A CAUTIONARY TALE - Reviews (Compiled from LYRIQ - Mensa Poetry Magazine)


How long did it take you to write this, Elwood? I admire anyone who can sustain an idea for 52 verses! Very funny!   (E. Dent)
(Actually it's now 79 verses - I extended it after submitting it to LYRIQ - PAW)

Elwood Herring' "Cautionary Tale" sustains the joke for a long long time (reminiscent of " 'Twas in the month of Liverpool, the city of July". Does Elwood know Valerie from schooldays? I ask myself.   (AG)

My 2nd vote goes to Elwood Herring's "A Cautionary Tale". It's just intriguing. In a poem of this sort prosody is not important, but here it's perfect. This poem reminds me of the "Snark", but also of the "Ancient Mariner" and I want to read it and read it.   (V. Rainsford)

FIRST: "A Cautionary Tale" by Elwood Herring. Although almost put off by the length of this work, once I had taken a deep breath and dived into it, there was no question of my surfacing until the last line was reached. There is no need for Elwood's apologies for the length of the poem. It is absorbing and very amusing all through. A dream work, indeed. I only wish my imagining could stretch to writing something as whimsical as this.   (B. Bovington)

1st. A Cautionary Tale - Elwood Herring. I confess I (usually) only read 3 or 4 verses then skim unless those verses get my attention. I read this poem completely. The little nonsense gems would not allow me to skim.  (B. Cooper)