great stuff Stu. This is family life at its most threatening, but the ghastly juxtaposition of the sex makes that seem even more appealing as an escape. Very weird and quite upsetting. I especially like the last two lines being spread apart (like legs I suppose)!that does give the poem a kind of powerful resolution.

Comment is about spaghetti junction (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

The Theme for Monday night is Enchantment.

On weekend September Saturday 26th - Sunday 27th
The Enchanted Gallery

At the Art Gallery all art work which includes poetry will be put on display.

Anyone who has not got a register art work form you need one to enter your work.

All work to be handed in from Monday 14th September to Sunday 20th so there is still time to do one.

If we do a Collage poem on Monday night we could always enter that done by the Stockport Write Out Loud Group.

Comment is about Write Out Loud at Stockport art gallery tonight (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

My only excuse for this is an inability to dig the poem I`m trying to write out of the messs I`ve got it into.

I`ll post the next bits next time I get stuck.

Comment is about (blog)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

Stu, I really love how powerful this is. Short and not hiding behind an overuse of words. To the point and brutally so. Very well done.

Comment is about £1 (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Thanks MC for enjoying and commenting on Mary CMIT.
It tangles you up a bit but comes out right at the end!

Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

I do feel a bit of a shit now about the Clarke verse. Yesterday, when I wrote it, he was a figure of fun. Today he is a figure of dignity.
There is something special though about beating Aussies at anything.

Comment is about IT'S NOT 5-0 IS IT NOW, GLENN (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Just re-read this Ray. Are you sure you're not Max Miller's love child? Best thing I've read for ages.

Comment is about MARY CAN'T MAKE IT THURSDAY (blog)

Original item by ray pool

I endorse the comments from GS. This is clever - with a
perfectly set up conclusion.

Comment is about MARY CAN'T MAKE IT THURSDAY (blog)

Original item by ray pool

This reminds me of Geoff Boycott crowing with delight at
the debacle at Trent Bridge this past week. Hard not to
grin and enjoy the moment. I have worked at Lords and
seen the great performances from Aussie players like
Marsh, Thomson, McGrath and Lillee and how they loved
to beat us up at every opportunity. However, that said,
there is still sympathy in my heart for the Aussie captain,
Michael Clarke who, it is now reported, has retired from
test cricket. It is hoped he won't let his life to come be
dogged by the cruel result here in the UK. A captain
can only work with the talent he's given & his batsmen
failed catastrophically/collectively when most needed.
Perhaps the Oz selectors and coaches should be the ones considering retirement?
Finally, I would LOVE to have had Richie Benaud around to hear his commentary on that momentous match!!!!

Comment is about IT'S NOT 5-0 IS IT NOW, GLENN (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Brilliant work Ray, very cleverly worked out.

Comment is about MARY CAN'T MAKE IT THURSDAY (blog)

Original item by ray pool

just re read, I wish i wrote this. Trade?

Comment is about How does it feel (blog)

loving how short your new work is! fucking perfect.

Comment is about hurt (blog)

Hi Ray,
Thanks for reading and getting the point behind my words :0
Your sample piece is brilliant. Can I offer a more in depth critique of your work? I cannot, except I know what appeals to me as a lay reader, something that resonates with me :)
Preeti

Comment is about ray pool (poet profile)

Original item by ray pool

thanks Martin - for reading and commenting - I had 'Comeclose and Sleepnow' rattling round my head all day and finally set down the first verse and promptly remembered it was a poem by Roger McGough! - so a big nod to him.

I'm not entirely convinced by my endeavours but hey-ho - trying to be romantic but death made a late appearance.

Comment is about sleepnow and movecloser (blog)

thanks Ray - I think I will come back to this one as it was a bit rushed in order to be relevant - do you know Paul Dehn's apocalyptic poetry from the 60's?:

Ring-a-ring o' neutrons
A pocket full of positrons
A fission! A fission!
We all fall down.

Comment is about hiroshima (blog)

Nice and playful and maybe like a kaleidoscope that you shake and another idea comes up - jagged in a way!

Comment is about hurt (blog)

I have been fascinated by an ongoing feel with some of your work Tommy. I almost seem to be watching the Matrix, as if you are examining one pocket of experience and drawing it out like a thread . am I anywhere close with that? Respectfully Ray

Comment is about Vertices iv (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

I like the way you have a delicate and inspiring image suddenly flayed alive with the scar of that horrendous conception . It reminds me of the disgusting Bush - generated term "shock and awe."
If there is a hell within perhaps he may be given a front line seat.

Comment is about hiroshima (blog)

A fine work Stu. Hospitals have a life of their own and a sort of terrible inevitability exists in them; they deserve all our support and I for one fear them . Your poem gives the game away and moves those goal posts I feel.
I love the line "I am lost." That seems to me to sum up the dream like quality of hospitals.

Comment is about sterile (i am not) (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

I particularly enjoyed "Hear The Faint Chimes" - for its
mystical concept of flowers/bells and the lovingly chosen
words that work so well. I can see why you are so
pleased!
I confess to rarely if ever consciously using a known
formal poetic pattern, instead letting an inbuilt rhythm
in my head dictate flow and length. The "mechanics"
- as I think of them - are surely there to be used as
a suitable framework for what is fermenting in the mind.

Comment is about Two Formal Poems (re-posts) (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

JC - seen and noted, thanks.
"Political inexactitude"? If that means using logic to
determine whether history sets a precedent for subsequent
behaviour and values, I plead "guilty as charged, your
honour".

Comment is about QUI ES IN CAELIS (...who art in Heaven...) (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thank you so much for your comment on D.T.
I am never sure whether to reply there or here. So this thank you may be overkill but it is here none the less. ;)

Comment is about Martin Elder (poet profile)

Original item by Martin Elder

very much enjoying reading your work, especially these more recent and shorter pieces - these weeds are like the thoughts in my head

Comment is about why i don't mow my lawn (08/06/2015) (blog)

Original item by Zach Dafoe

Cheers Ray re 'tasty flesh'. You have a good grasp of the thrust of the piece.

Comment is about ray pool (poet profile)

Original item by ray pool

Cynthia- re Vertices lll, 'yet' means that despite the folding of the paper, this new alignment of words - the syntax of the letter remains. Folding the letter can not obliterate its content. Tommy

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

'yet' meaning despite the folding of the paper, this new alignment of words - the syntax of the letter remains. Folding the letter can not obliterate its content. Tommy

Comment is about Vertices iv (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Hello Harry, thank you very much for reading and commenting on Perfect.
This has been hiding in the notebook for some years and I finally (in desperation) finished it off and put it out there.
I'm really not au-fait with the poetry technical terms but appreciate your kind comments as always.

My very best regards,

Graham

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

Original item by Harry O`N eill

In fairness to TC, MC, "ridiculing" was my word. Tommy was quoting me. It's what I thought he was doing on that SNP post of yours.

Comment is about QUI ES IN CAELIS (...who art in Heaven...) (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

I've just read the phraseology resorted to by Tommy Carroll
- most impressive - to refer to his "ridiculing" an old post of mine. However, he never did refute my factual point
(he couldn't, of course) that in WW2 the Scots Nationalists
did approach the Nazis with a view to a compatible
arrangement when there was a chance the Allies would
lose the war. Ergo, it showed that the Scots Nationalists
are first and foremost a "me/us above all" party with no
hesitation in seeking its aims/other allies beyond the
United Kingdom when it suits them.

Comment is about QUI ES IN CAELIS (...who art in Heaven...) (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

JC/Harry - thank you for the comments...valued from two
contributors whose own work on WOL I enjoy/admire.

Comment is about MEASURES (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Fabulous - not sure why. Why do you say 'yet...'?

Comment is about Vertices iv (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Your iconic 'eye' is a master stroke. It could be male or female. I'm still uncertain whether it is famed by fabric or long leaves; the texture suggests 'plant' wrapped about a human face. Either way, the picture is mind-startling. I was glad to see it again.

I remember the famous photo of the green-eyed girl from Afghanistan, Time magazine cover, years ago.

Comment is about David Blake (poet profile)

Original item by David Blake

Nice poem, but it feels more like a song. very good it creates a really warm atmosphere.

Comment is about sleepnow and movecloser (blog)

thank you for your comments..please do read some more :) ill have a look at yours x

Comment is about Corr Lens (poet profile)

Original item by Corr Lens

Looking at the terrible warlike-ness of that guy hanging
on the cross there reminds of of some poet or other who once said that we were all sentenced to Life, but that God commuted it to death.

Comment is about QUI ES IN CAELIS (...who art in Heaven...) (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

It's a 'Mab Mab' World at July's Write Angle!

The air in the room above the pub was a bit heavy but it didn't stop the audience and open mikers from welcoming guest Performance Poet, Mab Jones with the smiles and applause she deserves, ('4 hours on the train - I felt like a burnt sausage').

All in all, it was a highly successful evening. Mab, winner of two poetry arts awards (£20,000 + £5000) was right on target with her poetry -..Into feminism, she did a 'Page 3 poem', 'Yesterday when I was walking, I saw a pair of 'tits'. Not birds flying but a newspaper, opened to that page, following as she continued walking. Some male disagreement was heard, and laughter- Mab handled it well. It's easy to be comfortable with her. She is a 'natural' at holding an audience and being 'herself'.

Her voice is soft and lilting but there's an inner strength that comes through - she's always ready to interact with the audience, and share her insights and much of herself. ''I'm reading poems I've hardly read before. Aren't you lucky'. (yes, I felt we were)! They had a freshness and vitality. A poem about a potato 'who wished it was more beautiful'. Poems about how it is to not feel pretty, and 'Dream Woman', Also, The Weed', about the perfect woman made of flowers. She spoke of how, after many failing relationships, she's now truly in love. (even though she's a bit heavy and far from perfect', he adores her).

She did some Welsh poems, exploring the language and idiomatic expressions – again sharing with those in the audience who understood. You don't need to be perfect – just be who you are. was her theme! There was a Sonnet about a building in Cardiff and did we know that Cardiff was once the Ashes capital of the World.

'Meet Me in Bridgend', and a true story of a mouse in her kitchen (she didn't want) that popped out of her toaster. 'The Man Who Loved a Goat Too Much', but it was consensual - 4 legs good, 2 legs bad...she fantasied the idea that one day, all species and races will marry...in Wales. Her humour comes through –along with her concern for how women are treated, and should be. But her ideas of femininity,although strong, do not overwhelm but are handled in a fun and positive way! So much more but never enough! Write Angle already awaits her next visit!

Following, open miker Bruce Parry played a lovely song 'Ashton Farewell' on his hammer dulcimer, then told of his mother's doll collection, discovered, after she died (for the kids to play with). It contained dolls (from the '70s) with big eyes and big heads. Bruce demonstrated- by pulling a cord, it changed her eyes and mouth. Only one problem. They were marketed by Parry toys but withdrawn from the market, because they frightened the kids! However, now on Ebay, they're selling for £650 ea. Some worth over £1000. Inspired by this, Bruce then read 'The Doll with the changing eyes, followed by Possessions', 'The mountain's my castle'...the stars are my magic...(a talented poet). Then, 'Rhine Cruise', a 9 day journey with friends through Switzerland, Germany, including hundreds of locks, all together – knowing they wouldn't meet again till the next year.

Janet Turner, from The New Forest, had written a poetry book, proceeds of which all go to 'Jacks Place', a hospice for teenagers – She read several poems from the book. 'Poppies Bow Their Heads', 'Grandfather's Bench' and ''A Phony Farewell'.

Barry Smith carried on with the atrocities of July 7th, caused by terrorists, on the underground and bus. He explored not just the awful things but the mundane things. 'last farewells of companionships', a stop at MacDonalds for a solitary last supper before catching the first bus home'. Another atrocity, 'The last Jew in Vinnitsa'. inspired by a photograph which survived. 'There is a pistol at his head and there is another man with a camera'.. Barry put the point that what isn't said is often more important than what is. His last, 'Current Affairs', about 9/11, when he was called by his wife and told about it as he was on the beach on the Isle of Wight. That beach, with its rocky surface came alive! Another wonderful poet.

Graham Sims, (aka Daryl Revko) from Cheltenham, did a comedy routine with the audience thinking it was poetry - there was a burst of laughter and applause when he finally announced, 'it's really funny doing comedy when you don't get a laugh!' ...a 'natural' at the mike. Martin Myers, new to WA, of Irish and Pakistani background, when asked where his family originated, said 'if you ask people where they're from, you don't get an answer. You get a conversation'. He read 'Adam/Elspeth, 'Elspeth/Adam', an interesting poem of conversation in the office 'It's always so quiet in the office these days. Almost as if we've been cast adrift' . Much applause followed.

Audi Maserati followed with his ukulele performing from his new opera - about the ocean, there before the land. Full of mysteries. He played the first and second movements. 'Jelly fish are beautiful'...Sea Horses...(all good fun) – followed by 'Reggae Love Song'. (I wish I was a jelly fish). A talented performer we're lucky to have with us.

Jezz announced, 'Happy Christmas everybody' , following with his skill, talent and charismatic personality, making it hard not to feel emotional, hum or tap along. a cowboy song, played with his 'home-made' guitar and a harmonica. David Roberts, a Woody Allen fan, did 'Interiors', about the 'dark of the mind'. 'Shadows and Fog', 'We live in a world of shadows and fog'. Then, 'Bananas' – about exotic living – enough bananas, pina coladas. Are we all bananas'. Tim Dawes, read a sonnet. 'Northey Airwaves' Then, 'Reflections on Age and Death again' , (not a happy poem), 'a single bare tree in a bare meadow' 'to bring on the black of night'. 'Falling body or failing mind'...'Please god, take not Shakespeare from me'.

Jeananne Naumcymk, long time away from the mic, did a poem about mundane days - but nights are 'risqué'. (Dreams etc), then. 'Past Loves'. Remembering relationships...finally ending with the one meant to be! (husband no 3). Then, a poem about a pigeon. Her cat finally 'handled the situation, Scott Charlesworth, new open miker, did 'Don't forget the Women' and 'Britain', cynical poems about the state of the country!

The two free meals for 'Nagshead', Chichester – were won by Graham Sims, who won it the last time he came from Cheltenham to Write Angle. (It was not fixed, honest injun!)

A good evening for all, with a variation of themes and a big Thank You, Mab, for joining us and making it very special!

Review is about Petersfield Write Angle Poetry and Music + OPEN MI on 21 Jul 2015 (event)

Hi Cynthia Thanks for lovely coment on my Bruegel poem. It's a piece that has caused me endless problems over the years. I've been trying to sort it out for a new selection of my poems. The version here has had radical surgery, but after the comment of some of my poetry friends I am moving back closer to the original which has 4 X 6 line stanzas, but still hopefully sorting out some bits that weren't quite right. I'm glad that you like it. I often worry that it is the kind of thing that doesn't have much appeal these days!

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

People write for all sorts of reasons. Good you have found yours.

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

This is great. You are not smug and you don't try too hard. The result is a damned fine read, subtle enough and not slave to any style

Comment is about Tom (blog)

Original item by Corr Lens

Why would he do that? I would love him, your friend

Comment is about dont post a poem (blog)

Original item by Corr Lens

Wow. Way to go. This is stunning.

Comment is about Singing Too Loud (blog)

Original item by Corr Lens

Corr, thanks so much for reading and your comments on my work on the lack of rain. I have been reading with alarm California's drought like conditions and Nestlé's attempts to privatize water. I love your comments, narcissistically, because they're so like mine ;)

Comment is about Corr Lens (poet profile)

Original item by Corr Lens

Thanks Graham :) The bodily parts just happened, tumbled through :0

Final smile? It's almost a smirk, mission accomplished kind of. Not smug tho. Hate smug.

Comment is about hurt (blog)

its the wife's favourite as well! it'll get re-aired this monday at voicebox in wrexham as i'm going to perform it (complete with shite french accent)

Comment is about maize (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

challenge accepted!
in fact, wait two minutes and you can have it.

Comment is about I (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Romans eh! what have they ever done for us?

Comment is about "Oh you are a mucky kid" (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Thank you Harry. Fascinating memories.

Comment is about CILLA (blog)

Original item by David Subacchi

Hello Steve,
I think I am a Methodist. That's when I went to Sunday School as a nipper.
Now I am more of a Fallen Angel. God awaits me muttering under his breath, "I can't wait to meet YOU".

Comment is about QUI ES IN CAELIS (...who art in Heaven...) (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

The smiling is wry I think!
Boobs, balls, tits, you've even mentioned a prick(liness) well done for this very short, caustic, rant.
The final smile is self-satisfying.

Graham

Comment is about hurt (blog)

Good read, Lynn.

Comment is about No Answer (blog)