If the NATO states agreed to lessen the burden on the
far-off USA and pay an agreed share to make up the
difference, I don't think there would be a diminution of the
dedication of the latter to remain onside.

Comment is about THAT BLOND COMB-OVER MAN (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Cold comfort!
At times, in cynical and pensive mood (to borrow a bit
from WW), I wonder if the pharmaceutical companies really
seek a cure for the common cold. Think of all those
remedies - and all that dosh - disappearing down the pan!
I thought of an advertising slogan for all those boxes of
man tissues though...
"The Bigger Tissue For That Big-Atishoo!" If it appears
without my permission, I will sue and sneeze at the
consequences!

Comment is about THE COMMON COLD (blog)

Original item by ray pool

As a a private tutor, I have taught a range of students from Age 5 up to adults Age 55 who felt they could still 'learn to read' (which they did).

Comment is about The Boy Who Conquered Fractions (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

I do like this Stu. It is a simple enough concept and no doubt as always you have a deeper sense of what it might mean to you. I just like the idea of it. A sense of deafness or darkness pervades for me.

Ray

Comment is about lay my neck on this block of wood but make it one clean swing (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Guys, (and Jem) quite by coincidence I was checking filming locations for this and found that the cinematographer who filmed it died on 7th October - Wolfgang Suschitsky aged 104! so would have been around 60 at the time. Genius technique . Worth checking him out I reckon.
regards all.

Comment is about GET CARTER (Jack's Return Home) (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Thanks Trevor - you might be ok with just a drip hopefully!

Ray

Comment is about THE COMMON COLD (blog)

Original item by ray pool

He took me down to that place by the river many years ago, and I've been listening sporadically ever since.

Comment is about Leonard Norman Cohen - R.I.P. (blog)

Original item by Tom Doolan

Thankfully not been inflicted with anything so common of late, although I've just developed a drip on the end of my nose!

Good read though.?

Comment is about THE COMMON COLD (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Good to hear from you, David..there are some things I can't quite pin down, here. My head just swims sometimes with words that rarely seem to come together to form anything too specific. I would rather it not so, at times. But, I suppose it has it's purpose.

Hi there, Harry..I didn't have politics in particular in mind, but it certainly is a subject that kinda skirts the whirlpool of ideas. I hope this disunity you speak of doesn't come to full boil. There are some factions of Trump supporters that are quite rabid and I hope they don't get a foothold in government (don't worry, I realize that statement leaves a helluva lot out). But, "still framed forms" does imply that I believe there is a place to which return is possible should we stray as a nation provided it doesn't go too far.

Great to see you back, Stu..people tend to think in biblical proportions when they hear the word apocalypse. But, that's selective hearing..too many one track minds who've chosen to become over-saturated with ideas that they'll probably never understand anyway because they refuse to remove their blinders. Anyhow, I listened to some of godspeed you! black emperor..very effective in creating atmosphere..I'm sure to return to it.

Thank you, kindly, for commenting and reading.

elP

Comment is about erode (blog)

Original item by nunya

how the flip,did I miss this pearler? Wonderful!





Rose.?

Comment is about WHERE THE RIVER MEETS THE SEA (blog)

Original item by jean lucy thompson

I'm glad it went well. I was planning to be there, but caught the dreaded lurgy - it wasn't a pretty sight. I'm hoping to have my voice back for Wednesday. I'll try and keep my germs to myself Monday night ?

Comment is about Nicola Hulme (poet profile)

Original item by Nicola Hulme

Cheers Steve/Harry, thanks for even reading my nonsense.

My Dad is 83 and fitter than me and still brings me tea and toast in the morning (we unemployed rise later than his 5am start), so some factual basis there.

I showed him this scribble (I'd hate to call it poetry) and the first thing he said was: why did it take you 24 hours to worry about me?

Made me laugh, but brought me down to earth damn quickly as well. He is a good sounding board!

A.

Comment is about A Rapturous welcome (blog)

Original item by Andy Smyth

Great lyrical heartfelt lines and really conjures up a mood, very poetic.

Ray

Comment is about Where Is My Home Among These Mountains? (blog)

Original item by Merritt

Thanks Drs. Hill and Buck. (Sounds like a credible pharmaceutical company). I've heard of music streaming but today it's my nose.
I was wondering how you were Stu, so now we're level.

regards Ray

Comment is about THE COMMON COLD (blog)

Original item by ray pool

how very clever and to keep it not just readable but flowing and poignant is quite remarkable.

