John,
nostalgia plays such an important part in life yet often overlooked. This poem with the photo of the girls is an invitation for us to revisit the past and take stock of where we are in life.
Thank you for this,
Keith
Comment is about The photograph (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Patricia,
A masterpiece of poetry entwined with philosophy and an exhortation for us to act, to remedy what now ails the world. This was not only a good read but a petition to all who read it, that time is running out and we need to find a new avenue to travel down.
Thank you indeed for this,
Keith
Comment is about 20020926 Rolling like a ball (blog)
Original item by Patricia Ziel
"Weeping willow" has its place in our folklore here. I especially appreciated the message in the last verse. But even better might be to be born happy and beautiful? After all, the latter is in the
eye of the beholder, whether that be its lucky owner or the
onlooker.
Comment is about The Lonely Willow (blog)
Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska
Sun 23rd Jun 2024 12:41
A mammoth and comprehensive litany of emotions. What poetry does best!
Comment is about Death Cafe (blog)
Original item by Lee Campbell
Thanks to all the like including Nigel, Tom, Blackrose, Stephen, Stephen Aisha, Manish and Auracle
Thanks also to M.C. David Ray and Keith for comments
Keith I love observational poetry, trying to paint a picture of what I see
Ray there does seem to be little hope on the surface of some peoples lives- yet I suspect if you dig a little deeper there is something more. I think people have lost the ability to speak yo each other, just simply passing the day and therefore not connecting.
David thanks for your comments about Thatcher . I remember her saying that and thinking at the time it was an outrageous statement. You are right my intention wasn't to make any observation other than people going about there daily lives.
When lockdown occurred and I went for my daily walk for exercise I would make a habit of saying hello to anybody I might come across who seemed relieved and smiled back . It is so important i think to try and make that connection.
Once again thank you for likes and comments
Love and blessings
to all
M
Comment is about A street full (blog)
Original item by Martin Elder
Thanks for the comment Landi and for the additional likes.
Occasionally I see things in my scribbles which must emanate from my subconsious.
On reflection I pondered why I used the words "flake, wounds and pour" because they do have a leaning to suggest some kind of religious communion, ie..the breaking of bread, represented in flake like discs, the blood of Christ, poured...and the reference to open wounds.
All these terms although purpously placed in the text seem to suggest a cleansing.
Read in to that what you like, but it was revealed to me only upon reading not whilst creating the verse.
David
Comment is about Scratch (blog)
Original item by David RL Moore
Thank you Leon for your feedback & wise words 🙂
Thanks for like Auracle 👍
Comment is about Miss You Everyday (blog)
Original item by Tom Doolan
Congratulations on reaching this milestone, Ray. The old rockers keep on trucking, and why shouldn't you, still open-micing and Zooming as you do?
Comment is about EIGHTY - NOT OUT (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Thanks for all your likes Stephen, Keith, Blackrose, Aisha, Holden and Jon 63.
Cheers Graham it is indeed. Yes, I agree, we share the support even sometimes under duress. All's pretty good thanks!
Bless you David. There is of course no alternative but to grip tightly and think of England. A lovely thought too.
Yes Mark - in the same ball park as they say.
Always nice to get your response Martin thank you.
Funny you mention that Stephen. My mum on reaching 95 said: I never wanted to be old, but now I am it would be nice to get to 100, alas not to be but still.....
Ray
Comment is about EIGHTY - NOT OUT (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Thank you for liking my dream poems! They are all dreams that I've had. Your feedback is encouraging.
Comment is about Tim Higbee (poet profile)
Original item by Tim Higbee
Thank you for the kind words on my poem. I miss that little guy every day. I really appreciate WOL. This has become my safe haven in many ways.
I'm looking forward to reading your work.
Thank you
Comment is about Cassandra Louise (poet profile)
Original item by Cassandra Louise
leon stolgard
Sat 22nd Jun 2024 15:56
Look on the bright side Tom you know what they say about absence-and tomorrow could be a different story- ( 10/10 ) 👍
Comment is about Miss You Everyday (blog)
Original item by Tom Doolan
Thank you for the comment on the Buddy poem. I miss that little bastard..
Cheers
Evan.
Comment is about Stephen Gospage (poet profile)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
leon stolgard
Sat 22nd Jun 2024 15:50
Well crafted grim reminders Patricia-cheers!
Comment is about Awareness Secret (blog)
Original item by Patricia Ziel
Thank you Manish for your feedback & supportive comment. 😊
Thanks for likes: Aisha & Patricia 👍
Comment is about Miss You Everyday (blog)
Original item by Tom Doolan
The repetition works well with the brevity and somehow works to communicate recurrence. And, the final line cinches it up beautifully--it's really a gratifyingly constructed image painted in those few words.
I also want to mention that certain words and phrases evoke a sense of distorted perception for me which I found very slightly distressing, probably due to my own experiences with chronic insomnia.
..nighttime isn't necessarily a time of rest...
Thanks for posting, David 🌷
Comment is about Scratch (blog)
Original item by David RL Moore
I can't thank you enough for your support and generosity, Stephen. It means the world to me. Have a great day!😊
Comment is about A Wish (blog)
Original item by Manish
Martin Elder, Stephen Gospage, Stephen Atkinson, Aisha Suleman, Helene, Manish. Thank you so much for liking my poem. Martin Elder and Manish Singh Rajput for commenting.
Comment is about The Sky is Crying With Heavy Rain (blog)
Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska
Fri 21st Jun 2024 16:29
It’s all brilliantly done but I love this standout set
This is the real life
This is the war
This is real spite
Despite the law
These are the orphans
These are the limbs
This is the organ
These are the hymns
Well done!
Comment is about Real Life (blog)
Original item by Steve White
The teaks were still
And so were the neem,
Their silence seemed
Like silent screams.
So effective!
Comment is about Massacre (blog)
Original item by Manish
Thanks for the early likes folks.
David.
Comment is about Scratch (blog)
Original item by David RL Moore
The message, structure and set-up of this poem is put out brilliantly by you, Stephen. Clear, crisp and effective.
Comment is about Summit (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
"If there is a god or a celestial being
Why am I left with a vacant empty feeling
Live in the here and now they cry
One day at a time and then you die," mind-blowing stuff, Tom. I loved it!
Comment is about Miss You Everyday (blog)
Original item by Tom Doolan
Wow, Hélène, just beautiful. I also believe. Seems that our writing is touching similar themes. My next post will be related to our co-creating.
Thank you also for your kind words for Winded prayer.
Comment is about I'm a Believer (blog)
Original item by Hélène
Stephen,
The comparison is stark. Endless talking shops with little to connect them with reality is an all too familiar scene. A poem which all diplomats should read before their next summit.
Thank you for this,
Keith
Comment is about Summit (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Fri 21st Jun 2024 08:18
Fri 21st Jun 2024 07:08
Thank you Keith and others for liking my poem.
-Blackrose
Comment is about -QUESTIONS? (blog)
Original item by Black_Rose
Thanks, Martin--I appreciate your comment.
There have been many moments in life where I've suspected that I'm slow on the uptake. But then, why displace the power of observation for the sake of speech?
It's a conundrum )
Comment is about enough rocks for a monument (blog)
Original item by Landi Cruz
John,
First I applaud your choice of reference in the words of Charles Bukowski. A great favourite of mine.
Your poem is a vivid description of many urban areas in our towns and cities. Raw emotion, unconcealed poverty and a dearth of spirituality. Desparation lingers in a sultry atmosphere of lethargy. I have seen it all too often in parish work. The human casualties of orchestrated neglect.
You write from an aching heart as we cannot turn our backs on this. I thank you for such a skilfull piece of witing.
Keith
Comment is about AUSTERITY (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
The most uplifting vision one can witness, the wonder in a child's eyes!
I am also minded to remember hearing the artist Grayson Perry shaking a box of Lego and stating that it was the sound of a child's imagination! Brilliant.
well done Helene
Comment is about Tasks of the Day (blog)
Original item by Hélène
I really like this, Landi, although i had to read yours and David's comments to get its meaning. That's all down to me though - i can be very slow that way. But don't let that detract from me saying what a great piece of writing it is. Nice work.
Comment is about enough rocks for a monument (blog)
Original item by Landi Cruz
Hi David,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts--it's good to expand perspective through a little discourse. I tend to keep my thoughts close to the chest so I enjoy a bit of feedback when I air them.
I was thinking as I wrote this about how people can be disappeared to sadness. I got this image of a bright light being released and considered what it might take to extricate a heart from the depths. I thought too that such a rescue might be fraught with risk on many levels...
..no one makes it out of this life alive 💕
With regard to revisionism, I get it. I very recently had a conversation with a coworker and admitted that I no longer have any heroes. That's not to say that I don't admire anyone or their ability to put their principles before their own self-interest--I certainly do. However I know that those people are human and are often required to show leadership in impossible situations. Basically, they're prone to making decisions which don't hold up well in the light of convenient judgments about what's good and what's bad. Really, I could talk for a loooong time about this. I only wish I wasn't such a slow texter.
I'll leave with this...
Years ago, I was talking with a young man whose company I enjoyed a lot. He was very friendly and welcoming to me when I first moved to this foreign country where I have lived now for several years. Anyhow, he mentioned that he was a communist which I found quite interesting and I said I found it all the more interesting because I grew up during the final decades of the Soviet Union. What I was trying to get to but didn't know how because I'm not well-read on the various communist factions was the reason Stalin had Trotsky murdered with an ice pick.
