A plug? You mean a news item, of course, David! Of course we're usually interested in a new publishing venture, especially with such a Larkinesque name. Do keep us posted.

Comment is about Greg Freeman (poet profile)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Hi Greg. Good to hear from you again & Hi Ray Thanks for encouraging comments about 'Manganese'. In passing I am soon going to be launchuing my new online journal and publishing venture The High Window along with co-editor Anthony Costello. I'll be in touch again in case you want to give it a plug. Might need a poem or two in due course as well!

Comment is about Greg Freeman (poet profile)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Hi Harry Thanks for encouraging comments about 'Manganese'.

Comment is about Harry O`N eill (poet profile)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

Hi Ray Thanks for encouraging comments about 'Manganese'.

Comment is about ray pool (poet profile)

Original item by ray pool

nevertheless Nicole it is still very readable as a poem too.Thank you.Jemima.

Comment is about Take it Back (blog)

Original item by Nicole

right up my street Daisy! Thank you.Jemima.

Comment is about Black Lines (blog)

Original item by Daisy Lancaster

Sometimes my poems are more like song lyrics. This is one of those times

Comment is about Take it Back (blog)

Original item by Nicole

Capturing the imaginations of the young is worth the
effort and poetry - cannily chosen - is a primary example
of what can be achieved. There are numerous examples
that can catch the attention of inquisitive open minds.
Properly "taught" they can trigger the desire to learn by
heart.
Some - like Sassoon's "The General" and Houseman's
"Blue Remembered Hills" - have qualities best suited
to the concept/process but there are numerous other
examples that could work towards a lifelong love of
poetry and appreciation of its value in enhancing the human condition across the generations.

Comment is about 'Taking the poem inside you': pupils battle it out for place in Poetry By Heart finals (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Yes you understood x

Comment is about One day (blog)

Original item by Nicola Byrnes

I had that on my list but being bitten made me think of the horse and the fact that when time comes to retire and it is tired of fighting the horse is put out to graze!

Comment is about February 2016 Collage Poem (blog)

Original item by Stockport WoL

Hi Joan

You're welcome. Be my guest :)

If those poems are demanding that loudly to be heard, I think you'd better let them! ;)

Comment is about Shall I compare thee to a selfie stick? Dos and don'ts of first-person poetry (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Thank you Jemima, Martin and Colin, I loved your feedback. Have a great weekend. Anna x

Comment is about I can't take my eyes off those silver boots (blog)

Original item by Anna Ghislena

Thanks Ray much appreciated . There have been a number of sad female singers including those you have mentioned and of course Janis Joplin

Comment is about Amy (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

I went offline for a day and returned to this quality questioning and answering.Thank you.Laura, very inspired by yours- may I quote it in my own page as a lead- in to recommending writeoutloud. Greg, I respect your doubts...I waited till my parents had died. But it is harder to keep back the poems 'about' my adult daughters . I do. But I am 70 now, maybe one more book in me, and I hear the poems whimpering in the drawer to be let out- they promise to disguise themselves and no one will recognise them.Should I trust them? I wedge the drawer shut. I received a very helpful answer from poet friends on the ethics of poems resulting from working with prisoners or healthcare/ dementia patients. See my Facebook page.

Comment is about Shall I compare thee to a selfie stick? Dos and don'ts of first-person poetry (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Snap Snap Snap Snap Snap

Comment is about Blood Knot (blog)

Original item by Alexandra K. Parapadakis

Excellent this one Martin. A fine tribute to a sad sad girl. There have been others of course, like Edith Piaff, Billie Holliday and Judy Garland. It's a very hard life to be successful in their field, and they did come up the hard way very often. exploited, abused and over worked.

Ray

Comment is about Amy (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Gothic undertones, unsettling and compelling, with all sorts of subtle references just under the surface.

Fine work. Ray

Comment is about Blood Knot (blog)

Original item by Alexandra K. Parapadakis

Always a somewhere
Always a someone
Always a sometime
Maybe a somehow.

Comment is about Somewhere (blog)

Original item by Pixievic

Very good guess, Nigel - but the original Anglo-Saxon riddle refers to a SHIELD.

Comment is about February 2016 Collage Poem (blog)

Original item by Stockport WoL

This discussion interests me.

In my most recent blog on here (about a fairly universal fear of old people in these seeming `hanging on forever
days) I related it to a `he` and `him` (specifying it somewhat)...This - beside a rather `iffy` metaphor - stopped me from sending it to a comp.

This makes me wonder what the effect would have been if I had made it about `we` and `our`...would it have been a bit more universal?

Or what would be the effect of making it a specifically personal `me` and `mine`...would it have seemed more-or less-universal?

Just a couple word word changes would have done it

By universal I mean emotionally accessible to the reader.

Comment is about Shall I compare thee to a selfie stick? Dos and don'ts of first-person poetry (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

did you get Donald Trumps autograph Jean? if so,can you tell me how he signed it while he was wearing a straight jacket? or should have been.U2-top band! my fave track by them?-One love-Great to see yer back in the fold,thanks for the laugh.

Stef.

Comment is about When I went to America (blog)

Original item by jean lucy thompson

The message is clear, the words well-crafted and the
rhythm infectious. Like both lyric and tune.
N.B. An interesting historical footnote.
Originally, infant boys wore pink, the girls - blue.

Comment is about Nonbinary song (blog)

Original item by Marnanel Thurman

John, whatever you are in this riddle, one thing remains:
We of WOL Stockport had a marvellous time on Monday evening! Thoughts and words and voices blended and flowed like a river, unstoppable and beautiful in a fusion of delightful and diverse creativity....I just love our group!

Comment is about February 2016 Collage Poem (blog)

Original item by Stockport WoL

the last line works perfect here, Alexandra. another cracker! x

Comment is about Blood Knot (blog)

Original item by Alexandra K. Parapadakis

excellent stuff, alexandra. keep posting. good to see you back here again xx

Comment is about Grisly Girl (blog)

Original item by Alexandra K. Parapadakis

But it's stolen in her laughter, interweaved between the gaps of her teeth.
She sold it in her songs,
She traps it in her pocket and only blows it out into the wind


Magnificent lines Alexandra - I hope to read more of your work.

Comment is about Grisly Girl (blog)

Original item by Alexandra K. Parapadakis

Beautifully wrought this blood knot.

Comment is about Blood Knot (blog)

Original item by Alexandra K. Parapadakis

Agreed Julian.

Like many poets, I have written a great deal of personal poetry. I have written about a dying friend, a dying/dead mother, a friend who'd been raped as a child, a dead child, abuse of several kinds I experienced myself...and one of the reasons why I love poetry so much is that I can write about all of this in code. I can encode brutal and terrible experiences from silenced voices and make them into art for others who have also experienced it and so feel less isolated. I feel very strongly that this is an integral part of writing/reading/listening to poetry.

I wholeheartedly agree with this statement: “life seems to me random, chaotic, and often not very nice. To stay sane, we have to find pattern and ideally a kind of beauty along the way … that’s how we bear it.”

Comment is about Shall I compare thee to a selfie stick? Dos and don'ts of first-person poetry (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

morning sirens sing out your poetry as well as your sin
I will stake all I have to learn the secret of what happens and stays then take it to my grave.

Comment is about Las Vegas (blog)

Original item by Katy Megan

Glad you like this Martin. The event described only happened yesterday!

Ray

Comment is about ANTIQUE DEALERS (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Thanks Peter. Appreciate it. The days of romance!

Ray

Comment is about RAILWAY NOSTALGIA (blog)

Original item by ray pool

A gallant knight perhaps rides me
a sword could cut me
insects might bite me
am I a horse?

Comment is about February 2016 Collage Poem (blog)

Original item by Stockport WoL

A good poem is a good poem, regardless of subject matter or source.

Comment is about Shall I compare thee to a selfie stick? Dos and don'ts of first-person poetry (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

anyone who rates 'Starman' (the film?)as their number one can wear hobnail boots with bells on as far as I'm concerned.Enjoyed this Anna.Thank you.Jemima.

Comment is about I can't take my eyes off those silver boots (blog)

Original item by Anna Ghislena

brilliant little package.A way of 'going with the flow'.Thank you.Jemima.

Comment is about Space (blog)

Original item by Taylor

Another piece!

There is predation here. A comprehensive description of someone you both dislike and admire at the same time.

Could it be autobiographical?

(is there a typo in line 10, carcass?)

Good to see more AP stuff.

Comment is about Grisly Girl (blog)

Original item by Alexandra K. Parapadakis

Read. But not like a tick off a list, more another one added. Tommy

Comment is about Grisly Girl (blog)

Original item by Alexandra K. Parapadakis

Good to see another piece Alexandra.

This one poses many questions. Self-destruction, love, a cry for help even?

There is the chance of a future, a hope, although it sounds like this will always be shrouded in doubt.

A very "now" poem, tapping into current themes.

Keep them coming.

Comment is about Blood Knot (blog)

Original item by Alexandra K. Parapadakis

Tommy reads you. And reads your work. Tommy:-)

Comment is about Blood Knot (blog)

Original item by Alexandra K. Parapadakis

Thanks for commenting on "Black Lines". It's not often that I let people read my poetry, and putting it on this blog was something that I never thought I'd do. But knowing it is liked and well-appreciated is an amazing feeling. Thanks Martin!

Comment is about Martin Elder (poet profile)

Original item by Martin Elder

Couldn't be anymore relatable to me right now. This is beautiful.

Comment is about Blood Knot (blog)

Original item by Alexandra K. Parapadakis

and a gaggle of gossiping fishwives
bitching behind each other's backs

I love these lines in particular, great poem Anna

Comment is about I can't take my eyes off those silver boots (blog)

Original item by Anna Ghislena

I love the connection with pillows and black lines being repeated. Nice poem Daisy

Comment is about Black Lines (blog)

Original item by Daisy Lancaster

I love the description here Ray of a busy bustling intrusion of an antiques dealer. wonderful stuff

Comment is about ANTIQUE DEALERS (blog)

Original item by ray pool

FUCK CANCER!!! Much Love babe xoxo - Eryn Marie X

Comment is about Ria Richardson (poet profile)

Original item by Ria Richardson

Haven't watched the video because I was caught by the words as a poem. Nice- works well.

Peter

Comment is about Nonbinary song (blog)

Original item by Marnanel Thurman

Hi Ray,
I like the rhythm and form of this poem especially from, 'no steam tumbling', to, 'guiding the beast'.

Peter

Comment is about RAILWAY NOSTALGIA (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Thanks Laura. What was I thinking of!
I'm put in mind of an old rhyme:
The angle of dangle equals
the heat of the meat
providing the urge is constant.

! Ray

Comment is about FIRE BABY (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Thanks!!

Comment is about Genese Within (blog)

Original item by Juhi Gupte

Thereof is the proof

Comment is about Genese Within (blog)

Original item by Juhi Gupte