A very skillful poem, well-constructed. So what is CUH&GS? It's probably even more impressive if I know the background and can better appreciate the humour. It feels 'sly' but I'm not sure.
Comment is about And the sky-blue shall overcome (blog)
Original item by Marnanel Thurman
You have a deft touch with diction, an ear for sound and the poetic sensitivity of seeing unusual relationships.
IMO, all good poets have a thesaurus at hand - you know - 'le mot juste'.
Line turns/breaks are also a major poetic skill and yours read well with both eye and voice .
Comment is about Rain/Sun/Rain (blog)
Original item by David Blake
A good, right-thinking man: the world is the poorer for lack of him.
Comment is about William Blake and Christian socialism: the poetic side of Tony Benn (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Greg,it's a shame this thread has been high jacked by the politicos who as usual are stripping the bones of a single point made in your piece. I thought it was about the man's poetic preferences, but sadly it has been swiftly transformed into yet another overblown ping pong tirade.
Nick Robinson is right when he says that TB will be best remembered as a chronicler of an era.
Comment is about William Blake and Christian socialism: the poetic side of Tony Benn (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Well, according to some theories of literature, it is what you see in it-- so yes, it presumably is :)
Comment is about And the sky-blue shall overcome (blog)
Original item by Marnanel Thurman
Not Coventry City Football Club, then?
Comment is about And the sky-blue shall overcome (blog)
Original item by Marnanel Thurman
"Like Marargate Thatcher, at one time he was regarded as bitterly divisive"
The above and nothing more, is what I have rallied against. I wont apologise for that whether it is two onto one, three onto one - or ten onto one.
Let's us see who is right!
Let us see what the British public thinks when it comes to his funeral.
Let's see if we have the same widespread reactions across the country as we did for her.
Let us see if you are right Greg/MC, let us see if I am right.
It is as simple as that.
P.S
Other people might not find that comparison worth fighting against - I happen to think it is rather important. Unless free speech has had its day...
Comment is about William Blake and Christian socialism: the poetic side of Tony Benn (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
I don't think Tony Benn's death or the tone of this article warrants us all going to war over politics on WOL.
It's a good article Greg and it's interesting to hear of Benn's connection with poetry - I hadn't realised he was such a sensitive soul.
And at last - someone notable who shared your interest in trains!
Comment is about William Blake and Christian socialism: the poetic side of Tony Benn (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
<Deleted User> (11984)
Sun 16th Mar 2014 19:29
A very delicate and well executed poem.
Comment is about Rain/Sun/Rain (blog)
Original item by David Blake
Checked your stuff on Youtube, thanks for the link. Really quite impressive, actually! Especially 'The Westgate Run' on the Wakefield Word Walk.
Comment is about Ian Whiteley (poet profile)
Original item by Ian Whiteley
As a matter of fact I held no "brief" for the
politics of "Left or Right for a lifetime's
career - my work and its demands saw to that.
But, for example, I'm mindful of the fact Lord
Attlee spoke for our allies in the readily abandoned Commonwealth countries when MacMillan
was pushing to join the (then) Common Market...
and that Heath, ignoring the words of Geoffrey
Rippon, knew full well that he wasn't telling
the British people the whole truth about the direction of that political creation - deceit
and want of truth marking its progress ever since.
Since retirement I have taken more interest in
politics and its players - past, present and
future. It is all very well to talk about "history" but, as someone observed, it is usually written by the winners - and ignored,
challenged or derided by those of opposing views!
Chris Co seems to regard every view that takes
a mildly questioning line as a challenge to be
"seen off" (at length!) if it appears at odds with his own.
People in politics are neither saints nor sinners but those who take their chance to use
their views to affect the rest of us - from whatever side of the political spectrum they
emerge.
Comment is about William Blake and Christian socialism: the poetic side of Tony Benn (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
You think my feelings on Benn are not mixed Greg...Mmm.
I tell you ehat I shall post here my reactions from facebook. The post is long and detailed. It contains the nuance that seems to be otherwise lacking here.
