Donations are essential to keep Write Out Loud going    

Narci

 

“If I dyed my hair red,” She cooed,

“The sun would be jealous,

and dip her fingers into herself.”

He felt the swish of her hair

as she crouched to stroke the lake;

a smudge of strawberry on his cheek.

 

She grated the moon’s reflection with her hands

and sighed,

“see how pale my arm is in the night”

and bit her hands together like a dove.

“Some...

Read and leave comments (7)

Also by Marianne Daniels:

The Burnt Bee | It felt like a long winter. | Merlot | Booklover | Cerebratorium |

Mumbling thoughts

Mumbling thoughts

Subtle corruption
A social disease
Lifes disruption
Manipulating good qualities
Saints to sinners
Good to bad
Low lifes to winners
The sane become mad
That is the world today
Something no one can explain
An unknown force makes a play
In what is slowly turning into a catastrophic chain
 

Read and leave comments (0)

Question 17

Question 17 on the census form “is left intentionally blank.”

Pull the other one: there was a question there once.

 

Do you surreptitiously pick your nose

when you think no one is looking?

Do you have trouble sleeping /

get up in the night at all hours,

worrying about things left undone,

or things you did, and shouldn’t have?

 

Are you happy in your job/ ...

Read and leave comments (15)

🌷(1)

intrusionCensusidentity

Inward Reasons

`

 

 

 

On a hand-hewn pedestal

imagination coalesced;

on milk-white face alight

eyes sparkle with a liquid flame.

 

Some build ivory towers,

these hands raw from driven labour,

on scratched cheeks a stricken eye

ransoms a sculpted orphan dream.

 

Across time and Middle Sea

another calloused hand chiselled;

laughter on a pine-white...

Read more …

PinocchioGalateaGeppettoPygmalionartartistpoetpoempoetry

A man after my own heart

An ‘I want U’ loveheart, I thought it was cute
at first, but now I have uncovered the truth
it wasn’t a gesture intended  to be sweet
instead you just saw me as something to eat
I was totally wrong to think it impressive
that’s you’d offer take me shopping for dresses
to think I’d end up in Topshop was just plain silly
you meant to say dressings and were thinking sweet chilli
yo...

Read and leave comments (3)

Learning To Read

Learning To Read

 

Words abandoned me

When I were at Primary

Didn’t make sense no more

Like when me Dad and me

Made up stories

And created crazy characters

Like Fezzypeg

Who me Dad said were a cat

That owned a record shop

And talked and walked on his hind legs

And though I couldn’t always keep in mind

Everything I was told at other times

A...

Read and leave comments (5)

Also by Gemma Lees:

Learning To Read |

Steak 'n' Blow-Job Day

(I don't often do political stuff)

 

 

I stood opposed to this in every way -

That’s Cameron’s threat to public holidays;

The essence of the Tory plan’s

To undermine the working man

And scrap one Labour first began

That’s in the month of May.

 

My views have changed though now, I have to say,

Once the explanation came my way;

The new alternative’s...

Read and leave comments (4)

Also by John Coopey:

Ken Dodd's Dad's Dog's Dead | I Dreamt You Were Little Again | The Wars of the Roses (Battle of Towton) | Mi Firstest Poems | Works of Art | Fix |

And what will be then?

 

What will be tomorrow?

Tomorrow will be April.

Hearts will be struck by the love arrow,

They will not be stable.

 

So, what to do now?

Is it just natures caprice?

Allow your feelings be somehow avowed!

Don’t let your feelings to crease!

 

Look for the truth in the gentleness of spring!

Ding, ding! Listen to the bells ring!

Forget the trouble...

Read and leave comments (1)

Also by Larisa Rzhepishevska:

SPRING | World Poetry Day | EVERY FRIDAY | Once Upon a Time In America | My Way | LIFE |

lovelife

Delivery

Oh look! here comes the postman

With letters in his hands.

I hope he's brought something for me -

More red elastic bands.

Read and leave comments (3)

Also by Dave Carr:

Natasha |

Anish and the Moon

There was a stone in the lake

And the moon in my hand

There was a stone in my hand

And the moon in the lake

I threw the stone and it became the moon

as it solidified in the water's space

Its mirror a world of twisting creatures,

all skin and fin; water bodies

 

I threw the moon and it became a stone

A pitted rough hewn chunk

as real as touch, its pres...

Read and leave comments (8)

moon shadow.MoonAnish Kapoor

Summer of Love

  a flashback

sun splattering us in technicolour,

stained with light

cheekbones aching,

currents thrumming

migraine hue at the edges

hearts beat faster

minds and eyes pinpoint

to infinite acuity

heads swell with

chests strain from

and laugh

Steps slapping

rhyming

heads back and

smiling.

Read and leave comments (4)

summerDrugslovelight

The Uninvited

Where's your mask baby?
You've come out from behind
that tarnished glass,
and your dying inside,
with your matchbox ticky tacky relationship,
and you pretend you don't want to run and hide.

So you play here.
Between the pages of the love
you never had,
always wanted,
but never had.
And you put on your strongest faces
trying to push me away.
Because I scare you.
Be...

Read and leave comments (1)

'New and invigorating ways to erode' - or 'the brain is impressively hard to control'

The brain is impressively hard to control
And I find that very comforting.

It is easy to worry about our masters
They only want the best for us.
So when I find that they are finding NeW aNd InViGoRaTiNg WaYs To ErOdE mE
I do not worry
I am unique
As it is me that allows them to do so
And unlike the lab rats and the fruit flies
We aren’t stuck in cages
We are free
To con...

Read and leave comments (7)

abstract surreal

Tricky Mickey

Mickey is a geezer with suitcases galore

With the kind of stuff you find inside your nans utility draw

Like a pair of garden shears that ain’t been used in years

A slightly rusty door handle and cotton buds for your ears

 

He flogs them down the market to tourists and the like

He’s Mickey to his mates but to the fuzz he’s known as Mike

The corner is his office where ...

Read and leave comments (2)

Also by Jack Pascoe:

The Big Society |

Up on the Roof (Strangeways)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By all accounts It was little more than a protest. By all accounts It was little more than a protest But all I saw was The slates been Tossed off the roof. All I could hear was Them crashing Onto the floor With a element of surprise And the buzz of the guards Who were running Around below Like headless bees. All I c...

Read and leave comments (9)

Also by Andy N:

Spring is Coming |

Job InterviewsStrangeways

Plum blossoms in snow

Plum blossoms in snow

 

Like a character from a Murakami story

Mr Nagata looks into the embers of his dying fire

And remembers.

 

Mr Nagata surveys the familiar images

And pulling the sack around his shoulders

Takes another sip of Ballantynes.

 

There is the girl who he tries to forget

Her black hair bobbed

Her white neck polished.

 

Mr Na...

Read and leave comments (10)

🌷(1)

Morton Arms Live- Guest Poet....Isobel!

Great poetry and acoustic music night- Tonight 8pm!

The Morton Arms pub- Pasture road- The Wirral

CH46 7TQ

Guest Poet

WOL and Wigan's finest- the Iridescent!

'Isobel'

 

Guest Musician the Soulful, the Sanguine, Liverpool's own

'Matt Reekie'

Open mic poetry -

A couple of first come first served musician slots too
Free Raffle-...

Read and leave comments (3)

one life

love is forever

so is life

one feeds the other

Read and leave comments (5)

lovefriendshiplife

Unemployment in Northern Ireland

I've written this about the rising unemployment in Northern Ireland and the severe consequences of it. This is what the future will look like if we don't do something about it:

Read and leave comments (0)

performancepoetryvideonorthern irelandunemployment

The Student

Ten vodka bottles line her window ledge

at various stages of emptiness.

A report of some sort clings to each neck

measuring degrees of drunkenness.

She studies alone, these experiments

must be free from external influence.

Last night she finally drank to the dregs

and threw her conclusions up over the bed.

This morning she's doubting the evidence;

scientific ...

Read and leave comments (7)

when that daylight hit us again (inspired by Gareth Writer-Davies' Junk poem)

them rattling dirty hours

when

night melted away

and

the sun boiled up

 

and we were

there

inside

ripped

torn

straight off the

bone

 

them days were

hard

but essential

deadly but

so on fire

 

them days were

slow and

vicious

new and

easy

 

we were doing something

inevitable

reaching ou...

Read and leave comments (3)

Also by David Mac:

The End of my Soul on Saturday Nights | After All The Fucking Shit Has Already Fucking Hit You | Buy Me Books, Buy Me Books | For You, Babe | The Night Mare | Why Do You Want This Job? | Our Poems | Someone’s always trying to take over the world | Life Bores Us All To Death |

No Jobs For A Man

 

I was the seventh child in a family of four,
the second born, do I need to say more?
Well perhaps I should fill in a few gaps,
or you could remain confused perhaps...

Yes I was the second boy born to my mother,
five girls came before me I did discover,
four boys in all were to follow my dad,
down to the dole queue, no jobs to be had.

No Jobs...

Read and leave comments (4)

Also by Dave Dunn:

Stars Would Gladly Cast Their Gleam | The Mortal Shore | I Miss You |

Poverty

Body Parts

Read more …

foxheart

Fox curls round

a rosequartz heart

in my garden.

 

Above her head

a rose is planted,

two dusky poppies

 

fresh from their pots.

Soon, around her heart

they will entwine

their roots.

 

In summer

we’ll remember her.

 

Read and leave comments (8)

Also by Ann Foxglove:

warningwolverine | on waking | museum diary part 2 | kingfisher stripe | little dog digging | rabbit | total immersion | angels in ealing |

A selection of words

These are my most recent poems. They don't feel as good as some of the stuff I wrote about a year ago but thought I would share on here to see what people think. I'll post my older stuff at some point as well.

 

I guess these are inspired by the pressures of life and the expectation to be successful. And not forgetting love. And how it is absent. Enjoy.

 

Oh WELL, OH well, At le...

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Martin Miles:

Trembling Hands |

How Can god Be When Spring Rains

Clamour of light

Aborted logic

From the severed objective

Plume of confusion

They call saviour.

 

I have read the book.

That standard manual

From which they hold it all

And I became bleach eyed

By it's discrepency.

 

There is nothing to say

But therefore.

And all our papered thoughts

Creased in the fold

Of their following.

 

...

Read and leave comments (6)

Also by Kealan Coady:

Health | Natural Disasters And Nuclear Foreplay | Interview. | Existentialullaby |

Old Alfie

 

OLD ALFIE

 

Poor old Alfie,

Was so un'ealthy,

'e never watched 'is 'ealth,

'e buys dog food,

For 'is doggy,

But 'e eats it all 'imself.

 

So 'is doggy,

'e gets 'ungry,

'an 'e eats Alfie's bed,

Now when Alfie,

Gets un'ealthy,

'e got nowhere to lay 'is 'ead.

(c)Ledger de la Bald

Read and leave comments (3)

Routine is death; Death is routine

Leave home eight fifty five arrive nine twenty six

Leave home eight fifty six arrive nine twenty seven

Leave home eight fifty seven arrive nine twenty eight

Leave home eight fifty eight arrive nine twenty nine

Leave home eight fifty nine arrive nine thirty

Leave home nine o'clock die in head-on smash

Leave home one minute past nine arrive ten thirty two

 

Delayed...

Read and leave comments (4)

Also by Dave Bradley:

Our secrets | No point; point | Sausages | The Poem |

Abstract Notions

There is an itch in these veins.

Blood once flowed to seek fairer lands.

Existence was not enough to tame us.

 

At edges of cliff tops, towards riverbeds we yearned,

reaching out towards Lincoln green pastures.

Were once we painted with primary colours.

 

Barefooted, engulfing dissected oxygen,

We mix strife and strain with acid rain.

No freedom in minds...

Read and leave comments (4)

Litany of Lovers

The first boy I kissed was a kind and courteous youth

With a motorbike and leather jacket he came across so smooth.

Our chaste late teenage romance seemed to feel like love

Til I left for study and he found someone else.

The second third and fourth have vanished without trace,

No memory remains; not a name nor a face.

The lips of this young lady always willingly upturned

...

Read and leave comments (0)

Home

The bed blankets greet me soon after I'm back,

The sweet-spicy smell of chai tea is coming from the kitchen,

The carpet cushions my footsteps when I awaken

To go into the sitting room

 

I nearly never attempted to fathom,

How some so despise being in one place,

A call: "Collect your thoughts and valuables,

And leave them in sight of only you."

 

A perfect...

Read and leave comments (2)

My book Air of Fall

Have a look at my book and any feedback appreciated , had a problem with the link but if you go to www.lulu.com and search air of fall will see it immediately

Read and leave comments (4)

poetryloveliferelationships

FLOUNDERING

 

FLOUNDERING

 

 

 

Unabating

memories

scathing

if they could fade

disappear

into deep twilight's shade

I'd find rest and relief

yet my waiting's in vain

 

skies are moving

clouds

gathering

grey

overwhelming

constantly hovering

they catch my eye

they leave me floundering

 

 

 

 

 

 

...

Read and leave comments (4)

clouds dark emotions waiting floundering twilight

alpha et omega

smoke signals

 

The coffee pot’s down

to grounds and dregs,

the cognac bottle’s

now the worse for wear.

He counts each crossing of the legs

each slow blink,

approving laugh;

tests the warmth of every smile,

notes each surreptitious lick of lip;

decodes the semaphore

of each flick of hair.

 

She feels the hours grow smaller,

sees the pa...

Read and leave comments (10)

Just Being Real

 

I can say I love you, I won’t ever hurt you.

We will never grow apart, fall apart, I’ll never break your heart.

I can tell you I will give you the world and more.

I can sing your praises till my throat gets sore.

I can say everyday will be better than the one before.

I can make you believe I will never walk out the door.

I can talk a load of crap if that’s what you...

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Paulyn Lloyd:

Bitch |

LoverealtruePaulyn Lloydbullshit

Cruel Dream

I could feel the pain
tearing through the fabric
of my body.
Red waves of tears crashed
upon the floor.
I screamed,
and my scream responded.
And life was placed within my arms.
Future shined in brilliant eyes,
and love held my heart.
But as fast as I could
breathe,
my baby was taken away.
Where I was in life,
I could not survive
nor care for another
without drown...

Read and leave comments (2)

Nagasaki Shadows

Watching the ocean cherryspit villages across the fields
And spew the wreckages of an age into the Kyoukai
Where the flotsam and the derelict are indiscernible
From the hoardings and the fabric of the cot, the house
The workstation and the supermarket fittings
I can’t help but think that
If the waves keep rolling, rolling
Rolling on
They would be strong enough
To wash away the...

Read and leave comments (9)

The One That Got Away

Look at me you little shit!

Why can't you accept the words

i want to fit, into the bowels of my history.

What is it you are trying to say?

 

Show me in words of more than one syllable

if you want my undivided attention,

don't grab me by the throat!

 

Tease me to please me.

Kiss me and whoosh my soul.

Fill me to thrill me,

caress me with rhythmic c...

Read and leave comments (5)

Teenage Kicks

 

 

Littered with dirty knickers surrounding the small single bed

Emulsified woodchip, singular layer, outlines the shape of the head

 

Snagged flannelette, stained cotton sheets; quills in the quilt hypodermically sharp

Secretions are smeared on the nest of this bedding; trails of tears are quickly absorbed

 

Borderland door is daubed in hot red, black marker pe...

Read and leave comments (10)

Also by Laura Taylor:

Cycle Haiku |

the perfect word

he raised himself

to see her face

you look – seraphic -

he said


she could not yet speak

she knew

the word was perfect

- gods and angels -


and still

the word whispers

through her mind

still




Cynthia Buell Thomas

Read and leave comments (9)

Also by Cynthia Buell Thomas:

Trilogy of Heroes | Tiny Talk |

It's all just words

Words on paper

Born: sign here

Words on paper

Love: Marriage: sign here

Words on paper

Careers: Paycheque: sign here

Words on paper

Tortured mind leads to me writing poetry

Words on paper

Death certificate

How insignificant

Words on paper

Read and leave comments (14)

Also by Melanie Coady:

Bastards | I Want to be you | goodbye | Goodbye Childhood | How Will I Feel Today? | How We Met | One Day | Pathetic | My Flower | It is the way it was | Silly Girl | Born Anyway | You | Beautiful You | The Rant Of A Mind Deserted |

Human Nature

How easily the mighty fall

no metal strong enough

to front the fury of this sea

no weight great enough

to stand its own ground

no house safe enough

a home to be

and yet the trees, stand still

rooted to the planet’s core

blinded to the fate of man

deaf to Nature’s angry roar

 

 

Bag the bodies

count the heads

tsunami tears

the walki...

Read and leave comments (20)

Also by Isobel:

Something Old, Something New |

Breakfast Roll

wake to a new

                                                            tsunami

                        out of

                                                wholewheat flakes

                                    towers fall

                                                buy bread

                        a bomb

                                    milk

        ...

Read and leave comments (8)

Uncle Ned

Yes I remember Uncle Ned, a short man stout and round.

Born and bred in Lancashire, where men like him are found.

Though manner bluff and hearty, and accent slow and thick,

His tack sharp mind was canny too, he didn’t miss a trick.

 

He owned a shop down Ashton way. His main job was to stock it

If any pennies  were found short, they weren`t from Ned`s own pocket!

Out...

Read and leave comments (18)

Dry

Gentlemen,
the toilet seat to lift,
you must try.
Keep Ladies Bums,
nice and dry.

Read and leave comments (7)

toilet seat dry up manners polite

THE UNCERTAIN NARCISSIST

 

 

The liquid thought

of girl on girl on girl

excites!

delights!

the straightest lad

in spite

of his misgivings

for similar forbidden

acts

he might attract

from other males.

 

For after rugger

a damp towel may plummet

revealing

appealing

tensed muscle

melting

the sternest resolve

with actions bold

he may

...

Read and leave comments (9)

Mr and Mrs

They walk around together

Never apart

Minds demented

From a broken heart

 

She was only thirteen

Grandaughter Lisa

When a paedophile

Left her to die

In a skip she was found

Gagged and bound

Her immature body

Tortured and wrecked

 

He sits in his cell

Looked after well

Three meals a day

And plenty to say

About his PRE-DICKAM...

Read and leave comments (5)

Sitting Safe In Ignorance Was the All That I Expected

                         Sitting Safe in Ignorance Was the All That I Expected

 

 

            It’s not that I’m not liked,

It’s not my haggard features that once were fair,

What it is I state is collusion in destroying integrity and Truth,

What it is you can’t accept is the life that I have lived,

For it pales your own existence into a nothingness of lies.

 

...

Read and leave comments (1)

Also by Noetic-fret!:

Down the Rabbit Hole |

Show more entries …

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Find out more Hide this message