A pretty good summation of what life can be about...with echoes of how youth can be wasted on the young. But
age has its own rewards, needing only to be savoured
and appreciated.
Comment is about SHARE (blog)
Original item by Pete Slater
This has lots of layers that can be analysed separately Jeff, so it demands a lot of thinking about. eg. you wouldn't call pro butchers psychopathic, but someone who fantasizes about it and just satisfies a blood lust is a different beast. Your implication is these guys actually earn a living ! Strange stories do come out of pubs I know. Your family in the mix is a great contrast to all that and gives it a lot of depth and an antedote I feel.
Anyway a fine piece of poetry about life expressed powerfully.
Ray
Comment is about Serial Killer Butchers (blog)
Original item by Jeff
<Deleted User> (9882)
Wed 4th Jan 2017 17:20
"cleaver arse"? intended pun? beautiful/hilarious/scary poem sir! zipping me gimp suit gob-hole up again
later dude.
Rose ??
Comment is about Serial Killer Butchers (blog)
Original item by Jeff
A picture of a harsh winter readily recalled. I was firmly into my teens.
The steam train fits perfectly in this scenario, a rare
triumph preceding latter-day excuses of "leaves on the line"
and suchlike. My parents lived on the Wilts/Berks border -
in "the sticks" as it was known - and our local road was
blocked by snow, preventing the twice weekly bus service
from operating for days on end.
To borrow from Alan Jay Lerner:
Ah yes, I remember it well.
Comment is about AND THEN WAS THE WINTER (blog)
Original item by ray pool
This is a nice line.......Miracles arrive when you stop pushing...... Jeff
Comment is about The Miracle of You (blog)
Original item by Chakraj
I like this Trevor, and I like it more each time I read it! Paul
Comment is about Buds (blog)
Original item by Trevor Alexander
Thankyou for the comments Hazel, they're very much appreciated!
Thanks again
Comment is about Hazel ettridge (poet profile)
Original item by Hazel ettridge
Hi Paul, firstly thankyou for your kind comments on 'the little voice', ive never had the nerve to let others read my writing and positive feedback is very rewarding! I have read some of your work and particularly enjoyed 'nostalgia' I like being able to see different perspectives from seemingly innoccuos objects. I think you might enjoy my poem 'ink' as I feel there are some similarities.
All the best
Comment is about Paul Waring (poet profile)
Original item by Paul Waring
Thanks for your feedback on 'the voice', its very much appreciated! By the looks of your sample work you are very talented, I think I'll be perusing your past works in the near future!
Thanks again
Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
Sharply thought, expertly defined.Much enjoyed.
Comment is about Forsaking Auld Lang Syne (blog)
Original item by Ian Whiteley
Hi Paul and Cynthia, I'm glad you liked it, I felt it was a feeling we could all relate to and enjoyed writing this one! Thanks for your comments, they're appreciated.?
Comment is about The Little Voice (blog)
Original item by Stuart Bright
Very atmospheric, evoking trains and harsh winters worldwide in the steam age. Much enjoyed.
Excellent title.
Comment is about AND THEN WAS THE WINTER (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Sorry I've been so long to 'tune in'. And welcome to WOL, (three months later).
Comment is about Stuart Bright (poet profile)
Original item by Stuart Bright
Love the universal theme, and the skill in its presentation. I'll try to catch up with more of your work.
Comment is about The Little Voice (blog)
Original item by Stuart Bright
Hi Harry
It was my final poem to make my literary year complete.
Thanks for feedback. Happy New Year :)
Comment is about 2016 - Taken but not Forsaken (blog)
Original item by Tom Doolan
Ray, another crafted piece, skilfully describing the valiant locomotive's journey on one of those harsh winter days of 1962/3. Sadly, I do recall the bitter cold and snow (aged 5) and, coincidentally, my family were living near to Buckingham. Thanks for sharing this which, for me, showcases your original poet's mind. Paul
Comment is about AND THEN WAS THE WINTER (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Fitzroy, I am honoured that you took time to read my work, and to comment upon it. It is hard to shuffle through words/expressions that are still vibrantly active in some societies and harpooned in others. And, of course, rivers of ideas flow side by side, not always merging in any life time.
What I couldn't let go was the potency of a cup of tea over politics; person-to-person power.
Do you think we have to be 'island people' to understand my need to share this poem?
