A beautiful poem, honoring family, a cherished time piece, and oh! books, wonderful books. Really like how you weaved the imagery of the passing of time, watch hands turning, and human hands turning pages of books. Splendid!
Comment is about Legacy (blog)
Original item by Trevor Alexander
A deeply felt poem linking the generations and establishing the debt we owe to the past.
Comment is about Legacy (blog)
Original item by Trevor Alexander
Sublime in its descriptive power I detect a spiritual reality as the poem progresses. The soul is the power house of our being. It stands in the face of storms and trials when it comes to the forefront of who we really are. A powerful piece of writing, guaranteed to stimulate the senses.
A treat to read.
Tthank you
Keith
Comment is about Mirror to my Soul. (blog)
Original item by Clare
I was mesmerised by this poem which held me from within. It is rich in an impressionist language which is akin to being on the crest of a wave as I read each line.
Thank you for this
Keith
Comment is about Serpentiform (blog)
Original item by Kealan Coady
I'm torn with this. It's a compelling view in the light of chronic underfunding of so many of our vital services - not least the NHS and education. I do think however, that the 'pomp and ceremony' does bring value. Whether it's enough to justify the expense though.... A provocative piece Steve.
Comment is about Crowdfund the Coronation (blog)
Original item by Steve White
Thanks so much , Stephen, especially for the Larkin reference, for as you know, I am a fan!
The poem stemmed from a passing thought at my dad's funeral, 36 years ago, 'Am I showing sufficient, obvious grief?'
Grief, like justice, has to be seen to be done!
I like the major's line, too 😂
Comment is about Rites of Passage (blog)
Original item by John Botterill
Thanks for this, Steve. I think that pay-per-view might be an idea, as it would require flag-waving royalists to put their money where their mouth is. You would have thought that some of the better-heeled guests could cough up something.
Thought-provoking and challenging as usual.
Comment is about Crowdfund the Coronation (blog)
Original item by Steve White
A superb, rather Larkinesque poem, John. I really enjoyed it. It's true that dress codes are more relaxed at funerals but have attitudes changed? I remember the Major in Fawlty Towers:
Major: 'I'm going to a memorial service, Fawlty'.
Basil: 'Tie's a bit bright, isn't it, Major?'
Major: 'Oh, I didn't like the chap,'
Comment is about Rites of Passage (blog)
Original item by John Botterill
Yes, the countryside certainly has become a playground (or playpen!) for some, Keith. Thanks for this interesting poem.
Comment is about The Old England (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
Thank you, John. I appreciate your comment. Yes, the war will end, but what will replace it? Real peace seems unlikely. Perhaps a festering truce?
Comment is about Sloviansk (14 April 2023) (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Utterly brilliant, I loved every word. Some of those phrases may appear in a JDR poem in about ten years😁.
Comment is about Charlie Darwin (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Thanks so much, Holden and Keith. Really valued and appreciated your comments. My wife says the poem flies in the face of how I actually respond at these events. I was trying to get to the truth but who knows where the truth really lies amongst so much social conditioning?
Thanks Nigel and Stephen A for the likes. 😀
Comment is about Rites of Passage (blog)
Original item by John Botterill
Fits together really well.
Comment is about End of a Beginning (blog)
Original item by John Gilbert Ellis
Thank you so much Holden & Russell, Stephen A and Stephen G. This poem means a lot to me: my brother, Pete, and my son, Kieran, have gone before me. Love does not stop with the death of the beloved.
"All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.” —Walt Whitman, Song of Myself.
Comment is about Charlie Darwin (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Wed 19th Apr 2023 21:55
A profound, special poem, John, full of beautiful imagery! And the title succeeds in bringing together the multiple layers of meaning!🌷
Comment is about Charlie Darwin (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Wed 19th Apr 2023 21:01
Extremely truthful and written with flair, John! Every stanza is excellent! 😎
Comment is about Rites of Passage (blog)
Original item by John Botterill
Think I've hit a memory button somewhere for you all, thank you for the comments
Comment is about The Wail of Two Cities (blog)
Original item by JD Russell
A poem which describes our outward demeanour when in certain situations. It is as if we are required to behave in a certain manner. This has often troubled me as it is false and conjured up to meet the occasion and lacking in any true emotion. Should we not be so conformist and act naturally? The poem is well written and true. However, it focuses on the Rites of Passage rather than every day feelings and how we are when in public view.
I enjoyed this and thank you.