P.S there was nothing mild in M.Cs comments - there never is!
Benn can't be regarded in one way, his time in politics and his positions and roles are so considerable. As such I think it better to consider different phases of his political life. Benn of the 1960s was dynamic, a brilliant debater and orator and he was a very good minister, particularly as minister for technology. His battle over his peerage and remaining in the house of commons, like his wish to have nothing to do with inherited titles was admirable. In the 1970s his principles led him into disastrous confrontations with his own party and helped seal labours fate and Thatchers continued success, i say helped. We shouldn't overplay it, given the upturn in the economy, partly down to reform, partly down to a upward return to the mean, and given the Falklands effect - she was never really going to be defeated. Labour winning an election, well, it was never going to happen back then. The split simply made the party look bad and bad publicly...though granted it did delay a return to power post Thatcher.
He was quite wrong in his dealings with militant and his command economy was never going to happen, never even remotely accepted by his own party let alone the country. So in terms of logistics, and reality his cause was unrealistic and deeply damaging.
Whether it could have worked politically if allowed is debatable and of course depends upon your politics. My politics, that of a social democrat, a mixed economy of relatively free trade, to the back-drop of a refusal to privatise things that I believe/believed to be too important to leave to the profit motive - hospitals/NHS, Railways (sadly gone) Energy (national interest - gone or going)...well In my opinion, and that is all it is...I think such a command economy would fail. Well meaning though it was or is, I think such economies deny human nature, and in that stifle economic growth.
Whatever the rights and wrongs, Benn was principled and committed as ever. He was also a very compassionate man and if there was a blind spot, it was in hoping people would be better than they actually are.
Yes he backed Scargill, but what choice did he have? Even Norman Tebbit came out and said that Thatchers pace and direction of closures was probably too much and that it Tebbit speaking! At a time when Scargill and Thatcher were playing political games and the miners suffered to the extent they did - Benn had no choice but to back the miners. In terms of other industries, when he was in office prior to Thatcher, the use of subsidy in clearly failing, economically challenged industries - here like labour he was more at fault.
All said and done though, he can never be compared to Thatcher. Not only did he go on to be a great humanitarian voice and authority, leading figure in the Anti-war movement, proponent for gay rights and black people etc, he simply never had enough power to make any mistakes on the level that Thatcher did. That is why we will not see a number one song celebrating the death of Benn, or Crowe for that matter. Neither Benn nor Crowe can be mentioned in the same breath as Thatcher when we use the word divisive. They were colourful and controversial figures, loved and loathed in equal measure, but not in Thatchers league. She occupies an entirely different stratosphere. The speed of her reforms committed great swathes of the country to the scrap heap, she ruined lives in great number. She was socially repressive and had more in common with the outgoing Ukrainian president, than she did with modern western ways of treating a population.
Thatcher had her effigy burnt across the country, was reviled by many opponents in parliament. Benn and Crowe on the other have been eulogised by colleagues and opponents alike...there is good reason for this, the logic is there.
Comment is about William Blake and Christian socialism: the poetic side of Tony Benn (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Clever title and warm, uncompromising piece for a wholly uncompromising man. RIP.
Comment is about all that is Left (blog)
Original item by Ian Whiteley
I resisted my initial inclination to respond to your comments, Chris, but I do think your long riposte to MC's mild and brief words deserves a reply. I take your point about Thatcher and Benn, but only to a certain extent. You will have noted that the word "divisive" came up many times in the obits of Benn on the BBC and in the Guardian.I understand why you reacted the way you did to Thatcher and Benn being mentioned in the same breath. But I believe it is right to link them in some way, because I would argue that his actions in the early 80s, in terms of unintended results, led to a splintering of the left and gave Thatcher a free run in power, with the results you describe. I care deeply about that, and think it is right to point it out. On the other hand, as I watched the BBC programme late on Friday night, I was struck by his desire to support British industry in the 1970s. Visionary, yes. Genuine, yes. Practical? Maybe. I'm just guessing that there are more people out there with mixed feelings about Tony Benn than you might imagine, Chris.
Comment is about William Blake and Christian socialism: the poetic side of Tony Benn (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Did I say it was sweetness and light M.C? I rather think not.
The point is simple, Benn does not occupy the same stratosphere as Thatcher when it comes to divisivness - context is everything! If you doubt this for even a second, we can compare the respective outpourings, both in parlianment and across the country.
There will be no hit single celebrating his death, there wont be dozens of burning effigies. Thought of Benn will not result in burning tears, in grown men and women speaking with unspent fury in their voices after 30 odd years.
He will be respected on both sides of the parliamentary divide, not derided and spoken of with bitterness. So the public, the entire British public and parliament will tell you much, tell you the difference between Thatcher (the most divisive prime minister in this countries history) and Benn.
I could go on, speak of how Benn was widely regarded as a fine debator and orator, fine mp and brilliant minister in the 60s. I could talk about how the world softened to his progressive social policies in reference to rights of minorities, gay rights, the rights of black people etc. I could talk about the third phase of his life and his humanitarian speaking and work, so respected by young people in this country. His rallying against the war in Iraq etc etc
But ultimately I'll settle for the entire responses, respectively - that for Thatcher's passing and that for Benn's.
Or put another way M.C I'll settle for the vast response of the British people being in accordance with what I am saying - and diametrically opposed to what you have had to say :)
P.S
History exists M.C, as much as you like to claim ownership of the past via your anecdotes. As for Healy, I too saw the interview ;). Healy also stated that his attitude had differed in later life where they were friends. You forgot to mention that. Nice of you to care so much for internal labour policy though M.C - I'm sure your care is very much genuine as a right-winger lmao.
How many miners so easily forgave Thatcher for what she did? How many relatives from Hillsborough? How many people thrown on the scrap heap forgave her? How many people suffering mental ill health, who were thrown out of institutions forgave her? How many in the industrisl cities, how many in Wales? How many forgave her for the poll tax? How many in Brixton? How many in Toxteth?
Absolutely ridiculous to use the word divisive in the same context as Benn and Thatcher. It would be like saying Tony Blair and Hitler were both disliked.
Comment is about William Blake and Christian socialism: the poetic side of Tony Benn (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Hi Jeff, I hope you are well. I was amazed to realise that it was 2009 when we last talked!! Time must move differently in the poetry dimension! Only through browsing around have I twigged there is a poetry event at the Brooklyn. I have worked in Farnworth on and off now for the best part of 20 years and used to enjoy a cheeky pub lunch there on a Friday! Hopefully, I can come along on the 20th April, I have never performed my poetry in front of an audience before but perhaps now is the time to give it a go!
Comment is about Jeffarama! (poet profile)
Original item by Jeffarama!
Hi Dave, I hope you are well. The workshop was fab, I had a group of 12 gifted and talented young writers who soaked up the stimulus and ran with the themes. They took some ideas away to develop over the next week but I hope to share some of their writing next week with you of you're interested!
Comment is about Dave Bradley (poet profile)
Original item by Dave Bradley
<Deleted User> (9882)
Sat 15th Mar 2014 19:59
My thanks for this really nice poem.x
Comment is about Poem: White for Harvest (blog)
Original item by Joseph J. Breunig 3rd
<Deleted User> (9882)
Sat 15th Mar 2014 19:57
<Deleted User> (11984)
Sat 15th Mar 2014 18:59
This gave me peace with myself! I am taken by the charm of smoothy stream of a mass of strong and heavy tune words! Love it!
Comment is about Peace with Self (blog)
Original item by Sunny Chopra
Denis Healey was interviewed about Benn's passing
and it is clear that the bitterness that the
latter aroused within his own party's ranks
still lingers. Healey still retained the memory
of Benn's personal invective even so many years
on. Perhaps those who were mature when both
were in their pomp are best able to remember the
state of party politics then. Sweetness and light,
it wasn't!
Comment is about William Blake and Christian socialism: the poetic side of Tony Benn (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
indeed MC
he will be sorely missed in these days of cardboard, beige, soulless politicians
Comment is about all that is Left (blog)
Original item by Ian Whiteley
Viscount Stansgate...
Anthony Wedgewood-Benn...
Then finally Tony Benn -
Multi-named...
Multi-talented...
Among political men.
Comment is about all that is Left (blog)
Original item by Ian Whiteley
Love the staccato phrasing. Some clever words too
Comment is about Bossy (blog)
Original item by jeremy young
Thanks Lynn & Cynthia, your comments are much appreciated & I'm glad you enjoyed reading the poem & might like any of the others I've put up here.
Comment is about Swimming at high tide..... (blog)
Original item by Stuart A. Paterson
Hello John,
Thank you for your comments on my "99 Word Horror Story".
I came up with this while trying to sleep. So I got out of bed and wrote this charming little tale. Amazing what the mind can come up with.
Thanks
Shirley
Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)
Original item by John Coopey
Thanks for your comment on 'A Room, Midnight' Cynthia. I don't have a definite theory on its topic, only that I was trying to express the sense of a sinister ceremony of some kind taking place. Not one of my cheerier pieces, certainly!
Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
Hello Michael and welcome to Write Out Loud. I’m really looking forward to reading some of your work. I know that you will be warmly welcomed by fellow WOL-ers on the site. If you haven’t already added a picture to your profile please try and do so. It’s good to see what our fellow poets look like.
Have a good browse around the site, there’s lots going on and if you have the time make some comments about the work of other poets please feel free. It’s the best way to get some constructive feedback about your own work too.
Any problems, please ask. There’s always someone who’ll get back to you. It’s a friendly place, so welcome once again.
Graham Sherwood
Comment is about Michael Hill (poet profile)
Original item by Michael Hill
Hello Anu and welcome to Write Out Loud. I’m really looking forward to reading some of your work. I know that you will be warmly welcomed by fellow WOL-ers on the site. If you haven’t already added a picture to your profile please try and do so. It’s good to see what our fellow poets look like.
Have a good browse around the site, there’s lots going on and if you have the time make some comments about the work of other poets please feel free. It’s the best way to get some constructive feedback about your own work too.
Any problems, please ask. There’s always someone who’ll get back to you. It’s a friendly place, so welcome once again.
Graham Sherwood
Comment is about Anu Cheeran (poet profile)
Original item by Anu Cheeran
Hello Jeremy and welcome to Write Out Loud. I’m really looking forward to reading some of your work. I know that you will be warmly welcomed by fellow WOL-ers on the site. If you haven’t already added a picture to your profile please try and do so. It’s good to see what our fellow poets look like.
Have a good browse around the site, there’s lots going on and if you have the time make some comments about the work of other poets please feel free. It’s the best way to get some constructive feedback about your own work too.
Any problems, please ask. There’s always someone who’ll get back to you. It’s a friendly place, so welcome once again.
Graham Sherwood
Comment is about jeremy young (poet profile)
Original item by jeremy young
Hello Edward and welcome to Write Out Loud. I’m really looking forward to reading some of your work. I know that you will be warmly welcomed by fellow WOL-ers on the site. If you haven’t already added a picture to your profile please try and do so. It’s good to see what our fellow poets look like.
Have a good browse around the site, there’s lots going on and if you have the time make some comments about the work of other poets please feel free. It’s the best way to get some constructive feedback about your own work too.
Any problems, please ask. There’s always someone who’ll get back to you. It’s a friendly place, so welcome once again.
Graham Sherwood
Comment is about Edward Hughes (poet profile)
Original item by Edward Hughes
I'm not sure he could ever be mentioned in the same breath as Thatcher, not using the term "bitterly divisive". He may have had his disagreements, but a sense of perspective is key here. He didn't score this country with decades of division, he didn't set families upon one another, he didn't sanction truncheons on miners, try to destroy entire ways of life or cover up mass injustices.
I know it is tempting to make comparisions, but really, there can be absolutely no equivocation here between him and Margaret Thatcher when it comes to "that term".
Yes they were both politicians of principle and idealism...that comparison though? Absolutely not!
P.S
A more useful comparison would be Disraeli.
Comment is about William Blake and Christian socialism: the poetic side of Tony Benn (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Michael, this poem is difficult to follow, but still has a potent anger best appreciated when gulped down quickly.
Comment is about Ascendance (blog)
Original item by Noetic-fret!
A lovely poem, with fresh, involving images, and 'spirit'.
Comment is about Swimming at high tide..... (blog)
Original item by Stuart A. Paterson
Rape?
It's a brilliant 'dagger' of a piece itself.
Comment is about A Room, Midnight (blog)
Original item by David Blake
A lovely piece about one of my heroes. Thank you.
Comment is about William Blake and Christian socialism: the poetic side of Tony Benn (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
All comments duly noted and appreciated. Thanks
for taking the trouble.
Comment is about GLOBAL WARMING-how long forming? (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Image of the March Collage poem
kill the beast of splatted blood
black terror chain of mutilated daisy
as sorrow brings a darker Summer.
Comment is about March Collage Poem (blog)
Original item by Stockport WoL
There was an empty bottle found near to his body and paw prints leading to the cat flap on the back door.
Not a ghost of a chance of proving it said P.C Birdbrain.
Comment is about Harry O`N eill (poet profile)
Original item by Harry O`N eill
Sunny C
I like your splitting of the quatrains, your
rhyme, and your way of getting a lot into your unusually sparse choice of words.
Keep `em comin`
Comment is about Peace with Self (blog)
Original item by Sunny Chopra
hehehe fuck them. the spies were watching people jerk off and be intimate on yahoo and other sites. damn perverts. wait for the new spy films, new genre of film, erotic porn spy movies.
Comment is about Data (blog)
Original item by NICK ARMBRISTER
<Deleted User> (5592)
Wed 12th Mar 2014 17:40
Partly because it chimes with what I've been thinking about today (the future..), what I liked most in this interview was:
"I suppose the moral of all this is, every failure is an opportunity - just keep plodding forwards, and keep bumping into walls until you find a door."
Perhaps adding: "when a door is found have the courage to go through it."
Comment is about Can poetry go 'mainstream'? The future's bright, says Valley Press publisher (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Wise words, Harry. Equally wise, I think, is to treat with suspicion anyone with Certainty on their side. That applies both to those who try to persuade me that there is a God and to those who saay there isn't.
Comment is about The Miracle of Life (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Nigel,
I hope it wasn`t some stray moggy drifted into wealthy uncle`s house one night when he was alone and persuaded him to take the tablets. (I wouldn`t put it past them)
Comment is about A Ghostly Gift (blog)
Original item by Nigel Astell
Wise. M.C. wise.
Look how clearly and concisely the rhyme can say it. They reckon if they can get `global warming` into their request for money then they are `on`.
Comment is about GLOBAL WARMING-how long forming? (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
I think it`s called `apophaticism` John (but, for Pete`s sake, don`t ask me what it means)
If you think that atomic `dust` is difficult, wait till you get to some of these weirder cutting edge theories that the scientific guys are coming out with these days.
The other night on tele. a boffin (talking about what happened before the big bang said that he had come to the conclusion that there was no such thing as a beginning. ( Is he going all theological, or is he an example of the ancient proverb `Whom the Gods want to destroy they first make mad`?)
Follow your conscience and - like Chesterton - `don`t believe in anything that can`t be told in coloured pictures`
Comment is about The Miracle of Life (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
If they`re spyin` on my poetry and it makes them sick and they give themselves diarrhoea then they`re goin` to need every crap roll they can locate.
Comment is about Data (blog)
Original item by NICK ARMBRISTER
Cynthia Buell Thomas
Mon 17th Mar 2014 11:27
Mr. Thurman, I must catch up with your posts. My computer is a bit more co-operative these days. Powerful point here, sharply expressed.
Comment is about tealice (blog)
Original item by Marnanel Thurman