My friend seemed puzzled. So I went on and told him we westerners had a sort of umbrella term by which we described how the Cheka assured their power and asked him if he had ever heard of The Red Terror. He said no so I went on some more and told him that I had read that they had very creative means of offing their enemies and would even freeze prisoners to break off their limbs in order to instill fear within the population. He said, no, he hadn't heard of any of that and the entire conversation ended when he admitted, "meh--maybe communism isn't for you."
Sorry, that was a longer story than I thought it would be.
It's a funny world, though, and accounts differ wildly...
Well, again, thanks. It feels nice to try to make something coherent out of this jumble of thoughts in my head 🌷
Comment is about enough rocks for a monument (blog)
Original item by Landi Cruz
Absolutely wonderful poem, Patricia. So glad your writing is seeing the light of day! Yes, WOL is a vibrant collection of eager poets & readers.
Comment is about Winded prayer September 13,1998 (blog)
Original item by Patricia Ziel
An entertaining observational example that surely finds its
predecessors in past days, with different apparel and accessories
in their lives but with very much the same outlook on life and their fellow travellers in this existence we share across the
generations.
Comment is about A street full (blog)
Original item by Martin Elder
Thanks for the comments. I wonder if the North Korean dictator
thinks about the meeting he had with a certain Donald Trump as
he dances the diplomatic two-step with Putin. It makes for
fascinating conjecture about what goes on and the potential
outcome in the long term, with the coming US election in mind.
Comment is about TEA FOR TWO (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Hello,
Thanks for leaving your feedback. I'm glad to know that you liked my poems. I will definitely keep writing. Thank you so much for your warm words of appreciation.
Comment is about Cassandra Louise (poet profile)
Original item by Cassandra Louise
To me this exemplifies Thatchers "No such thing as society" quote.
Identity Politics has played into this notion, so many people have devolved away from society and become factionalised. People looking at each other with distrust, immediately applying labels to people they observe before any interaction ever occurs. Is it a defence mechanism or is it just a wilful alienation from each other?
I suspect this interpretation was not your intention and maybe it is my own mood which has influenced it, but that is what I take from it. I think in answer to the question Ray poses in his comment, there seems little hope. Unless we move away from divisive groupings and identify upon our greater commonality, that of humanity.
But hey...what do I know, what do any of us know? maybe instinct sometimes trumps knowledge.
David
Comment is about A street full (blog)
Original item by Martin Elder
Quite, Stephen. In fairness, I have to say that these car flags are fewer and farther between this time. Perhaps 40 years (now 60) of disillusionment has taken its toll.
Comment is about RESEARCH (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
An insightful piece Landi.
We make monuments of our failures and our victories alike...occasionally because of the passage of time we forget the meaning of the monuments we build. Whether they are real or metaphoric we need to remind ourselves of their meaning...such a remembering can be painful yet productive.
I like the "and watch the light pour from you" line, especially prefixed by the reference to an "incision" as if a surgeon cutting out a cancer, a bad memory...let it bleed out and be exorcised.
Great idea and writing.
David
As an after thought although I do not think it your intention this could be applied in some manner to the popular trend of the revisionism of history, our willingness to bury it or expose the truth of it...which would/could shed new light or distort and pervert it according to opinion.
Comment is about enough rocks for a monument (blog)
Original item by Landi Cruz
Thanks for passing by and giving comment John, always appreciated.
That "as tears that fell, though never cried" is open to interpretation.
I was attempting to reference the fact that so many of those who died were unknown, although they fell they were never mourned in the traditional manner in which family and loved ones mourn their loss...tears never fell on their physical graves.
On many occasions the dead were not even identified, merely buried as "A Sailor"
Extremely sad, yet these places are strangely peaceful and moving in their way.
Thanks again John, and to the likers.
David.
Comment is about Hebridean Graves (blog)
Original item by David RL Moore
Thank you Keith. I have been sitting on all my writings without an outlet. Now I am so thankful for this community where I can share and also partake in the beautiful observations and expressions of other writers. I am a firm believer that we are all co-creating our reality. Writers are the original influencers 😉. For the written word has often manifested (Verne, Asimov, Huxley, Orwell). Humans need a new story; I believe it needs to be one to Awaken!
Comment is about Winded prayer September 13,1998 (blog)
Original item by Patricia Ziel
As a person of Faith I immediately caught onto this prayer of supplication. Written with intensity and devotion. May I also echo these words.
Thank you for this,
Keith
Comment is about Winded prayer September 13,1998 (blog)
Original item by Patricia Ziel
Plus ca change, MC. To those who are anti-American, I say “Try Russia, North Korea and China as your landlord”.
Comment is about TEA FOR TWO (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Graham Sherwood
Sun 23rd Jun 2024 16:36
Hard to think you’d ever leave it Keith! Your old stomping grounds in Northamptonshire have a few like this. Perfect on a sunny Sunday here. Thank you G
Comment is about An English Hamlet (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries