I have no idea who Robert Randolph is, but judging from that quote, I'll take your word for it. Brevity is cool.

I think it's good, but could use a little work. My psychedelic drug experiences are limited, so I found that interesting. I think there were some moments where you tried to get a little too poetic. "Before The Drug erased the urge like an ocean wave washing footprints from the beach" - that line for example. It disrupts the momentum a little bit. Also, I have no idea where you are going with this story, which is both good and bad. Good, in that I want to keep reading, but I'm a fan of weirdne...

I like this. The crawl annoys me. It seems to be a way to divert attention away from actual news stories that matter. Brittney Spears going into rehab gets headlines, while the war in Iraq is downgraded to a rapidly-moving blurb at the bottom of the screen. This is how the government would like it, so the public doesn't have a chance to think. One suggestion I have is to talk less about yourself. You didn't actually do that much of it, but I've done a little music journalism and was always to...

This got off to kind of a slow start, but ended up being the funniest non-published work I've ever read. Right from the moment of "space shit," I was in actual stitches. The humor builds throughout the story, too. It reminds me of a classic 50s-style sci fi story, but with more than a few William Burroughs-twists, and a little Catch-22. I'm really impressed. The only recommendation I have is to maybe cut back a little on the intro and add a little more humor to it. Great job!

I have mixed feelings about this. I thought it started it really well, lost interest in the middle section, and became a little more intrigued near the end. Actually, many of the things that I thought you did a good job with in the beginning became a problem in the heavy dialog section. I thought the descriptions were good with nice metaphors and not an overabundance of poetic imagery. That began to change during the main character's conversation with the nymphomaniac. It became a little tedi...

It's not bad. It's fairly witty. It kind of reminds me of that Minnesota Viking boat cruise a few years ago. One complaint I have is that you imply in the first paragraph that some of the cocktail waitresses are prostitutes, but you don't go anywhere with it. That's an attention-grabbing introduction, so it would it be good if you elaborated on it more. Also, the narrator seems angry, but not quite angry enough to be compelling. I want to care what he thinks and says, but there's just not eno...

I think this is a helpful essay. My only complaints are that it could have been a little livelier and less like a group of facts thrown together. I also would have liked you to mention somewhere the importance of writing for yourself first and worry about getting published later. The art should always come before the marketing, in my opinion. Unless, of course, you write romance novels.

Please don't take this personally, but the poem reflects the poet's age. It's a little trite and the rhyme schme is predictibale. The only thing that can cure that is practice and life experience. You do have promise. You just need to keep after it. Good luck.