Welcome to WOL Jacie,

Reading your profile I completely agree with the idea of using poetry instead of a diary. I do the same albeit for different reasons perhaps. Look forward to reading your work.

Comment is about roma-mary (poet profile)

Original item by roma-mary

The photo is from the mid-60s - but I'm from 1944 originally. A wartime issue!! 😃

Comment is about d.knape (poet profile)

Original item by d.knape

Had no idea you were that old,
did you use someone else's photograph?
😃

Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Re: Merely a Player
Thanks so much for your comments, Greg and for providing the historical backdrop of which I was unaware. It makes sense of the journeying aspects. Much appreciated!

Comment is about Greg Freeman (poet profile)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Hi Greg, thanks again for your recent comments. Much appreciated you stopping by to read. And thanks for the invite to Write Out Loud Woking's Zoom event. I'm traveling next week Wednesday but will drop you a line in due course. I'm mostly keen to get to a live event too and see there is now one in Worcester, so I may even pop along to that next time I'm in that neck of the woods. 😃 Thanks again, Tom.

Comment is about Greg Freeman (poet profile)

Original item by Greg Freeman

"rich in optimism"????
are you being sarcastic?

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

Hi Clare. I've really enjoyed your recent poems. You're on top form in my view! I wouldn't have been so flippant about Kathleen if I'd known she was a real person. However, I do feel your poem hits upon a truth about alcohol.
Keep writing fine poems and I'll keep liking them! 😀

Comment is about Clare (poet profile)

Original item by Clare

Hi John, Thanks so much for taking the time to like and comment on my recent postings. Enjoy your wine, I know I do! Kind Kathleen is a true story of a woman I once knew. Sadly, she didn't know how to stop and her drinking didn't bring out the best in her.

Comment is about John Botterill (poet profile)

Original item by John Botterill

A clean desk may mean
all the work was done.
what about that?

Comment is about Stephen Gospage (poet profile)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

Yes, I remember a training course at work where people said 'I like clutter' and 'When I see a clean desk, I know there's no work being done'. This was not the aim of the course, obviously.

In clutter, no one can hear you scream. That would have been a good title.

Comment is about d.knape (poet profile)

Original item by d.knape

His stuff is now Your stuff!
better get rid of the stuff
before it's too late
and you become stuffed like him.

Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

The people who do not think too straight
are those who tend to accumulate
sooner than later they awake
to find there' no more room
for pity's sake.

Comment is about Stephen Gospage (poet profile)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

Words can travel, but the spelling and meaning can change.
We're aware of "the usual suspects". As Alan Jay Lerner tells us
in 'My Fair Lady": 'There are even place where English
completely disappears. In America they haven't used it for years'. 😋.

Comment is about d.knape (poet profile)

Original item by d.knape

words do travel
they change their spelling
kind of like a disguise
they look different
but still...could be recognized
in a police line-up.
😃

Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Enjoyed your sample, Jaz - reminded me of Roger Deakin visiting Wales, in his book Waterlog, with the aim of getting himself lost there.

Comment is about JAZ (poet profile)

Original item by JAZ

Some sayings are well known here in the home of the English language. I can't speak for their ability to "travel". 😐

Comment is about d.knape (poet profile)

Original item by d.knape

what old saying? have never heard that.

Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

You are so right. Thanks for the like and comment. I appreciate you taking the time to read my words.

Comment is about Nigel Astell (poet profile)

Original item by Nigel Astell

Hi John, thankyou for your like and comment on my poem - The Kids home. I'm sorry for your dad. My mother and many of her siblings were raised in the Irish Catholic institutions, so I feel your dad's pain. These places were often just hell holes where kids were abused and neglected.
I myself was in a kids home - hence the poem. I was luckier than my mother.
Thanks also for the dm, very kind words indeed. Much appreciated!

Comment is about John E Marks (poet profile)

Original item by John E Marks

I am napping now.
However I woke up briefly to write this.
it wore me out, so now
I am going back to my nap.
Thanks for reading my poem, Charley Bishop!

Comment is about Stephen Gospage (poet profile)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

Humor & Truth
quite a meal
for one old poet.

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

Thank you for your comment on Bubbles of success.

Comment is about John Botterill (poet profile)

Original item by John Botterill

I really like 'The Deal', Richard. Extremely poignant.👍

Comment is about Richard kent (poet profile)

Original item by Richard kent

Thanks, Greg. Yes, I had forgotten the Mid-Hants Line stuff. Thanks for this; some nice stories there.
John

Comment is about Greg Freeman (poet profile)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Morning, John,

You may have quite rightly forgotten all about this, but your poem has finally been posted on the Mid-Hants Railway site! Scroll down and you'll find it. Thanks for contributing. Greg

https://watercressline.co.uk/locospotting-a-post-war-subculture/?fbclid=IwAR3ym4KrI7h0Y-5cPTH9YnmGWEHPbitV_6WOxBPbhwGd3EDhPaEYEOFzogM

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Except now the sheep in Canada
are attacking the wolves. haha
Trudeau, in the meantime goes into hiding...
afraid of his own people.
I love it!

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

Cheers John <stop making excuses >🤔🤭
🙂

Comment is about John Botterill (poet profile)

Original item by John Botterill

Don. Hope you are OK. Really worried now the Baggy Greens have thumped us English into the boundary boards. And you've said nothing. John

Comment is about Don Matthews (poet profile)

Original item by Don Matthews

Thanks for the kind words Keith.
That poem speaks to Censorship
and how prevalent it is now.
I think we need to stand up
as artists and as citizens
like the truckers in Ottawa
and protest the theft
of our free speech.

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

"Honestly, I enjoy writing poetry solely in an instinctual and emotional way, so I don't really spend any time reworking or editing my pieces. I'm sure they would benefit from me doing that but I've found that it removes my personal connection and passion towards the pieces".

It's fascinating how we all seem to differ in our approach to creating words. I use anything I've got near me when an idea or string of words happens along. Whether its the 'Notes' on my phone, a notebook by the bed or an open word document when I'm doing other writing, it HAS to be captured.
Where we differ enormously is in the editing. I usually take at least three days (attempts) to refine my words before sticking them on WOL. Even then I edit them further before they get on my blog pages.
However you write Alexandra, get it down before its lost is my advice (not that you asked for it, sorry).
Looking forward to more of your work and watching you develop as a writer

Comment is about Alexandra K. Parapadakis (poet profile)

Original item by Alexandra K. Parapadakis

Thank you Keith for reading and liking the poem heaven in hell💐

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

My wife came down with Covid.
so far I have not gotten it.
Have you?

Here it is almost universal.
Everyone has it.

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

You are very welcome Ghazala. 'Feelings' is a very fine poem 😊

Comment is about Ghazala lari (poet profile)

Original item by Ghazala lari

Comment is about Katy Megan (poet profile)

Original item by Katy Megan

Thank you for your compliment on my poem feelings.

Comment is about John Botterill (poet profile)

Original item by John Botterill

Dear Rasa

Thankyou for your kind comments on 'The Pavements of Europe'. I wrote this poem in the New European newspaper to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 2019.
Here is a short piece that I wrote to accompany it at the time.

Good to hear from you and all the best for your poetry and life.

'The context

2019 marked the thirtieth anniversary of the fall
of the Berlin Wall. This led to the collapse of the one-party states of Eastern Europe and to fundamental changes to the lives of millions of people who are now EU citizens and are firmly embedded into the European family. The transition process inevitably had its shortcomings. European integration is imperfect and sometimes seems to stall. And yet, would anyone want to go back to the chilling realities of the pre-1989 system?

The poem

The start of the poem is based on recollections of a visit to Prague, in the former Czechoslovakia, in the mid-1980s. The cold, damp weather only added to the sense of darkness and oppression, which seemed to find expression in the regimented stamping of workers' boots and the belching exhaust fumes of the buses. The second and third verses recall trips to Budapest and Warsaw in 1993 and 1994; things were changing, life was becoming freer and more colourful and new businesses were thriving. However, rampant (though perhaps inevitable) inequality had been created. The disparity between the glitzier parts of cities and the urban and rural poor was extraordinary at the time, although sadly it has been increasingly emulated in certain parts of the Western World in the 21st century. This disparity was even more apparent during several visits to Ukraine in the late 1990s; the sight of impoverished yet irrepressibly optimistic women trying to sell a loaf of bread on a busy street in the centre of Kiev remains an abiding memory.

Comment is about Rasa Kabaila (poet profile)

Original item by Rasa Kabaila

And... no one holds them accountable
Where's the U.N.? The infamous World Health Organization?
Look at all the damage & deaths they have caused.
They screwed up the entire world.

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

The pavements of Europe-so rich and special-with so many stories to tell. 😃

Comment is about Stephen Gospage (poet profile)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

Dogs,
like poets
love affection,
cats love
leisure.
😃

Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Hi All
I deleted my profile page by mistake last night in the middle of a hypo (I'm diabetic).
I have reconstructed it from memory, as well as I can .
I apologise for deleting some wonderful comments and likes that I genuinely valued. What can I say? Sorry!

Comment is about John Botterill (poet profile)

Original item by John Botterill

Leave out in the desert
or the woods
let the vultures and coyotes feast
then it all goes back to nature
and everyone had a good time.

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

A Grave Groaner!
but I like it.!
😃

Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Just found 'This wanting look' Tommy. A phenomenal poem, bitter-sweet nostalgic loss. Awesome!

Comment is about Tommy Carroll (poet profile)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

we will designate a new Breed then.
"Hairless Poets".
Require lots of love
but no grooming necessary.
😃

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

I like your comparison of a Cemetery to a Library.
Holding records of the past and past lives.
Excellent!

Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Just found 'Waiting for my mum,' Tommy. Stunning poetry. Just wanted to let you how moving I found it to be!

Comment is about Tommy Carroll (poet profile)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Brilliant analysis. Wise words of a wise man. I quite agree. Movies have always been a medium as well as the source of spreading notoriety. No body knows what may happen.
Thank you.

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

Conspiracy theories all around. We can simply hope for the best.
Thank you.

Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

You have such an interesting writing style Adam, and cover so many topics and aspects of life! Keep writing. 😃

Best wishes,
Rasa

Comment is about Adam Whitworth (poet profile)

Original item by Adam Whitworth

Our cops have become targets
shot and killed every day
it's become routine-
the breakdown of our country
our civilization.
😯

Comment is about Graham Sherwood (poet profile)

Original item by Graham Sherwood