Comment is about Spring Palindrome (blog)

Original item by Trevor Alexander

quite apocalyptic.

i can only hear godspeed you black emperor while i read this

Comment is about erode (blog)

Original item by nunya

this is a fine piece of writing. much enjoyed

Comment is about Where Is My Home Among These Mountains? (blog)

Original item by Merritt

read this whilst coming down with a right bastard of a cold myself. may i suggest hot brandy and port followed by a mars bar and a nap

Comment is about THE COMMON COLD (blog)

Original item by ray pool

enjoyed this very much.Great piece sapna.



Rose

Comment is about Gardens of reality (blog)

Original item by sapna

I hesitated before posting a comment in case I picked up your germs Raymondo - but you're such a nice guy and well...

aitchoo!!!

damn!

get well soon me old mucker.

Comment is about THE COMMON COLD (blog)

Original item by ray pool

I rather fancy Vlad likes the look of Trump's views on NATO. Opportunities in the Baltic States a la Crimea for him to press his luck.

Comment is about THAT BLOND COMB-OVER MAN (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Great utube clips David thanks for that !

Glad you enjoyed this Harry, cheers. Can't believe it was forty six years ago .

Comment is about GET CARTER (Jack's Return Home) (blog)

Original item by ray pool

The words he offered to his friend near her death were
surely a vivid reflection of the humanity of the man and
deserve to be logged in some literary record as a worthy
tribute to his own memory.

Comment is about Leonard Cohen, songwriter, poet and novelist, dies aged 82 (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Nice one, JC - bang on target as usual.
One small gleam of hope - whilst the North Korean guy
has had his say about Obama's policies - is the speed with
which that other Alpha Male, Vladimir Putin, sent DT a congratulatory telegram. There have been reports that
Putin and Clinton didn't enjoy a promising relationship so maybe these strutting rutters will find common ground to
help make things better between their respective countries.
It should be worth watching when they meet!

Comment is about THAT BLOND COMB-OVER MAN (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

omg this is lovely - I travelled the length of the Shenandoahs this summer - twice in fact - along the Skyline Drive - such a beautiful place.

and camped further south in the Peaks of Otter just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Stayed also in the Twi-Lite Motel in Front Royal - so many good memories of swallowtails, mist through the trees and amazing overlooks.

your poem has the feel of an Irish folk song if I may say.

I wrote a poem about this area but it's just a made up story:

https://imaginedamerica.wordpress.com/2016/09/19/the-keeper-of-thoughts/

thank you so much for posting this.

Colin

PS: hope you stick around and post some more like this

Comment is about Where Is My Home Among These Mountains? (blog)

Original item by Merritt

Our creative writing class' homework this week is to write a sonnet - iambic pentameters no less.
Here's mine - I found a couple of zesty phrases in my 'pending' docs - the vodka breath and sweaty armpits - file and knocked this together - it's kinda Shakespearean - well, you can smell the dung in the midden ?

Comment is about "Thy Darke Mistress" (blog)

Original item by Rick Gammon

we'll get there one day - and then we'll f##k it up

and we'll look back at planet earth 1 and repeat the same words

Comment is about (blog)

Original item by Adam Whitworth

Castle to Knight

Conflict and bloodshed
after many battles
the war ends.

Both armies then
bury all the
gallant knights slain.

Comment is about Stockport WoL (group profile)

Original item by Stockport WoL

Thanks Nicola

There was the three of us Linda, Dave and myself and it went well!

You should have come yourself and joined in!

Comment is about Nicola Hulme (poet profile)

Original item by Nicola Hulme

I find him completely detestable, Harry. But I find it alarming that opponents are trying to block his appointment procedurally and on the streets. It sets a dangerous precedent which can be used against us in the future. If you do that to democracy the road only leads to fascism.

Comment is about THAT BLOND COMB-OVER MAN (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Nice appreciation ray...always re-watchable

Comment is about GET CARTER (Jack's Return Home) (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Andy,
That last line is a `fitting` finish to the rest of it.

Comment is about A Rapturous welcome (blog)

Original item by Andy Smyth

Albert,
Strangely, your poem about job dissatisfaction here made me think about the situation In America (where the level of unemployment is as low as here, and many of the more boring jobs have been `exported` elsewhere) Why is everyone so dissatisfied?...is it with the type of jobs they are doing?

Comment is about Chained to the Ideal (blog)

Original item by Albert Van Skywalker

Always, M.C. always.

(And - judging by the last big two - numbers going up)

Comment is about FIGHTING OUR FIGHTS - ARMISTICE WEEK 2016 (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Spot on choice of tune, treatment, and subject John.

Everyone`s telling us that The American voters are asking the questions (at least half of them) But I - for one - am completely mystified as to what those questions really are.
(Or is it just the old isolationism?)

Comment is about THAT BLOND COMB-OVER MAN (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

This could aptly be `about` the structural earthquake of the recent Trump and Brexit stuff.

(I like the `Still framed forms`)

Await something on the resultant disunity with interest.

Comment is about erode (blog)

Original item by nunya

❤

Comment is about Cohen. (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Thanks for putting this up Greg. I am absolutely choked. We did know it was coming. He told us, and he was ready, but...

Well never mind, we are ugly but we have the music.

Comment is about Leonard Cohen, songwriter, poet and novelist, dies aged 82 (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

ah the return of Q - little peaks into your world - offered to strangers - I like that concept, where it could go - an interesting thread - keep up the calorie intake - it helps the brain make words

Comment is about Thanks, Q... (blog)

Original item by Claire

Good luck to all reading war poetry today, at the Remembrance Service. x

Comment is about Stockport WoL (group profile)

Original item by Stockport WoL

Just a reference to MCs comment..did you know that Reagan was once a member of the communist party (that's what I've been told)? No offense, MC, but Trump, I can almost guarantee, is no Reagan..though (I have my doubts), I hope sincerely that he arises to the occasion of his coming presidency.

elP

Comment is about He'll Make America Great Again (blog)

Original item by Simon Widdop

Lovely! I assume this is for Veteran's Day tomorrow? If so, I thank your dad for his service.

I love how the first line always has something to do with a poppy.

Comment is about Poppy (blog)

Original item by Hazel Connelly

Point well taken, Ray..I'll keep that in mind.

elP

Comment is about GET CARTER (Jack's Return Home) (blog)

Original item by ray pool

I don't want to make a broad defense of the practice, but I realize lying comes in quite handy at times, and is actually quite necessary in some circumstances--maybe even to survival for some souls. Furthermore, I've heard it said that lying is an indication of intelligence in children--you know, finding novel ways out of difficult situations. When I think about it, they probably don't teach for handling contingencies because, in effect, that would disturb the locus of control for teachers and parents..it's too frightening for them to think that they can't get in your head by oversimplification. Its my experience that tells me that virtue, as much as vice, can cause trouble in this world for the individual.

It's funny really that religion should be mentioned because there has existed a school of thought that taught that it is NEVER, under any circumstance, OK to lie. But, we know those that say such things to be among the worst kinds of liars, putting their own false ideas of "sanctity" above human life.

I wrote this last evening with something very particular in mind..have you ever been so angry or frustrated that you began to stutter? That's the origin of the oddities like "be because" (too funny, David). And, it seemed quite appropriate to repeat the word. I'm glad to see that those devices stood out..I wanted that.

Thanks so much for reading and commenting, David and Ray.

elP x

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86URGgqONvA

Comment is about my old school (blog)

Original item by nunya

106 years since that bully imperialist
Set his troops on the striking miners
Of the Rhondda. 106 years. Gone but not forgotten. Remember Tonypandy.

Comment is about WORDS FROM THE GREAT MAN (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Thanks everyone for your warm appraisals.
elP I tried the Stallone version for about ten minutes... my resume left a lot out but you need to join all the dots !

Thanks Greg - my nemesis was the cock up on the reading, but it provided a laugh which is always a bonus. I look forward to a reprise, as you suggest. I'm happy to have given a taster to a classic of the genre. Am I on film? I hope so. You're a big man Greg but you're in bad shape.

David, cheers mate. I know we've talked about the film and I think we have to get a fix now and again. I love the line when the architects of the proposed restaurant on the top of the car park see the police car arrive. "Something tells me we're not going to get our money."

Very nice Colin. THanks. As Eric says : "I see you havn't lost your sense of humour, Jack," and Michael says: "No Eric, I retain that." Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks Jemima. Quite right , especially John Osborne cast in that role - and George Sewell was great as the guy from London in the camel coat. Music by Roy Budd who died so young. He was a good jazz pianist.

Ray (Michael or rather Maurice).

Comment is about GET CARTER (Jack's Return Home) (blog)

Original item by ray pool

I have lost count as to how many times Dad and I have watched this classic.And like all classics,a lot of praise for their successes should be given to the casting directors.In this case whoever had that job,was absolutely spot on.Great poem Ray.Thank you.Jemima.

Comment is about GET CARTER (Jack's Return Home) (blog)

Original item by ray pool

nice little poem k.t.

Comment is about (blog)

Original item by TAY

Thanks David Ray and Colin for your comments. This is based me coming home some evenings during the hot summers in the mid seventies with one of those nights by the eagles blaring out of the car stereo.

Comment is about It was one of those nights (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder