On recently meeting with a poet, who happened to do a talk for one of my esol classes trying to break down the boundaries of language through the medium of poetry, he asked me. Do you write poetry? I automatically said yes. Well, I used to nearly twenty years ago and before I had four children and a life full of chaos and stuff! In the midst of the chaos and stuff, I sat down and I wrote about stuff.

Stuff!

It's all just stuff!
Too much of life, is stuff.
Problems are caused by stuff.
But what is it?
It's just stuff.

Kids stuff! My stuff! Your stuff!
We shout about stuff.
Stuff that's in the way.
Stuff's here! Stuff's there!
It's just stuff.

Try and clear the stuff!
But it doesn't go away,
It just comes back another day!
It's just stuff.
And its here to stay.

When things get too much for me I often feel like saying 'Stuff Off'

Stuff can get you down joan, I know that, and not just material stuff. It's all the other stuff that can get on top of you, that we just seem to collect through life, we are biological magnets to stuff! oh that almost sounded philosophical. I feel like saying the same thing sometimes when things get hard, and although we deal with stuff, and sort stuff out, there's always more stuff round the corner. Some of it new, some of it the same old stuff. Now I just think about it as 'stuff'. Good stuff, bad stuff, and that stuff that falls somewhere in the middle, that creates a nice balance to life between the good stuff and the bad stuff.

Yes - I think you've hit the stuff on head, so to speak. It would be interesting to see how far we could take this. Far too much stuff in everyone's lives. We need to say no to everything. No to your proliferation of wheelie bins, no to your bogus charity sacks, no to people asking you the time, no to the milkman, no to the kids asking for pocket money, no to aged parents asking you to mow their lawn, no to alarm clock, no to clocks full stop, no to the oven, no to the washing up, no to everything connected to domestic drudgery, no to the stuff that collects in your belly button...
Being serious for just one moment - it must be very hard for you bringing up 4 children - most people struggle with just one husband. I do sympathise - particularly if you have a husband also.

On that note I do have have husband also and have somehow managed to do a teaching degree (almost have - 2 hours left to do - so won't graduate till next year, but still did it - stuff sort of got in the way). That's a different story though.

However, I do totally agree with what you are saying. Ah, but with the exception of wheelie bins. Where the hell would we put all our 'stuff' that we throw away and disregard! I must admit with all the 'stuff' round my house I have been a regular of the charity shop and I am really sorry to say it hasn't been in the charity of others. It's been in the charity of me. How many people give to charity shops for the simple reason that they need to get rid of some of the stuff that surrounds them.

Don't get me wrong, love charity shops, buy books, kids stuff, and god knows what from them. Probably why I have so much stuff!

Bogus charity sacks can ......... (input your own word there by the way)! I would rather lug a few bags down the road than leave it outside the door.

Hello Nicky! This is John off the teaching course. Nice to see you're writing poetry.

ha! funny that you spotted me. Thought I may try going incognito after speaking to Julian, and saying ' I recognise your name, do you know John Togher?' He came to do a talk at one of my classes at BRASS where I teach asylum seekers and refugees. I used to write years ago. Critical analysis required! what do you think about stuff? (won't be upset if you rip it to shreds).

Hello Nicky and welcome to wol.
Stuff is the thing that demons are made of!

ps. if you can get a comment or a review of your poem from John Togher on this website, you'll most likely have all the stuff you need to write another poem. (in a positive sense of course.)

Unless you are really the sensitive type who invites it then seemingly can't take it when you answer back asking for a more detailed explanation of the changes necessary for it to have a greater impact on the reader.
But then again i see you've studied so perhaps you're strong enough and deserve to be here.

I like your ''Stuff''.

Hi Nicky

Welcome to WOL. I liked Stuff on the page and it would probably perform well too. It zeroes in nicely on a common anxious-making human experience in a way that leaves a smile on the face.

Reminds me of a favourite quote "I live with the illusion that if I work long and hard enough I will somehow get on top of things and life can be sorted out! I have found it so hard to live within the mysteries of mess - mess as the context of transformation" Donald Eadie

I'm involved with Asylum Link Merseyside. Where do you teach asylum seekers?

I'd like to pick up on your point Janet. I don't think you need to have studied to deserve to be on this site. I have come across at least one person who did not excell academically but I consider to be the best poet on the site. I think it is an advantage to have read different styles and have a knowledge of past poets. I for one regret that I studied French - and no french poets at that. My knowledge of English Literature is derived from O and A levels and there are huge gaps. I would like to fill them in but career/family now job just get in the way. Stuff, stuff and more stuff. I often feel my ignorance - but I don't think it undermines me as a poet. Poetry comes from within - that love of language we all share - regardless of background, experience or education.

My studies - Geography 'O' level 40'odd years ago.
Good? Bad?
I just write stuff

Keep on writing stuff

Hi Janet, thanks for your welcome.

you are so very right that stuff is thing thing that demons are made out of. or more to the point, you could say that we create demons out of stuff, and most of it's everyday stuff.

