A poem that succeeds through its narrative structure and its willingness to interrogate its own premises. The dream-vision framework is ancient—Dante saw Beatrice, Petrarch saw Laura—and Plahm earns his place...
A poem whose argumentative structure gives it an unusual energy among Plahm’s love poems. The negation-affirmation pattern (“not weak… but strong,” “not cold… but warm”) creates a courtroom quality, as...
A poem that takes a genuine formal risk by building itself almost entirely from idioms and clichés—and then justifying that choice as its thesis. The cascade of gambling and danger...
The companion piece to “Again” and arguably the stronger version, thanks primarily to its title. “The Fallacy of Pursuit” is a sharper philosophical instrument than “Again”—it names the central paradox...
A well-constructed poem that earns its celestial conclusion through patient, incremental revelation. The journey-from-darkness-to-light structure is ancient and reliable, and Plahm handles it with enough specificity to avoid feeling generic:...
One of the most structurally inventive poems in the catalog. The anaphoric “If?” framework creates a rhythmic engine that drives the poem forward with the relentlessness of a catechism, and...
The "Taste of Honey" page features ratings of David's poems. The ratings are organized in batches from David's most recent poems at the front to his earliest submissions at the back. You can use the page number and date buttons below the boxed content to navigate. Recommended for use when browsing. You can also locate ratings for David's poems by visiting the Poetry Blog, selecting a poem and clicking on the "Ratings" tab. Recommended for use when reviewing specific poems.
