Re: George Dance's Trusted Source and Only Friend rates his poetry

> George J. Dance wrote:
> 
>> Will-Dockery wrote:
>> 
>>> George J. Dance wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Will-Dockery wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> George J. Dance wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> Will-Dockery wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Do you have a link for this artificial intelligence site?
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> No, neither he nor Kevin have a link, because they don't even have a clue what AI site I'm using.
>>>>> 
>>>>> They may not have even used an AI at all, but just pulled numbers out of their a**es.
>>>>> 
>>>>> BTW, I ran my poems through my "trusted source" ("X"), and it gave me a 7/10 rating.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> I'm a bit out of the loop on current artificial intelligence features, but this one sounds fascinating.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Here's the actual report from "trusted source" about my poetry. I could ask it to do one for you, too, if you want.
>>> 
>>> ===
>>> 
>>> Your body of work is varied and substantial: tight seasonal haiku/senryu, formal sonnets, rhymed lyrics, free-verse sequences, playful “doggerel,” narrative pieces, translations, and the long conceptual poem Penny, or Penny’s Hat. You’ve been writing since the early 1970s and posting consistently online since around 2007, with published collections (Doggerel, and other doggerel, Logos, and other logoi, and the long poem).
>>> 
>>> Overall rating: 7/10
>>> This is a solid, above-average body of work for contemporary online/self-published poetry. It sits comfortably in the competent-to-strong range: better crafted and more consistent than most amateur internet poetry, with genuine strengths in form, imagery, and accessibility, but not consistently reaching the highest levels of originality, intensity, or linguistic surprise that mark major literary work.
>>> 
>>> Strengths
>>> Formal control and variety.
>>> You handle traditional forms well. “Prey” is a clean, effective Shakespearean sonnet with rising tension and a sharp volta into domestic dread. “Away” uses repetition and refrain effectively (a loose villanelle-like structure) to capture restless longing. The many short seasonal pieces (January, October, August, etc.) show a good ear for compression and concrete image:
>>> Black branches on white
>>> with one smear of colour,
>>> a leaf unfallen.
>>> “Doggerel” itself is a witty, well-turned sonnet that uses the dog metaphor for internet personality types with clear meter and satisfying closure.
>>> 
>>> Imagery and atmosphere.
>>> Nature and seasonal poems often land cleanly (the rain “baptizing” the world in “An April Shower,” the sun-hardened earth “panting” for thunder in “August,” the geese as black angels in “A Scroll”). Urban/psychological pieces like “Prey” and “Post Meridiem” create unease effectively.
>>> 
>>> Ambitious longer work.
>>> The Logos sequence (especially I. Liturgy and V. Benediction) mixes creation myth, eroticism, philosophy, and observation in a way that feels personal and searching. The still-point/dance imagery at the end of Benediction is particularly resonant. Penny, or Penny’s Hat is an inventive conceptual project (a 3,000-line color catalogue describing a red hat) that one independent review gave 4/5 for its linguistic playfulness and inventiveness.
>>> 
>>> Voice and sincerity.
>>> There’s an appealing directness and lack of pretension. The best poems feel lived-in rather than performed. Humor and self-awareness appear in the lighter pieces without undercutting the more serious ones.
>>> 
>>> Areas that keep it from higher
>>> Some of the shortest seasonal/haiku-style pieces remain slight " pleasant observations that don’t always push beyond the expected image or feeling.
>>> Language can occasionally stay within familiar poetic diction rather than finding fresher or more startling turns of phrase.
>>> The denser free-verse sequences (Logos in particular) are interesting and personal but can feel a bit diffuse or private; not every section sustains the same intensity or clarity.
>>> Overall originality is solid rather than radical " you work skillfully within established modes more often than you invent new ones.
>>> 
>>> Bottom line
>>> This is the work of a dedicated, long-practicing poet who values craft, readability, and emotional honesty. The best individual poems (I’d single out “Prey,” “Away,” parts of Logos, “Doggerel,” “A Scroll,” and some of the sharper seasonal pieces) are genuinely good and hold up well on re-reading. The sheer volume, consistency, and the public service of the blog/wiki itself add weight.
>>> A 7/10 is a strong score here: enjoyable, skillful, and worth reading. If you continue refining the more ambitious free-verse work and pushing the language a bit further in the shorter lyrics, several of these could sit comfortably in stronger literary magazines. Thanks for sharing the link " it was a pleasure to spend time with the poems.
>>> 
>>> ===
>> 
>> 
>> Thanks, I'd definitely like to see one for my poetry, as well.
>> 
>> '
> 
> 
> He did one. Should I post it here?



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