I'm very glad you liked it 😊 thanks for your comments
Comment is about Dion (blog)
Original item by Luke
Thanks Uilleam, it's a much nicer stroll 😃
Comment is about Lakewalk (blog)
Original item by Rich Brewer
Thanks Stephen - 20k’s always a challenge! From what I can recall Brussels isn’t completely flat either, and a beer in the Grand Place would definitely be a fine way to end a distance run.
Uilleam - my Dad was from Ulverston & Coniston was his playground for climbing, swimming, skating etc. He never told me how the Old Man got its name, but It’s so appropriate! The first mountain I ever walked up, aged 9 & still a firm favourite.
Comment is about The Coniston 14 (blog)
Original item by R A Porter
Thanks for like: Red Brick Keshner. Not my most positive poem/song lol. 👍
Comment is about Human Race (Shut your face) 👥👥 (blog)
Original item by Tom Doolan
Wed 9th Apr 2025 17:21
Thank you, Stephen and Uilleam, for your deeply considered and generous responses.
Stephen, I really appreciate your words. You’ve distilled a crucial truth — that the ability to disagree without silencing one another is the bedrock of any healthy dialogue. Yes, the line between offence and hate speech can blur, but you're absolutely right: shutting down discussion only deepens the divide. Thank you for standing up for nuance in a world so quick to flatten it.
Uilleam, your honesty and humanity shine through. Your reflections moved me — that reminder to look beyond appearances and celebrate the quirks and colours that make people beautifully different. There's far more kindness in a pub glass remembered or a smile on a bus than in a hundred moral tirades shouted online. “Vive la différence,” indeed — and a hearty hear, hear to your final line!
Thanks again, both of you, for reading — and more so, for thinking aloud with me.
– Rolph
Comment is about The Woke Inquisition (blog)
Original item by Rolph David
Wed 9th Apr 2025 17:15
Thank you Stephen and Manish for your like, too.
Comment is about Grok You, Musk! (blog)
Original item by Rolph David
Wed 9th Apr 2025 17:15
Uilleam,
Gigo...yes...Musk is reaping what he has sown. He can't complain about Grok’s outputs if those outputs are just a reflection of the inputs.
Thanks for your comment and like.
Comment is about Grok You, Musk! (blog)
Original item by Rolph David
Wed 9th Apr 2025 17:07
Thank you Red B. Keshner and Stephen Gospage!
Comment is about Malice In Blunderland OR: Executive Disorder (blog)
Original item by Rolph David
Wed 9th Apr 2025 17:06
Thank you very much for your praise and the appreciation you showed me with your "like": Red Brick Keshner, Stephen Gospage, Holden Moncrieff, K. Lynn, Flyntland and Manish.
Comment is about The Thinker’s Soliloquy (blog)
Original item by Rolph David
Wed 9th Apr 2025 17:00
Thank you Stephen for your like!
Comment is about Musk's Swasticars (blog)
Original item by Rolph David
Thank you so much, Rob. I really appreciate you taking the time to reflect so deeply.
I hear you, often it feels like it’s been packaged into something commercial, when real healing is slow, messy, and deeply personal. I think poetry helps me peel back some of those layers, even if just for a moment.
Thanks again for your kind words and insight it means a lot.
Comment is about The Emptiness of Self-Love (blog)
Original item by KaliNova
The first verse really grabbed my attention: sorrow seeking solace in nature. And then, in the sparsest of words, the poem touches on sadness, happiness, luck, family, spirituality, life....it packs alot of thought and emotion. Beautiful!
Comment is about At the top (blog)
Original item by Andrea Z
Gorgeous poem Stephen. We will all sing with you!
Comment is about Song Of Hope (blog)
Original item by Stephen W Atkinson
Now there’s a perfectly valid response @Uilleam 🌷🙏🏻🕊thanks kindly🕊🙏🏻🌷
Comment is about midnight courage (blog)
Original item by Red Brick Keshner
A thoughtful, well-written piece, Rolph. We should be able to distinguish between hate speech and opinions with which we disagree, even if they may 'offend' certain people. The line can become blurred, of course, but shutting down discussion is not the answer.
Comment is about The Woke Inquisition (blog)
Original item by Rolph David
Incidentally, does anyone know from whence "The Old Man of Coniston" gets his name?
On reading Ordnance Survey maps of Coniston, I've noticed that the contour lines on certain scales, form a kind of "face"; could that be the origin?
Comment is about The Coniston 14 (blog)
Original item by R A Porter
Well done, RA, and such a worthy cause. Thanks for telling the story in this great piece of rhyming verse. I ran the Brussels 20km many times, but it sounds a piece of cake compared to this!
Comment is about The Coniston 14 (blog)
Original item by R A Porter
Thanks Rolph.
I must confess to having fallen prey at times to those who use our differences in order to divide us, to those who, on reflection are nothing but bitter and twisted hate-mongers.
The bloke with thighs like telegraph poles who gets on our bus wearing a flowing silky dress and a long blond wig brings a smile to my face, for which I say thank you.
The young lass who works in my local pub, she with her hair dyed all the colours of the rainbow, who sports a nose and face full of ironmongery, who looks like a goth version of the fairy off a Christmas tree remembers what kind of glass I prefer to drink from, a considerate and thoughtful service from one so young.
Since when did any of those people drop bombs on innocent men, women and children? Time to get life into perspective.
Vive la difference, and bollocks to the hypocrisy of the establishment, I say!💗
Comment is about The Woke Inquisition (blog)
Original item by Rolph David
Poetry in the raw, Jonathan. A wonderful read.
Comment is about The Safety of Clouds (blog)
Original item by Jonathan Humble
A song of hope indeed, Stephen. An inspiring piece!
Comment is about Song Of Hope (blog)
Original item by Stephen W Atkinson
Thank you, Graham, Rolph and Uilleam. It is hard to comprehend how anyone involved in such barbaric acts can sleep at night. So I suspect that such horror is cloaked in the ordinary language of workplace performance and HR. Hence this poem. Somehow the process and achievement of targets sereves to cover up the barbarity, although many of the perpetrators will feel guilt, deep down.
In the end, you can't normalise these kind of acts.
And thanks to everyone who liked this poem.
Comment is about Performance (Kryvyi Rih 5.4.25) (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Thanks Strawberry.
Painful reality touchingly expressed.
Comment is about The Loss (blog)
Original item by Strawberry
A wonderful profession, which deserves more respect from the powers that be.
Comment is about The Safety of Clouds (blog)
Original item by Jonathan Humble
Today’s the youngest
I will ever be
Sounds like an optimistic start to the day.
Comment is about Dear Dreams (blog)
Original item by happy
You've got the right idea there Rich! I'll walk the lake.
Comment is about Lakewalk (blog)
Original item by Rich Brewer
Woozy and intoxicated, sound just about right for me RBK, though I shudder to think of the state of our living room would be if I was wielding an inked quill!😏
Comment is about midnight courage (blog)
Original item by Red Brick Keshner
Thanks Tom & Uilleam - it was one of those days when I felt OK at the start and got into a rhythm; the hills were hard work - but nothing compared to what Neuro Therapy Centre users (like my wife Kathy) achieve whilst negotiating life every single day. 👍
Comment is about The Coniston 14 (blog)
Original item by R A Porter
Used to be a teacher, Uilleam. 👍
Comment is about The Safety of Clouds (blog)
Original item by Jonathan Humble
Thank you, Stephen, for drawing attention to the normalisation of barbarity.
Rolph correctly alludes to “dehumanising”, which of course, is a necessary element in the manufacturing of consent for such behaviour.
It is indeed, a “...twisted scale of staff incentives”.
To quote the late Tony Benn, a genuine socialist: “After the war people said, ‘If you can plan for war, why can’t you plan for peace?’.
Comment is about Performance (Kryvyi Rih 5.4.25) (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
So enjoyed your lovely responsive poem, Auracle! Thank you. And thanks Marla, Stephen & Rolph for your encouraging comments. Rolph, I always enjoy reading your thoughtful, prose-style comments -- a nice addition to reading the poems. And thanks to all the folks for the "likes." Much appreciated!
Comment is about The Measure of a Person (blog)
Original item by Hélène
Thanks for the Likes, Red Brick, Tom and Rolph.
Comment is about THESE BOOTS AREN'T MADE FOR WALKING (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Reading your poems is always an education Jonathan.
I now know a little more about worms - I think!
Comment is about The Safety of Clouds (blog)
Original item by Jonathan Humble
Thanks for likes: Uilleam, Yanma Hidayah & Holden. 👍
Comment is about Roll The Dice 🎲🎲 (blog)
Original item by Tom Doolan
Well done RA 👏- A great achievement. I was a marathon man in my younger days. I walk the fells now. Fell runners are a breed apart.
Comment is about The Coniston 14 (blog)
Original item by R A Porter
Thank you for the likes:
Red Brick Keshner
Tom Doolan
Holden Moncrieff
Yanma Hidayah
Rolph David
Several months have passed since the Irish people had the guts to eject the Ambassador for Genocide.
Yet British citizens, peaceful Jewish protestors and journalists, are routinely harrassed, manhandled and imprisoned at the bidding of a fascist, apartheid, genocidal state.
How much longer will the descendants of those who gave their lives in the fight against fascism be forced to tolerate the obscenity which currently resides in Swiss Cottage?
When will the cesspit of moral turpitude which passes for His Majesty’s Government be held to account in the Hague?
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/police-ban-peaceful-picket-of-israeli-ambassador-bowing-to-zionist-campaign/
Comment is about Easter Time for Palestine [Global Day of Civil Disobedience] (blog)
Original item by Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh
Sir Tom Doolan, indeed! Thanks for appreciating my piece. ❤
Comment is about Plate of Plenty (blog)
Original item by AirlogRigsMaria
Congratulations, Andy....and an excellent cause.
It's many years since I ran that one. At 76, I still harbour fantasies about getting fit enough to even walk around such a course-too much beer under the bridge I fear.💪
Comment is about The Coniston 14 (blog)
Original item by R A Porter
Waste not - Want not. Food is life's harvest. Be thankful. 🍽 🙏
Comment is about Plate of Plenty (blog)
Original item by AirlogRigsMaria
@Auracle, I think it's not just Barbie dolls; there are many other things that can trigger it. Also, when it comes to the mind, the only rule that applies is the one we make for ourselves. The wisest choice is to either follow or reject those thoughts when they arise.
Comment is about A Fleeting Beauty (blog)
Original item by Yanma Hidayah
Muchas Gracias Maria - comprende Bueno 🙂
Thanks for extra likes: Marla Joy & Manish. 👍
Comment is about Shattered Dreams (blog)
Original item by Tom Doolan
@Rolph David, thank you for your profound interpretation of the poem; I feel honored by it, and I am also glad that its message was conveyed well to you. The word "beauty" should have a positive connotation, but when it is associated with women, it can become triggering.
Cheers,
Yanma
Comment is about A Fleeting Beauty (blog)
Original item by Yanma Hidayah
@Graham Sherwood, I'm glad to hear that, I believe she is such a little angel. Thank you for sharing the story.
Comment is about A Fleeting Beauty (blog)
Original item by Yanma Hidayah
Thanks so much @Uilleam, @Graham & @Rolph 🌷🙏🏻🌷🕊🌷
Comment is about eye on the road (blog)
Original item by Red Brick Keshner
That is so true, Stephen (Gospage) in essence they are inseparable. And they also have an existence independent of each other as well. Thanks kindly 🙏🏻🕊🌷
Comment is about eye on the road (blog)
Original item by Red Brick Keshner
Caroline Davison
Mon 7th Apr 2025 13:50
Love Bloodaxe. So many different styles of poetry. I asked a friend what they wanted from poetry, likes/dislikes, the reply made me laugh but also made me think.
'Can't stand de da de da, I like a punch in the face, something memorable.'
Ok, I can live with that.....
Comment is about Meet Neil Astley, celebrated Bloodaxe editor - and our competition judge (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
But together we'll grow crops again.
And farm our lands togethermore.
And then prepare the meals we share.
Now with a touch of 'happy yore'
With a small hint of extra;
And a life that we adore.
Comment is about The Measure of a Person (blog)
Original item by Hélène
Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh
Thu 10th Apr 2025 08:27
Thank you JD, for eloquently drawing attention to a heinous crime of injustice.
On observing the current barbarity being both approved of, and enabled by the "Western" world, I'd say nothing much has changed since then.
And to those false prophets currently whingeing on about Western so-called "Christian Civilised values" being under attack, I'm now moved to conclude that no such civilisation ever existed.
Comment is about Around the Law in 80 Days (blog)
Original item by JD Russell