Donations are essential to keep Write Out Loud going    

Popular last 30 days

love poem depression death poetry life loss peace truth War

Popular last 12 months

love poetry life poem nature death hope war loss pain

Devour and Crunch

There once were two cannibals called Devour and Crunch,

Who were sat at a table demolishing their lunch.

Devour said,"I don't like my mother-in-law!"

"Never mind, " said Crunch, "just eat the veg."

Read and leave comments (1)

Also by hugh:

The frying pan test | Nicola and Fiona, Rest In Peace | Dear Marge |

Fish

The evening paper and the scuffers

brought revelation. Sammy wasn’t even

his name I discovered and the prayers  

I’d offered were misplaced and useless

or somebody else had stolen salvation.

He wore Ben Shermans, Doc Martens

and a Harrington jacket but a uniform  

isn’t a suit of armour and a five-inch blade

punctured his stuffing, left him clutching

at nothi...

Read and leave comments (3)

Also by Ray Miller:

Pareidolia | Crickets | Vogue |

THE RIGHT ROAD - sing gospel!

CHORUS >

O Lord lead me to the right road!  O Lord lead me to the right road

O Lord lead me to the right road...that's where I long to be

...................

I was a sinner man - yes sir-ee... I loved sin and sin loved me

We were thicker than flies could be - be wise and heed this warning

 

REPEAT CHORUS

The easy life was what I sought - everything that could be bought

A...

Read and leave comments (3)

Also by M.C. Newberry:

ROCHDALE AHOY! | HEARTBREAK ETCHED IN STONE | GRAVE WORDS | DARK AND LIGHT | THE MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES |

Don't....And You Won't...

 

Do not go for a walk

And aloud do not talk

As the thieves are all around

And you’ll easily be found.

 

Do not sin, you’ll get the AIDS

And will walk on the edge of blades.

 

Don’t eat nuts or something solid

As your teeth will be soon spoiled.

 

Don’t run quickly, you can fall,

Won’t be able to walk at all.

 

Do not sit, take care of...

Read and leave comments (3)

Also by Larisa Rzhepishevska:

A Long Life Road | An Ideal Husband | I Am Unique | That's My Odessa | Inspiration | My Elixir | How Many And How Few | ODESSA - MY PRINCIPESSA |

don't

Man U 2 Tottenham 3

(Where do all the shirts go when they've lost?)

 

I saw a dozen Man U shirts

Proudly on display

Worn by fellow gym members

In Selby yesterday;

I went again this morning

(Tottenham won away)

They must have all been in the wash

     -  Not a one today!

Read and leave comments (4)

Also by John Coopey:

The Week We Should Have Played The Lottery | Shandy Man | George Best |

Walk Through September and Make it to the Other Side

hear the sound of every rusted, blunted mace

as they greet and meet  through gravity’s lack of grace,

each at thirty two point two,

the fateful rate of this heaving season

 

where fruits misplace a summer’s trust to kiss the dirt

and, where they fall, corrode and stall the wheels of love

for those we find untouchable

 

while yet our hearts may still enmesh, b...

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Paul Sands:

The Dark Matters | Nada | Did You Hear Something? |

autumnfallmortalityunrequited love

Of Lilith and Anthony

 

Candle flame doth gently sway
Conjures the demon usually kept at bay
Lover’s felo de se shines bright as the moon
She knows the timing is far too soon

 

Shriek of hungry vixens surround
She runs to him on frozen ground
Barefoot beneath does not chill
the hunt to have the desired kill

 

He pulls heavy curtains tight
Blocks out the descending night
She claws ...

Read and leave comments (1)

Also by Katy Megan:

By the wayside | Dichotomy | Conditioning | Sea |

lovelove poetrylove poem

The Raceless Man

The Raceless

My body is just a shell that I wear,
quite how it looks I have scarcely a care,
for I have no sight to cause me any pain,
or to make me view you with any disdain.

I'm told I have a colour but what does that mean,
perhaps it's like the flavours that I taste in ice cream,
I like the taste of all of those I've ever yet tried,
vanilla, coffee or chocolate, they slide smoothly...

Read and leave comments (5)

Also by Dave Dunn:

No Perfect System | Lining The Pockets | Our Carefree Play | Night & Day |

humanityUnity

An Experiment!

