Thank you for your compliment. I read your comments on people's works. You give meaningful advice, you appreciate, suggest changes and put so much time and effort. Thanks, again, much appreciated.

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

That's the nicest thing someone's said to me in a long tine ! Thank you :0

Comment is about The Mediocrity Curse (blog)

I know, time flies!

Comment is about Em (poet profile)

Original item by Em

Nearly a year.

Comment is about Em (poet profile)

Original item by Em

Oh Gooooooosh, Sheree gyul! You look for dat! Is t'ief you t'ief and now you tail in reeeeel trubble. Is licks like peas for you!

Comment is about Poet apologises for 'appropriations' as poems are withdrawn and book is pulped (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

really like this Laura - I can imagine that it will perform very well.
It's what a lot of us are thinking - and I wrote quite a bit of stuff up to the election but haven't been able to summon a good rant since the results yet - so good on you for getting in there :-)
Yes - 'blue collar' is one of the things getting on my tits too - as is 'for the working people' - investment bankers are 'working people' - don't try and muddy the phrase working people so idiots think 'working class'! most of the working class are either out of work or on zero hours contracts.
Oh no - I feel a rant coming on ;-)
Really good stuff
Ian

Comment is about Majority (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Laura - you have SO 'got' 'Once Upon A Time' - it was literally me wandering from my home to the shops (in my head) on the street where I grew up. I kept it deliberately simply and 'moved' on to give the effect of fleetingly passing these places - so no time to really have a look at them - just impressions - and you picked that up quite brilliantly.
Thanks for commenting - pleased that you liked it :-)
Ian

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

thanks for the kind comments on 'Once Upon A Time' Isobel. I like to visit nostalgia central once in a while - it sort of lightens my mood up a bit :-)
Pleased that you liked it
Ian

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

Andy
thanks very much for commenting on 'Once Upon A Time' - a little whimsy and nostalgia - but I'm pleased that you liked it
Ian

Comment is about Andy N (poet profile)

Original item by Andy N

For the May of young lives, now deep in December,
Let us pay them their due - let us always REMEMBER!

Comment is about THE VICTORY DAY (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Thank you Patricia & Stefan. That paints a smile upon my own face.

Keep Smiling

Comment is about THE BALLAD OF BOB THE BUN (blog)

Original item by THE PEN AND THE PAGE

Brief and forceful.

Would you ever consider some words that are short-syllabled? Leaving others with more syllables to have a stronger 'voice' by contrast? Kind of like water over a brook full of uneven stones, causing the flow to make actual music. Do you have any idea what I'm talking about?

Comment is about The Struggle (blog)

Much to like in this, Martin. The passionate message rings true.

Sometimes, I just want to pull out words that, IMO, seem to slow down the strength of your lines. Because your work expresses such great ideas, bold and powerful. Maybe we could talk sometime.

See you at Sale.

Comment is about How dark (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

I will make an effort to follow up on your work already here. I have a few hours to enjoy WOL this week.

Comment is about jeremy young (poet profile)

Original item by jeremy young

Excellent. 'the sky has a hungry air -' is superb.

Comment is about thirty years (blog)

Original item by jeremy young

You are SO funny! Nothing mediocre about it.You must be a delightful friend to some very lucky people.

Comment is about The Mediocrity Curse (blog)

Holy macaroni - imagine turning up to do a set and Van the Man and Mr Twin-Neck were in the crowd?!!! You'd shit yourself haha!! Well I would, anyway. Wow :D

Comment is about Van Morrison and Jimmy Page take in some poetry at the Troubadour (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Great review.

My first ever poem on here was spurred by a writing exercise by Jackie that was on the front page of Write Out Loud, when I first found this place, so I will thank her for evermore for that. I love how she's taken this hugely traumatic event and used it to create art. That's a proper poet is that :)

Comment is about Jackie Hagan, Manchester, 2015 (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Beautifully evocative this Ian - loving the jukebox stanza and the bronchial fog. I really like the structure of the walk past all of these places that you dream are there - that did used to be there. It not only takes in the various shops and places, but does it in a deceptively simple way - replicating a simpler way of life. I quite often ramble about my home village and the shops that were there, and the people who worked in them.

Comment is about Once Upon A Time (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Many thanks Steve - knew you'd know that ;)

Been quite some time since I was inspired to write a political rant. In fact, last week, I was genuinely starting to believe that I wouldn't be able to perform half of my set after the election as they'd be out of date and irrelevant. Hey ho, not so.

Blue collar my arse. They're already starting to make the Daily Mash irrelevant!

Comment is about Majority (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

this started our day with a BIG smile and an even bigger laugh.xx

Comment is about THE BALLAD OF BOB THE BUN (blog)

Original item by THE PEN AND THE PAGE

very powerful piece Martin and very well written.x

Comment is about How dark (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

harry you make a heat felt point and Btw we love our country and hate what its become, hope the poem chimes in some

Comment is about Shut Down (blog)

Original item by David R Mellor

hey colin maybe i am , but welcome you comments and time taken thanks

Comment is about A life laid out. (blog)

Original item by David R Mellor

"I dreamt I saw Joe Hill last night,alive as you and me,
Said I' but Joe you're ten years dead ', 'I never died said he.'
Standing there as large as life and smiling with his eyes,
He said what they forgot to kill went on to organise.
Went on to organise."
Keep the Faith! love your work
Steve Smith

Comment is about Majority (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

I actually been plagiarized quite a few times myself, I've sent out about a dozen DMCA takedown notices in the last two weeks alone, and it always amazes me how lax publishers and sites like Amazon treat the issue. It's theft plain and simple, whether you call it "appropriating" or not, any reputable publisher would drop her like the proverbial hot potato. She's a thief, by any name. Btw, I started Facebook group to alert others of plagiarism, should anyone be interested. That's how this article came to my attention, it's a public group called "Plagiarism Alerts - Poetry and Prose"...feel free to join.

Comment is about Poet apologises for 'appropriations' as poems are withdrawn and book is pulped (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Wow - what a walk down memory lane. I enjoyed this too - some great pieces of description.

Comment is about Once Upon A Time (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Yes - very reflective and evocative. I like your use of lines too. We're all affected by them, when you think about it - crossing them, hemmed in by them, blurring them. I also like the unanswered questions. I've long believed that if you have to ask, there's something amiss.

Comment is about The Lines (blog)

Original item by John Togher

The undisputed intention of the SNP today is an "independent Scotland".
In short, the same aim of those described by the
German Minister in Dublin to Berlin in WW2 as the Scottish Independence Movement.
In 1940 and again in 1943, radio messages sent to
Berlin (deciphered by British codebreakers in
Berkeley Street, London) called for a German-Scottish
Alliance" and made various proposals in pursuit of a Scottish republic that are a matter of public record.
Fact is often far more interesting than fiction.

Comment is about PUBLIC RECORD (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Thank you very much for the feedback, i really appreciate it

Comment is about My Bedroom Floor (blog)

Original item by Genevieve

Thanks, Jeremy, for your comment and for posting the Larkin interview. I shall look forward to having a good read of it. Fascinating stuff.

Comment is about Poetry in a time of data: protecting acorns, adders, catkins and herons from language loss (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Martin, thanks for the comments on 'In the Wrong Place'. They are much appreciated and I'm glad you liked it.

Comment is about Martin Elder (poet profile)

Original item by Martin Elder

yes well the dictionary is obviously pandering to the buzzwords of the age - urban edgy contemporary etc

and then I doubt what words - do or do not - go into a childrens dictionary will have much effect on nature poetry

the real danger is those buzzwords - urban edgy contemporary etc - but it is not a new phenomena as this interview with philip larkin from 1982 points out - http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3153/the-art-of-poetry-no-30-philip-larkin#.VUBOpdWFJDY.twitter

"Some time ago I agreed to help judge a poetry competition—you know, the kind where they get about 35,000 entries, and you look at the best few thousand. After a bit I said, Where are all the love poems? And nature poems? And they said, Oh, we threw all those away. I expect they were the ones I should have liked."

Comment is about Poetry in a time of data: protecting acorns, adders, catkins and herons from language loss (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Many voices crackle
then verification strikes
mixing many minds
into one collection.

Comment is about May Collage Poem (blog)

Original item by Stockport WoL

Thank you Ladies.xx

Comment is about Croupier of my fate (blog)

They don't know what a treat they missed, Greg.

Comment is about There's poetry in Trainspotting (article)

75 years ago heh? hmm... 75 years before that the speed limit was 2mph and the Liberals won the election hahaha.

Comment is about PUBLIC RECORD (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

"Somewhere near Liverpool Street" is about right, Julian. More Poetry can be a difficult place to find, which might help to explain the low turnout, despite the pleasant coffee and cake vibe. Or it might just have been the identity of the guest poet! We got there ok, myself and emerging poet Trevor Breedon - keep an eye out for that name - and met up on the pavement outside to shoot the poetry breeze with David Andrew and Jazzman John Clarke. But on the way back David and I got completely lost and ended up at Aldgate. No worries, just another stop along on the Circle line. And nice to see Ken and Juli again.

Comment is about There's poetry in Trainspotting (article)

Harry,
many thanks for your generous words about 'In the Wrong Place'. I'm glad you liked it and more importantly I'm glad it made you think.

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

Original item by Harry O`N eill

Are you dead and writing from the grave? I think it would read better if you started from a different perspective: 'all his / her life was laid out' etc.

I quite like the first half but get confused from your wet banger onwards. Eye, me, cry, me, eye? IMO of course. x

Comment is about A life laid out. (blog)

Original item by David R Mellor

Tommy,
Yup!..................and?

Comment is about Is (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Dave,
I put down the list (from a newspaper) as an example of the desperate promises that were made to win 11an election which has both surprised and (I think) left the winners in a state of consternation (they were hoping that - even if they won - then their alliance partner would stop them carrying out half of it.)

Concerning austerity: there hasn`t been any of it yet...
all those people who have been forced back into work are probably on in-work benefits, and productivity (which was so important in my trade union days) is as flabby as a Sumo wrestlers belly. All of which doesn`t augur well for a trade-led recovery.

The oil-price collapse - which looks so handy -might be hiding an impending slowdown of the world economy.
To be talking about leaving the protective European Union at such a time seems to me to be sheer lunacy.

Concerning the hunching my shoulders bit:... The fact that the politicians didn`t want to upset the pensioners before an election doesn`t hide the fact that their pensions take a huge slice of government expenditure, nor that the fruits of decades long prosperity sit in their bank-balances like juicy red plums for the taking....It seems to me to be a target too obvious to resist. (well before the next - distant - election)

The huge monster looming over us is that bloody deficit...so watch your wallets folks!

Ken,
I absolutely love living in this country.

Comment is about Shut Down (blog)

Original item by David R Mellor

Harry, thanks for you comments and suggestions. I see what you are saying but I'll leave it as it is.

D.

Comment is about A LONELY LAMENT (blog)

Original item by THE PEN AND THE PAGE

Darren,

I feel that the last three stanzas of this poem would work more effectively on their own.

Assuming this was so (just three stanzas) I think it would
`run`a bit better with the `if` deleted from line three of the shorter set up and the `now` deleted from line seven.

I feel that this would make a good poem excellent.

(the picture fits it well)

Comment is about A LONELY LAMENT (blog)

Original item by THE PEN AND THE PAGE

Great picture! Thanks for your coverage, Greg.


It was good to meet you at the Surrey Poetry Festival 2015.

Stephen Davids

Twitter: @swdavids

Comment is about Stephen Davids (photo)

I have rewritten this work 3 times. I feel a bit obvious in asking you this, but if you would like my latest version I will be honoured. Tommy

Comment is about Vertices (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Leather bound poetic spell
You cast yet again
Slave to his mistress
Craves for much more.

Comment is about Momento Mori (blog)

Original item by Katy Megan

Thanks Michelle.

Comment is about A LONELY LAMENT (blog)

Original item by THE PEN AND THE PAGE

this is terrible to read and sadly not the first case i have read of this over the past few years. it makes you wonder whether any more in this book are not the author's own work (silly, silly)

Comment is about Poet apologises for 'appropriations' as poems are withdrawn and book is pulped (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

The fate of those poor people is expressed so well in your last line - Brilliant.

Comment is about 56 (blog)

Original item by jeremy young