I'm trying to work out how to get on the 'poets' blogs', my computer must be controlled by demons at the moment. the supernatural world of technology haunts me everyday!

If you are computer psychic, please help.

ps. I don't mind criticism (in a constructive way - of course). I wrote about stuff because I was so fed up of all the 'stuff', and it just captured fo me that moment in time and how I felt at that moment in time. I haven't re-worked it or corrected it. I have a horrible habit of overthinking things and thought it was about time I kept things simple. For a change.

Isobel, you have hit the head on the nail, or the nail on the head, doesn't matter how we say it.

I was an A line student, but got forced in to 'academia' by my parents because they thought I was clever. 'Eldest child, she will do well in life and make us proud, fullfill all that we never got chance to do'. I wanted to be an artist, I wanted to paint pictures and write books and act and sing (god forbid that you hear me now). What does it matter how many qualifications you have, how many o'levels or gcse's? When I finally went to Uni, I majored in philosophy because I enjoyed it and I felt it.

The most important thing that I have learned over the past twenty years, is that we all need some way to express ourselves.

Question is though, does the heart rule the mind or does the mind rule the heart?

Hi Nicky, sounds like we're sort of soul-mates along with Isobel.

I too think too much and my heart definitely rules my head which leads to all kinds of heartache. Some of it admittedly of my own making but that's who i am.
As for being computer psychic. Definitelt not though i do have a natural gift as a psychic medium which has nothing to do with my ability to get into the workings of this website such as blogs etc...
I had to discover how to do all that for myself. :-)

To get into blogs:- when you log in look at the top right corner of the page and click on ''make blog entry.''
It brings up a box where you can type in your poem or other post or if you can figure out how to copy and paste from your files, sometimes it allows for that too. Doesn't work for me though.
Some of the top bar links don't work either but you do have a choice of letter size and text style. The text style doesn't always transfer to the blogs as you entered it but it will go in.
Give it a try. It's simple enough when kept simple. :-)

Hope you enjoy your time on here as much as i do.
Janet.x

Hi Dave, I teach asylum seekers and refugees at Victoria Hall in Bolton. I was dropped in there a few months ago by chance because I hadn't been able to finish my PGDE work based experience at Bolton Community College.

Landed luckily in a zone where I was comfortable, I taught in North Cyprus five years ago and worked with asylum seekers and refugees for WHO in Nicosia.

Unfotunately, did my teaching diploma in English not in Esol. My group is fantastic though and I am going to continue voluntary. The scheme of work for the next four weeks is poetry and culture. Which is all the fault (fortunately may I add) of Julian Jordan.

Hope I've not bitten off more than I can chew, so to speak. I'm trying to decipher and find poems from Iran, Iraq, korea, sudan, somalia, palastine and pakistan. Want a gender balance also and female poets are hard to find.

Isobel- thanks for your support. It's just me having an insecure moment. I feel so inadequate with my writing skills sometimes which has a detrimental effect on my whole being.
I know that my efforts to write half decent poetry are appreciated most of the time as indeed i appreciate the efforts of those who want me to do well.
I just get frustrated when i don't understand what is wrong with it.
My English language and literature was excellent at shool. Unfortunately that was a long time ago. If the day ever comes when i stop enjoying writing, it will be the day i stop writing...
Stuff!

Janet.x

Nicky- do you know Nabila Suriya?
If you contact her i'm sure she'd be happy to help you with poetry from Pakistan and might have knowledge of others too.
Look up her profile on here.

Janet, can I read your poem. I haven't t got onto the poets' blogs yet so don't know where to find it. I know I'm new here, but would like to read it, and i'll send you 'glass eyes' someting I wrote last night.

Hi Nicky

The group that I know of in Greater Manchester that is doing most with asylum seekers and refugees is Boaz Trust http://boaztrust.org.uk/
but I don't think they do ESOL.

At ALM, http://www.asylumlink.org.uk/
there have been ESOL classes for 5 maybe 6 years. Liverpool Community College did them for several years while our volunteers did others. But then funding was cut and we're back to just the volunteer classes. If you want to visit, drop me an email and I'll explain the set-up a bit more. ALM is a drop-in centre and there are lots of opportunities for getting alongside people, but we are finding that these days they move through quicker!!

Have you run across Asylum Seeking Daleks, Poem of the Month for February. Very funny and very To The Point.

Hi Nicky'
not sure which poem of mine you are talking about.
To read the poet blogs all you need to do is click on ''poets blogs'' from the list across the screen just below where it says ''Writeoutloud.

If you want to read other poets profile poems, all you need is to click on poets showcase and there is a list of every poet on here. Click on their name and it opens their profile.

Janet.x

It comes from having a passion to express yourself artistically...

And I also completely agree with what Isobel wrote in that
'Poetry comes from within - that love of language we all share - regardless of background, experience or education.'

Hi janet, you posted a comment to Isobel earlier on this topic, maybe I read what you said wrong, if so I'm sorry but you never need to be frustrated or insecure about writing anything. It's a feeling and you just capture the moment. I have started writing again and to be honest I am insecure about what I write because even if it's something trivial, I am still baring my so called soul to the rest of the world.

Isobel, poetry does come from the heart but if you can write poetry, then you are on a par with the greatest minds of all time. The emotion is there, it starts as a ball in your stomach, then it makes your chest swell, and your mind which is a part of that huge matter of stuff that we have in our head takes over and converts that feeling into words.

the greatest minds in the world basically had an idea, inventors, artists, poets, even scientists and mathematicans. Even they had to put their feeling into words, form or numbers.

francine, I agree with you one hundred and twenty percent. Where would we be without without that ability to express ourselves?

Hi Nicky,
there's no need to apologize. I'd be happy for you to read any of my stuff regardless of whether it is poetry or not.
I would love to read your poem 'glass eyes.'' so please do send it to me or even better why not share it with all of us.

I don't actually mind if people think i'm baring my soul. I have nothing to hide. At least i don't think i have. I suppose most of us has some things we wouldn't share to the world but when something is written in first person and even when it is personified, there will always be someone who will interpret it as being a personal experience of the writer.
That's the chance we take when posting a poem on the www.

Hi janet, think that's the bit that I can safely say what most of us will agree on (i hope - I'm going through one of those phases that I feel I always get things wrong) that poety can be a window to the soul, the heart and the mind. What we feel, what we think and what we are. I will share 'Glass Eyes'. I haven't worked on it so feel free to comment, anyone, please. It's different than 'stuff' even though 'stuff' is not just about stuff, but for me about the stuff of life that surrounds us everyday, and the stuff that relationships are made of, the stuff that's always in our heads.

Glass Eyes

He keeps me safe, the one that sleeps,
on my bed.
Every day. Every night.
His big glass eyes, stare through me.
At times I think he smiles.
I wonder why.

He lies near me every night,
I touch his nose, I think it's wet,
but it's not it,s dry.
He keeps watch over me
I know, he can see through me
with those glass eyes.

When I move, they move.
Sometimes it's eerie.
It makes me wonder what he can see
with those glass eyes
that stare at me.

He sees me, I know he does.
Is he really there? I wonder.
Those amber eyes.
That piercing glaze.
I end up searching through a maze
of what one can only say,
are reasons grounded in philosophy.
Or faith that's lost it's way.

I'll never find the answers,
but, I know, i'll always try,
and always ask the reasons why,
he watches me.
Every day. Every night,
With those eyes that see.
those amber eyes
so warm and friendly,
protecting me.

Must remember to check the discussion threads more often - I seem to have missed so much on this thread. I think my actual words were 'poetry comes from within' not poetry comes from the heart. The two, I think are different. A large number of people do manage to write excellent poetry that doesn't come from the heart - more often than not they are men but not always. Check out Sophie's (think it's Hall) profile page. She wrote a poem about an orange which is brilliant and without an emotion in sight. That is not to belittle people who write from the heart (a mistake often made). I love to be emotionally engaged in a poem and to write from the heart - there is room for all styles on this site. As I have said before, poetry doesn't have to be perfect for me - I like it to be subtle - but first and foremost it must engage me in some way and emotionally sterile poetry often doesn't unless it is quirky and offers me that x factor.
Glad to see you enjoying the site Niccola - I enjoyed reading your stuff.

Thanks for your comments Isobel. I do enjoy this site, it gives me the chance to express myself and just be me, time out from charging round after four rugrats (don't get me wrong I adore them all - just not the endless washing, cleaning and cooking), five including my husband, whom I also adore. Not to mention the teacher training that I am trying to complete - better late than never I suppose. I am not complaining I enjoy being busy, but I also am enjoying that little part of me that I have found, that is sacred to me.

Speaking of female poets, I am working with the asylum seekers and refugees at present on poetry, after the talk that Julian did last week, trying to break down some of the cultural barriers. However, I am struggling to find female poets, especially in the Muslim Culture. Any Ideas?

Sorry - not sure what you mean by 'struggling to find female poets'. Do you mean - poems written by female poets to read to them or female poets to go there and read to them? I think Janet has already mentioned a muslim female poet Nabila Suriya (may have spelt surname wrong) who might have poetry that they identify with. There are lots of great female poets on here - whether or not they will identify with or enjoy their work is the issue. I guess you have to read it and make your own judgement. I am sure that anyone living within the North West would be more than happy to make that journey and that effort if asked. I personally cannot get my head round the way muslim women are treated - will never accept the burkha or the yashmak - if you were to ask me, I might well start a revolution.