Keith
Comment is about Rites of Passage (blog)
Original item by John Botterill
Thank you, John! You know me, I sometimes can't help turning things a little sinister 😄👺
Comment is about The Memory Of Her (blog)
Original item by Stephen W Atkinson
A wonderful snapshot of a life possible for us all 🌈
Comment is about Le Nu Provençal (blog)
Original item by David Cooke
Yes ,don't give in to it, Mike!
Superb writing 🌈
Comment is about The Hill (blog)
Original item by Mike Bartram
let time dance like a dervish,
let well-being flow like water,
let eternity wash away your fears.
Let's all do this Helene!
Nice one 🌈
Comment is about Stepping Out (blog)
Original item by Hélène
I must admit I'm a monarchist & think they bring in/bring to the country a lot more than people realise. I think we'd be a lesser country without them. But, the way things are ( more government related than monarchy ) I think crowd funding for such events is more than worthy of note! A great piece of thought-provoking writing, as usual, Steve 🤘
Comment is about Crowdfund the Coronation (blog)
Original item by Steve White
Love your poem, JD. As a lifelong Leeds fan I empathise with your change of club (especially after our last two heavy defeats). However, I won't be deserting them.
"Marching on together
We're gonna see you win!"
at some time in the not too distant future, hopefully...😂
Comment is about The Wail of Two Cities (blog)
Original item by JD Russell
Gorgeous poem, Stephen. I love the ethereal, ghostlike quality of your writing. Romantic and a little sinister ('shallow entrails') at the same time. Great!
Comment is about The Memory Of Her (blog)
Original item by Stephen W Atkinson
John.
That same year 1974, my grandfather was living with us as he had recently been discharged from the hospital.
He was born and raised in Sunderland and was an avid team supporter. That year they played Newcastle Utd in the then-prestigious Texaco Cup.
As a comical swipe to his good nature, I decided to cheer on Newcastle Utd. the hated rivals. I even had a black-and-white striped tea towel to wave and annoyed the hell out of Granddad throughout the whole of the televised match. Sunderland won, and he reciprocated the jibing by never letting me forget at any time. This rivalry continued for several years until his death, with me buying scarves and hats just to wind him up. I never returned to supporting Leeds Utd but continued supporting Newcastle in a perverse homage to Granddad
Comment is about The Wail of Two Cities (blog)
Original item by JD Russell
Yes indeed!
Make the most of what you've got
And stop regretting what you've not! 👍
Comment is about Grumpy Old-ish Men (blog)
Original item by David Lindsay
How happy I am to have espied
An imagination open wide! 😊
P.S. But is there really a shortage of large doctors?
Comment is about NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT (blog)
Original item by Short Attention Span Poetry
If money is the essential theme, perhaps we should be told
how much the existence of Royalty brings to the Exchequer
each year. It is certainly likely that the sum would pay for
any coronation envisaged - not least the less formal style
apparently advocated by the new Monarch.
I like a bit of pomp and ceremony - and if the world so clearly
endorsed the arrangements for the funeral of Her Late
Majesty - a truly impressive and inspiring occasion - then we
should honour her memory by granting her son and heir a
coronation to remember with pride and respect for an
institution that has served this country well through good
times and bad. God Save The King.
Comment is about Crowdfund the Coronation (blog)
Original item by Steve White
Hmm. How easy it is to either forget (those of us who were
around) or be unaware of the idiocy around football in days
gone past. I spent countless afternoons "on aid" to other
areas of London in the policing of matches, in and outside
the grounds. Chelsea, QPR, Fulham and Arsenal (at old Highbury) all come to mind and are readily pushed to the back of the mind without regret.
Some lads volunteered for the duty- soccer fans themselves -
but not yours truly. Each was a long thankless, often turbulent
tour of duty, starting well before match time and ending long
after the crowds had finally dispersed...not always quietly!
I recall one afternoon at Highbury in a "square" of uniformed
colleagues on the terrace behind the goal basically keeping
two lots of "fans" from attacking each other rather than
watching the game. It was necessary to draw our truncheons
like sabres during this ongoing stand-off. Pathetic if it wasn't
also so obviously a sign of something worse in society as a
whole. Crowd fatalities were to be the dreadful results of
this marauding mob mentality in notorious incidents to come
in various fixtures and countries. .
Comment is about The Wail of Two Cities (blog)
Original item by JD Russell
What ever planet you think you're on, it seems somewhat
removed from that known to messrs. Hodge and Corbyn -
one I can refer to as "Islingtonia". They seem to have a history
there, with Hodge declaring she would remain committed
to keeping Corbyn out of the labour leadership, no doubt
fuelled by her own Jewish origins from Germany via Egypt to
the UK where she now refers to herself as "a secular Jew". And a very wealthy
one to boot! You can't beat a bit of
political in-fighting for some mental stimulation in these interesting times.
