OVER AND OVER I'VE BEEN ASKED
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SMILE THAT USE TO BE RADIANT,
THE SMILE THAT USE TO MAKE MY EYES GLISSEN AND,
THE SMILE THAT USE TO BRING HOPE AND JOY AND LOVE

YOU ASK ME WHAT IS WRONG, AND MY RESPONSE IS MY EYES
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS LOOK CLOSE...BUT NOT TO CLOSE
YOU KNOW YOU WONT GET IN...ONLY AS FAR AS I LET YOU
THEN WHEN YOU GET CLOSE...I HAVE A TENDANCY TO RUN,
AND YOU KNOW I WILL HURT YOU AGAIN WHEN I PUSH YOU AWAY, THEN YOU ASK ABOUT MY SMILE AGAIN

I TRY BUT IT IS FORCED,
I JUST WANT TO RUN AND HIDE
THE EMPTINESS HAS OVERTAKEN MY SOUL
MY SMILE USE TO MEAN LIFE AND HAPPINESS
AND NOW THERE IS NOTHING BUT A SHELL.
DO YOU KNOW HOW TO BRING IT BACK, TO GIVE ME A GLIMPSE OF HOPE,
TO KNOW THE LOVE I ONCE I KNEW?
I NEED TO KNOW BECAUSE THE TEARS THAT NOW FEEL MY EYES WHERE THE SMILE ONCE EXISTED , THEY ARE STARTING TO SWELL.

Why do you only write in caps?
That is a bit annoying....

Yes, Patty, our Guest makes a good point here; the all-caps thing is an impediment to communication. When confronted with something written in all capital letters, the reader feels rather shouted-at. We used to have a fellow here who typed all his poems this way, and many people mentioned it; I observed it to be a problem. Shortly thereafter, and not entirely coincidentally, we instituted a default setting which overrode this problem, making all-caps posts impossible. I am not involved with the technical side of things here, but, I see that through our various recent upgrades this setting seems no longer to be in place.

I was pleased to notice this morning that not all of your poems are presented this way. I am confident that now you will know, and use just regular old letters up and down like the rest of us. The poetry itself is very good, and one hates for this quirk of capitals to distract from it in this way.

Thank you for your contributions, and I will assume now that all is understood and no feelings are hurt. We are happy to have you with us, new friend and fellow poet Patty.

Respect and solidarity,

+Stevie