Comment is about The Spanish Girl (blog)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
Gideon Puccio
Wed 4th Jan 2017 10:26
Exquisite writing. The depth of your words, how they form such a clear picture, filled with such dark and deep imagery is in my opinion is quite extraordinary. Thank you for sharing your gift.
Comment is about Purgatory (blog)
Original item by angi largatzis
Hi Stuart, you have captured so well the frustration of tongues missing the moment and us suffering mocking "should have said" thoughts later! I enjoyed the other two pieces you posted too. Thanks for sharing them. Paul
Comment is about The Little Voice (blog)
Original item by Stuart Bright
Thanks so much for your comments, i'm glad you enjoyed it!
Comment is about The Little Voice (blog)
Original item by Stuart Bright
Do I see a stirring of the 23 year old in you Lynn? A kind of resurrection, recycling your youth and the indiscretions that went with it. Lovely.
Comment is about SEXY BOY (blog)
Original item by lynn hahn
Gideon Puccio
Wed 4th Jan 2017 07:15
Such a simple and delightful vision I pictured when I read this. Kind of like a snippet of an opening scene of a "feel good" movie. Great work!
Comment is about Joy (blog)
Original item by Hazel ettridge
Gideon Puccio
Wed 4th Jan 2017 06:53
Read a couple of your delightful poems. Honest and unpretentious. Thankyou.
Comment is about The Little Voice (blog)
Original item by Stuart Bright
Gideon Puccio
Wed 4th Jan 2017 06:32
Ain't this the truth! I am no strange to that voice among a cast of many others in my head either. Great poem!
Comment is about The Little Voice (blog)
Original item by Stuart Bright
OK, we've all been there. Usually as you lie sleeplessly in bed running over and over an argument/conversation/discussion - whatever in your head and you're coming out with killer arguments and quips which would have slain......if it wasn't 5 hours too late.
Comment is about The Little Voice (blog)
Original item by Stuart Bright
Gideon Puccio
Wed 4th Jan 2017 01:52
Well written Jeff... Love this poem. Very powerful and meaningful and the ice cream made me chuckle as well. Great work...
Comment is about They Said, I Said, She Said (blog)
Original item by Jeff
Andromeda
Wed 4th Jan 2017 00:17
I really like this. As always your work is simple, breathless, but powerful.
Comment is about They Said, I Said, She Said (blog)
Original item by Jeff
Tue 3rd Jan 2017 23:14
Wow! Cynthia! This is brave and beautiful...Bowdlerizing is a strange word..Are you really keeping it clean enough not to corrupt Victorian schoolboys?
What exactly have you shackled yourself with? What are you leaving out ?
I guess we're talking PC, aren't we? No place in poetry. I lived in T&T long enough to at least begin to see that old divisions, old perceptions abound and still bind, until life shows them as totally meaningless.
This is a lovely, touching piece. Thank you for setting it free.
Comment is about The Spanish Girl (blog)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
Whatever the weather
The season is right
For wonderful and
Young in life
Comment is about December Collage Poem: Disappointment - Part 2 (blog)
Original item by Stockport WoL
Cynthia, thank you so much for your welcome, lovely to hear from you. Paul
Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
Lovely uplifting comment Colin! I have a Ray Bradbury collection too; I love The Illustrated Man and The Long Rain. I'm old enough to remember Journey into Space on radio! I would like to share a spaceship with you, as Williams Fortesque.
Harry Thank you for your encouraging observations. I'm glad you identified with the indifference. The five line stanzas just came out that way to be honest.
Thanks elP. Let's hope this is in the long future after the next Messiah presumably.
Cheers Jeff That experiment is a bit confusing for the uninitiated but once tried is there any other way?
All things are possible but first must be conceived in the mind. (?!) Ray
Comment is about JOURNEY THROUGH THE STARS (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Thank you Patricia and Stef for your warm words about my poem and for your interesting anecdote and funny story about shopkeepers where you live, how lovely. Your greengrocer sounds like a funghi(!), not to mention your butcher!
Hazel, thank you so much for your comment, I'm so pleased you enjoyed this.
I'm grateful to you all, Paul
Comment is about HIGH STREET BLUES (blog)
Original item by Paul Waring
This guy reminds me of my music teacher at the secondary school ( I was later seconded to the grammar thank God). He rode a bike with dropped bars up the wrong way , thus contradicting one of the most obvious laws of physics . I was the only person in the class with any interest, and soon beguiled him into a corner with my recorder....
Your poem perfectly describes the type and the careworn sense of the hopeless that us older ones recall so well. Mind you, what has happened to characters full stop? Certainly there are less in the music business. I noticed the heavy drinkers flushed out when the breathalyzer came in, and then it became softies all round!
Happy new year Greg.
Comment is about The Grammar School (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
The cri de coeur of many a parent, no doubt. But with the
leavening of wit to soften the message.
Comment is about Unwed (blog)
Original item by Trevor Alexander
<Deleted User> (6895)
Tue 3rd Jan 2017 18:41
we loved this poem very much indeed Paul.Where we live,fortunately,a lot of the little shops have been retained.
We mean,where else would a greengrocer(79 years old-there at 7'o'clock every morning)not only sell you two mushrooms,if thats all you needed,but also welcome you in the back of his shop for a brew? Beat that Marks and Spencer!
In the meantime,here (hopefully) is a laugh for you.
Whenever I (Stef) am passing our local butchers (again a small local shop) I pop my head in the door and say-excuse me,but do you happen to sell meat? haha!
Cheers!
Patricia and Stef.xx
Comment is about HIGH STREET BLUES (blog)
Original item by Paul Waring
Thanks again for encouraging comment Paul. 'Last Orders' is one of a group of poems which will be in my new collection After Hours to be published next April by Cultured Llama.
Comment is about Paul Waring (poet profile)
Original item by Paul Waring
The intention of the title was two-fold: to show that hope
could cope - and having the hope TO cope!
Harry - thanks for the positive response.
JC - in a sense, this was written as an antidote to the sort
of thing that is likely to cause depression in even the most
evenly balanced state of mind. As I've mentioned elsewhere - it seems that "misery loves company". There
IS, however, a world of difference in the attitude that
is firmly tongue in cheek about the vicissitudes of life and
how to deal with them. I really do agreed with the words
"You don't stop laughing when you grow old,
You grow old when you stop laughing".
Comment is about HOPE TO COPE (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Welcome to WOL. Paul. I've not been much on line these past weeks, but will certainly follow up on your work already posted.
Comment is about Paul Waring (poet profile)
Original item by Paul Waring
The time I've spent on this work beggars belief - years! I have to set it free and get it out of my head. I must feel that it has a message worth sharing or I'd have jettisoned it long ago. It has been a real thorn in my brain.
I've been cramped by reality as I knew it in the ascribed time period, and the shackles I currently feel about ''bowdlerizing' the vocabulary. Is that the right word - powder-puffing expressions for 'finer discriminations' of the current day? I actually really object to that. History is history!
Anyway, I'd welcome any comments.
Comment is about The Spanish Girl (blog)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
This everyday drinker shown
has the hangover of
christmas and new year
no one must suffer!
Comment is about December Collage Poem: Disappointment - Part 1 (blog)
Original item by Stockport WoL
Hazel, I happened to stumble upon your profile. Call it serendipity. The universe moves in mysterious way I guess, all we have to do is be receptive.
I'd like to know more about your Mindfulness practice.
Then I would like to share my beliefs on it.
Comment is about Hazel ettridge (poet profile)
Original item by Hazel ettridge
Trevor,
Mind, when they get into that slaughter-house and smell what`s going to happen to them, I bet they all go a bit wild! ?
Comment is about Wild Haggis (blog)
Original item by Trevor Alexander
Tom,
All (rhymingly) remembered....It always pays to keep the poets sweet.
Comment is about 2016 - Taken but not Forsaken (blog)
Original item by Tom Doolan
hahaha!..too many big words for a Northerner like me Paul.....but a great way to remember them...Jeff....
Comment is about Breakfast at Dictionaries (blog)
Original item by Jeff
Couldn't agree more. Zombie culture - same old shops the world over....Jeff......
Comment is about HIGH STREET BLUES (blog)
Original item by Paul Waring
Wonderfully well written and evocative David, I enjoyed reading this very much. Paul
Comment is about Last orders (blog)
Original item by David Cooke
raypool
Wed 4th Jan 2017 17:33
I'm glad I read this right through Paul, as it is captures a great sense of community and variety within confines; it is almost as if the hotel has a personality of its own. I have had a lot of experience of the temporary nature of staying in them and moving on as a musician. One in Eastbourne called the Grand seems to fit your perception ; faded glory when I knew it in the 80s, never cheap though! Lots of places like this had cabaret acts (why I was there).
Well thought out and expressed with multi layers !
Ray
Comment is about Portland Court (blog)
Original item by Paul Waring