Hi Everyone,

I haven't posted anything here for some time now; not through lack of interest - but simply time and inspiration. However, I am hoping that some of you might feel willing to help me with something that's very new - well, it is to me anyway. Those of you with whom I've conversed over these last few years will know that I have regularly been an advocate of freeing poetry from the...

Read and leave comments (7)

audio/visual experiment

AN END TO WAR

 

  An End to War

Man waged his final war and got it over with.

Border disputes were settled, cities bombed, military bases raided, jets shot down, people killed and nations pulverized.

At last it's over, the killing and guns silent.

What now in this quiet wasteland world?

Guns were out ammo, bullet factories bombed flat, soldiers dead.

Flowers grow on their grav...

Read and leave comments (2)

Also by NICK ARMBRISTER:

Old Skool | Met | TREASURE | Belgrade | My Darkness | New | NIGHT OUT | OUR STREET | UNTITLED |

an end of warwar is overdestruction then peace

Thunder

 

To allow the thunder to strike me

I must dismiss it

And retaliate

With silence not fear

 

Mustn’t let my ears fool my heart

Into fooling my head

 

I’ll let the vibration take me

For now

 

While the heat pushes the air

To my ears

From afar

Now that’s what I call Music

 

 

Read and leave comments (2)

Thunderlightningpoem

Cat Burglar

Window latch

Forced open

Intruder enters

Velvet curtains

Pushed aside

Silent shadow

Tight leather

Plastic gloves

Feeling direction

Careful footsteps

Creaking stairs

Bedroom door

Turning handle

Pulse racer

Mobile phone

No signal

Heavy breathing

Coming closer

Anxious moments

Body contact

Nervous grip

Holding on

...

Read and leave comments (0)

Pussy Prowler

Silken Threads

It was cold in Grandma's attic:

Like the chill of her last rest -

How I loved her! - and her dying

Left me sad, alone, depressed -

 

And the key that she left for me

To her wooden, japanned, chest

Now unlocked what was my portion:

Now, could my soul find its rest?....

 

In that chest, a vast profusion

Of many a gorgeous evening gown,

And the silke...

Read and leave comments (1)

Also by Dorinda MacDowell:

A Boy And His Dog | Lost Spring |

Three Point Seven Million

What is life worth?

 

We live and love.

We laugh and cry.

We scream and Shout and fight.

For what we believe is right

 

Is this what makes us whole?

 

He will never experience

the totality of humanity.

He will never understand

the reality of existence.

He will be all that he can Be

and will see

all that he can see.

 

Three poin...

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Nicky Burrows:

I Shared | What if..... |

Weekend Quest

Good morning campers

 Time for more ramblings from my mind, spewing forth on the page like a student at a house party. Something a bit more story based from me this time, Inspired by a recent trip to Berlin and a simply amazing club called Weekend. I think the poem tells you everything else you need to know.

 

Weekend Quest

Low lit square at 3AM
Carriage pulls up
Exchange m...

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Matt Tilke:

The Meeting |

BerlinWeekendClubbingMorning

The Yard

The weeds are cramped in;
boisterous fingers curved around
empty glass bottles
climbed with mildew, fudged with rain.
 
They shiver –
the frizzing of their hair
swamped with the near October;
a place where yellow sleeps in grey.
 
The gate is winced in tight;
the cord around the bolt,
wet raw. Over the wall
a  tre...

Read and leave comments (3)

Also by Marianne Daniels:

Snow Fox | A Speck of Dirt | Meadow Lane | Requiescat | Inanimate | Through the Parting Grey |

A Child Divides

A child divides the second

it is born

into infinite places.

 

All our usual selves

carry out the menial statures.

 

Some will die,

some will live forever.

 

Our multiversal persons

protect and extract

savagely and in the most

perfect, foremost differences.

 

A child divides

because man, woman,

beast and lover

 

breed in...

Read and leave comments (1)

Billy Joel's rejects

Billy Joel’s rejects

 

“Touch my taps of polished chrome”;

“I’ve just covered me in foam”;

“You’re my sticky honey comb”;

Good God - an instant pleasure dome.

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Tim Brenan:

Fast food in Sussex | Poems on 45 | Bickeigh |

Dear Facebook

A little poem that is very much not in my usual style!
 

