Hi folks – I am pleased to announce results for last month’s most popular blogged poem:-

 

In first place with 4 votes, Chris Co’s  ‘Millie’  http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8451

Quote “for its beautifully written verse and its innate and touching honesty”

 

 

In second with 2 votes and plenty of mentions Deborah Jordan’s ‘Spinarette’.

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8565

“for its delicacy and lovely imagery.” - spinarette

 

Below, a list of nominated poems.  This month I have to stuck to people’s first choice, so the list is smaller.  I have included Ann Foxglove’s Walking Home From Church though, since very many people mentioned how much they liked it and the fact that it was their second choice.

 

One of my own personal favourites was Alvin Guinnesberg’s ‘This Poem Has Been Drinking’.  Fortunately I was not the only person to love it and it did make it on to the list of nominees, for some very worthy reasons.  I thought it was unfortunate that people should start to question Alvin’s identity just because he showed an incisive insight into the personalities on WOL.  After all, very many people prowl this site without signing in, myself included.  I therefore declare   Alvin Guinnesberg   to be no other than the little known 'alvin guinnesberg' of Wolverhampton, hairy ex boy scout, train and bird spotter, one day sure to be very famous indeed…  Do keep on prowling the corridors of WOL Alvin, comedic poetry and genuinely funny satire is very thin on the ground.

 

I also enjoyed John Aikman’s poem Martin.  The humour in it reeling me in to the extent that I missed the homo erotic subtext.  Heaven forbid that I should miss a sexual context in anything!  I’m now reading more into all kinds of things – Bob the Builder,  Noddy and Big Ears,  Batman and  Robin, The Flower Pot Men (all that flobber lobbing), The Wooden Tops, Watch with Mother  – you name it – there’s a hidden agenda…

 

Well – though it started with a huge laugh – on the whole January was a fairly muted month.  No major fisticuffs, slanging matches or foul play.  In fact most people’s balls remained firmly on the pitch, so to speak… which makes my job in rounding up WOLOP a rather dull one.  Come on all yee poets, bring out all yer filth for February.

Thanks to everyone who wrote these beautiful poems and more importantly to the people who read and voted for them.  xx

 

List Of Nominated Poems

 

This Poem has been drinking…   by   Alvin Guinnesberg

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8065

“I just love his impish, irreverent, intelligent impudence. It is just so off-the-wall and manages to hold a mirror up to people in such a gently affectionate way, raising a smile, while telling a few truths”

 

Teardrop                          by Angel

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8416

“for its wonderful un-cliched imagery”

 

Emma                              by Dave Bradley

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8533

 

Satnav Life                      by Dave Bradley

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8437

 

Waiting for Mummy       by Cynthia Buell Thomas

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8293

 

Many Gods But One       by Mike Robinson

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8469

“for thought provoking poetry with great imagery and written in such a way that a reader can identify with the content through the eyes of one man and yet make up their own minds as to the possibilities in the universe”

 

Waiting for the Inbox     by Pete Crompton

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8174

 

Comparing Mythology    by Thomas Harding

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8139

“It is so vital to our world today as we cross-understand global cultures with both sensitivity and humour.”

 

Walking Home From Church   by Ann Foxglove

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8516

 

 

 

MILLIE

If I could make yesterdays my tomorrows,

Undo damage unfairly wrought,

Trade away the fearful baggage,

And see if chance would afford a different fate.

 

If I could,

I would.

 

 

If I could lip the words of love bound within,

Colour you in affections more numerous than the stars,

Across a lifetime of years not stolen,

And be the dad in me you would have needed.

 

If I could,

I would.

 

 

If I could trade my life, exchange it in the night,

When sleep long be the forgotten aim,

Do you think I should cradle you before my sleep,

To put you in your mothers arms.

 

If I could,

I would.

 

 

If I could escape the prison I’ve built for one,

Get up and go and just move on,

And forget the story of you little one.

 

Even If I could,

I never would.

　

Millie; forever loved and forever missed.