P.S. UO'C - Hodge did not invite the
admiration/support of the BNP. She
got that unsought response because she publicly placed the needs of the
indigeneous Brits. ahead of migrants
in the matter of the grant of social housing.
Comment is about Labour Made Unelectable-How? With Help From A Foul-Mouthed Slanderer. (blog)
Original item by Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh
Of course, no-one knows where it will end. But it will end. Just as all periods of peace end. Powerful and incisive, Stephen.
Comment is about Sloviansk (14 April 2023) (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
How can you do that, JD? How can you stop supporting your team?
Comment is about The Wail of Two Cities (blog)
Original item by JD Russell
Nice observations, David. Life’s too short to waste it envying others.
Comment is about Grumpy Old-ish Men (blog)
Original item by David Lindsay
Something to look into!
Comment is about NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT (blog)
Original item by Short Attention Span Poetry
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pgJ8-hV5gSo&pp=ygUZSGVubmluZyB3ZWhuIHJveWFsIGZhbWlseQ%3D%3D
Comment is about Crowdfund the Coronation (blog)
Original item by Steve White
Through the hole in my sock
My big toe tickler
Still missing you.💔
Comment is about Three Haiku on Change (blog)
Original item by Andy N
....and the Chelsea Tractors, beloved of the "hunt em, shoot em and flog em" brigade; bullying their way around the Lancashire countryside, especially at the Holcombe Hunt, parking up on what were once lush grass verges, turning our YES OUR! country parks into a sea of mud.
Comment is about The Old England (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
On different planets?
Oh bugger, I'm going to have to inform DVLA of my change of address-again!😕
Comment is about Labour Made Unelectable-How? With Help From A Foul-Mouthed Slanderer. (blog)
Original item by Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh
I wondered why the water was that colour 😂 & Newcastle Exhibition! Now, that was what you called bad head gear the next day! 🤮. Happy memories...sort of
Comment is about The Memory Of Her (blog)
Original item by Stephen W Atkinson
I too have memories of Prebends Bridge, Stephen, though not as yours. I was a student at Durham when the bow and arrow were secret weapons. Prebends Bridge was a stop-off on our way home to “download” the night’s Newcastle Exhibition.
Comment is about The Memory Of Her (blog)
Original item by Stephen W Atkinson
Very much enjoyed this one David.
Comment is about Le Nu Provençal (blog)
Original item by David Cooke
I invite you for an interview in my orifice.
Comment is about NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT (blog)
Original item by Short Attention Span Poetry
Well written, and well said Steve.
Some of our nurses are having to choose between heating and eating.
Schoolchildren are going to school with not enough food in their bellies.
Teachers don't have the resources they need to do their job.
Schools are literally falling down around the heads of teachers and pupils.
The NHS has been deliberately trashed for ideological reasons.
The UK is a moral cesspit- an obscene joke played upon the most vulnerable of UK Citizens.
The Nursing Unions should be boycotting the Coronation, not playing the Plastic Patriot Game.
They should tell them:
"Shove your Royal Sceptre where the sun don't shine, then try to extract it with neither a nurse's nor a doctor's help, and without anaesthetic".
Comment is about Crowdfund the Coronation (blog)
Original item by Steve White
I must admit that I am not comfortable with the extravagance of these great national occasions when people are queueing up at food banks, the homeless figure rises, ex servicemen are living rough and those who govern the country possess enormous personal wealth. The last Royal Wedding cost the tax payer 13 million and now they don't even want to live amongst us. At a time of imposed austerity and hardship there needs to be a more prudent approach to what is being spent. At the end of the day the bill is paid for by the tax payer. (us).
Thank you for this
Keith
Comment is about Crowdfund the Coronation (blog)
Original item by Steve White
Dear Stephen I'm glad you liked my Nu Provencal poem. It's certainly a wonderful photo and I hope the poem does it some justice.
Comment is about Stephen Gospage (poet profile)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Hi Hélène I'm glad you liked my naked lady. The photograph is certainly beautiful and I hope the poem does it some justice.
Comment is about Hélène (poet profile)
Original item by Hélène
Incredibly well said. 👍
Comment is about Crowdfund the Coronation (blog)
Original item by Steve White
Manish Singh Rajput
Fri 21st Apr 2023 04:10
A poem that speaks about the importance of books, preserving them and making it available for the future generations. Beautifully written.
Thank you.
Comment is about Legacy (blog)
Original item by Trevor Alexander