Dear Facebook,

 We have known each other a long time now,
 and whilst I know you will always be there for me,
 it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you the following:
 We can no longer be together.

 It’s not you.
 It’s me.
 Honestly.

 I find I can’t keep away from you,
 and I have so much work to do t...

Read and leave comments (3)

poemfacebookhumourfunnybreakupletter

DAYS

Miserable grey, damp wet Days

Days shorter and winters Long

Long bleak dark Evenings

Evenings as black as pitch.

 

Bright frosty cold Mornings

Mornings glistening in the Sun

Sun shines cold as the Day

Day soon will become night.

 

Snow crisp and White

White flurries fall from the Sky

Sky as white as the Day

Day fades into a crisp evening.

...

Read and leave comments (0)

HAPPIEST ON HER BACK

my mother was a slut

 

who liked cute babies

and went on marches

to ban the bomb

 

her own mother

named her so

for leading men on

with her ration book stockings

and sooty eyes

 

I knew her

as a gentle woman

who never looked her father in the eye

nor my father

though she wasn't shy

 

we drew on the walls

and bed sheets t...

Read and leave comments (4)

'ThePoetry Spoke' September - Open floor & Guests. (NOTE - a one off change of venue tonight)

 

'ThePoetry Spoke'

Great poetry and acoustic music

This Tuesday - 25th September (Tonight!) - doors open 8pm

 

Egremont Ferry Hotel

Tobin Street

Wallasey- The Wirral

CH44 1DF (a stones throw over the Mersey from Liverpool)

Check us out in the gig guide...

 

Our Guest Poet

John Hulme

'Spiritually strong, yet humanly fragile'.  Philosophically ...

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Chris Co:

Wirral Ode Show Open Mic September- plus poetry filming. |

First Class Ticket.



The lonely years spent on his own,
his romantically barren existence.
The humdrum job, the pittance pay,
he never shows resistance.
Every week he clings to hope,
by the TV screen he’s praying.
Fourteen million to one, a so slim chance,
yet he thinks this is mine for the taking.

The machine it turns, the numbers drop,
he can’t believe what he’s seeing,
six in a row, ...

Read and leave comments (12)

moneyLennonlottery

FIRST CUT

FIRST CUT

 

The first cut is brutal

always deep with cold

blade tearing into timber

opening a pathway

for subtler strokes

slicing with sharpness,

carving strongly,

the base for intricate designs

on blocks gripped tightly

in the jaws of steel vices

 

The last cut is gentler

a loving after thought

adding a signature

to shaped and sha...

Read and leave comments (1)

Also by David Subacchi:

SEPTEMBER | CASTING LOTS |

PC

Walking side-ways

There is one scoffing,
high and winsome
even now about the town-
pointing, looking, directing traffic
this way, that way up and down-
then anointing,
lay the mantra-
cries- 'I love you'
I'm walking side-ways with a frown.

I feel the hem of your thinking...
only to have it tugged away...
only to have it tugged away...
 

words and foto T Carroll

revised

Read and leave comments (1)

Also by Tommy Carroll:

recovery |

A Small Bud

A small bud, withered

But just a few drops of rain

Beautiful flower.

 

 

I was inspired to write

this haiku after reading

Nigel Astell's poem/comment

on my poem "Despair".

Read and leave comments (3)

Also by Shirley Smothers:

Despair |

Haikuflowerrain

Who Ate All The Pies?

 

Hey, who ate all the pies?

I’m not saying you are fat

But the last three tarts are gone.

My tin’s empty, fancy that!

 

Say, who ate all the pies?

It is not that you are plump.

Someone’s had a midnight feast

And is asking for a thump!

 

Right, who ate all the pies?

Though you’re clearly not obese,

How can you tell such fibs?

I shall call ...

Read and leave comments (8)

Also by Lynn Dye:

Crescent Moon (Rewrite) | heritage sun | Can't Beat Experience | Greengage Anyone? | Crescent Moon |

Lucy Ford

Outside my door. ..............666 .............maybe the thief was right. ..............no new tricks. Poop!

Read and leave comments (0)

Household Gods

And in whatever houses a cat has died by a natural death, all those who dwell in this house shave their eyebrows only, but those in whose houses a dog has died shave their whole body and also their head.  The cats when they are dead are carried away to sacred buildings in the City of Bubastis, where after being embalmed they are buried - Herodotus

 

Somehow, we’ve acquired a statuette o...

Read and leave comments (0)

War Cry feat. Noetic-fret!

                                                Sahara April

 

 

     This little girl be no strange little girl,

She is a baby,

No stranger,

No strange inclinations

Born of colour – no prejudicial ideas

Taught from strange folk

With strange little minds for;

     She knows not the resentment of

A callous World.

 

     This little girl be no s...

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Noetic-fret!:

Feeling and Reason |

About your mother's face

 

About your mother’s face.

 

 

Now your memory has degraded,

a suspicion  that mother’s beauty was overestimated.

Youthful photographs, like early snaps of Marilyn,

offer no clues as to her face’s full potential.

The portrait celebrating her beauty’s climax in middle age

disfigured by melancholy.

 

Mother was ordinary until class mates informed

Y...

Read and leave comments (1)

Also by fiona sinclair:

Material Girls | Earning the house keeping | How to lose a friend |

Daydream

 

People who have a cushion with a hand sewn folk art owl on

Will at some point draw a moustache on their finger

They will place that finger under their nose and pose

For a photograph

 

The members of the BNP will not study philosophy

Since they are given the label ‘the far right’

They assume they have all the answers

 

Whether you cut carrots into batons...

Read and leave comments (4)

Mud

MUD

Mud is good,
It's dead good mud,
It's in me blood,
but where not understood,
us people of mud,
In the shadow of a gas tank and born on a mersey bank, i lived on cobbled streets dark and dank,
i played on a ship that sank, and for anything else i wouldnt thank....... you
On king street docks, girls in cheap frocks, curly locks, time tocks, the boat rocks,
The tanyard sme...

Read and leave comments (4)

Also by tina:

Garston town | justice for the 96 | Not plain Jane |

What Remains

This is how it starts.
The thinnest wisp of smoke in the stomach,
The tinniest jolt in time.
The heart, as yet, remains unmarked.

But a flame with strength beyond control has sparked
And lends weight to the smoke that rises to choke
the lungs and throat and whatever remains
Of beauty, or brains.

The heart, as yet, remains unmarked.

I stood there in that fire, burning with sin,
In a...

Read and leave comments (2)

lossmental healthremainsWhat

party piece

 

When I was first alone

I cut off all my hair

time turned upside down

sleeping in the day

sleepless all night long

world service mornings

warmed by the rayburn

with a cat for comfort.

 

For weeks my fingers were so cold.

I'd touch faces -

people would recoil

at my icy icy hands.

It was my party piece...

 

 

 

Read and leave comments (6)

Also by Ann Foxglove:

nimrod | gulls |

fall

rott  ing

birch es

 

like  to

bacc o

 

summ er

fall    ing

 

green now

yell      ow

 

so man

y  oaks

 

so  few

a corns

 

Read and leave comments (5)

autumn

Beryl's laugh

 

spills out of the cafe

bouncing off formica tables

wreathed in steam from pint-sized mugs of tea

rolls out across the concourse

to dance in autumn sunshine

prancing round the buses that will leave

from this place no-one’s heard of

to another one no-one knows

 

and the drivers smoking cigarettes

and the mothers who are barely more than girls

and ...

Read and leave comments (8)

PILGRIMAGE

 

PILGRIMAGE

 

We need to walk a pilgrims way,

Hard firing for we men of clay,

A palmers cross and scallop shell,

To close and clasp the gates of hell.

 

Celestial towers beyond each cloud,

The trumpets sounding clear and loud,

The golden footpath leading on,

Bright dreams eternal, all doubts gone.

 

But pilgrims roads have chasms deep,

Th...

Read and leave comments (2)

President Kennedy

President Kennedy, won’t you come back to me

Tell me all you know,

Tell me about Marilyn Monroe

 

Tell me about Oswald, Ruby and J Edgar Hoover,

The CIA and their secret manoeuvres

Tell me about Dealey Plaza and the Dallas motorcade

Tell me about Elm Street and your final wave

 

President Kennedy, won’t you come back to me

Tell me all you know,

Tell m...

Read and leave comments (0)

JFKJohn F kennedyMarilyn Monroe

The latest rev

As life's wheel rotates 
Sometimes it seems that all is lost,
Or that the newest, will be the greatest turn.
But, since we have to learn to fly
Before we ever crash and burn
See each move or generation ahead instead,
As simply the latest in an everlastingly long line of revolutions.

