Thanks Ebonaya, for your lovely reply. I look forward to reading your future posts and your own poetry.

I agree with you about the key influence of poetry on rap and you are drawing our attention to an important fact.

You know, for many years, I've loved the street poetry of the likes of Jill Scott and Ursula Rucker. Maybe you can suggest others I might like?

Hope all is well in Harlem!

Paul

Comment is about Def Poetry Jam (blog)

Original item by Ebonaya Smallwood

Thank you. I actually do like rondeau, along with villanelle, it's one of my favourite rhyming forms. But you're right, they can seem forced if not done well. When I originally wrote this a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't sure about it. But re-reading it today I kinda liked it, so decided to put it up here.

Comment is about Dawn (blog)

Original item by Trevor Alexander

thanks John.

Now what's that expression....small feet, big.......oh, I can't remember....

or was it big hands, big.....



gloves ?

Comment is about Not Quite 8½ (blog)

Original item by Paul Waring

Thanks Suki, I really enjoyed reading your comments, absolutely on the money! It brought back memories of going to see Rush in concert in 1981 in Queensferry, North Wales.

oh dear, that's......urm, just 36 years ago ?

Paul

Comment is about Emergency: Creative Hiatus (blog)

Original item by Paul Waring

Bloody hell, MC. That was a bit quick! Another year older and deeper in debt.

Comment is about SPRING TO ATTENTION! (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Pah! Little feet.

Comment is about Not Quite 8½ (blog)

Original item by Paul Waring

I'm not normally a fan of 2-rhyme poems (although I've done a fair share myself). They can come across as exercises. This one I do like, Trevor. It's sense and ambience keep the feel of "exercise" well at bay and perfectly resonate with the picture. Good stuff.

Comment is about Dawn (blog)

Original item by Trevor Alexander

Whoa, Harry. You've done it again. Absolutely delightful. Poetry like this is wasted on Old Gits like us. I bet you were dynamite when you were younger.

Comment is about Carol (blog)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

As a poetaster of some renown, I welcome thoughts on whether this little masterpiece is an anacreontic. I am sure more knowledgable minds can enlighten me.

Comment is about INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S WEEK (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Sorry, Graham. You are right. I should have said "...trying to stand firm...".
How the world has changed, Colin. When this came out it was funny because it was ridulous. Nowadays we all have the right to be female (or male) as we wish.

Comment is about INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S WEEK (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks Col, I'll give some thought to conjuring up a few steamy stanzas and call it '9½ inches' ? or, more like, 'wishful thinking' ?

David, thank you, too, for the kind compliment. The idea came about from another piece I had started to write about walking in someone else's shoes, but then an amusing image popped into my head of literally having two left feet. Yes, there must be something of the circus about my imagination!

Thanks again chaps, I'm very grateful to you for your comments.

Paul

Comment is about Not Quite 8½ (blog)

Original item by Paul Waring

I write poems. They're probably not very good, and I don't have a particularly high profile, so I'm not going to be asked to write something for a national advertising campaign. However, if I was, I hope I'd have the integrity not write about something I fundamentally disagree with.

That said, I'd be happy to get the exposure to a wider audience, and who knows, encourage dormant poets out there to engage.

On the subject of the young firebrands who say they'll never advertise, and then later do? People change. It's a fact of life. When I was a lad (yes, that old chestnut!), there was only one style of music worth my attention. Now, I like a very wide range from classical through to heavy metal via the blues and jazz. The only thing the youngsters are guilty of is not realising this at the start of their lives.

So! There's MY mini-rant done!

Comment is about 'It's depressing': Luke Wright's 'old-fashioned rant' about spoken word on TV ads (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

try updating your 8 1/2 Fellini dreams to 9 1/2 weeks and report back Paul

Comment is about Not Quite 8½ (blog)

Original item by Paul Waring

did you write this in February Neil? I like this but I'm struggling to imagine Salford Quays as the Amazon this time of year although it certainly gets an equivalent annual rainfall count. Nice one.

Comment is about Evaporation (blog)

Original item by Neil Robertson

I'm with Travis on this one. Read it over and over and out loud and check the syllable count in each line and see if you can't improve the flow. I think it'd be worth it. Cheers, Col

Comment is about Long distance (blog)

Original item by Neil Robertson

Paul... That so sweet of you! I'm happy that I brought this to your attention, I just people to know that poetry is basically the creator of rap music. Is there a topic u feel like I should talk about? I support any topic you have in mind?

Comment is about Def Poetry Jam (blog)

Original item by Ebonaya Smallwood

Oh no! You just did it again!
Cut yourself some slack JC

Comment is about INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S WEEK (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Just doing my bit to stand firm with the ladies, fellas.

Comment is about INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S WEEK (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Isn't it just a tad ironic that Nationwide's latest catch, JoBell lives on a canal barge?

I think?

Comment is about 'It's depressing': Luke Wright's 'old-fashioned rant' about spoken word on TV ads (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Oh - that naughty pay-off after such an inspired call to arms.
They have got what man has not...
I'll leave you to work out what is what!

Comment is about INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S WEEK (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

cheers both, lovely praise! i'll take blokes sylvia plath suki! might be the title of my inevitably best selling autobiography.

Comment is about it was an accident (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Oh dear! John.
You're a marked man now. Be afraid!

Comment is about INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S WEEK (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thank you for your lovely comment
Anna x

Comment is about free falling (blog)

Original item by Anna Marie Grinter

Hi Colin,

You're very knowledgeable about Rottnest I must say! They're still there, the original 'rats' of the island, named by the Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh many years ago.
Chris

Comment is about Chariots of the Sun (blog)

Original item by Chris Hubbard

Hello Neil, I think you could tighten this up a bit grammatically, but it has the hallmarks, for me at least, of a good poem.

Comment is about Long distance (blog)

Original item by Neil Robertson

Thank you Nicola x

Comment is about Veni, Vidi, Vino (blog)

Original item by Chakraj

You're the blokes' Sylvia Plath, but better.

Suki

Comment is about it was an accident (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

This is absolutely hilarious Rick, and right on the money - pun intended!

Suki

Comment is about "Glastonbury Fayre" (blog)

Original item by Rick Gammon

Hi Paul,

Funnily enough, this reminds me of an old Rush song called Losing It, which is also, in part, about a writer who has lost their inspiration:

Sadder still to watch it die/than never to have known it..

A recurring theme/nightmare for poets/artists, and thus, paradoxically (ironically) also offers a great subject and inspiration for us tortured souls. That's showbiz!

Suki

Comment is about Emergency: Creative Hiatus (blog)

Original item by Paul Waring

There is (or was) an old drunken version of this filmed in my living room a coupla three years ago - I just remembered ? not a glorious moment - one of which I'm quietly ashamed

- it was put on youtube as "bare butt naked poetry" -

there were other pomes filmed that evening as the beers went down but thankfully the cameraman gets too stoned to put them up. I guess the narcotic allusions on Glasto appealed to him ?

in respect of 'down to earth' / 'stratospheric' I guess you just write what comes to mind in the first instance and see what you've got - after that it's embellishment and erosion of the text ?

I'm glad the book's taken its time - you deserve, I deserve, the best possible allowing for our manifest weaknesses.

There will be plenty of brouhaha when it comes out - I'm having a Trivial Pursuit soiree - none of that book launch circus crapola for this ancient anarchist - and I'll p.m. people for their details so I can send a copy.

Comment is about "Glastonbury Fayre" (blog)

Original item by Rick Gammon

Sensational as ever - it leaps off the yellowing page Rick. Don't forget my request for your poetry book when it's ready, or i'll be coming looking for you! There's too much goodness to comment on lines - in the end you just end up staring in amazement.
How do you manage to be down to earth and stratospheric at the same time? Formula please...
Ray

Comment is about "Glastonbury Fayre" (blog)

Original item by Rick Gammon

Just to re-iterate my earlier comment and congratulate you Karen . The good thing about WOL is that of the different layers of opinion and views that come at you and give you more cause for the pursuance of the art. Sounds rather pretentious but I do go over the top sometimes!

Ray x

Comment is about 'Echo and Narcissus' by Karen Izod is Write Out Loud Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Well written and well said Louise. I used to work in the NHS and the reality of how it functions (or not) can be scary, amd you've depicted that.

Paul

Comment is about The Waiting Room (blog)

Original item by Louise Clarke

C?L, you are too funny. I fell asleep and woke up with chocolate all over my pants - a careless wispa ? from a good friend.......

droll...oh well, this poem was about lost creativity ?

Comment is about Emergency: Creative Hiatus (blog)

Original item by Paul Waring

Hi Ebonaya, I want to thank you deeply for bringing this to my attention. I have watched several of these shows tonight and they are brilliant. Great to see Mos Def so involved. And what a concept...I so enjoyed seeing 'lesser known' poets as well as some of my favourite musical artists like Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Common, Floetry and Kanye doing performance poetry. I haven't found Musiq Soulchild yet, but hope to. I wonder if I might find Bilal or J. Dilla, too? But, I still can't get over seeing Erykah's performance...! I saw her live at Montreux Jazz Festival in 2002, she was, and is, a talent beyond compare.

Thank you and best wishes to you and to Luther, hope all is well,

Paul

Comment is about Def Poetry Jam (blog)

Original item by Ebonaya Smallwood

Stu, how superbly and succinctly you tell us about the flip side of passion. Powerful stuff.

Paul

Comment is about it was an accident (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

great poem Chris but where's the bloody quokkas gone mate?

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/explosion-of-quokkas-on-rottnest-island-forces-mass-relocation-20160907-grb12d.html

?

Comment is about Chariots of the Sun (blog)

Original item by Chris Hubbard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIgZ7gMze7A

Comment is about Emergency: Creative Hiatus (blog)

Original item by Paul Waring

you portray an emptiness both of spirit and provision of care that is so very depressing and lacking in our 'modern' society - almost like reading a passage from Cancer Ward by Solzhenitsyn. So much money is poured into researching cures for the big name diseases that we neglect to fund properly the day to day infrastructure that so many lost souls depend upon.

thanks for posting Louise.
Col

Comment is about The Waiting Room (blog)

Original item by Louise Clarke

Love this x

Comment is about Veni, Vidi, Vino (blog)

Original item by Chakraj

Ha x

Comment is about Ooh I was so addicted to you. (blog)

Original item by Chakraj

Brilliant - topical, penetrating and imaginative. I'm sure looking forward to more of your work.

Congratulations.

Comment is about 'Echo and Narcissus' by Karen Izod is Write Out Loud Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Suki,

Neruda -- now I'm blushing lol. Thanks for the feedback ?


John,

Thank you for the kind words. It seems I strive for economical language, so I suppose haiku and I go hand-in-hand ? Thanks for the feedback!

Comment is about haiku (blog)

Original item by Melissa Gentile

Cynthia,

Thank you for your kind words.

Your bio is inspiring, as is the Picasso you included. Looking forward to reading your collection of poetry. You had me at: "the halo of humanity is receptivity." Stunning.

~Melissa

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

I enjoyed this piece Martin. Like the way you've captured all the detail. I felt I was walking down that street, taking in all the sights, sounds, the people and places. A colourful tapestry.

I like the last few lines most of all -- the dichotomy of its identity.

Raj

Comment is about High street (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Thanks Paul

My desert was in the shape of a gorgeous senorita.?

Comment is about Veni, Vidi, Vino (blog)

Original item by Chakraj

Thanks David, very wry but very funny! You couldn't prescribe anything just in case, could you?

Paul

Comment is about Emergency: Creative Hiatus (blog)

Original item by Paul Waring

Thanks, guys.

Comment is about MI FIRSTEST POEMS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Raj, I like this, rich and sensual (but no chocolate for dessert, I see!). You have been posting some interesting poems recently, keep them coming.

Paul

Comment is about Veni, Vidi, Vino (blog)

Original item by Chakraj

Martin, what a journey you've taken us on here and what a great story you've told...and how accurately you've portrayed many places in modern Britain. I feel a bit sad now, especially as I'm moving back to the UK next week!

Paul

Comment is about High street (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder