts you truly feel this way. It's people such as yourself who inspire me to keep writing, keep reaching for that pinnacle of perfection. While I'll certainly never reach such a lofty pinnacle, I will always endeavor to do my utmost to inspire and entertain...

Thank you for your wonderful review and sincere compliments, my dear friend. They are greatly and most sincerely appreciated.

reply by Sagnik Das on 29-Sep-2013

Every word thereof is well-deserved. I detest men that fawn redundantly, & never practice the indisposition that I personally abhor...

Comment from Twilightspire

Excellent

Awesome! Sheer brilliance and the ending...hilarious! I love the flow, up, down, up, down...it's hypnotic. Truly original and uniquely fun. Totally something I would do!
-T.J.

 Comment Written 27-Sep-2013

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reply by the author on 27-Sep-2013

Thanks, Twi, and yeah, I can see you writing this poem. We do have similar styles, you and I, and certainly share the same love and mutual devotion to the horror genre...

Thanks again, my friend!

reply by Twilightspire on 27-Sep-2013

That too. I meant digging up graves to animate skeletons...lol

reply by the author on 27-Sep-2013

Haha, well, you can try it. Know any good witches in your area, heh-heh?

reply by Twilightspire on 27-Sep-2013

Does my wife count...heh heh. And now I'm a dead man

Comment from Joy Graham

Excellent

Wow! I love those old stories. They really spook me. I'm a total wimp when it comes to ghost stories. I'm reading your poem on my iPad and the writing was so small. Lucky for me I am able to make the screen show the letters larger. This is a very worthy entry for the Halloween poetry contest. Good luck to you :)

 Comment Written 27-Sep-2013

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reply by the author on 27-Sep-2013

Thanks. Joy. I appreciate the read & review. The same wish for this contest, I extend to you. Best of luck...