Read and leave comments (0)

SaturnSDaY

                                                                             

 

 

                                                         

                                                          

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Chris Jam:

Magnetic Blaise AlexiS | AdaM&eVe ting |

Garden Leaves.

I love the air at this time of night,

cool and forgiving upon my skin,

the scent of the garden leaves

and the heat of the day,

washed away by the soft gentle rain.

The birds have stopped their chattering,

Quiet for a time,

and the outline of the distant

building blurs for a while.

They say that ten is the healing hour,

when the angels listen to our prayers,

whisphe...

Read and leave comments (1)

WORDS OF PLAY

In Germany

I'm Herr

In Church 

I'm Hymn

In Letter

I'm Sir

In Birth  

I'm Twin.

 

In Rome 

I'm Italian

In Summer

I'm Hot

In Love

I'm Stallion

In Truth

I'm Not.

 

In Scotland 

I'm Jock

In Glasgow

I'm Born

In Whiskey

I'm Scotch

In Kilt 

I'm Worn.

 

In French 

I'm Revolution

In Paris...

Read and leave comments (5)

Vibrating in the unison of the scream of passion

 

Fire radiates in my eyes,

desire’s  claim is at stake,

on my bed the exuberant palm tree brightens my breasts

with the curly waves of your kisses

 

A prismatic encounter greeting  you with anxiety in my body

 

Beyond the fury of my skin

my breathing becomes dizzying,

tremulous moans the voice of sunset ,

and dresses me as Spring

 

Feline, sin assails me, wa...

Read and leave comments (1)

Also by Noris Roberts:

Not yet... |

Erotic

Current Promotions

Current Promotions

We’re pleased to announce the following promotions for our 24th September OpenMind event at Fuel Cafe Bar.

*2 for 1 entry for all OpenSpacers – bring a friend free!*Quote GERBIL on the door to be entered into a prize draw for free entry for yourself and a friend to our OpenMind Halloween Special at Fuel on 22nd October.

*All who share the event page for OpenMind...

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by OpenMind:

Awesome OpenMind news |

OpenMindSlamSeptemberOpenMind: Slamming SeptemberGERBILFuelPoetryMusicArtDanceTheatrePrize DrawRaffle

Smile and Laugh

You can work very hard and long-

you can give of your best always.

But - do you know what ?

people won't like you if you don't 'smile and laugh'.

 

You can take all the stress that comes your way-

you can take lot's of hardships and the low pay.

But - do you know what ?

people won't like you if you don't 'smile and laugh'.

 

Yes you can take hatred,racism...

Read and leave comments (2)

Also by Graham Robinson:

It Takes Courage |

PC

Pictures

The walls of life are closing in;

her world reduced to one room

covered in pictures that sometimes

 

jog memories, but more often

questions, like: ‘Who is that man?

I don’t know him.’

                      ‘That’s Dad, Mum.’

Read and leave comments (12)

Also by Greg Freeman:

Waiting for the next one |

Caroline

Caroline talked in her sleep last night.

She told a story about a cat.

“The cat sits amongst the flowers,” she said.

“The cat is happy.” And that

was the end of the story.

 

She sometimes sings in her sleep, too.

Murmurings of lullabies,

sugared lips slightly parting

mouthing the words to forgotten songs.

 

As she sleeps, tells stories and sings,

...

Read and leave comments (8)

The Violinist

 

The Violinist

 

Fingers moving to fragments of chords,

he tries to connect to sounds in his head,

but buried in sand, notes slip through his hands,

and the roar of the sea takes over.

 

Fingers strumming invisible strings,

he can’t understand what they’re doing.

His fingertips sense a tune he can’t hear,

and the naked silence takes over.

 

T...

Read and leave comments (1)

MAUREEN`S FRECKLES

 

(For the girl who thought that her freckles weren`t sexy)

 

 

Fellas don`t you sometimes speculate

Why it is only some girls freckulate?

Maureen now, to take a case,

Has many sprinkling her face.

She`s even got two streams- by eck,

A-trickling a-down her neck.

And –until the weather`s colder –

Niagras tumbling round each shoulder.

Two, more brav...

Read and leave comments (10)

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