This has not only a good sentiment behind it but also the type of rhythm to it that could be a song.
Nice one

Comment is about Flower Shop. (blog)

Original item by Nick

this is a fabulous poem Aditi that for me had all the makings of a n equally fabulous song.
Nice one

Comment is about The Perfect Her (blog)

Original item by ADITI JAIN

Thanks for liking Rachel much appreciated

Comment is about Hard lines (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Congratulations Albert. This is a marvellous poem.

Comment is about ‘Backpacking in Nepal, June 1971’ by Albert Tatlock is our Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by steve pottinger

Boom Boom!!

Comment is about Advice line (blog)

Original item by hugh

I'm looking at putting together an anthology of activist poetry - how would your son feel about contributing his poem to the anthology do you think?
It would be a printed collection so he would get a hard copy in his hand....which is the most amazing feeling as a writer.

Comment is about HUMANITY (blog)

Original item by Wendy Higson

lovely writing Chris and much appreciated. Col.

Comment is about Cool  (blog)

Original item by Adam Whitworth

I love cats but I love birds more and since our cat was murdered by the neighbour's dog our bird population has gone through the roof (not literally).

On a slightly different note, I found three young voles fresh from their cosy nest on Thursday. I think the parents may have been predated or the nest disturbed. I held them in my hand and they buried their noses between my fingers. I tried putting them back down their nest hole but they kept coming back out. Later I found one had died and the ants were investigating it. Such is nature in all its cruel cuteness.

Enjoyed the poem Mike. RIP Nibbles.
Col.

Comment is about When Tibbles Had Nibbles (blog)

Original item by mike booth

imo at your best when you channel your words into lines like this Damon.

Comment is about Old Betty (blog)

Original item by Mikey V Kinsey

Brian no she isn't real. Anya thank you ?

Comment is about Old Betty (blog)

Original item by Mikey V Kinsey

Is Old Betty a real person from history? An interesting piece. Macabre.

Comment is about Old Betty (blog)

Original item by Mikey V Kinsey

I agree Hannah, a prayer that holds true.

Comment is about May God Grant Me (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Poor Nibbles !
Amazing poem, I love it.
The raised tail like a purr-fect question mark, usually when they're pleased about something.

Hannah

Comment is about When Tibbles Had Nibbles (blog)

Original item by mike booth

Beautiful writing.
A poem and prayer, uplifting, gentle and heartfelt.

Hannah

Comment is about May God Grant Me (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Quite emotive piece, it is very hard giving out more than you receive, when your intentions are pure. I also like the nice title too.

Comment is about Disarrayed (blog)

Original item by Emaz Malik

Very relatable, beautifully written

Comment is about a friend no more (blog)

Original item by Emaz Malik

unclear as to what to read it's empty here the page?

Comment is about Affa's prayers (blog)

Original item by Kcinroc Drahcir

Many thanks Cynthia for coming back to this one.

Ray

Comment is about THE MEMORY THIEF (blog)

Original item by ray pool

lovely poem! I love "a refreshing realignment". See also my poem, May I Never on my page... Mike Booth

Comment is about May God Grant Me (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Well-thought and well-put!

Comment is about THE MEMORY THIEF (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Thank you Hannah.

Comment is about Stop Thinking (blog)

Original item by Mikey V Kinsey

Hi again Hazel. I am back on again, a bit like the squirrel which keeps taking our nuts and seeds off of the garden table. I am intrigued how vital and expansive poetry is seen to be on the one hand, and on the other how closely guarded its tenets might seem . I feel that is a bit like dropping a stone in water and watching the expanding circles. Graham and Colin exemplify the opposite ends of the same spectrum. I've shot my bolt once, so I retire discreetly to the touch line. The simple truth is that poetry is a shape shifter and a mood shifter, so coming back to a poem can often seem like p.....g in the wind. (IMO). We have to be open to opinions, that's what gives life to the site.

Ray

Comment is about Drawn by Dragons (blog)

Original item by Hazel ettridge

Really interesting comments. I think I will be writing more versions of this poem, each in a different direction and see what feels most true in the end. Thanks you for taking the time.

Comment is about Drawn by Dragons (blog)

Original item by Hazel ettridge

Thank you all for your kind and supportive comments ?

Comment is about The moth with hob nailed boots (blog)

Original item by Red Button

No, that's just the deadline, Niamh. Send yours in as soon as it's ready!

Comment is about Fantastic competition for Young Poets! (article)

Original item by Mike Took

Very moving.

Hannah

Comment is about Stop Thinking (blog)

Original item by Mikey V Kinsey

Frances, I have to say your last comment sent a bit of a shiver down my spine. I think if I had been told that at the start of a degree in poetry I may well have dropped out the very next day. While I understand and agree in part to the general principle I can't help but think it also illustrates much of what is or has been wrong with poetry and its teaching.

For surely it tempts the writer into cloaking their words with intellectualism that may well have the effect of alienating a percentage of readers? This perception of inaccessibility has plagued poetry for decades, modern art too. How many people have a clue what most modern, conceptual or performance art is all about?

I can think of many reasons for explaining the content of a poem within the poem itself - historical context for one - so to live and breathe by such a constraint seems somewhat counter-productive and restricting to me.

There are times when I feel a desperate need to connect directly and instantaneously with the reader so description and explanation are the tools I would employ. At other times I prefer to remain at a distance and allow for a greater degree of interpretation. Either way, to have that flexibility and freedom has always been my personal motivation to express myself through writing.

Thank heavens for the internet which has helped blow away the need for most of these rules and regulations and made poetry truly accessible to all.

Personally I like both elements of Hazel's poem and I feel both complement each other and make a whole. The technique of writing from two different angles for me is one I like a lot as it can shift a poem suddenly into another dimension, the reader's mind too, uncomfortably even. As it stands I feel this poem is far more accessible to a wider audience than if it was reduced to the last 5 lines. But hey, we all see things in different ways and that's why poetry has multiple potentials.

Col.

Comment is about Drawn by Dragons (blog)

Original item by Hazel ettridge

Yes, Brian, I am anti-begggar too, but maybe in a different way... They make me think of all that I have and how most people can live comfortably in this rich country of ours, but others, for a whole variety of reasons, don't. Health, home, job, family, food and safety are not to be underestimated.

Comment is about Stu of the Steps (blog)

Original item by mike booth

Lovely Xx

Comment is about Be helpful (blog)

Original item by Hasmukh Mehta

Put into poetry a feeling that's hard to put into words, and you've done it inexplicably well. It's really relatable. Great. Thanks

Comment is about Organic Brain Syndrome. (blog)

Original item by Nick

The structures quite all over the place but it's supposed to sound quite broken up - I think enjambement is effective for more 'emotional poems. Idk

Comment is about Full Circle (blog)

Original item by Niamh k.

Thank's Keith?

Comment is about Outside (blog)

Original item by Mikey V Kinsey

Hi, so do you post the entries on the 31st and not anytime before?

Comment is about Fantastic competition for Young Poets! (article)

Original item by Mike Took

Thanks Hannah. Yes, a sad case in an unfathomable world.
No doubt the psychoanalysts would have an answer.

Ray

Comment is about CLINGING TO CONVENTION (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Sadly eccentric. I love the imagery.
I wonder if this is a real person or a creation?
Either way I 'm sure there are people like this and we wouldn't know what to say but somehow I am glad they're there.

Hannah

Comment is about CLINGING TO CONVENTION (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Almost like a figure from Spike Milligan's mind RB. An irresistible poem with plenty of salt and vinegar on it.

Ray

Comment is about The moth with hob nailed boots (blog)

Original item by Red Button

Mark, this surprises me after a career of daily recording of notes on the beat etc. We've all been to that dark place of memory wipeout. Torch, pen and jotter - and a more settled sleep....

Ray

Comment is about NIGHTY-NIGHT! (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

A perfect example of how rhyming simple lines makes us feel good and satisfied. Thank goodness for the Betjemanesque soliloquys of the past. May nostalgia thrive forever Ian. I like the fact that the last two lines give that sense of security we have now largely lost in the workplace. We've always had capitalists, but in that world of social values they never falsely raised our hopes, nor pretended to set us free.

Ray

Comment is about Sunset Over Lupset (August 1968) (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Points well made Rachel. I just wanted to tease the imagination rather than try to expand too much on any aspect of this distressing condition. Much has been written on the subject. I meant orientation as a state of mind based on recognition of time and place, often disturbed. Thanks for your reasoned response.

You must have that in a diary somewhere, Brian. Ha Ha!

I agree with you there Col. No compassion in news unless it is used to raise guilt it seems to me. I was an extra on EastEnders once, and Barbara had a habit of speaking off the cuff on film to non talking artists so that they could get a talking part fee which was far higher.(Not in my case!) She is salt of the earth.
Well done for sussing that interpretation. I think maybe first person would have changed the feel a lot; often that works I agree.
Thanks a lot.

Thank you all for liking: Anonybus, Desmond, Anya, Damon.

Ray

Comment is about THE MEMORY THIEF (blog)

Original item by ray pool

FOMO more dangerous than greed or lust! What marketing degrees are based on.

Comment is about The Fear Of Missing Out. (blog)

Original item by Matt Tyldesley

Don’t change it. It’s what you wrote.

Comment is about Drawn by Dragons (blog)

Original item by Hazel ettridge

One of the first things I learnt at uni when studying poetry was that you should never explain your poem - the words should be strong enough to speak for themselves.

Comment is about Drawn by Dragons (blog)

Original item by Hazel ettridge

Ian,
thank you for this poem which speaks of a very English idyll. It is perfectly rhymed and takes the reader directly to the place you have so eloquently described, both now and on many occasions in the past. Well done and thank you again.
Keith

Comment is about Sunset Over Lupset (August 1968) (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

where have you gone and when are you coming back?

Comment is about Chiari Warrior Soldier (poet profile)

Original item by Chiari Warrior Soldier

G'day Cynthia,
Yes, I was lucky... thanks for the compliments.
I don't drink either, but happy to share the atmosphere and listen to the poetic sentiments expressed with abandon.
Never really been a pub-goer either except between workshops in Ireland as mentioned and when I was a student nurse - again, to drink in the atmosphere.

Comment is about 'Epitaph for Gregory O'Donoghue' by Frances Macaulay Forde is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

thanks for the comments on 'This Is The News' Mark - I'm glad it's not just me that gets irritated by these modern traits ?
Ian

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Thanks, Hannah - it was fun being constrained by the form -glad you thought it worked. To me reading the finished poem, I thought the repetition seems to pull you further in with each verse.

Comment is about The Artist [1] (blog)

Original item by Chris Armstrong

You're right about the wit, MC. And the political satire I hear at Open Mics contains no wit. And here is the proof. People smirk because the joke is on the Right. Would they do so if the same joke was on the Left? If not, it wasn't Wit. It was self-affirmation.

Comment is about SUBVERSIVE VERSE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Beautiful writing.

Hannah

Comment is about The Artist [1] (blog)

Original item by Chris Armstrong

He's a tough one.
He's not scared of a rolled up newspaper, that's for sure.
Great stuff.

Hannah

Comment is about The moth with hob nailed boots (blog)

Original item by Red Button