There's a link to the publisher's site at the end of the review, as is our custom, MC, although I can't see an ISBN number there. I'm sure you could track it down yourself, but seeing as it's you, here it is ... ISBN 978-1-912111-74-9. Don't come back to me if it doesn't work for any reason!

You're very kind, Trev.

Comment is about Poems for the NHS: ed. Matt Barnard, Onslaught Press (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

That's a bit more literal than I intended, but I really appreciate your kind words. ?

Comment is about Close to the Flames (blog)

Original item by Randy Horton

But some might even settle for "Big Ben"! It's merely a question of inclination and time in hand.

Comment is about 12.01 All Done, All Said (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Hi DK

Very tasty - positively Cordon Bleu!

Jennifer

Comment is about d.knape (poet profile)

Original item by d.knape

Isn't optimism merely the coming to terms with pessimism?
The theme of hope against disappointment in the daily rituals of
life is well caught.

Comment is about First One Last (blog)

Original item by Taylor Crowshaw

Do you have the ISBN for this book? Handy for an online order.
MC

Comment is about Poems for the NHS: ed. Matt Barnard, Onslaught Press (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Thank you for commenting Brian it is life and what is it they say..'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
Thank you everyone for the likes always very welcome and appreciated..?

Comment is about First One Last (blog)

Original item by Taylor Crowshaw

I imagine that all parents are "amateurs" as far as a first birth is
concerned, no matter how much advice - written and verbal - may
be available. It's clearly very much a "hands-on, learn-as-you-go"
process. These lines certainly convey that to the reader, adding
the effect of the transfer of parental priorities to a new born.

Comment is about My first-born (blog)

Original item by Becky Who

Enjoyed this M.C. ?

Comment is about TESTING TIMES - a Saturday "theme" poem (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Lovely villanelling! Agree about the sleepless nights -and then one has to go to work as well.

Jennifer

Comment is about My first-born (blog)

Original item by Becky Who

There should be a copy of this in every NHS waiting room.
Another great review, Greg.

Comment is about Poems for the NHS: ed. Matt Barnard, Onslaught Press (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

A parents lot..wonderful but fraught with pitfalls..x

Comment is about My first-born (blog)

Original item by Becky Who

Oops - sorry about that - due to an electronic hitch...re-entered
and re-titled.
MN

Comment is about IN THIS WORLD (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Hi Steve. Thanks for your comment on " Albert Edward Burrows". I have read a lot about his case, and I wanted to share the story so that people know what an evil man he was.
Cheers Kevin

Comment is about steve pottinger (poet profile)

Original item by steve pottinger

Thanks for your comment Po

Comment is about A Hundred Thousand Whys (blog)

Original item by Nigel Astell

I like instead of merry you use red and green with such a good effect!

Nigel

Comment is about Red and Green Christmas (blog)

Original item by eve nortley

Top stuff mate, took me back a bit, great rant great rhythm with some of my favourite music in there Beno! One of first poems I ever wrote was called Punks not Dead, its still at the very start of my profile, if you get chance to have a gander, enjoy all the best Jeffarama!

Comment is about Our Poem of the Week is ‘Scooter Club and the Lost Boys’ by Beno (article)

Original item by steve pottinger

Patrick, you put me in mind of Virginia Woolf's wise appraisal of Conrad, in whom she recognises that tension between a writer who finds there is everything to say, and the seafarer who knows there is nothing to be said. Hopkins troubles me, his occasional jump off the page genius, and his profound understanding of sound, I follow at... more than a pace or two. For the general crisis, here's a favourite, one of his quiet pieces, i'm sure you know it.

Heaven-Haven
(a nun takes the veil)

I have desired to go
Where springs not fail,
To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail
And a few lilies blow.

And I have asked to be
Where no storms come,
Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,
And out of the swing of the sea.

Comment is about Poetry and the Affirmation of Life (article)

Original item by Mike Took

It's life isn't it Taylor...learning to bounce back from disappointment.

Comment is about First One Last (blog)

Original item by Taylor Crowshaw

A lot of responsibility on his shoulders! I'm sure you are great parents.

Comment is about My first-born (blog)

Original item by Becky Who

It's a conundrum Don...wife or WOL.answers on a postcard please.

Comment is about 12.01 All Done, All Said (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

This kept me hooked. What beauty, longing and hope is expressed in this wonderful poem. It is worthy of praise and acknowledgement..??

Comment is about Anatomy of Longing (blog)

Original item by Tom

Nice bit of humour Don..?

Comment is about 12.01 All Done, All Said (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Thank you to everyone who posted comments.
Well done to Jennifer with her acute observational skills. I guess I don't have a particular style because it depends on which one of me is writing the poem that day. I was really drunk when I answered the Q and A's Jennifer. ?
Really like that you liked my poem Mr Braddock. Coz your work is very special and I am a great admirer of it.
Kate G your comment was very clever. I loved it.
Not sure what big Sal meant.
Thanks again Anya.
Mr Sherwood, I blushed after your comments.
Ray, I always enjoy your comments RE my work. It's great your enjoyed it. Made me proud of myself, which isn't normally my thing or objective but it felt nice.
And thank to everyone else. Lovely.
Beno.

Comment is about Our Poem of the Week is ‘Scooter Club and the Lost Boys’ by Beno (article)

Original item by steve pottinger

thank you Jennifer for your comments on
"Eat This Poem". was it tasty?

Comment is about Jennifer Malden (poet profile)

Original item by Jennifer Malden

The last line of your sample is great.?

Whole piece really flows well by inserting three words per line. . . Really shines.?

Comment is about Madalyne (poet profile)

Original item by Madalyne

Each line could be dissected and from that, it's own poem would spring up from nowhere.

This is much like a starfish or underwater treasure in its durability and enduring value or merit.

Well done again, Keith. No weak beams here.?

Comment is about A Rush (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Nice one, Jennifer. You're up on me there, but I saved some heads in September to dry as pot pourri and they've sort of gone a bit grey! Thanks for liking it.

Ray

Comment is about LAVENDER FIELDS FOREVER (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Wilde's wit and his way with words saw him achieve literary fame
in his own time. It was his titling at windmills - against the social
limits of "acceptable behaviour" of his time and social status that
caused his fall from grace. The Victorian sexual underworld was
unhindered until it intruded very publicly into the wider domain,
causing consternation and fearful (and fearsome!) responses.
Writers like Frank Harris were adept at portraying "the time and
place". Hypocrisy is a plant with many shoots, but bending the
knee to respectability in a class-ridden age was certainly expected
by the middle and upper classes of that time. L.P Hartley's novella
"The Go-between" succeeds brilliantly in its depiction of the
frowned on and socially ruinous affair between a young woman
with potential as the bride of an aristocrat and a local young farmer.
The theme of social rejection and the maintenance of the securely
guarded "status quo" in the face of sexual behaviour that was seen
as a threat to a well-ordered society, in which people knew their
place and were frequently very willing to accept and retain it, was
certainly not restricted to the homosexual milieu.

Comment is about A History of Gay Poetry, 2: Two Giants (article)

Original item by Mike Took

I just wanted to thank everyone who has read this piece and particularly those people who have commented and shared their own stories and thoughts, which can't have been easy.
I hear terrible asylum stories regularly in the course of my work, but the stories from Congo stand out as being particularly brutal and horrific.
Congo is a beautiful country, with incredible natural resources which makes the situation even more bitter.

I hope the asylum poems I have shared will encourage other people to write about mans inhumanity to man and hopefully change the world one attitude at a time. We could all write about the beauty of the natural world and the joy of the festive season etc but life is both bitter and sweet and everyone's stories deserve to be heard, so please join me in telling how it is.

Comment is about Congo Childhood (blog)

Original item by eve nortley

Thanks for your comments as follows:

Poemographic - thanks for landing on my offering. I take that as a compliment! I like it.

Kate, always nice that you read me. Glad you liked it, even though it is saucy.

Wow Mark. That is really a tongue twister.... !

Eric, your comment made my day. Really its nice to be analysed in that way. It had me thinking about the elements of writing.
Thanks so much.

David, Shostakovich is often shocking, Rachmaninov is enrapturing, but either way tempted by that hint of stocking(sorry Stockhausen). Glad you liked it mate. I was thinking of you as I wrote it.



Thanks Brian, Anya, Jon and Taylor for your invaluable support.

Cheers and love to all.

Comment is about MAGIC MOMENTS (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Great title.?

Comment is about Sourdough Recipe #2 (blog)

Original item by Eric Maynard

I only eat my poems out of sheer jealousy for others' work.??

Comment is about Eat This Poem (blog)

Original item by d.knape

Seconded. A clever and well written poem with a superb ending.
Thanks
Keith

Comment is about Red and Green Christmas (blog)

Original item by eve nortley

Jan,

Thank you for your comment which cannot be disputed. However, had Wilde been more prudent in his behaviour then we would never have realised his wit, intellect and genius which is a gift, particularly to the literary world.

Thank you again,
Keith

Comment is about A History of Gay Poetry, 2: Two Giants (article)

Original item by Mike Took

Lovely Ray - as usual. Found out recently that there is purple, blue and grey lavender, as well as French - the tassled stuff.
Jennifer

Comment is about LAVENDER FIELDS FOREVER (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Nice - loved it. Unfortunately too true. Jennifer

Comment is about Yes There Is Always (blog)

Original item by Paul Brookes

Nice! Very true. Jennifer

Comment is about Eat This Poem (blog)

Original item by d.knape

Hi Beno, just thinking, the language you use in the Qs and As seems to have no relation to the beautiful words in Raven Beauty, for example, but neither to the gripping and brilliant 'heavy metal' use of words in Scooter Club?!!!!!

Fantastic writing anyway. Jennifer

Comment is about Our Poem of the Week is ‘Scooter Club and the Lost Boys’ by Beno (article)

Original item by steve pottinger

This poem says so much by suggestion, working on multiple levels from one line to the next, complex characters living complex lives, yet you make it accessible. This poem is so complete and information-dense, it's like the mathematical equation of a person, distilled to their most basic.

Sometimes I find your poems lyrical, sometimes poetic, but always enjoyable. Thanks for sharing

Comment is about MAGIC MOMENTS (blog)

Original item by ray pool

loved - "Minds of the better off"

Comment is about Yes There Is Always (blog)

Original item by Paul Brookes

well, Oscar Wilde was wild he had no discretion

Comment is about A History of Gay Poetry, 2: Two Giants (article)

Original item by Mike Took

Thanks as always folks. Sorry life is usual madness at the moment, I'm painfully aware I'm not taking the time to thank everyone individually. BW xx

Comment is about Liar, liar, pants on fire! (blog)

Original item by Becky Who

Yes I liked this mysterious piece of poetry. Thought provoking. ?

Comment is about Underwater (blog)

Original item by Pagan Poetry

Clever poem Randy. I know where you are coming from ?

Comment is about Twenty Ways to Ruin a Poem (blog)

Original item by Randy Horton

This read very much like a story or a film script. Each line held the keys to the next (scene) before by the time the reader is ready, the piece ends.

Well done on the structure and imagery.?

Comment is about Yes There Is Always (blog)

Original item by Paul Brookes

That repetition and rhythm is subtly entrancing. Well done on conveying such a theme and carrying it in each stanza until the end.

The imagery is top notch as well.?

Comment is about A Day in the Life (blog)

Original item by Gordon Hoyles

And I usually just ruin my own verse. ?

Comment is about Twenty Ways to Ruin a Poem (blog)

Original item by Randy Horton

Hi Martin. I've got an open framed incinerator and a dustbin one; the open one is more fun and gives more of a buzz, but I always take a hose there just in case! The smell doesn't go down well, but I don't mind it. More appealing than ciggy smoke I suppose. Thanks for enjoying!

Ray

Comment is about THE INCINERATOR, ON A LATE NOVEMBER DAY (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Congratulations on telling this story so well, and maintaining the rhyme and rhythm so successfully over such a long poem. Bringing tales like this to life is one of the functions of poetry, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.

Comment is about Albert Edward Burrows (blog)

Original item by kJ Walker