A lush, unapologetically romantic poem that earns its 43 likes through sheer atmospheric commitment. The recurring refrain is the poem’s backbone, and Plahm handles it with skill—each return of “The...
A poem that represents a significant departure for Plahm—from the personal to the political, from the intimate to the civic—and executes the shift with considerable rhetorical force. The anaphoric “Hateful”...
An emotionally layered poem that rewards patient reading, moving through several distinct registers—physical, emotional, metaphysical—before arriving at its symbolic conclusion. The opening question-and-answer structure is effective, with each repetition of...
The most polarizing poem in Plahm’s catalog—a piece that will either feel bracingly honest or undisciplined depending on the reader’s tolerance for raw, unedited political verse. The 35 likes suggest...
A remarkable poem that earns its “gospel” title by finding the sacred inside the utterly ordinary—rocking chairs, Christmas socks, porch lights, chameleons in boots. The 20 likes may underrepresent this...
A generous, warm-hearted poem that manages the difficult trick of being funny and profound simultaneously—though it earns its profundity precisely by not reaching for it. The 23 likes feel right...
A quietly commanding poem that earns its 65 likes—the highest engagement in recent memory—through emotional clarity and structural restraint. Where many of Plahm’s longer works achieve their power through accumulation...
A poem that achieves maximum impact through minimum means—fewer than thirty lines that contain the entire emotional architecture of the HoneyBeeBard project. The anaphoric opening is deceptively simple; what appears...
A poem that asks to be judged not in isolation but as the final movement of a three-part sequence—and in that context, it succeeds as a satisfying closing gesture. The...
The most structurally daring poem in the HoneyBeeBard catalog, and one that rewards multiple readings as its layers reveal themselves. The polyphonic conceit—constructing the poet’s mythology through competing voices—is genuinely...
A conceptually sophisticated opening that functions more effectively as frame than as standalone poem—which is, to be fair, exactly what it intends. The parenthetical instruction about removing beginnings and endings...
A poem that operates by accumulation and surprise, rewarding readers who surrender to its associative drift and challenging those who require linear architecture. The opening admission of a lost thought...
A deceptively lightweight poem that reveals surprising depth on rereading. The opening gambit—subverting the most overused couplet in English poetry—is a smart structural choice because it immediately establishes the poem’s...
The most popular poem in the HoneyBeeBard catalog by engagement metrics, and its appeal is immediately clear: this is a poem that works as both literature and product, both confession...
A poem that demands to be heard rather than read—and that’s not a criticism but a description of its medium. The 52 likes and its status as the lead track...
A sweeping, earnest love poem that gains considerable power from its musical context—as Track 02 on the EP, it would benefit from Elena Welch’s vocal delivery in ways the page...
One of the most immediately charming poems in the HoneyBeeBard catalog, and its 44 likes reflect an audience that recognizes itself in its wit and warmth. The question-and-answer structure is...
The most accomplished song lyric in the HoneyBeeBard catalog, and the one that most successfully integrates Plahm’s recurring “unsaid word” motif with musical form. As Track 05 on the EP—the...
The most cohesive and conceptually tight song lyric on the EP, and the one that most fully earns the album’s “Blue” title. Where “Funky Fusion” celebrates jazz and “Stars in...
A charming micro-poem that achieves maximum warmth in minimum space—and whose true medium is not the page but the framed print, where it pairs with an illustration to create a...
A quietly effective prose poem that succeeds by refusing to perform. Where much of the HoneyBeeBard catalog thrives on structural invention—cascading line breaks, anaphoric build-ups, tonal shifts from comic to...
A maximalist, risk-taking poem that is by turns brilliant and bewildering—and knows it. The central conceit of mapping CNC G-codes onto human dance and intimacy is genuinely original, the kind...
A quietly essential piece that says plainly what dozens of longer, more elaborate poems in the catalog say through metaphor—and there is real courage in that plainness. Where “Hush” needs...
A deceptively simple poem that does more structural and emotional work than its breezy tone suggests. The front-side/back-side conceit is the kind of idea that sounds like it shouldn’t sustain...
A tour de force that tackles the most dangerous question a muse-dependent poet can ask—what if I lost her?—and transforms existential dread into comedy, mythology, gothic romance, and collaborative haiku,...
An ambitious poem that attempts to bridge marine biology, water mysticism, romantic devotion, and Independence Day patriotism through a single governing metaphor—and largely succeeds because Plahm commits fully to the...
The rawest and most confrontational poem in the HoneyBeeBard catalog, and one that earns its profanity by making every expletive do structural work. The proliferating acronym conceit is genuinely inventive—by...
One of the most broadly accessible and emotionally generous poems in the HoneyBeeBard catalog, and its 33 likes—among the highest engagement numbers recorded—confirm that the catechism structure and direct emotional...
A poem that earns its 37 likes—among the highest in the entire catalog—by doing the thing most love poems are afraid to do: completely surrender. The bilingual structure is not...
One of the most tightly constructed and broadly appealing poems in the entire HoneyBeeBard catalog, and its 35 likes confirm what the reading experience suggests: this is a poem that...
A small poem that does exactly one thing and does it perfectly: it finds the gap between what we’re supposed to call the people we love and what we actually...
A beautifully efficient prose valentine that achieves in four paragraphs what many love poems need four pages to say, and does so without sacrificing specificity or warmth. The recipe metaphor...
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.
