This is a huge subject that you're tackling, Keith. Who is the author of the poem that you quote here, please? Edward Thomas and Ivor Gurney are two more war poets that are also worth a mention, and of course there were a number of French and German poets, too. I'd also like to recommend a war anthology, although it covers a century of wars as well as the first world war, the Bloodaxe one published back in 2014 and edited by Neil Astley https://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=43187

Comment is about Poetry & The Great War, a series: 3 The Battle of the Somme (article)

Original item by Mike Took

By the way, thank you, Ferris. I don't know where my manners have gone these days.

Comment is about IS and IS NOT (blog)

Original item by nunya

You're safe Don...today in the UK it is Non-alliteration Day.

Why not...there's a day for everything.

Comment is about Again and Again and Again (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

My guess is Brian will try to out-alliterate me ?

Comment is about Again and Again and Again (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Nice Don

Comment is about Again and Again and Again (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

It has become clear to me, WM, that you have to say the right thing.

Comment is about UPSKIRTING 2 (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thankyou, Don and Taylor.
I rather like the idea of this poem being removed like my previous one for saying exactly the opposite of the previous one.
Arse and elbow would spring to mind.

Comment is about UPSKIRTING 2 (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

An important poem because everyone should be allowed to be who they really are without abuse or fear.
On the surface we are a tolerant culture but it isn't always the case.
Thanks for this Keith.

Hannah

Comment is about Old and Gay (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

The rhyming in this is so wonderful to read.
I enjoyed every line.

Hannah

Comment is about Welcome to my Parlour (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Beautiful Jon! A wonderful theme! Enjoyed it!??

Comment is about Peace, love and understanding have left the building (blog)

Original item by Jon Stainsby

Thank you all,

In answer to Ferris´question; yes it is more or less autobiographical. My sitting room is in the poem. Jane, thank you as I agree wholeheartedly that homes are for expression and not impression. We invest something of who we are in our homes.

Thank you all again

Keith

Comment is about Welcome to my Parlour (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

I love this Keith!?
Homes are for expression not impression!?

Comment is about Welcome to my Parlour (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Politically correct....the world has indeed gone mad..good poem with a nice twist of ..the literal....thanks John..?

Comment is about UPSKIRTING 2 (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Congratulations Jane your poems are very good love reading them and all others on WOL lots of love Wendy .x

Comment is about ‘Second Chances’ by Jane Briganti is Write Out Loud’s Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by steve pottinger

Rude of me not to thank the likers, too.

Therefore, thank you,

Jon

Comment is about Peace, love and understanding have left the building (blog)

Original item by Jon Stainsby

Skirts they go upping and blouses go down
All things are happening in Uppingham Town
Adenaline's rising, boy's can't keep it down
John says be wise boys, and just settle down

Boys

Now John you are taking
Our fun all away
Victorian times
Have gone, passed away

John what are you trying
To do to us boys?
Of Uppinham township
Who just want some joys

We just wanna let
Our adrenalin run free
And upskirt our girls
You undertand? You see?

(Think I better stop John....Thanks for giving me something to let my mind run wild on ..?)

Comment is about UPSKIRTING 2 (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thank you Anya, Keith, Taylor, Ferris and Don.

Ferris, I took the inspiration for this from the Elvis Costello version, but I will definitely listen to the Brinsley Schwarz version.

Jon

Comment is about Peace, love and understanding have left the building (blog)

Original item by Jon Stainsby

You can feel the emotion seeping from the lines. Great piece.?

Comment is about Missing Soul (blog)

Original item by Joanna Halliday

Change up from your usual topics, but it was a great read.

??

Comment is about {Evil Venom} (blog)

Original item by Chiari Warrior Soldier

You always have the best songs/instrumentals to accompany the best poems John.

So many good lines here it makes it difficult to nail down a favorite one.

Solemn and beautiful at the same time.?

Comment is about Meg (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

me neither

Comment is about memories are new (blog)

Original item by Robert C Gaulke

Really enjoyed the singular theme that you ran with the entire time. Made it that much more enjoyable to reach the end.?

Comment is about A Rhyming Idea (blog)

Original item by Mae Foreman

...I don't want the responsibility...

Comment is about memories are new (blog)

Original item by Robert C Gaulke

Great cover.?

Comment is about erin.jpg (photo)

Original item by Erin

Robert, I just heard of how a continual increase in dark energy could tear apart the stars and matter as we know it...

Are we, as physical beings, really the only sentient entities?

Comment is about memories are new (blog)

Original item by Robert C Gaulke

If I could like a comment, Ferris, I would do just simply that--as I'm sure you know, overexposure leads to absence of curiosity.

Comment is about IS and IS NOT (blog)

Original item by nunya

As bad burned as scalded, Ferris. The last one was ironic but deemed literal. This one is literal but will it be deemed ironic? Or maybe it's a subject one is barred from writing about at all. We'll see.

Comment is about UPSKIRTING 2 (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

This is so good Jon ?

Comment is about Peace, love and understanding have left the building (blog)

Original item by Jon Stainsby

Count me in Dorinda!

Needs more make up Nigel

Comment is about Stockport WoL (group profile)

Original item by Stockport WoL

We live in hope Jon..thank you great poem. ?

Comment is about Peace, love and understanding have left the building (blog)

Original item by Jon Stainsby

Lovely poem Keith..thank you..?

Comment is about Welcome to my Parlour (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Jon,

Thank you for this as you have given a theatrical description of what ails the world but including the prospect of hope.
A good poem indeed and thank you
Keith

Comment is about Peace, love and understanding have left the building (blog)

Original item by Jon Stainsby

Avishek, your unique style really shines through in this lovely poem. Profound meaning intertwined with impressive vocabulary creates an intriguing read. I especially enjoyed the last 5 lines. Bravo!??

Comment is about Murky (blog)

Original item by AVISHEK GHOSH

Hi Mae, thank you for liking Sat Here Thinking...I found your bio fascinating... Taylor?

Comment is about Mae Foreman (poet profile)

Original item by Mae Foreman

Thank you Jane and Trevor..your support is very welcome and much appreciated..?

Comment is about Sat Here Thinking (blog)

Original item by Taylor Crowshaw

Hello Keith! I bow my head (curtseys are stupid!) to you noble sir! Brave! Brave! Brave! And gifted with words! ?

Things that needed to be said.

Thank you for them!

Mae

Comment is about Old and Gay (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Attitudes and platitudes:
These take time to change;
The mindset is always with the herd
Out there on the worldwide range.
But the gay reality has now become a norm
With less cause than there's ever been
to anxiously conform.

Comment is about Old and Gay (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Thank you all for such an amazing and overwhelming response to an ill conceived and hurriedly written poem. I appreciate enormously the support and friendship I have experienced on this site. Whenever one of us blurts out the reality of who we are or some other aspect of personal life there is an immediate response, a closing of ranks, which has affirmation and love embodied in it.

As many have said, we live in a more liberated society but someone of my age remembers well criminalisation when men went to prison, lost their livliehoods and reputations, were disowned by family and friends.

Fortunately this is no longer the case, but there remains a residual element of prejudice which is often well concealed. I still feel that I need to be on my guard. However, with you my fellow poets I have no such fears.

Thank you once again,
Keith

Comment is about Old and Gay (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

One for National Poetry Day and this year's theme of Change. Originally published in Picaroon Poetry Issue 8 in 2017.

Comment is about Rehearsal (blog)

Original item by Joe Williams

There is no particular political stance to what is perceived
about the world today. Just about everything that today's
generation uses or relies upon is the invention or creation of
a previous one - for good or bad. It is reassuring that for
each malign influence on our world, there is a recognition
and a readiness to meet it...in particular with regard to the
environmental influences that emerge. That is the
reality and deserves to be encouraged at every turn...with
experience and eagerness combined in ways that can move
us forward across successive inter-locking generations.

Comment is about Respect to the Snowflake Generation (blog)

Original item by Janey Colbourne

This is a beautifully written poem! We all have the right to express our thoughts, pleasures and pains regardless of our sexual preference. We all must respect others and deserve to be respected in return. Surely throughout the years some societies have become more supportive of this mindset but sadly, there are those which haven't. I can only say that people who do not treat others with respect because of their sexual preference are the types of people the world would be a better place without!

I am so happy that I have the pleasure of getting to know you through WOL! Keep writing??

Comment is about Old and Gay (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Dk you have posed me a problem
A problem I want to forget
Oh bother dk I've forgotten
It is what I wanted to forget

Hah! just remembered a bit of information
Which MC told me to go do
When my mind has gone blank and gone useless
To go and sit on, sit on loo.

Which I'll now do dk in the hope I can remember what I wanted to forget ?

Comment is about Bad Memory (blog)

Original item by d.knape

Fantastic! Love this Taylor!?

Comment is about Sat Here Thinking (blog)

Original item by Taylor Crowshaw

I think Brian illustrates my point.

" Gotta stay in me nice cozy bed and text me sheila. Then I'm gonna raise me bones (nah mum they 'aint lazy) hop on me computer and Facebook me other bird. (Nah mum she won't know about me other sheila cos we only need to talk by text. No need for face to face anymore. 'aint technology grand mum) "

You need to vote son. What's that??

Shit!. And we're pinning our hopes on them fixing the mess we've made....

I shake my head.... ?

Comment is about Respect to the Snowflake Generation (blog)

Original item by Janey Colbourne

Bravo Keith in presenting the warts and all with the oughts and ought not do's according to some. Not only a bloody good poem but a stout defence of individual traits which may or may not be one of choice. Widely misunderstood by "straights" of a certain type, most of which arises from fear of the unknown, your voice should be heard, so thanks. By understanding shades of behaviour, we are living out a rich palette. By condemnation, we become bystanders not participants.


Ray

Comment is about Old and Gay (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Yep I am with you D.K. I am sure there are things everyone wishes to forget..excellent ?

Comment is about Bad Memory (blog)

Original item by d.knape

Ah yes, the ephemeral vagaries of the muse.

Comment is about Sat Here Thinking (blog)

Original item by Taylor Crowshaw

I think I subscribe to the view that your memory can only retain so much stuff. If you want to remember something new, an old memory has to be deleted to make room for it. The trouble is that the synaptic subroutine that controls this process is pretty arbitrary, and your conscious mind doesn't always get a vote!

And no, I can't remember what I did yesterday either!

Comment is about Bad Memory (blog)

Original item by d.knape

I raise the question as to whether the younger generation can get us out of the mess we are in? I raise this because social media seem to be controlling them today. The need to be like others using it for their own personal gain. Kids are also losing the ability to connect face to face. Impersonal Iphones have taken over.

Parents and educators need to own the problem and start weaning kids off dependence on social media.

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned but to me the future generation need to get back to relating face to face in solving the mess we've made if it hopes to solve the mess we've made ?

Comment is about Respect to the Snowflake Generation (blog)

Original item by Janey Colbourne

Tommy's right...some of these formats are just daft...and to some extent I include haiku in this. Many people seem to think that any old 5-7-5 is a haiku. Now I'm no expert, but there's more to it than this, otherwise it's a haiku in name only... my name for which is haikino.

Comment is about What's Going On? : An Adelaide Cinquain a la DM (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews