Elemental and evoking the themes of Walt Whitman in its
connection between our lives and our surroundings. Sing the song eternal!
Comment is about Elements with in You (blog)
Original item by Artur Hulboj
Nick, both this poem and the previous one evoke a fear of being alone an unable to cope. Many of us have there. In my case I felt the need to be distracted. I found this in a young guy who is autistic, mentally retarded (learning difficulties) and with very bad eye sight. He is 19 years old. I befriended him and gave him an I Pod. His family are very poor. I help him with reading and writing and how to use the I Pod. He loves every minute. He has taken me out of myself. He has helped me more than I could ever help him. The last two lines of this poem is something you can do but not necessarily alone. Someone out there needs you. Find them. Sit with them and compose poetry together. Give them the benefit of yoursef and your talents. Keith Keep writing
Comment is about No Title. (blog)
Original item by Nick
Thanks Cynthia...
Comment is about Playing Charades with the Clouds (blog)
Original item by 220August
Big Sal
Tue 30th Jan 2018 12:50
Belated congratulations.
Comment is about Winning the first Poetry Slam Online interview (blog)
Original item by Myriam San Marco
Big Sal
Tue 30th Jan 2018 12:48
I like how almost every line of the stanzas frames itself as a separate part of the same conversation. Good poem.
Comment is about Speak to me , Hope. (blog)
Original item by Burning Aspirations
Claire Leavey
Tue 30th Jan 2018 12:47
MC Newberry:
"comment of Saturday 27th January - to which I will add "no matter what the medium or means utilised to advance a cause, complaint or argument." " - where is the cause, complaint or argument here? This is a book review. A review of a book which you have not yet read. The book contains poems of personal testimony from women who have been attacked in a variety of different ways. There is, indeed, an account featuring a female perpetrator. Many of these accounts are from childhood or from within toxic marriages. If you consider that these thoughtfully curated witness statements are being 'utilised to advance a cause, complaint or argument', then please also consider that they are being so utilised by the first-hand victims of the various attacks. These women are engaged in expressing and sharing - many for the first time - their deep and difficult trauma.
"Enlightenment is not a one way street when discussing contentious issues" - please do point me towards this alleged enlightenment because I think this discussion is in increasing need of some. And what, I would question, is even remotely contentious about the fact that women are routinely disrespected and interfered with by people ranging from relations to acquaintances to strangers?
"Over many years I've dealt with all the sorts of behaviour
complained of, including false accusations by women
against men, up to and including rape, and I'd have got
nowhere if I'd assumed a single minded belief in dealing
with any of them." - If any volume concentrating on allegations by men about distressing/appalling behaviour by women was put in the public domain, I'd be using the same approach that seems so offensive to you here!" - I very much look forward to reading the book you doubtless plan to edit around this experience, then. You will of course publish (as here) at your own expense, and thanks to a range of professional services donated free by the horde of fellow-survivors you will no doubt have little trouble rallying in such a worthwhile cause. You will of course be donating all profits to the masculine equivalent of Women's Aid, the charity benefiting from #MeToo. I have no doubt that you are already a supporter of the excellent organisation CALM. If not, you can find out how you can assist them here: https://www.thecalmzone.net/about-calm/what-is-calm/
I look forward very much to reading the reviews. Perhaps, though, not the comments.
Comment is about #MeToo movement leads to women's poetry anthology (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Poetry has many inspections
each line, like thought, re-touched.
We frown at scribbled collections
of nouns and other stuff.
There are troublesome inflections
and bleeding wrung-out verbs
the wandering explications
of rhymes, the metre, serves.
There are stand alone conjunctions
in hope that it amazes
where
in solitude it functions
in contrived schematic phrases.
Comment is about Magazine pours bucket of 'literary criticism' over award-winning Hollie McNish (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Thank you for your kind words Frances. I tried to capture the schoolboy writing the words... that boy from long ago that I can hardly remember now, except for a few vivid episodes!
Comment is about Karma (blog)
Original item by J R Harris
Hello Desmond & Kevin,
thank you for your kind comments. You are right Kevin the locations are close to each other. Keith
Comment is about A Royal Box (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
I expect it's everyone's dilemma... particularly as the years pass
Comment is about Summer - Time (blog)
Original item by J R Harris
?
Could be a sequel to your previous one.
Cheers Kevin
Comment is about A Royal Box (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
Tue 30th Jan 2018 07:00
Thank you Keith, much appreciate your comments.
All the bes des
Comment is about The stone of time (blog)
Original item by DESMOND CHILDS
Amir Sharif El
Tue 30th Jan 2018 05:38
Inspiring... as you should be???
Here's to new beginnings ??
RAnewed RAstored RAjuvenated
This is where we know
Those who assume dnt make it
If there's power in words we should only speak true statements
Toast to new beginnings
Unlike most we're in tune with living
Here's to new beginnings
Life without limits
Unconditional love that's daily RAplenished
New beginnings
No longer fooled by the illusion
My mind gives life to the image
Privileged to see you in visions
Ancestors talkin is it you that'll listen
Walk right into a new beginning
True to you I Self Law Am Master no division ???✍? #AllHailTheMatriarch
Comment is about New Beginnings (blog)
Original item by Gabrielle Renee'
Dear Claire Leavey - please refer to my comment of Saturday 27th January - to which I will add "no matter
what the medium or means utilised to advance a cause,
complaint or argument." Enlightenment is not a one way
street when discussing contentious issues...and discussing
is the operative word here.
Over many years I've dealt with all the sorts of behaviour
complained of, including false accusations by women
against men, up to and including rape, and I'd have got
nowhere if I'd assumed a single minded belief in dealing
with any of them.
If any volume concentrating on allegations by men about distressing/appalling behaviour by women was put in the public domain, I'd be using the same approach that
seems so offensive to you here!
Thank you.
Comment is about #MeToo movement leads to women's poetry anthology (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
<Deleted User> (16099)
Tue 30th Jan 2018 01:51
Let's do coffee great thought for a dawn I think....,
Comment is about The Dawn (blog)
Original item by Ankita Srivastava
<Deleted User> (16099)
Tue 30th Jan 2018 01:49
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
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
<Deleted User> (13740)
Mon 29th Jan 2018 20:16
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
<Deleted User> (13740)
Mon 29th Jan 2018 20:15
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
Claire Leavey
Mon 29th Jan 2018 19:14
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
Big Sal
Mon 29th Jan 2018 13:29
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
Big Sal
Mon 29th Jan 2018 13:26
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
<Deleted User> (5011)
Mon 29th Jan 2018 11:56
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
Derek Sellen
Mon 29th Jan 2018 10:27
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
<Deleted User> (13762)
Mon 29th Jan 2018 08:49
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
<Deleted User> (13762)
Mon 29th Jan 2018 08:38
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
Big Sal
Mon 29th Jan 2018 03:28
I quite enjoy your recorded performances and poetry, you truly stand out.
Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)
Original item by Laura Taylor
Frances Macaulay Forde
Mon 29th Jan 2018 03:04
Frances Macaulay Forde
Mon 29th Jan 2018 03:03
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
Frances Macaulay Forde
Mon 29th Jan 2018 02:58
M.C. Newberry
Tue 30th Jan 2018 15:52
I commented on the previous WOL post about this lady and her passing is a matter for both sorrow and regret. A
unique and admirable "voice" of reason and real life
understanding has been stilled. RIP Win.
Comment is about 'Poem a day' West Midlands poet Win Saha dies aged 94 (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman