There's a point to everything as described above. This is beautifully thought provoking Cynthia. thanks for posting this. I can imagine you reading this at an open mic at Sale. I look forward to more!

Comment is about Points (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

sounds like you're satisfied to be in a humdrum place

Comment is about This Place (blog)

Original item by alan barlow

This is very earthy and lovely. Even as a man I can empathise with the sentiment expressed in this poem

Comment is about New Arrival (blog)

Original item by Louise Fazackerley

I like all the words in this poem, which feels very heartfelt!

Comment is about His love for me is like the sea, As deep as it is wide (blog)

Original item by Louise Fazackerley

Thanks all! I find the seaside wonderfully evocative and always find it beautiful, even in its sadness. Your comments more than make up for the stale doughnuts!

David, like the song and have to say i only listened to queen of denmark fleetingly when it came out, but am enjoying it again today thanks to you. later work became overly reliant on electronics for me, but his debut is great.

Comment is about beach (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Hi Cynthia Glad you liked 'The Teatime Bulletin'. The first draft was written some time late 70s/early 80s and I was thinking of updating it. In the end I thought there was no point. The names and places changed but the story stays the same.

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

This work requires the reader's dedicated effort to appreciate the fine points so expertly developed in your chosen imagery. An excellent development of disparate, associated ideas.

Comment is about beach (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Hello Stu, thanks for your comment on The Turn. I'm outdoors a lot and the weather/climate exits for me in a very real sense - which might sound daft, but i'm sure you know what i mean.

I'll keep checking in and having a shufty at your stuff. Keep it coming.

Trav.

Comment is about Stuart Buck (poet profile)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Nice analogy Stu, a brief and satisfying exploration.

Comment is about registered trademark (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Stu, you say 'the trick is to have nothing to escape from, a difficult thing to achieve.' I firmly agree with you and i also think it's worth the pursuit, however hard it proves. I'm on that path myself, but i frequently stray off it.

Comment is about ouroboros (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Brilliant pay off Stu, didn't see it coming.

You describe the writing of poetry as a 'cerebral emetic' which is, in itself, a fine phrase.

Comment is about burial (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

I know this will sound ridiculous considering how sad this whole piece is. But I was saddened most that you and your daughter's doughnuts were stale. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.

Comment is about beach (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

This subject matter is so NOT my cup of tea but for some reason (it must be the words) I read it through several times and think it very good. You have conveyed this poor individual's predicament well.

Comment is about Soliloquy of a psychopath at Gunpoint (blog)

Original item by K.G. Mikel

Hi Tommy Thanks for comment on The Tea Time Bulletin.

Comment is about Tommy Carroll (poet profile)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Thanks Huw.

Graham, spot on with sadness.

Thank you both for reading and commenting. Much appreciated.

Michelle

Comment is about He’s a Drunk (blog)

Original item by Michelle

I expected this to be tragic/comic as drunks albeit tragic are often comical to look at when trying to make progress walking etc.
Although your perfectly described narrative could be thought to convey comedy, it is obvious your whole intention is one of sadness for this hapless individual.
Not easy to achieve, well done!

Comment is about He’s a Drunk (blog)

Original item by Michelle

We think Graham encapsulates most of what we would have said,along with Davids mentioning of a 'healthy debate' which it was.No apologies required David for 'veering away' this is bound to happen in such discussions.To answer your questions Cynthia and Colin as to the who/what/why etc of this poem-it simply was born from our general dislike of pomposity which isn't in short supply.Our thanks for your involvement folks.xx

Comment is about AND NOW! a free minded,unapologetic response,to closed minded pomposity (blog)

Very powerful, well-crafted images which could be any location, any man, any era. While I like the spin offered by the last line, I found it diluted the real strength of 'drought', turning the lines into the constant struggle of the rich versus the poor, in any capacity. I felt almost a bit sorry that I couldn't take the imagery at face value.

Only me, Preeti, craving release from symbolism. If you can believe it? Poets operate in the world of suggestion; there is no such animal as 'simple'.

Comment is about Parched Earth (blog)

Thank you for taking time to read and comment, Cynthia. I like your comments and appreciate your time. Thank you.

Comment is about He’s a Drunk (blog)

Original item by Michelle

I really enjoyed this - excellent descriptive power, detail piling on detail. IMO, I'd continue to do line breaks with the final six lines; I don't think you would lose impact, and the pace would not slow down.

The final line is so good, as a finale, would you consider calling the poem 'The Dancer' leaving the reader really punched by the 'grim opposite' of the title. Just a thought.

Comment is about He’s a Drunk (blog)

Original item by Michelle

Martin,this HAS to be your number one-(so far)

Excellent work!


Rose.x

Comment is about Not from round here (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Thank you Colin glad it reached you

Comment is about SHADES OF SURFING (blog)

Original item by Jack purvis

Hello Jack, I very much enjoyed bobbing through your poem. At first I was sitting on the beach or cliff top but then thought it would be fun to imagine myself as a seal bobbing up and down watching the surfers do the same. Thanks for posting and making me smile.

Comment is about SHADES OF SURFING (blog)

Original item by Jack purvis

Very powerful last two lines Preeti. A real knife-twister.

Comment is about Parched Earth (blog)

Waiting :)

Comment is about Corr Lens (poet profile)

Original item by Corr Lens

raypool - did you have one of those desks that had hardly
any space for your knees? I did!
Huw Thomas - I have been back to the last lines and think
it is more accurate for my purpose to amend the final line as shown. Ta!

Comment is about COPYBOOK WRITING (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Mr. Young, IMO, this is an absolute gem, spare in words and resonating in depth. May the ensuing poetry of July, 2015, meet the bar you have set.

Comment is about you (blog)

Original item by jeremy young

cool! x

Comment is about This Place (blog)

Original item by alan barlow

Thanks for the comments. I like it when poems bring about exchanges like this - not just about style, but about life experience. And yes, I suppose one cannot know, during the descent, or at best just have an intuition.

Comment is about Changes (blog)

Original item by Celia

What a cliff hanger those home movies must've been! I love how this piece put me there watching those movies with you. Eager to know what the next one held. Disappointed at not knowing what the dysfunctional ones held. A very lovely read Stu.

Comment is about top hat (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

I'm with Stu. I always try to move on quickly. But more than I like get dragged into what seems like a never ending conversation. Usually odd conversations that make me very uncomfortable. I really enjoyed reading this Martin.

Comment is about Not from round here (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Thanks all!

Comment is about top hat (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

I can really identify with this, along with the idea of inkwells that we used to put iron filings in at school or somesuch. Well done for all that detail, spot on!

Comment is about COPYBOOK WRITING (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Another fan, Stu, with this one. Touching and nostalgic, a time capsule of a sophisticated time , further down the line from the original big screen euphoria! Ray

Comment is about top hat (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Helen Helen Helen you are showing the signs of an intelligent mind. Be careful now or you may develop a touch of quality of purpose. Hug tightly your ups and downs. At your service, Tommy.

Comment is about Helen (poet profile)

Original item by Helen

What a nice poem. I agree with Huw very atmospheric, but it left me wanting more

Comment is about top hat (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Hi Andy
Thanks for your comments on 'Not from round here' It is based on an event that happened to me as a student walking back to the car loaded with books as opposed to just loaded! He was quite insistent that I came form London and was happy when I agreed. Hope to see you next week.

Comment is about Andy N (poet profile)

Original item by Andy N

What an interesting few days for northern poets and universities. In Lemn's (Norman's) case, a wonderful, inspiring journey from being (quite literally) a son of Wigan to this lofty position. Manchester will be the greater for it.

Comment is about 'My aim is to inspire and be inspired': Lemn Sissay voted in as next chancellor of Manchester University (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Hi Stu
Thanks for you comments on 'Not from here' this is related to an event that happened to me a few years ago as a student I was walking back to the car from the university library loaded with books. He was quite insistent that I was from London !

Comment is about Stuart Buck (poet profile)

Original item by Stuart Buck

I applaud the consistency of the imagery in pursuit of an "ideal". We are conditioned in so many ways in this life,
so let us relish the imagination to support the hope of being blessed with that which we seek.
In recognition of that hope, as the late great Dave Allen used to say, clearly mindful and respectful of its many
and varied meanings: "May your God go with you."

Comment is about A poet at prayer (blog)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

excellent, martin. enjoyed reading this.

Comment is about Not from round here (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Hey that's brilliant :) Sounds like you enjoyed it too :) xx

Comment is about Helen (poet profile)

Original item by Helen

a well written account of something i dread (or that is how i interpreted it). i always get stuck talking to people i dont know and who alarm me.

Comment is about Not from round here (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Yippee indeed, Cynthia. I was set against Mr A for quite a while because of his (then) stated antipathy to the idea of 'performing' a poem.
It would be incorrect to equate modernising with performance. Yeats saw poetry as "an elaboration of the rhythms of common speech and their association with profound feeling", and I think Armitage is keen to speak plainly to his listener/reader, and alert to the intimacy of that relationship. He is fully aware of poetry's oral provenance, as all poets should be. "Mere air these words, but delicious to hear" Sappho.
His reading in Washington, that I was lucky enough to witness and report on, was a masterclass in how to present your work clearly without in the least dumbing down.

Comment is about Simon Armitage wins Oxford professor of poetry election (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

absolutely~

Comment is about Tommy Carroll (poet profile)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Hi Tommy, I am starting to wonder why I bothered coming back. The site is riddled with 'poets' who do nothing but critisize the work of other poets!!!

There is nothing I hate more than people who think they are better than everyone!

If I disappear again, you'll know why!

Helen x

Comment is about Tommy Carroll (poet profile)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

"kiss gently, kiss briefly kiss often"
Tommy hi

Comment is about Dana Lee (poet profile)

Original item by Dana Lee

A point well made Lynn. Ouch!

Comment is about MAKING A POINT (blog)

thank you so much yall that means a lot i will keep posting believe you me

Comment is about Should i (blog)

Original item by Autum

so beautifully put as usual Tommy. The emphasis on leaves and litter together with paint and puddles works so well.

Comment is about the paint and the puddles (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll