Well - I asked for more filth and you let me have it….

Not sure if it was St Valentine, Cupid, or the sub zero temperatures – but something saw us all turning up the heat for February… Indeed, overtly sexual poetry rained down on us faster than the average storm cloud bursting over Manchester…

 

In Vanilla Sex, Cynthia Buell-Thomas avidly urged us to ‘come dine on her’.  A bold and delicious poem Cynthia, but remind me to take the custard option next time I’m round your table…

Meanwhile in Tantric, Graham Sherwood stuffed the mole back in its hole and pulled out his snake…. a delightful phallic celebration with all its mesmeric meanderings.  Maybe it was because Graham took such a bold step away from his normal subject matter or maybe it was because I found that matter altogether more appetising, but I thought this was a vastly underrated poem.  Do check it out all you ladies out there…or gents, if that be your bag.

Newcomer to the scene Kathryn Hewitt thrilled us with the ride-like tempo of ‘Carnality’ whilst Steven Kenney in ‘Give Yourself to Me’, urged us to do just that…   

Haiku king, Winston Plowes representing Admin at its most welcoming, let his fingers do the Surfing…to ride the crest of two enormous under-wired waves…

Last but not least, even liddle old me had a bash at erotica, trying hard to remember just what it felt like to be ‘Held’…  How will March ever manage to compare, I wonder?

 

February saw its fair share of argument, conflict and disharmony with balls flying out of play left, right and centre.  I rather think this may be a natural part and parcel of life on WOL, no matter how hard Admin try to police things.  We are, after all, a rich rag bag of personalities, awash with our own opinions of just how the world should be.  Some blood letting is probably natural and even cleansing.  We hopefully learn from the experience, eventually pick ourselves up and get on with the game.   Here’s hoping anyway…

 

I suppose I ought to get on with telling you all about WOLOP.  This month was difficult, in that no-one could agree on a favourite poem other than one of mine.  I have therefore decided to throw the rule book out and accept the honour.  I doubt that this will ever occur again. Upon The Quality of Love was a bit of a one off poem for me; I don’t normally have the stamina or the inclination to spend so long on my work.  I also think that February wasn’t quite as good for poetry as previous months, so it didn’t quite have the same competition.  For anyone wanting to hear sound, I am attaching the link to the blog.  I couldn’t resist adding a bit of Queen to this month’s WOLOP, it reflecting so well the mood of the month…

 

I shall be taking a short break from WOL over the next month, just so that I can try to achieve a better balance in my life.  I have found a number of poems posted in February quite gruesome.  I need to learn to take a step back and not always comment.  You can’t change the world with a comment, just as you can’t with a poem.  The next WOLOP will be co-ordinated by Dave Bradley.  He will send details of his email address at the appropriate time.

 

As ever, thank you to all who have voted.  Particularly those stubborn folk who refused to give me a second choice.  I love you all dearly.

 

Isobel x

 

 

LIST OF NOMINATED POEMS

 

 

Wrecking Ball                                           Ann Foxglove

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8928

 

Wolf Rock                                                Ann Foxglove

(Very powerful, keep hearing it in my head)

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8695

 

The Unexpected Environmentalist          Kealan Cody

(poems which, I think, portend an outstanding poet)

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8675

 

Stonemason’s Womb                               Anthony Owen

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8993

 

The Dreaded Boy                                    Anthony Owen

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8715

 

Watching you Become a Woman           Thomas

(exceptional for sharing such  innocence, sincerity and insight?)

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8908

 

Pest Inspection                                         Owen Calvert

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=9024

 

Breakfast in Bed                                     Winston Plowes

(It's so unpretentious and sweet.) – just like Winston folks!

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8622

 

Unstoppable                                            Francine/Isobel

(because I think it is funny, and there are not many funny poems out there, funny is hard to do)

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8958

 

About Jamaica                                        Raymond Antrobus

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=9008

 

 

 

 

 

Upon the Quality of Love

 

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8805

 

 

Romeo  Romeo - where for art thou Romeo?

Speak now, that I should hear your voice, rejoice

that deafened ear should hear you call my name…

_____________

 

The quality of love is not defined,

yet trippeth from the tongue with gentle ease,

to each and every one of us a meaning

as fickle as the feather on a breeze

 

Speak not to me, I pray, of star crossed lovers,

so thwarted by the cruelty of fate,

love by trial and tedium untested,

denied the chance to flourish or to sate

 

As flowers cleave to sun, so do we clamour,

enamoured by the promise of romance,

blinded by the light to onward stumble,

and in our madness give no backward glance

 

To lowly soil beneath us oft forgotten,

that nourished once our hearts right to the core,

grounded us to earth its daily tending,

to universal chaos, lent its law

 

Uprooted we erode to senseless matter,

just desiccated atoms doomed to dust,

planets out of orbit, cased in darkness,

stripped naked of that sacred mantle, trust

 

For much that speaks of love is surely lust,

lost in a reverie of youth misplaced,

masquerading whore in virgin clothing,

exacting costly penance once embraced

 

Show me a love that stands the test of time,

beholds its prize through eyes bewitched, beguiled

before a faded bloom, beyond its prime,

to see the sweetest rose or flower wild

 

Show me a love that does not ask for all,

nor seeks the easy path in life to tread,

sees every facet of a fractured soul

yet loves enough to be by blindness led

 

Show me a love that does not seek to change

to chip, to hew to mould; instead to hold

such imperfection to the brightest light

delight, as though the dullest lead were gold…

 

Show me a love where two minds meet as one

sweet appetite by word and language fed,

a heat to melt a frozen land locked tear,

swell hearts with hope upon a hemlocked bed

 

Then I should say, that Romeo lives, breathes

that Juliet sleeps,

perchance

one day,

to dream…