Many thanks Harry and Rose for your kind comments and feedback.

Tom :D

Comment is about National Poetry Day (blog)

Original item by Tom Doolan

listening to the MacArthur Park link I'd have to disagree with Hugh Cornwall's comment as much as I admire both men. Saw Hugh last year on his solo tour trawling through the hits and his voice sounded great. He joked about not making enough money over the years so maybe this is just a clever wheeze to bring in the dosh. Gotta laugh though.

Comment is about 'No one knew he could sing!': John Cooper Clarke takes on Macarthur Park and other pop classics (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Another great piece. Makes me think of pregnancy, but what an original take on it. Some quite scary imagery in there, for me at least.

Enjoyed this very much ?

Comment is about Submersible (blog)

Original item by Suzi Challenger

Wonderfully open and poetic this Suzi (and welcome to WOL btw!). It instantly had me associating and some of the real enjoyment of reading poems like this is exactly that mental groping in the dark and finding little lights there, but never the same twice.

Excellent, love it.

By the by - I read your sample poem too. Will you be blogging that? I hope so - it needs a bigger audience.

Comment is about Cathedral (blog)

Original item by Suzi Challenger

Aye I remember that ?

Deffo - trilogy sounds perfect! It'll come!

Comment is about Ian Whiteley (poet profile)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Thanks, Harry. I am always embarrassed about trying to rhyme "love", primarily because it is such a clichéd thing to do but also because this is compounded by there being so few options. My excuse here is the sense of the poem (Michelle's masculine features) warranted sticking her mitts in gloves to hide them.

Comment is about MICHAEL AND MICHELLE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

John,
Trying to discuss this mismatch between the mental and bodily is extremely difficult.

Full marks, Martin, for spotting the significance of the italics.

The rhyming - print and audio - is the next best thing to perfect and an absolute pleasure to the ear. (and all without the old tune!)

Comment is about MICHAEL AND MICHELLE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

ditto Harrys comments.Cheers Tom.



Rose.x

Comment is about National Poetry Day (blog)

Original item by Tom Doolan

Tom,
I admire the way you`ve made the curse of that terse verse ruin converse, and threaded it through all those `anks`. (you know the way I adore good rhyming?)

And congratulations on being the first poet on here to pay a proper tribute to National poetry day.

Comment is about National Poetry Day (blog)

Original item by Tom Doolan

Hello Martin, Stu and Laura - thanks for your lovely messages about Pavement Cafe. I wanted to remind us that many of these people were not always on the street and had, in the distance, lived other lives. Cheers for reading. Anna x

Comment is about Pavement Cafe (blog)

Original item by Anna Ghislena

thanks for the continued supportive comment Stu - I also checked on WOL before posting 'Rosetta...' and couldn't believe no one had posted already - pays to be quick eh? From one Yorkshireman to another - I was also moved by those final pictures - not that I'd share that with non-Yorkshire folk you understand - oh, wait a minute....*wink*

Comment is about Stuart Buck (poet profile)

Original item by Stuart Buck

thanks for commenting on 'Rosetta...' Laura - I remember you also liked the companion piece to this that I wrote when Philae 'touched down' on the comet a year or two ago ('Philae shakes the hand of God'). Feels like there should be a third in m me to make up the trilogy at some stage - hopefully that battery will come back to life... :-)

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Thanks for your kind and insightful comments on 'Rosetta...' Harry - we seem to be in the minority in championing 'form' poetry, but I really do like writing and reading it - the extra challenge of producing something that works on multiple levels is very rewarding. Pleased that you liked it - although that there love poetry stuff isn't my strongest suit - so may have to think twice about producing something in that particular niche
Ian

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

Original item by Harry O`N eill

thanks for all your kind and supportive 'likes' and 'comments' I really appreciate it :-)

Comment is about Rosetta Of The Endless Night (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

I think this is great for our group to be involved in and we could discuss ideas on Monday night.

Comment is about Remembrance Poetry Reading Fri 11 November at Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery (blog)

Original item by Stockport WoL

Nice one Harry :D

Comment is about With Thanks (blog)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

A refreshingly original perspective on street life, instead of the usual misunderstood-but-well-meant clumsiness. Like Stu, that question stood out for me too, and the last line is perfectly structured.

Nicely done Anna.

Comment is about Pavement Cafe (blog)

Original item by Anna Ghislena

I love this. I have things like that. What a simple beautiful and empathetic poem this is. So sweet.

Comment is about Biscuit tin (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Yeh - spoons, baaaad idea ?

Comment is about eleuthoromania (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

cheers la! i think i will crack this one out next week at the open mic. maybe i'll slap my thigh to create some percussion. or the spoons? i can play the spoons!

that would ruin it...

Comment is about eleuthoromania (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

'nagging, lactic vibration' - I still get that. Sometimes it's so bad I have to get up and jump around to get it out.

'hollywood rain' - yeh, I can see that ?

There's a touch of the Ray Bradburys about this in the way you leave one reality for another up in the sky, also the 'instrument of time'.

In essence, Stuart, you have written another bloody great poem and I can hear this being performed. It has a momentum to it that would be ace with a percussive accompaniment too.

BIG RED TICK. ?

Comment is about eleuthoromania (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

yes, an excellent piece, and the heartbreak is 'Are my children all grown up now?', such a good line.

Comment is about Pavement Cafe (blog)

Original item by Anna Ghislena

cheers elP, i dont feel that its blather! im glad you enjoyed it

Comment is about opiate rapture in e-minor (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Now he marries his words with the message of a bank to get the money to invest in...POETS and POETRY. Can't see the problem myself.

Nicely done all three poets - this is what we want, more exposure.

Comment is about 'It's a marriage of my words and their message' - Matt Abbott on the Nationwide TV ads (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

And another thing! ? If the BBC are looking at this - I bought a telly licence for this, and this only. This is what we want to see, and we'll pay for the licence for it. More poetry please, and not elitist inaccessible nonsense either.

Comment is about The view from the train: poets deliver a special night on BBC2 (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Let Them Eat Chaos should come with a trigger warning for other poets: May Cause Crippling Self-Doubt ? Holy macaroni!! I sat there with my gob on the floor, scabs on me chin, watching Kate on Saturday. And I'd disagree with you Greg on the ending. Cursory? Nah - pithy maybe, succinct definitely, sublime - without a doubt. That hit hard, and had both me and Bob with a bit of grit in our eyes. We CAN'T make enough of a change now but we CAN do these simple things to help each other out, to be and to connect. I've watched it twice now and am still knocked for six by it.

Comment is about The view from the train: poets deliver a special night on BBC2 (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

They didn't know enough poems after the 70s because they don't read Write Out Loud's articles. Their loss. excellent article, Greg.

Comment is about The view from the train: poets deliver a special night on BBC2 (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Thanks, Martin. It's never been a problem for me - saying what I want about difficult subjects.

Comment is about MICHAEL AND MICHELLE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks, Colin, I had a mass of notelets and images of Aleppo - enough for maybe half a dozen poems but decided to show the innocents rather than the warriors as such. Why there was even a 4 year old killed after picking up a cluster bomb! A hospital destroyed this week. This is pure evil and we are becoming immune to it all.

I wish I'd have been to Aleppo before this rapine. I've done Jerusalem a couple of times in 70s and 80s and Aleppo (which I admit I'd not heard of before this current conflict) seems more glorious - albeit I probably would not be allowed into Syria with an Israeli stamp on my passport back then.

I wanted to show the indiscriminate nature of the destruction, bath houses being flattened along with churches and mosques - nothing is spared.

I read it yesterday in a pub - it was very effective - however it upset me (and this probably shows how we snowflakes are moral pygmies) and ruined my afternoon, so I left early without my customary hand shaking and cheek kissing ?

I'm doing a bit of a spot at a 'We Shall Overcome' do this evening - I may read this one - I'll have to test the mood first ?

I'll check out the link you sent - I yearn for the world of Swallows and Amazons - maybe we are all headed there.

Comment is about "Aleppo...Mon Amour" (blog)

Original item by Rick Gammon

I'm hearing the Andrews Sisters or something so 40s..

It seems in this modern age, somewhat archaic, yet simple and longed for..very charming.

I used to tell my father that if circumstances were so perfect in the past, they would not have permitted change to their present state.

..but, those nostalgic sentiments still hold sway with their simplicity.

elP

Comment is about UNTITLED (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

"..the heavens came to us.."

It seems to me as the passing of eons compressed and maybe ending in mortal sight..

I'm trying desperately to recall arpeggios from Taffanel and Gaubert of which I practised incessantly..obscure I know. But what a difference a half-tone can make.

All that blather aside, what an effin' brilliant and bright scene you've made, here.

elP

Comment is about opiate rapture in e-minor (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Thank you, Colin. As it may be with lots of others, the ideas come to begin with only small parts of the picture and grow as the field of vision widens. Sometimes the picture precedes the words...sometimes vice versa.

elP

ps
The following has little to do with the piece--I simply find the song and the cinematography brilliant..

https://vimeo.com/34869601

Comment is about heatseeker (archetypes) (blog)

Original item by nunya

Still is silent movement; I liked it's evasion

Comment is about When the World is Not Enough (blog)

Original item by Alexandra K. Parapadakis

lovely stuff martin.

Comment is about Biscuit tin (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

awwwwww! Martin,great piece..sniff sniff



Rose.x

Comment is about Biscuit tin (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Excellent poem John. Not an easy subject to cover, but I like the way you have repeated the lines in Italics, very effective

Comment is about MICHAEL AND MICHELLE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Very clever Anna, I love it So often theses guys get missed. it is so refreshing to see a pavements eye view of what is going on around. Fab

Comment is about Pavement Cafe (blog)

Original item by Anna Ghislena

you pluck just enough words from somewhere and every word fits perfectly, is perfect. Your style forces the reader to take time, go slow, contemplate the meaning of each carefully chosen word. First three lines are beyond immense in their depth and scope. Thanks.

Comment is about heatseeker (archetypes) (blog)

Original item by nunya

THanks Tom for your comment - appreciate it.

Comment is about PHOTOGRAPH (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Hades and soothsayers - we must be on the same wavelength. You always have the best titles.

Comment is about azteca (10/05/2016) (blog)

Original item by Zach Dafoe

cheers martin, glad you enjoyed it

Comment is about opiate rapture in e-minor (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Fabulous praise and recognition of your best friend, someone who should never be taken for granted, someone who is not a seasonal friend but one of a lifetime! ?

Comment is about My Best Friend (blog)

Original item by Andy Smyth

Thanks for the "cheers" Harry and comments from MC. I will probably revisit the end of this scribble as I don't really think it makes the point I was striving to achieve (i.e. your "best friend" is actually your worst enemy - I know from painful experience).

So my thinking hat is back on...

Andy

Comment is about My Best Friend (blog)

Original item by Andy Smyth

'..once described himself as a punk poet...' hahaha now he 'marries' his words with the message of a bank!! =-)

Comment is about 'It's a marriage of my words and their message' - Matt Abbott on the Nationwide TV ads (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Hey, Stu,

Thanks for the suggestion. I checked out their site and there are some fantastic pieces of art and lots of interesting little blurbs on twitter with links that look promising for future reading..I appreciate it.

elP

Comment is about heatseeker (archetypes) (blog)

Original item by nunya

Very descriptive and hypnotic - Nice work Ray

Comment is about PHOTOGRAPH (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Well said M.C.

Comment is about UNTITLED (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Hi M.C.

Central Park is a great place to experience the Fall.

Thanks for feedback :)

Comment is about Awesome Autumn (blog)

Original item by Tom Doolan

Cheers Martin ?

He's home now. I slept like a sleepy baby last night ?

Comment is about Spick and Span (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

I am with Stu on this one. I particularity love the line
The nights are wiped of snore and twitch.
Love it.

Comment is about Spick and Span (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor