Let's do coffee great thought for a dawn I think....,

Comment is about The Dawn (blog)

Original item by Ankita Srivastava

Love the work Karen great share

Comment is about Give Me Silence (blog)

Original item by Karen Ankers

Think invincible... be invincible

Comment is about A letter to my Demon (blog)

Original item by Natalie Rupik

Think invincible... be invincible

Comment is about invincible (blog)

Original item by Natalie Rupik

Desmond, well chosen words to conjure up the philosopher in us all. Keith

Comment is about The stone of time (blog)

Original item by DESMOND CHILDS

Nobody should have to put up with this man or woman walk away xxx

Comment is about I just close my eyes. (blog)

Original item by leanne taylor

Oh dear ?

Comment is about Snake (blog)

Original item by leanne taylor

Shirley, thank you. My nan was quite a gal. During a heavy air raid during the last war, an air raid warden knocked on her front door and suggested she go the local public shelter. She stood on the door step and replied, ¨Do you think Adolf Hitler is going to make me run down some hole in the ground for fear of him?¨She promptly returned to her chaise longue, lit a cigarette, sipped her pale ale and continued to have the occasional humbug toffee. Keith

Comment is about Presidents Club (blog)

Original item by Shirley-Anne Kennedy

Thank you so much Julian. I truly appreciate your kind words.

I think commenting on issues is all part of being a poet and whether you choose to use spoken word or page is no different from a painter chosing between oils or watercolour, etc. Each medium has a role.

The Watts/McNish debate has certainly got people talking about poetry and that is always a good thing.

Many thanks to Write Out Loud for choosing Presidents Club as the Poem of the Week and to everyone for their comments.

Comment is about 'Presidents Club' by Shirley-Anne Kennedy is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

I must start by saying thank you to all the sane, humane men who have added their voices to this comment thread - but my god, Mr Newberry, you seem intent on minimising and discrediting the content of this volume despite the minor inconvenience of not yet having had the opportunity to read it! I am a contributor, and so have seen a draft. There are indeed some mildly irritant straying hands in this book, but there is also coercive control and domestic violence - and there is every variety of rape. There are also testimonies from people who didn't initially realise that they had been subjected to legally-defined assaults because less pernicious behaviours on the very broad harassment/assault scale are so frequently excused and normalised. We are all fully aware that there is a world of difference between a friendly pat on the bum and a painful grab at the pudenda or breast. We know the boundaries, in both directions, whether we are male or female. And our objection to this treatment is nothing new - witness the formally instructed hat-pin self-defence of the early Edwardian period (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/hatpin-peril-terrorized-men-who-couldnt-handle-20th-century-woman-180951219/)/. The only new thing here is that we are now comparing notes, every one of us amazed to find that we weren't the isolated 'victims' we thought we were, but that the woman who *hasn't* been somehow interfered with by an entitled man is in fact a rare and exotic creature. Please do take the trouble to research the topic before embarrassing yourself further.

Comment is about #MeToo movement leads to women's poetry anthology (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Many thanks, Ray. As I said in one of my earlier responses, it’s really about us.

Comment is about SOBIBOR - WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE? (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

It was a tremendous event in a great venue with friendly people. I really recommend the Anthology, the quality and variety of poems in it is truly astonishing. Sarah Doyle's 'Owl' is one of the most powerful poems I've read in years.

Comment is about Rachel Plummer wins WoLF poetry competition run by Write Out Loud (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Write Out Loud has produced an anthology containing all five winning entries and forty shortlisted poems.

Copies are now on sale through Write Out Loud from now until the end of February at a cost of £6.00 +p&p. To get your hands on a copy, simply email info@writeoutloud.net as soon as possible with your name, the number of copies you require, and your address, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can with details of the total amount due, and how to pay.

Comment is about Rachel Plummer wins WoLF poetry competition run by Write Out Loud (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Remarkably conceived and expressed piece of writing John.
What comes across in watching "Night must Fall" about the death camps is the sheer stripping away of the human spirit and to write of it is mainly to fail - I have tried and given up. You have come at it from a side perspective and given it gravitas and thrown a light on it. To place your alter ego in a guard's mind is brave and effective. Well done mate.

Ray

Comment is about SOBIBOR - WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE? (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks again, David. It was also an attempt, I confess, to write a poem on a subject of extreme gravitas in rhythm and rhyme, which many might otherwise consider an unsuitable vessel.

Comment is about SOBIBOR - WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE? (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Andy and Nigel ... sorry I’ve only just found “notifications” on this webpage!!! A belated thank you for your support (as always!) xx

Comment is about Magicians of Verse: Enter If Bold (blog)

Original item by Nicola Hulme

Thank you Big Sal. I’ve just looked up “grimoire”. Fabulous idea! I’m running a spell writing workshop soon for children, so I shall create a family friendly grimoire to collate their work, and perhaps also create a darker version for my work. Thank you for introducing me to the concept x

Comment is about Magicians of Verse: Enter If Bold (blog)

Original item by Nicola Hulme

As a singer, writer, and poet, you may enjoy a song called, "Orange", by an American artist named Sadistik. Either way, great samples you have here.

Comment is about Fay Roberts (poet profile)

Original item by Fay Roberts

This magic is best if held in a grimoire to be shared and remembered, rather than be confined to the digital format most are familiar with. Either way, good poem.

Comment is about Magicians of Verse: Enter If Bold (blog)

Original item by Nicola Hulme

We are indeed (the rest of us, not you by all accounts, David) lucky to have avoided the type of conflicts our parents and grandparents suffered. We have a debt of gratitude to them and you which pays for the values and principles we can afford to hold so cheaply.

Comment is about SOBIBOR - WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE? (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Quite delightful. Love the concept because I'm so a cloud person too. The words are erratic, giving a great sense of spontaneity, like the changing shapes themselves.

I was walking along the pavement one evening at sunset and passed a man washing his car, very intently. I nodded as I passed and said, 'Aren't the clouds beautiful?' He looked at me as if I were mad, glanced up and replied, 'Yes, actually, they are.' And he smiled.

Perhaps a cloud convert. Who knows? So many people never look up - never.

Comment is about Playing Charades with the Clouds (blog)

Original item by 220August

Congrats on poem of the week, Shirley-Anne, and on your meteoric ascent in the world of poetry.

Well done, coming up with this important topical comment on what we thought was a bygone culture. I think your tone of sadness about sums it up.

And thank you for your many contributions to others' progress, particularly in creating opportunities for other folk to take those first tentative steps into this world of sharing, of finding their voice.

In the current debate about (atavistic attack on?) Hollie McNish and open-mic/spoken word poetry, you remind us that poetry performs several functions, including helping shine a light on things that need illuminating. Well shone, you.

Comment is about 'Presidents Club' by Shirley-Anne Kennedy is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Thanks, Manisha, for your comment on 'Worthless Women'.

And I say 'Welcome' too. You will enjoy this site. I'll try to catch up with more of your work.

I'm curious. What do you actually mean 'decipher my work if you can!'? I'm not sure whether to think uncertainty or arrogance? But, I allow, it's an interesting conundrum.

Comment is about MANISHA SAINI (poet profile)

Original item by MANISHA SAINI

Thank you for all the comments.

Your Nan sounds quite a Gal Keith ?

Comment is about Presidents Club (blog)

Original item by Shirley-Anne Kennedy

What doesn't necessarily come across in the Q&A is the fantastic welcoming atmosphere at Ó Bhéal. The enthusiasm for poetry and the spontaneity are memorable.

Comment is about Fifty nights a year, guest poets from across the spectrum at Ó Bhéal (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Many thanks for you thoughts, MC. Without disputing a word of what you say, I think it would have been a very brave person indeed who chose not to comply with the Nazis orders. I’m afraid that if they had told me to corral the Jews towards the gas chambers or be shot myself, I’d have done it.

Comment is about SOBIBOR - WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE? (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

ooh, my type of poem Des and one to definitely bask in. Thanks for posting. Col.

Comment is about Path (blog)

Original item by DESMOND CHILDS

like sneaking into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and watching the Oompa Loompa's waking up and starting work. I'd post a link to the song but it's way too annoying! Good stuff Martin. Happy motoring. Col.

Comment is about Waking up my people (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Hi there John,

I've always felt that magnoliaphobia is the acceptable face of beigeism. Controversial, I know. And it's the twenty-first century.

Suki

Comment is about EMBRASING DIVERSITY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Cheers Col and David,

I suspect if/when the Big Thing happens it will be quite quick. Sitting on top of a hill eating crisps and Pepsi is a good a way as any!

Have a great week!

Suki

Comment is about Two Minutes To Midnight (blog)

Original item by Suki Spangles

Hi there Martin,

I love the staccato rhythm of this; very apt for the subject and mood conveyed. For me,it also has a very January feel. Nice one!

Suki

Comment is about Waking up my people (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

I quite enjoy your recorded performances and poetry, you truly stand out.

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

A most pertinent question!

Comment is about Summer - Time (blog)

Original item by J R Harris

Such a clever comment on boys/men and their games and the horror of bloody consequences. A very natural style of writing, too. I'll have to read more.

Comment is about Karma (blog)

Original item by J R Harris

An important comment on our oceans.

Comment is about Charlatan (blog)

Original item by Carol Falaki

I've been to Dachau and pondered the meaning of the place and what happened there - and in numerous
other camps planned and placed around Nazi Germany and its satellites.
But when watching the newsreels - especially those taken
by the Nazis themselves - and absorbing the sight of the legions of raised "Sieg Heil" hands almost into infinity - the
question posed in this hard hitting piece is entirely
relevant to those who served a system that saw
little value in so many varieties of human life. And it is
worth remembering some still live and may even feel no remorse
over their participation in the infliction of vile cruelty and
death to others without feeling any need for self-restraint.
Such regimes offer safe havens for psychopaths, sadists and
their kind - seeking justification for their deeds when in
the ascendancy and excuses in defeat. The Milice in Vichy France
were one example - their methods
towards their victims exceeding even those of the Gestapo in brutality. Origins are no guide to
such behaviour.

Comment is about SOBIBOR - WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE? (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

An interesting examination of real individualism and identity. Well done.

Comment is about Smile (blog)

Original item by sasha

A dramatic poem that really hits a nerve. What more do children want?

Comment is about Mama (response to Daughter by Sybil Ruth) (blog)

Original item by leanne taylor

SW - fair comment.
But there does seem to be a current "bandwagon" media
campaign that would seem to place this chancy behaviour
on a par with far worse things that are happening. And it
is interesting that any similar behaviour towards men by
women doesn't rate the same reaction. There is even a
TV ad. which fades on the image of a woman reaching
down and patting a male companion on the backside.
Are men expected to feel complimented whilst women feel
imposed upon if subject to the same sort of physical
approach? I suppose my basic misgiving focusses on the
magnification of masculine manifestations of vain hope over expectation in party-style artificial surroundings and
circumstances - removed from the constraints of day to
day demands of expected social conduct.
What's good for the gooser should be good for the goose!

Comment is about #MeToo movement leads to women's poetry anthology (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Thanks for the encouraging comments everyone. I'm looking forward to seeing who's is poem of the week next week!

Comment is about '100 Reasons to Plant a Tree' by Tim Ellis is Write Out Loud Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Thankyou, David.
Ostensibly it's a poem about Sobibor and secondarily about John Demjanjuk.
In reality. it's about us.

Comment is about SOBIBOR - WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE? (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

It's amazing how we have these memories set in our minds of what an individual or a particular situation was like.These are perhaps the things that we cherish the most.
great poem Ray

Comment is about DISASTER CAST (blog)

Original item by ray pool

This is a great poem leading the reader from room to room. I can't help feeling that this could lead into a at least a shorty story if not a novel
Nice one

Comment is about Rooms (blog)

Original item by Chris Armstrong

You had me in there in that spot with your description. Marvellous poem Carol

Comment is about Charlatan (blog)

Original item by Carol Falaki

A lot of fun Martin - keeping the analogy going in a straight line as it were. We like to try and rely on our closest as much as we do on the car, but do we likewise take them for granted?! Always check under the bonnet.

Ray

Comment is about Waking up my people (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

This really is a marvellous poem. I think I am inclined to agree with Frances in that my favourite stanza is the second. In particular the line
'scaffolding breathes like asthmatic old man'
fantastic

Comment is about visiting the chelsea hotel (blog)

Original item by pauline sewards

"What do women want?" - different things I suspect. I've got this strange idea (don't know where it camw from, but, y'know, you pick these things up...) that they don't want to be groped, patronised or treated as second class citizens by men who think they're entitled to a quick feel.

Comment is about #MeToo movement leads to women's poetry anthology (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Hi Pauline. That's a nice surprise that you enjoyed Amateur Musicians. I work in a band with these guys, and boy do they take it seriously!

Thanks for stopping by.

Ray

Comment is about pauline sewards (poet profile)

Original item by pauline sewards

Love this Damon, particularly the opening line
'I am now the lack of letters I your mind'
great stuff

Comment is about Words of The Waiting Man 2 (blog)

Original item by Mikey V Kinsey

Atmospheric. The second stanza is my favourite.

Comment is about visiting the chelsea hotel (blog)

Original item by pauline sewards