I would like to thank everyone who has commented and liked this poem - it means a lot to me. It was meant to be a poem that provided context to 'Herringbone' (see my previous blog) and it is the memory that 'sticks in my throat' referenced in that poem.
I'm glad that it has made such a positive impression, given the negativity that surrounds the subject matter, so thanks again.
Paul
Comment is about A Dark Memory (blog)
Original item by Paul A M Palmer
The style and cumulative effect of this poem's theme is
impressive.
Surely representative of how vulnerability in youth can
be self-destructive if not recognised and addressed.
Taking the time and trouble to make the effort can be
hugely influential in showing how life should be valued.
Sadly, it is also a fact that nature can take no prisoners
and there will always be those who somehow seem to
be beyond that help via a variety of factors, some
inherited, some imposed, some self-inflicted, but all
dangerous in their various ways - and often deadly in
combination.
Comment is about A Dark Memory (blog)
Original item by Paul A M Palmer
Yes, times a million. This is for you, and this is for everyone. Beautiful, and with a spot of darkness there with that last line. Which is only right. We need to always know it's there.
Comment is about canvas (blog)
Original item by Stuart Buck
Love this. I definitely can connect to this poem. Thanks for sharing!
Comment is about Impulsive (blog)
Original item by Alexandra Lorenz
I'm learning to ride the waves and hoping the breaks in between get longer. There is a sort of peace knowing that it's never ending. At least that way we become experts on how to ride the waves.
Nice poem. I can relate to it in my grief.
Comment is about Calm (blog)
Original item by Liam
Thank you Stu and Ray, I feel ridiculously triumphant! cheers. Harry.
Comment is about Two old lovers crossing a street in Beirut (blog)
Original item by harry
really enjoyed this. lovely snapshot
Comment is about Two old lovers crossing a street in Beirut (blog)
Original item by harry
Thanks Colin!
Comment is about 'We're off to Never Never Land' by Matthew James is Poem of the Week (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
This has a blend of the ridiculous and victorious and is a minor triumph Harry.
Ray
Comment is about Two old lovers crossing a street in Beirut (blog)
Original item by harry
This appeals greatly, as it bears a hopelessness in the face of unbeatable odds. A sort of multiple neurosis.
Ray
Comment is about conditioned surrender (blog)
Original item by nunya
Very impressive indeed Paul. It reads like a eulogy, and has a hypnotic quality.
Ray
Comment is about A Dark Memory (blog)
Original item by Paul A M Palmer
I would like to point out, once again; for the benefit of all; organisers and attendees; the importance of keeping adverts for events correct and up to date. I walked to Manchester from Leeds, (once again) in persuit of new audiences and new markets for my poetry; in early May. Only to find, when I got there, after an 18 hour, overnight forced march; that first of all; the venue had been wrongly named in the gig guide, as 'Lloyds Bar', rather than 'The Lloyd' public house; therfore unsearchable on line. Then when I finally found it; waited and waited until the manager finally turned up and told us (bar staff and myself) that the event had been postponed, to fit in with Chorlton Arts Festival. This is typical of Manchester, which at one time, had far more out of date, or incorrect ads, on the gig guide, than ones that were current and correct. I know the guide has been reformed and some faults fixed since then; so it's now fairly reliable. But please, if anyone finds any faults with the adverts report them so that they can be corrected. Not everyone has the time online to double check every event, especially if one is searching for multiple events at short notice. To make the point; I have to add that, following disappointment at the Lloyd, I walked the streets of Manchester in the rain; dozed off in doorways until morning light; then walked home again. 70 miles in 2 days; an amazing walk, but would have been much more so; and less punishing if the event had been advertised correctly.
Review is about Quiet quiet LOUD! on 10 May 2022 (event)
Wow, this is so powerful and touching. Well written, Paul. I can certainly imagine it going down well in recital.
Comment is about A Dark Memory (blog)
Original item by Paul A M Palmer
Thanks Rose, I intend to! ;-)
Lynn x
Comment is about Dangers of Brexit (blog)
Original item by Lynn Dye
Like it! Good one, Harry.
Comment is about Two old lovers crossing a street in Beirut (blog)
Original item by harry
MC, I am also old enough to remember the Common Market. I agree that it gradually progressed into the EU without the British population having any say. I also agree it isn’t perfect, but we will only be able to change anything from the inside, and not from the outside looking in. We would still need to negotiate with the EU, but would enjoy none of its benefits.
Claims that the EU is undemocratic arise because the European Commission, which is unelected, proposes EU legislation. Thing is, the Commission’s members are representatives of EU member states, nominated by each state to represent them. They propose new laws to benefit all EU states and have no power to impose those laws. Their proposals may then be discussed by our democratically-elected representatives including the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. Our democratically-elected representatives can send proposed laws back to be re-considered, and they can veto any proposals that they believe are totally unsuitable.
How democratic is our House of Lords?
How democratic is our voting system where one party has a majority with only 24% vote of the electorate?
What kind of democracy do we have when this same party changes boundaries which will unfairly balance future general elections in their favour?
How democratic is it when this same party make large numbers of Conservatives Lords in the new year’s honours, some for doing nothing better than funding the party?
At least they are being investigated for election fraud of overspending nationally in 20 constituencies, although there are 26 which have been reported. We will only have democracy on this fraud if all those constituencies come up for re-election.
But what about the new laws that have come into being due to this fraudulent government?
I find your comment interesting that in an age when the robotic workplace is increasingly the
norm, a decline in human work activity is to be expected. I totally agree with that. However, the Tories are using this unemployment as a stick to beat the unemployed with. Jobseekers are being sanctioned and left with no money on whims by Job centre staff. It is government policy to punish people who are deemed to not be actively finding work, but as there are quotas for these sanctions, the staff have to be inventive on why there have been over a million sanctions. Some people, particularly the sick and disabled who have wrongly been found fit for work, are then sanctioned for 3 years.
In other words, this government is partly responsible for many deaths. The DWP have even admitted it by claiming they are not solely responsible.
So when you say “But for whose benefit? Not ours.”, I would counterbalance that the current UK government does not have OUR (the mass population’s) interests at heart, whatsoever. They are abusing their power and our trust.
Immigration won’t change. The government welcome immigration whatever else they may say. If they were worried about it they would have been doing something to stop immigration from non-EU countries. Have they done so? No, they have not. This question was brought up by Sir David Dimbleby in Question Time. Consequently, I find the politicians arguing for Brexit are being deceitful. This is something I definitely agree with Sir John Major on.
Also regarding numbers the Office of National Statistics tell us there are more people leaving the UK than there are entering it.
Comment is about Dangers of Brexit (blog)
Original item by Lynn Dye
Thank you Tommy. Harry.
Comment is about Two old lovers crossing a street in Beirut (blog)
Original item by harry
<Deleted User> (13762)
Sun 19th Jun 2016 10:45
well done Matthew!
Comment is about 'We're off to Never Never Land' by Matthew James is Poem of the Week (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
As I mentioned in my previous blog, there are memories that stick in my throat, as it were. The poem above was written after I’d been having a conversation about Herringbone and its roots as a poem. When I’d finished it, I wanted to read it out at an Open Mic event, but I couldn’t figure out how to make it work until I realised that it needed to have two voices, so I asked the audience to say the word ‘thread’ with me. The effect was quite dramatic, given the content, and I heard a gasp from someone who seemed to spot where the poem was leading before we got to the end.
I think that the poem’s subtext about us all having a responsibility to engage with each other in kindness really came across during the recital. I hope that it inspires all of us to make the effort – as my Dad would have said “It wouldn’t have killed you to say ‘Hello'” … and I couldn’t have put it better myself …
Comment is about A Dark Memory (blog)
Original item by Paul A M Palmer
Sun 19th Jun 2016 04:34
Thank you... glad you enjoy it
Comment is about Robert Williams (poet profile)
Original item by Robert Williams
John Cancel
Sun 19th Jun 2016 04:32
I adore this
Comment is about the only poem i will ever write about you (blog)
Original item by Stuart Buck
Bloody Beirut. great snap-shot Harry. Tommy
Comment is about Two old lovers crossing a street in Beirut (blog)
Original item by harry
elPintor
Sun 19th Jun 2016 00:21
Wow, Phil..young or disinterested, or whatever the excuse, I have a hard time believing that such dramatic events are somehow irrelevant after the passage of only a few decades. I mean, it isn't as if the events in Chile after Allende was overthrown occurred in some sort of political vacuum. Central and South America were hot for quite a while. That said, I believe there's much more to it all than the "disinterested" would care to know.
I'm glad to see someone write about these things..there's no good reason for such bloody history to be so soon forgotten.
elP
Comment is about mentalelf. Philk. (poet profile)
Original item by mentalelf. Philk.
elPintor
Sat 18th Jun 2016 23:55
Goodness, Phil..no harm no foul, as they say. I often laugh at things I find especially exasperating. And, you got it..it's like the feeling that you're about to get bent over if you give in to those whom you can't please by being what you are.
And, David..I believe I feel you..it's like going through your entire life being programmed and sensing the perturbance of your school masters when all of your education doesn't return to them in a form they can use.
Great comments from the both of you..they really bring out more facets of the idea I tried to convey.
Thanks,
elP
Comment is about conditioned surrender (blog)
Original item by nunya
Thanks Lynn, always there for me ! It's nice to let your hair down sometimes .
Ray x
Comment is about A CAUTIONARY TALE (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Hey man... I hope I didn't do a disservice by my amusement at your way of delivering a message. Apologies if I did.
Comment is about conditioned surrender (blog)
Original item by nunya
Thank you David for reading my piece.
Comment is about 10 by 16 (blog)
Original item by brandon sproule
Thank you David. I appreciate that
Comment is about Morning Conversation (blog)
Original item by Alexandra Lorenz
This made me laugh at the frustrated disbelief that idiots can bring... and the feeling of being bent over..... like the pictures painted.
Cheers.
Phil.
Comment is about conditioned surrender (blog)
Original item by nunya
I am more concerned about the locked-in danger of
voting to remain.
I am old enough to recall the original "Common Market"
and to have witnessed with increasing disgust (and distrust!) the stealthily accrued power by deceit
and dissembling, that saw UK politicians jump aboard
the politically designed vehicle that drove through
successive treaties to its pre-determined but disguised destination at the present EU edifice.
At no time did its enthusiasts declare the intent
of this one-way trip...knowing it would never be
accepted by the British people. As if that wasn't
enough abuse of trust -
here is a line from a certain Jean Claude Juncker -
EU president: "Prime ministers must stop listening so
much to their voters and instead become full time Europeans."
The dismissive arrogance is evident - repugnant to all
who value the freedom of the democratic process that our forefathers fought and died for.
The fact of older people is hardly to be feared when
they are often ready to keep working and are even
required to do so in these modern times. And in an
age when the robotic workplace is increasingly the
norm, a decline in human work activity is to be
expected. Indeed, the idea of a leisure-rich pension
age has been put forward as a "plus" in today's
conditions. But is undisputed uncontrolled
immigration from the unreformed EU, contrasted with
control over those from elsewhere, justification for
stating we "control" our borders? That defies logic.
The stakes on Thursday 23rd June 2016 are about
very much more than mere money. It is about who
we can elect to tell us what to do, how to live and whether we have any prospect of redress/change. The EU has a regard for our huge financial input
but no particular love of the UK, and IT (not us)
decides what, if any, rebate is received for our home benefit.
If past conduct is any guide, there is no alternative
but to say goodbyeee to an unreformable
power-obsessed entity that pays lip service to calls
for change whilst increasingly intent on running things
on its own terms. But for whose benefit? Not ours.
Comment is about Dangers of Brexit (blog)
Original item by Lynn Dye
Steven,
An appreciative review.
it even made me read the Baedeker thing :)
Comment is about Collected Poems vol 3: Bill Griffiths, Reality Street (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Pure brilliance, Ray. Love it to the moon and back!
Lynn x
Comment is about A CAUTIONARY TALE (blog)
Original item by ray pool
<Deleted User> (9882)
Sat 18th Jun 2016 12:51
too bloody right Lynn! and regarding our forefathers,they probably never stop rolling in their graves,the way that this country going.
All their sacrifices and sufferings seem to be meaning bugger all.But hey! they will never be forgotten.
Keep those home fires burning Lynn.
Rose.x
Comment is about Dangers of Brexit (blog)
Original item by Lynn Dye
Thank you lovely friends - support as always. Madness is safe if contained only in the imagination - trouble is it spreads into the real world. Beware the ides of facebook. (I embrace your French Stu).
Ray
Comment is about A CAUTIONARY TALE (blog)
Original item by ray pool
ray this is inspired! its milligan and hawkin rolled into one. pardon my french but i fucking love this.
Comment is about A CAUTIONARY TALE (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Steven, a rather splendid and highly informative review that has whetted my appetite for the poet. I love the way you are able to reference his work to other that of other poets. Thank you.
Comment is about Collected Poems vol 3: Bill Griffiths, Reality Street (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Joyti
Sat 18th Jun 2016 09:30
truly inspired, what was the catalyst for this? JL
Comment is about Just Shut up (blog)
Original item by Austin
Absolutely powerful poem Ian! Lovely words and a fitting tribute!
Comment is about a peaceful warrior (blog)
Original item by Ian Whiteley
Actually I miss spelled. I really am actually passionate about eating disorders. Theres just something about them. Its like looking at Van Gogh or listening to Mozart at 432hz..
Anyways, oysters are good too. I made the best deep fried oyster sandwich in the whole god damn world tonight. It had artichokes, mayo, Grey pouton or whatever the fuck that shits called and some mexican salsa oil.
Comment is about Austin (poet profile)
Original item by Austin
Read it as "really like eating disorders".
Glad you were actually referring to shellfish
Comment is about Austin (poet profile)
Original item by Austin
Thank you Mr. Sherwood. I would love to read your piece and I will certainly look through your other work. I appreciate your comments greatly. Best regards!
Comment is about Impulsive (blog)
Original item by Alexandra Lorenz
This is the strongest section IMO
"You wore the cross that I chopped crying “Timber!”
Hung military flags and G-strings from,
You kissed the cross I tiptoed along like a tight rope….
And fell from, repeatedly"…
I think Herald must be a typo for Herod
The imagery as usual is both intriguing, provocative and intense.
I would have tried to condense it a deal more.
Very promising work this and you are showing great turns of phrase with each new piece.
Comment is about The Other Bloody Mary (blog)
Original item by Alexandra K. Parapadakis
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. I'm quite uneducated when it comes to poetry but I am glad you gave me some names to look into. I am very impressed with your work. I can imagine it's wonderful to hear live.
All the best
Comment is about Stuart Buck (poet profile)
Original item by Stuart Buck
I love the analogy of the theatre/cinema. I used the same thing in a piece titled Row A Seat 1.
You've made a brilliant start ARL.
Graham
Comment is about Impulsive (blog)
Original item by Alexandra Lorenz
Thank you very much. I am grateful to you for taking time to read my poems.
I look forward to listening to the song. Best xx
Comment is about Impulsive (blog)
Original item by Alexandra Lorenz
Alexandra Rockwell Lorenz
Sun 19th Jun 2016 19:24
Thank you for reading and commenting on 'Impulsive'. I'm glad you could connect to it. I look forward to reading your work
Comment is about Amanda Daughtry (poet profile)
Original item by Amanda Daughtry