<Deleted User> (19913)
Thu 3rd Jan 2019 10:30
It doesn’t bode well for his ability to take tough decisions if ever he became Prime Minister, Po.
Comment is about SILENT MAN (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
I am sorry for your loss, Don.
Take care, Jon.
Comment is about Sudden. Unexpectd (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
Thu 3rd Jan 2019 03:49
Big Sal
Thu 3rd Jan 2019 02:52
Have a great New Year, Taylor, I hope to read more of your work and to get your second book soon.
Be well and remember to smile for the little things and for the day.?
Comment is about Taylor Crowshaw (poet profile)
Original item by Taylor Crowshaw
Big Sal
Thu 3rd Jan 2019 02:48
Greatness transcends time, and it seems form.?
Comment is about Mensch (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
<Deleted User> (19913)
Thu 3rd Jan 2019 02:31
So true John. It's much easier if we can safely categorise people into the good and bad - but it ignores the complexity of humanity doesn't it. We are not good and bad. We are...
That being said, judgement is rather more difficult with so many shades of grey.
Thanks for reminding me of it so eloquently.
Comment is about Mensch (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Thu 3rd Jan 2019 00:14
Thanks for reading and commenting on
"The Leaving".
I am leaving now to go write another poem.
haha
Comment is about Don Matthews (poet profile)
Original item by Don Matthews
<Deleted User> (19913)
Thu 3rd Jan 2019 00:02
Nice one Grape. I often wonder - without the torment of love, poetry would hardly exist. ?
Comment is about possibilities (blog)
Original item by Grape
<Deleted User> (19913)
Wed 2nd Jan 2019 23:43
<Deleted User> (18980)
Wed 2nd Jan 2019 23:35
He's the Aldi of Westminster, but Theresa is only Morrisons.
Comment is about SILENT MAN (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
If brevity is truly the soul of wit your style, Tom, stretches a few words a long way. Your nod to Matthew Arnold's masterpiece of loss sent shivers up my spine - another haunting of one poet by another and me the ever-willing exorcist!
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
Comment is about December 24th Notebook Pieces (blog)
Original item by Tom Harding
dk I like and agree with much of what you say. MC I like and agree with much of what you also have to say for a balanced argument. But I did have to look up 'traduced' thanks to Google...?
Comment is about Hold Your Tongue (blog)
Original item by d.knape
Fantastic! The scene setting in the first three verses is wonderful - you can see the inn and the various characters perfectly.
Jennifer
Comment is about THE INN AT THE END OF A LIFE (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Agree with Jane - exceptionally well written and thought out.
Jennifer
Comment is about The Cloud of Fear (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
Lovely! This to my mind is how Christmas should be - a time to spend with family or friends, especially children when possible. We have turned it into an orgy of spending instead.
Jennifer
Comment is about Grandad's Christmas Reverie (blog)
Original item by Chris Armstrong
The pros and cons in this area of communication are certainly open
to constructive consideration. The opportunity to "abuse" is always
present but it is balanced by the sheer simplicity of being able to
communicate a point of view. The tool should not be traduced
because of the inept egregious behaviour of the more ignorant
and insulting of its users, but rather celebrated as a means of
marvellous meetings of the mind and its many positive chances
for contributing to the improved state of the world in which we live..
Comment is about Hold Your Tongue (blog)
Original item by d.knape
A good constructive message in these lines.
Pick and choose
Your personal views
And send them out
Like ships on the scout.
Comment is about Two way conversation (blog)
Original item by Pip Thomas
Back in the 50s there was the "flick knife" and the idiot "Teds" who
used to think they were handy; and don't forget the Rockers who took
to wielding bike chains. The current bad is born out of something on
an ascending alien level. Check out those involved and wonder what
is to be done with their own idiocy.
Comment is about On a Knife Edge (blog)
Original item by Rick Varden
Thank you Po, Jane and David for your comments. Yes, David, the photos and final line of the poem (revised) point not only to the terrible destruction imposed by war in Syria but also to the beauty and affection with which the home country is remembered by those fleeing war. As you know, I'm sure, Aleppo, is one of, if not the, longest inhabited city in the world (8000 years) and was renown for the beauty of the old city. Many, if not most, of those who have fled the war in Syria wish to return in the future. If I had the choice between a revitalised and rebuilt Aleppo and a dysfunctional inner-city tower block, I know which I'd choose. Tragically, this particular person in the poem will never have that choice. Po I often try to write as an advocate for the voiceless and if I've managed to accomplish that, even to a small extent, I'm glad. Thank you Jane, I hope that my words have helped direct your thoughts in a useful direction. Wordsworth said that poetry was."emotion recollected in tranquility" and I agree with you David that a period of reflection before writing will often enable a writer to give form to what were in the first place inarticulate emotions: in the case of Alan Kurdi my primary emotions were massive anger and overwhelming sadness. John
Comment is about Body on a beach (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Kate I hope you're cooler there
Must get my gin and tonic
Think I'm getting addicted
To alcohol, getting chronic
So while I sip my medicine
At 9pm my time
I'll sit at my computer
And think of UK clime ?
Comment is about Tomorrow Will Be 41 (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
I thought I had mucked up again
Had Trevor gone off, strayed?
I found UK's not Fahrenheit
But firmly centigrade
But hang on Don he could live
He could, indeed, he might
Be living in the USA
And using Fahrenheit
There is another option
Themometer's not worn out
It still works fine on Fahrenheit
It's not yet up the spout ?
(rhymed in good fun Trevor. No offence intended)
Comment is about Tomorrow Will Be 41 (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
<Deleted User> (19913)
Wed 2nd Jan 2019 09:52
You just made me look up the forecast Don. ?
Comment is about Tomorrow Will Be 41 (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
41 would be quite hot
in Centigrade it's true
but here we work in Fahrenheit
that's why my toes are blue
There's always options.... ?
Comment is about Tomorrow Will Be 41 (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
<Deleted User> (19836)
Wed 2nd Jan 2019 04:34
A sad tale told so beautifully. A thought provoking piece.
Comment is about Body on a beach (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
<Deleted User> (19836)
Wed 2nd Jan 2019 04:09
<Deleted User> (19836)
Wed 2nd Jan 2019 03:54
Out with the old, in with the new...Nice!
Comment is about The Leaving (blog)
Original item by d.knape
<Deleted User> (19836)
Wed 2nd Jan 2019 03:45
<Deleted User> (19913)
Wed 2nd Jan 2019 03:43
Love this one D, and the metaphor of the outgoing year being like a departing house guest.
Comment is about The Leaving (blog)
Original item by d.knape
Big Sal
Wed 2nd Jan 2019 01:03
Thank you Kate, Desmond and Jacob. I began thinking about this when the body of 3 year old Alan Kurdi was washed up on a Greek beach in September 2015. I also thought about Heaney's poem about the death of his infant brother 'Mid-term break': "A four foot box, a foot for every year". The death of the little Kurdish boy really moved me and stayed in my mind and heart. So, in this respect, this poem about an anonymous body on a beach is a homage to him. I also wanted to convey that every so-called refugee is an individual with an often complex and tragic back-story. It is a warning to myself to avoid rushing to judge anybody. Anyroadup, I'm glad you liked the poem. John
Comment is about Body on a beach (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Big Sal
Tue 1st Jan 2019 21:05
That's a cool ass picture.?
Comment is about Tutti Frutti: Konstandinos Mahoney, SPM (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Big Sal
Tue 1st Jan 2019 21:03
Those shorts look hungry as hell.?
Comment is about Foolishness (blog)
Original item by Kporho Raphael Oyeke
Big Sal
Tue 1st Jan 2019 20:59
I truly think your rhyme improves in each piece you use it.
Comment is about Body on a beach (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
<Deleted User> (19913)
Tue 1st Jan 2019 20:51
John, what a way to start the day. This is one of the best pieces I have read. It's curious, touching and humane all at once and reflects what I often think when the news reports a body found somewhere. We are all so much more than the shell. Beautiful work.?
Comment is about Body on a beach (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
<Deleted User> (18980)
Tue 1st Jan 2019 17:23
Keep 'em short Mark...I can follow the plot to the end
Comment is about PLACES IN THE MIND (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Tue 1st Jan 2019 17:00
Thank Cynthia, Damon and Anya for the likes. Happy new year and all the best for 2019.
All the best des
Comment is about long and deep (blog)
Original item by DESMOND CHILDS
Very suitable for the time of year when the weather takes on a life of
its own and emphasises the solitary predicament of the soul. And what better than a historical element for atmosphere?
There is something here that brings back to mind "The Listeners".
Comment is about THE INN AT THE END OF A LIFE (blog)
Original item by ray pool
"Kedgeree" ? Never had it...so good! (as Private Eye liked to misquote Super-Mac back in the day). Sounds like a song by
Frank Ifield. ?
Comment is about In Time For Your Brekkie (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
Thanks for your appreciation, Cynthia
?
Comment is about Your Happiness is My Happiness (blog)
Original item by Suko Waspodo
A wonderfully dark tale.
Comment is about THE INN AT THE END OF A LIFE (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Cheers Big Sal. There's a certain comfort in rhyming, as you know; mine is like a big slipper compared with your fakir mat if I may make so bold! I re posted this as it fell off the end of the year.
Thanks for liking too Brian.
Ray
Comment is about THE INN AT THE END OF A LIFE (blog)
Original item by ray pool
I read this poem to a passer by,
He said,
"Going to stop right now ,don't want to die ! "
Comment is about Have a happy smoke free year (blog)
Original item by hugh
<Deleted User> (19913)
Tue 1st Jan 2019 10:24
From one Aussie to another, happy New Year Don.
Comment is about In Time For Your Brekkie (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
<Deleted User> (19913)
Tue 1st Jan 2019 10:12
An innocent moment beautifully capture. Made me laugh and remember how I'd done the same in a bath with my boy cousins. ?
Comment is about How Do Girls Pee? (blog)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
Fascinating. That's how new life starts - with curiosity. Nobody really knew at the beginning, then.... BUT nowadays it all gets explained to kids, without any fun, without any mystery. Is it better or worse? Who knows? But I think, as an adult, that something is lost that will never return.
Beautiful evocation of what it was like to be innocent.
Comment is about How Do Girls Pee? (blog)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
Chris Armstrong
Thu 3rd Jan 2019 10:35
Thanks, Jennifer - glad I managed to get the feeling of family love and warmth over! Happy New Year!
Comment is about Grandad's Christmas Reverie (blog)
Original item by Chris Armstrong