This is really deep and it's awful that anyone has to know this feeling.
Comment is about Bloody Showers (blog)
Original item by Eden Louise
Ruby
Fri 2nd Mar 2018 03:39
Thanks a lot Ray!
Ruby
Comment is about 'Dear Sad Friend' by Ruby is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Big Sal
Fri 2nd Mar 2018 01:50
Fuck this shit indeed. ?
Very worthwhile reads you have collected, and your sample lends itself to catching attention and holding it like a candle.
Comment is about Eden Louise (poet profile)
Original item by Eden Louise
Sorry Eve, but the first thing I think of is that three things leave brown stains on sheets, curry and chocolate being two of them, which does not bode well for nocturnal bliss! You need a 90 decree setting to get that lot out. Enjoyable read!
Ray
Comment is about curry hurry (blog)
Original item by eve nortley
Your writing has touched a chord and resonates simply and truthfully Ruby, it has a winsome quality, an almost cinematic moment registered. Glad to see you as POTW.
Ray
Comment is about 'Dear Sad Friend' by Ruby is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Hi Greg,
Wishing you all the very best for the future, and it's good to see you will still be involved in some capacity, including helping your replacement(s) settle in.
Cheers!
Suki
Comment is about We're looking for a poetry journalist - or two - for Write Out Loud (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Hi Colin and David,
Thanks so much for your feedback and observations.
Yes Col, the science fiction element is there, but like you say, only just. I have a horrible feeling it won't be too long now - 5g is just around the corner, and 3d television isn't too far away we are promised. Lucky us.
David, you're not kidding. All is product. Think of telethons: tragedy and comedy: a starving child then a clip from The Office. A celebrity: "Don't go to the pub tonight, look here!".
I wonder if we get the media we deserve. Stopped watching Question Time a long while ago..
Cheers again!
Suki
Comment is about Far Away In My Living Room When We Have Real 3d Television (blog)
Original item by Suki Spangles
A nice sense of reverie of the white world. It is good to test ourselves and as you say sample the possibilities, like the seduction of a white duvet.
much enjoyed this one Tom.
Ray
Comment is about Morning Thought (blog)
Original item by Tom Harding
As usual, a veritable font of useful information.
I'm surprised you haven't written a whole manual of this type of "survival" prose!
On another matter, it was good to see those northern softies dispatched in the snowy cauldron of Wembley the other night. And not a HC in sight!!
Comment is about TALE FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Top man, Greg.
Comment is about We're looking for a poetry journalist - or two - for Write Out Loud (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
leah
Thu 1st Mar 2018 11:40
FEBRUARY WRITE ANGLE WITH OPEN MIC & STEVE POTTINGER - “THE BEST POET WE HAD YET!”
That's what was said by some of the audience about Steve Pottinger. When he went to sell his books at half time, a queue formed and he sold all but one! During the break, several of the audience sat reading the books they'd bought....they loved his poetry! For his part, Steve Pottinger said “you realise you have some excellent poets in your group,” (referring specifically to Dick Senior)
Steve holds strong views about society, politics, everything. Yet he manages to put these across with humour. He said, “I was trying to write a poem about Brexit and it was just coming out as a rant.” What he actually wrote (apologies to Lewis Carrol) was Stabberjocky”: “Twas Brexit, and the slithy Gove did....” He doesn't rant, even when serious, as in Kate's War, about Kate Sharpley, a munitions factory girl who lost everyone in WW1, when Queen Mary was presenting medals, she hurled '”this consolation back shouting out loud, 'keep'em yourself, if they mean that much to you'.”
He celebrates ordinary people and their ways: in England, no grandiloquent Royal Throne of Kings, Sceptred Isle, but “You are not dead, just evolving...quoting Benny Hill and Shakespeare.” His quirky humour and sense of the ridiculous is seen in his love poem, You Ask Me Where I want To Live, My Love, “...this is where I want to live, my love,with you, eating impossibilities for breakfast.....”
At the open mic, Colin Eveleigh spoke of writing a 'more light hearted poem' and came up with the lilting, 'Seaside Dip', 'English Summer' which told of an “August, flipping icy cold” and slow progress into and out of the sea. Richard Hawtree explained his poems were so complex, this time he'd write a simpler one, but the more he wrote, the more difficult and obscure it became. His Marginal Sonnet dealt with the old belief that, in winter, birds don't migrate but hide in holes in the ground.
He was suddenly approached by an audience member who said she loved his work- where could she find more, did he have a website, had he published...his latest, 'O Poem' was just published in 'The Honest Ulsterman'. Other recent poems appear in: 'SOUTH', 'Anima', 'Banshee', 'Boyne Berries', 'The Penny Dreadful', and 'Snakeskin Poetry'.
Dick Senior, (highly admired by Steve Pottinger), followed with Learning to Swim. “One day, the wind and the sun debated which was greater.” They vied to have a man take off his jacket; the wind tried but the man pulled the jacket tighter; the hot sun made the man take it off. In a second section, a “father with no patience with patience threw his son in the deep end....where he had to be hooked out like a failed fish.” However, taught by a friend's father “boys became fish...not drowning but smiling.” He finished with The News, three news items described with sardonic humour, the first of which dealt with “a town that would banish bully beggars.”
Andy Forsyth's untitled poem told of life in a squat, finishing with “then click! The f-----g electric ran out.” Sue Spiers likened humans to birds: “City folk in crisp white shirts with suits of black dread – magpies of the bank”. Your reviewer read Be My Valentine addressed to Write Angle's surprised founder: “I love you, Leah. But not because – AND you're beautiful”.
In Leah Cohen's, Rose, her father calls their Bronx flat “The house of disappearance.” In it, “Everything is dull and grey. No paintings, plants or pets. They dirty things, she says, They make a smell.” So her daughter “vows when she grows up, to fill her house with all those things.” Too soon the father's heart skips a beat and the rose lipped sex kitten becomes Miami Ballroom Queen...” Piers Husband's To Disappear tells how, one morning, he decides to leave without telling anyone. He goes on a mystical journey, meeting an old man who leads him to a wall with a door: “Behind this door all the people you've known and loved that have been taken from you; they're on the other side.” He does not open the door to join them for a picnic” and, next day, when he retraces his steps, he finds “When I got to the wall, there was no door”.
Every Write Angle evening is different and special in its own way but this one really did show the talents we have at our Open Mic as well as the extraordinary qualities each of our guests bring to Petersfield. It was truly a great evening with its own special energy. Everyone was exhilerated and left feeling good.
The raffle prize, a meal for two at excellent The Hamilton Arms Nava Thai was won by one of Write Angle's regulars and we're delighted that he finally got to win it!
Jake Claret
Review is about WRITE ANGLE POETRY & MUSIC +OPEN MIC on 20 Feb 2018 (event)
Thanks for your messages, Laura and Jonathan. I've had a wonderful time doing the news job. And I won't be quitting Write Out Loud entirely - I still hope to co-ordinate the book reviews, and will be carrying on as organiser of Write Out Loud Woking, of course. I should also mention that there will be no question of my successor(s) having to jump in off the deep end - there'll be plenty of technical advice and help on offer, to get you settled in.
Comment is about We're looking for a poetry journalist - or two - for Write Out Loud (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
<Deleted User> (13740)
Thu 1st Mar 2018 05:38
<Deleted User> (16513)
Thu 1st Mar 2018 03:56
Hello AMC, you are most welcome. Keep in touch -xx mgs
Comment is about AM Cash (poet profile)
Original item by AM Cash
I've had to come out of hiding to answer this lot - very hush hush, savvy?
Bang on about Hoskins David, compelling stuff! There's a certain odour of romance with the old hard men - polished by verbals in basic boozers. (brown envelopes, I always got cash in them on gigs.
Sorry Col. Wales has always had the hard edge and the strong men, but it doesn't 'old up to wot happened down 'ere, know what i'm saying? I like your linguistic style though!!
Hannah, you do have it right - a very male dominant symbol back in the day. I remember my father's firm of solicitors making a sale of a house, and the buyer (rough and ready type) paying with cash in the fifties. Most irregular, he was told. Thanks for your compliment.
Whatever turns you on, New Shoes, thanks for sharing. Funny how words can mean many things. These old fellas were usually family men, if you get my drift.
Funny thing, Suki. I'm old enough to remember some banks had just counters in the fifties. Then the screens went up, now in my local it's all open plan. (No cash worth nicking). You're right: the government bailing them out - diabolical liberty I call it.
Thanks Mark, what a great word, blaggers. That must have been something. I remember a lady pianist telling me that she often worked for villains; one day she got paid by one in Scottish pound notes. In the news next day, she read there had been a bank raid in Glasgow.
Back to you David. I'd not heard that - but how appropriate! I believe that compensation was paid to slave owners after the abolition, amounting to very large sums, forming the backbone of some early banks.
Thanks for your like, Ruby.
Love all around. Ray
Comment is about LISTEN UP, SON (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Thanks for the comments. Yes, it is a blues song...
Comment is about Woulda - Shoulda - Coulda (blog)
Original item by 220August
Yes lovely, it’s coming right back as a popular thing to do. The famous Polly Tea Rooms in Marlborough is very near to where I have family. Thank you both for reading and commenting.
Comment is about Fairy Cakes, Butterflies and High Tea (blog)
Original item by Rick Varden
<Deleted User> (16513)
Wed 28th Feb 2018 20:12
Hi Jeroth, Thanks for stopping by onto my page. Thanks also for the like. I'm starting to read your poem and I got interested on it. Waiting for more from you... -mgs
Comment is about jeronth (poet profile)
Original item by jeronth
Greg's done a bloody sterling job over the years, tis a shame to see him go, but we all move on. Best of luck for everything to come Greg - all my very best to you ?
Comment is about We're looking for a poetry journalist - or two - for Write Out Loud (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Hi KJ,
Thanks for your very kind review. I don't have 1,000 friends anymore. I am down 3 since I wrote this. On a positive note though, their car wasn't a total write-off and 2 of the tyres will fetch £25 each(ish).
Comment is about Facebook (blog)
Original item by Ken Smith
Took me to days when I spent time on protection work
caretaking a member of a team of blaggers that was big time back in the day - but went to prison for a long time.
Nice touches, Ray.
Comment is about LISTEN UP, SON (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Takes me back to a place (long gone) called "Dellers", a
café in the old style near Paignton sea-front in the 1950s
when it was a big treat to be taken there for afternoon
tea and be serenaded by a small group of musicians. I
imagine Monty Python would have been inspired by a
place like that in those days.
Comment is about Fairy Cakes, Butterflies and High Tea (blog)
Original item by Rick Varden
Agree with M.E. - the words have a rhythm and a catchy
intonation suited to a song.
Comment is about Woulda - Shoulda - Coulda (blog)
Original item by 220August
Very nice
Comment is about A Visit To Graveyard (blog)
Original item by Mirza Sharafat Hussain Beigh
I can taste all of this Fred.
I must confess we have reinstated the idea of having a couple of friends around for afternoon tea now and again, it’s a very civilised thing to do.
My favourite is Russian Caravan without milk.
Comment is about Fairy Cakes, Butterflies and High Tea (blog)
Original item by Rick Varden
I think Colin’s suggestion is a very valid one, although it would be sensible for each region’s representative to feed into a WOL site-manager as it were.
Comment is about We're looking for a poetry journalist - or two - for Write Out Loud (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
A really good enjoyable piece that many of us can relate to. Well done!
Comment is about 'IT' (blog)
Original item by PatricioLG
<Deleted User> (10985)
Wed 28th Feb 2018 11:24
Good luck in your retirement Greg.
Cheers
Jonathan : )
Comment is about We're looking for a poetry journalist - or two - for Write Out Loud (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
bold sentiment.... either that or replacing the golden gates with something a bit cheaper. ?
Comment is about Poem for Margaret Thatcher (blog)
Original item by simon williams
<Deleted User> (13762)
Wed 28th Feb 2018 09:00
or 3 or 4 perhaps - to cover different regions of the UK?
Comment is about We're looking for a poetry journalist - or two - for Write Out Loud (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
<Deleted User> (13762)
Wed 28th Feb 2018 08:17
<Deleted User> (18980)
Wed 28th Feb 2018 08:09
Ruby
Wed 28th Feb 2018 02:47
Thanks Martin for your encouraging words!
Comment is about 'Dear Sad Friend' by Ruby is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
I think the only thing you didn't mention was chips and gravy or curry sauce with mushy peas. What a startlingly refreshing poem. I would love to know where you got that picture from. was it taken from one of the tower blocks at the top of the Chester road near the Mancunian way
Nice one
Comment is about A Manc's A Man (Fer All That) (blog)
Original item by Chris Bainbridge
This sounds like a song to me, possibly reggae or Rhythm and blues. It certainly got that feel to it for me. Either way a fine poem
Comment is about Woulda - Shoulda - Coulda (blog)
Original item by 220August
Hi Ken. I really liked this one. And i like the fact that you have 1000 Facebook friends. ( I have about 30).
Keep em coming.
Cheers Kevin
Comment is about Facebook (blog)
Original item by Ken Smith
Charles Bukowski - “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”
Shown to have some truth here - Dunning Kruger effect
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Thanks for taking the time to read my work and for the comments.
Marcus Aurelius memoirs - good reading...To be so powerful and have so much forethought before he acted. He touches on being careful of expectations, always reminds me of Charles Dickens and Buddhists (Common goal/lessons to finding a more peaceful journey).
Greek Stoics believed Hell was the life you build for yourself by not being virtuous.
Well I'm rambling on.....
Comment is about Because I have the Right (blog)
Original item by 220August
Play the market eventually you'll here "woulda - shoulda - coulda" (Where I got my inspiration). Guess it holds true for people as well as money.
Comment is about Woulda - Shoulda - Coulda (blog)
Original item by 220August
Big Sal
Tue 27th Feb 2018 18:38
<Deleted User> (16099)
Tue 27th Feb 2018 18:23
This has to be about you right...
Comment is about She Knows (blog)
Original item by Chiari Warrior Soldier
A very nice poem Ruby. Don't be afraid of your talent. Keep writing. It is refreshing to see new poets emerging from all corners of the globe. We all get uncertain and scared at sharing our writing . First time I turned up to a poetry event I couldn't even find the door and had to wait to the next month.
Nice one
Comment is about 'Dear Sad Friend' by Ruby is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Ruby
Tue 27th Feb 2018 15:11
Thanks Suki!
Comment is about 'Dear Sad Friend' by Ruby is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Thanks to Pat Colin Desmond and Hannah for liking and Thanks to Rose Ray and Kevin for commenting
No need to worry Rose I haven't grown boobs
I am glad that you were able to not get to bogged down with this one Ray. I am sometimes write things that make me stop and think.
Kevin you got this completely right. I wrote it in the first place thinking of the recent series around Guy Fawkes which made me reflect how I would have felt bearing in mind I am looking from a 21st century perspective.
Again you are right about the parallels with today upon which I reflect with all the conflicting perspectives we are bombarded with. But what it simply boils down to for me is that we are all human beings trying desperately at times to make our way in this world.
So I guess I come back to Rays philosophical observations which remind me although there is so much that is awful about the world that we live in what we do to each other and the planet at times dreadful ways there are also so many examples of love shown one person to another as well also fabulous examples of artistic endeavour.
I have probably gone off on one again so I shall stop while I am ahead
Thanks once again to everybody
Love and peace
Martin
Comment is about I lay my head (blog)
Original item by Martin Elder
Well why bother with robbing banks? If you can't beat 'em..
Bank robbers, unlike banks, are never too big to fail. I'm sure we will be gently reminded of that again before long..
Ray, you have summed it up well (pun intended).
Suki
Comment is about LISTEN UP, SON (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Hi Ruby,
Congratulations on Winning PotW!
Some interesting turns of phrase in this poem; nicely expressed.
All the best,
Suki
Comment is about 'Dear Sad Friend' by Ruby is Write Out Loud's Poem of the Week (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
<Deleted User> (13762)
Fri 2nd Mar 2018 10:34
wow
Comment is about Snug gunS (blog)
Original item by J