A sterling summary of aims and intentions, all backed up by a spirit of sincerity Keith. "If you can keep your head when all about you..." comes to mind here.

I also think of ships in bottles launched into the relative unknown - just my imagination!

Ray

Comment is about Write out Loud (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

I like the sense I get of bustle and continuity, but also the intensity of sharing the feelings of people you may personally not be familiar with. An identification of the essence of a place.
Also it feels that you have opened up your awareness with this poem from the inner world we have been familiar with in previous offerings Rachel.
As David rightly says, the brown shoes seem to be symbolic. A world away from Converse and Sketchers may I say. Footwear say a lot about their wearers I find.

Ray

Comment is about transitions (blog)

Original item by nunya

@Martin Elder thank you for sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate it. ?

Comment is about Intersections and Timeline (blog)

Original item by Aly

Thank you so much, Tom! ?

Comment is about Intersections and Timeline (blog)

Original item by Aly

Lovely

Comment is about Life is fight (blog)

Original item by Hasmukh Mehta

cheers mate (re: Chelp) yes - it's Yorkshire dialect - very specifically Wakefield dialect from where I'm from. If you want to know any specific word translations - just let me know ?
Ian

Comment is about Martin Elder (poet profile)

Original item by Martin Elder

This seems to be an extremely honest and brave poem to write for which I applaud you. Also for writing about this subject so well. very well crafted

Comment is about Fit in (blog)

Original item by Justine Ramos

Keith,

Well done! "We seek instant gratification daily" sums it all up. Religion is more than worship. I believe it establishes a "code of morality" that defines what it means to be human. Are we just intellingent animals? Good job. From one old soldier to another, I salute you.

CQ

Comment is about This Friday (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Thoroughly enjoyed this poem Ian but have to apologise for my ignorance is this a Yorkshire dialect
Regards
Martin

Comment is about Chelp (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

You nailed this. I absolutely love it. The flow calls to me

Comment is about Poetry Understands (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

The poem is fabulous Laura , rounded up nicely with the closing lines.
Nice one

Comment is about The Ties That Bind (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Very very nice Zach. I absolutely love your use of words here. I look forward to reading more.

Comment is about Crowbar 6 (blog)

Original item by Zach Dafoe

An appealing vignette of passing life that lingers in the mind.

Comment is about transitions (blog)

Original item by nunya

I like this because it captures something that is heartfelt and passionate in its writing and delivery.
Nice one

Comment is about Hello (blog)

Original item by Dragan Bozilov

There are some wonderful lines here Ray. I particularly like' sullen sun made jewels of T.V. aerials'
Marvellous

Comment is about FORGOTTEN DREAMS (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Wonderfully and descriptively put. Sometimes we fail to realise just how much stress the bodies of professional sportsmen and women take.
Nice one Adam

Comment is about Championing The Unlikely Hero (blog)

Original item by Adam Whitworth

The important element of this poem for me is the way it draws the reader in with those opening lines making it a lot more than poems written along similar lines.
Nice one

Comment is about Intersections and Timeline (blog)

Original item by Aly

Rachel you have painted a picture of life that we all might acknowledge but do not so easily address with such panache and style
Nice one

Comment is about transitions (blog)

Original item by nunya

Ray,

I am very rooted in the nostalgia of places long since visited. This poem has a particular appeal for me as I used to walk, as a boy, along a lane with my grandmother which was full of squirrels and old trees. A couple of years ago, with a cousin, we revisited this area to discover a transformed landscape which was so inappropriate. I felt quite upset almost as if my memories had been violated by the change. I could never go back there again, nor wish to.

The second second stanza is so very apt.

Thank you for this
Keith

Comment is about FORGOTTEN DREAMS (blog)

Original item by ray pool

This is truly beautiful Tom. The pace and rhythm of it add to the magnificent words.
Nice one

Comment is about Highbury Fields (blog)

Original item by Tom

The rhythm of this piece reads to me more like a song which isn't at all a bad thing. A very eloquent poem about something we slip into so easily everyday

Nice one Tommy

Comment is about Shoes (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

TV aerials and the mercy of strangeness--there are some quite beautiful lines here, Ray.

Comment is about FORGOTTEN DREAMS (blog)

Original item by ray pool

'It's typical of a woman to complain about the generalizing of women'... Anon


How do I love my shoes?

Let me count the ways.
I love their comfort
and style and price

when my foot can slip in
when kicking out of sight
foolish Insults and remarks.

While quiet in their walking,
By sun and torch-light.
I love the comfort as men also
strive for Comfort.

I love their fashionability,
as they bask in praise.
I love them with a passion

when put to good use
In my old briefs,
and with my manhood's faith

And daily needs.
I love them with a love
I show to women

with my swanky gait.
I love them with my breath
I breathe upon their shine,

I love them for their shine
and waterproofing,
The smiles of their buying

and tears if their life
comes to an end.

And if I could be bothered,
I shall love them even
after recycling.



words and foto Tommy Carroll

Comment is about Shoes (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

This is beautiful. Thank you for sharing. Tx

Comment is about Intersections and Timeline (blog)

Original item by Aly

No punches pulled - great stuff. Should be compulsory reading, but I expect many of those who need it either won't understand it, or believe they're not who it's aimed at! I love it!

Comment is about The Ties That Bind (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

thanks Keith for your review of "Restaurant"
i was surprised you thought so highly of it.
it was just another simple poem
that somehow meandered
into a restaurant.

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

Didn't get a chance to post this yesterday. And, apologies to all who have suffered floods for my flippancy. This was inspire by travelling on holiday from sun-drenched Yorkshire to a torrential downpour in Spain!

Comment is about Floodplain (blog)

Original item by Trevor Alexander

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/john-coopey2?newPage=True

Comment is about I WALK THE LINE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

This is a lovely and faithfully written piece with a sting in the tail David. A whole way of life hangs in there and you have delivered it with panache and the scanning is perfect.

Ray

Comment is about THE COLLECTOR (blog)

Original item by David Subacchi

Here we have your characteristic conversational style riding a knife edge between hardline belief and open minded older religions Peter, that's how I see it. Nature always wins us over in the end. We have to obviously include natural disasters - but that's another story, not for Easter.

Well wish you. Ray

Comment is about EASTER MUSINGS (blog)

Original item by Peter Taylor

Graham,

Sorry, I have replied to your comment on your profile.

Keith

Comment is about This Friday (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Graham,

Thank you for such constructive criticism which I appreciate enormously. I make no distinction between people of faith and no faith. My problem, for the want of a better word, is not with God, but with the Institution of the Church which is manifestly corrupt and not worthy to represent Christ for whom it should be his representative on earth. For this reason I no longer attend church, yet thankfully this impasse has not damaged my personal faith.

I wrote this poem as someone who has lived for many years abroad. On my return I could make a clear comparison between the country I left to the one I now find. People are being knifed nightly on our city streets, which is an example of violence. Second the appearance of hampers in Supermarkets inviting customers to donate food to the local food bank. This was unheard of. Yet the Government proudly declare that we are the sixth strongest economy on the planet. My last example, as an ex serviceman, is to see fellow ex service men living rough on the street, sleeping in shop door ways with mental health issues. Something is seriously wrong here.

My perspective is therefore somewhat different to most people who have witnessed these gradual changes.

I don´t write out of a sense of judgement but out of indignation, not as a Christian but as a fellow human being. The Church can go and hang. Recently my local parish church put out an appeal for 10,000 quid for the restoration of its bell tower, but what about Private James Bladdon down the road sleeping rough with a bottle of vodka concealed in a brown paper bag.?

My poetry often focuses on social and moral issues. I endeavour not to offend rather to highlight the plight of the less fortunate.

Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my article. This I do appreciate.

Kindest of Regards
Keith

Comment is about Graham Sherwood (poet profile)

Original item by Graham Sherwood

Zach,

This poem fascinates me as it speaks of the antecedents of who we were and now are, or am I mistaken? It certainly stimulates the imagination as your use of the language is rich and powerful. Whatever my interpretation it requires deep thought, yet I suppose readers will find other explanations. Suffice to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. It could have been recited in some great baronial hall.

Thank you
Keith

Comment is about Crowbar 6 (blog)

Original item by Zach Dafoe

This is breathtaking! Thanks!

Comment is about Love (blog)

Original item by Josie Harris

Thanks for reading and liking Philip...

Hi David, even though your comment shows marks of levity, you put my thoughts pretty much into context. You know me enough to penetrate my psyche, so I won't labour on about the poem. This was a rewrite of one I discarded which was like a warning but I thought lacked atmosphere (or threat).

Steve, Hi and thanks for taking the trouble . I suppose poetry can be a little like trying on clothes - some don't quite fit or are the wrong colour etc. As long as you liked the idea I'm happy. As for the structure - it was written without a lot of thought to the form of it.
There may be reasons for your considerations of punctuation that had we the time might be resolved . Sadly, I won't be subjecting it to the pros who might tear it apart with their best intentions.

Ray

Comment is about ON MUSHROOM HILL (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Great poem, Laura. One for the next collection, without a doubt.

Comment is about The Ties That Bind (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

A poem to be venerated. Well done!

Thank you
Keith

Comment is about The Ties That Bind (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

d.k.,

This is one of your best poems to date as you captivate perfectly the ambience of a restaurant in full flood. As with all good descriptive poetry you take the reader into the restaurant and allow his or her imagination to be free.

Thank you for this

Keith

Comment is about Restaurant (blog)

Original item by d.knape

I think I was persuaded to write this by the conceit on display. Anyone would think the rest of us lived in a vacuum. There is also
the readiness to "believe" in what is insisted on as the cause(s)
of what is now described as "global warming/climate change".
Humanity has a record down the centuries of meeting danger with awareness- something no other living creature possesses.
Let's keep that awareness and do all we can to counter malign
man-made effects on the world and use rational hysteria-free mindsets to enable our responses. Let us ALSO respect the
massive rarely addressed influence of sun storms/spots/flares on
the climate. In January 1661, in a world free from industrial/toxic
effluent, the diarist Samuel Pepys wrote of the weather in the
winter of 1660/1661. I quote verbatim for its relevance:
"It is strange what weather we have had all this winter; no cold
at all; but the ways are dusty, and the flyes(sic) fly up and down,
and the rose-bushes are full of leaves, such a time of the year as
was never known in this world here," Living requires a rational perspective, free from fear and hyperbole. Let us act accordingly.

Comment is about PROTEST (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

WOW! well done - well said.

Your poem should be displayed in all public places.

Dorothy

Comment is about The Ties That Bind (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Keith we are world's apart theistically but I understand your disgruntled view of the current goings on in many of the church's factions.

What I would take issue with (with all due respect of course) are your comments........

.........'filled with dismay to see society and the world more than ever engaged in violence and greed'.

Surely, it has ever been thus with much evidence of the same in the bible itself.

Being Christian, for want of a better word, is as you imply, being kind, chivalrous, loving and tolerant, none of which require a church.

Greed is such a vicious entity that it always finishes up consuming itself. This is certainly true in the commercial world and is clearly represented in the human condition.

thought provoking work!

Comment is about This Friday (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

So YOU are the Sleepy Head.
Actually I get up at 4-5am
to get my poems into WOL,
a 6 hour difference.

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

Day 20, Napowrimo 2019

http://www.napowrimo.net/

Today's prompt: write a poem grounded in language as it is spoken – not necessarily the grand, dramatic speech of a monologue or play, but the messy, fractured, slangy way people speak in real life.

Comment is about The Ties That Bind (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

thanks for the comment on 'AmericaZ' Keith - glad you liked it ?

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

Dorothy,

Thank you indeed for your contribution and comment. I value the opinions of others when offered constructively and with kindness. You will notice that every second line of the poem begins with the word "we", this includes me, perhaps more than most. I no longer attend attend any church as I am at odds with the Institution for a variety of reasons, however this has not affected my personal faith, for which I am grateful.

I am passionate about Justice and Peace yet filled with dismay to see society and the world more than ever engaged in violence and greed. This is what drives me. Christian ethics motivate me as they have our legal system for centuries.

Thank you again, it is much appreciated.

Keith

Comment is about This Friday (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Keith
I regected my Catholic Faith on the day that I left school and experienced a great sense of relief - but - I retained a sense of what is right.
I have also retained a sense of 'presence' and I have no idea what I mean by that, It is not a 'God' in any shape or form, and Faiths mean nothing to me, I think that they are dangerous, It maybe an awareness of the natural world - but who knows?

I feel strongly that 'Our' role in life is to nuture all life for the future of all, both people and nature.

Sounds a bit self-righteous, and I can't always live up to it, but it beats being told to believe in stories that are not believable and to recite words that have no real meaning.
You mention apathy and fear I would like to add selfishness to that list and also the determination of some to be 'Top Dog' without thought of others.

Dorothy
P,S, I have expierenced 'Good Will' within this blog so I know that some WoLers feel the same.

Comment is about This Friday (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Hi Keith, thanks for your comments, I’m glad your imagination has been stimulated by these haiku. Much appreciate you saying so.

Hi Steve, these are four separate poems but the the first three where written at the same time, so I think there is some kind of link between them. Perhaps through the thoughts or emotions I had at the time.
Thanks for pointing out the difference between haiku and Senryu, much appreciated.
Will look up the poetry of Nick Virgillo. Thanks for your time and encouragement.

Thank you Randy, mona and Damon for the likes.

All the best des

Comment is about Senryu 1 (blog)

Original item by DESMOND CHILDS

sorry MC - conviction - fat fingers and alcohol ?

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

David,

Honest, true and humorous.
Thank you for this..

Keith

Comment is about THE COLLECTOR (blog)

Original item by David Subacchi

You can find more of my poetry including performance videos here on Write Out Loud or simply by searching on line for DAVID SUBACCHI.

Comment is about THE COLLECTOR (blog)

Original item by David Subacchi