enjoyed this, ian in particlar the first stanza but a strong piece all round

Comment is about Desolation Alley (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

like the short sharp lines here, mike. flow really well..

Comment is about VEILED (blog)

Original item by Mike Hilton

not sure if cute is the right word here but i like this..

Comment is about Share my Umbrella (blog)

Original item by Gray Nicholls

Thanks for the comments of 'And then the heart does flutter'

Also

I love you lots like Jelly Tots XXXX

See you on the 5TH xxx

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

fearsomely cogent prose, Isobel!Awestruck.

Comment is about Joy France in Manchester, 2013 (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Great work Steve,
Spoken to the tune of 'a whiter shade of Grey' I surmise.

Comment is about The reception (blog)

Original item by Steve O'Connor

Hi Ged,
Thanks for looking in on my stuff and much appreciate your enthusiastic comments for 'Bigger Man Than Me'
All the best,
Steve

Comment is about Ged Thompson (poet profile)

Original item by Ged Thompson

MC, here's something from a JFK newsletter I Get;
NSAM263;Getting out of Vietnam — On Oct. 11, 1963, Kennedy signed National Security Action Memorandum 263. This ordered a withdrawal of 1,000 troops out of roughly 16,000 Americans stationed in Vietnam by the end of 1963, with the complete withdrawal by the end of 1965.

NSAM 273: Mysterious timing — Signed on Nov. 26, 1963, this was the first National Security Action Memorandum on Vietnam under President Lyndon Johnson. NSAM 273 effectively overturned Kennedy's NSAM 263 and ordered the planning of increased activity in Vietnam. The memorandum also authorized open-ended covert operations against North Vietnam. This, in turn, led to the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which President Johnson used to obtain congressional authorization for a drastic escalation of the war. The draft of NSAM 273 was dated Nov. 21, 1963, the day before the assassination; however, Kennedy had not ordered its creation and did not see it. Newly sworn-in President Johnson signed 273 on Nov. 26, the day after Kennedy was buried.

As you know, this is a subject thats we could go on talking about forever. Interesting stuff though . .

Comment is about THE DAY THEY MURDERED JFK (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

I like this Ged - there are some lovely parts to it. I love the idea of falling to grace - it's beautiful. x

Comment is about And then the heart does flutter. (blog)

Original item by Ged Thompson

Thanks for the comment Steve.
I always respect what JC has to say & wonder if
the "16000" advisers he has mentioned were, in
fact, the 16000 troops that were in Vietnam.
You are right. LBJ escalated the war. He had
a very strong connection with vested interests
and Eisenhower was probably using his own
experience as a top army general as well as president when he warned against the might of
the military/industrial complex in that hugely
wealthy but often corruptly administered country, with some states - like LBJ's Texas -
as big and rich as some foreign countries.

Comment is about THE DAY THEY MURDERED JFK (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

thanks phillip. i am a little dyslexic and you are right. will get onto this when i can but thanks again.

Comment is about If I were a proper poet (blog)

Original item by Gray Nicholls

we enjoyed this too Ian.We refer you to a similar poem by us,called,'By horizons divided'.


Cheers chum.xx

Comment is about Desolation Alley (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

I love this

No need to analyse it, it is, what it is, a piece of writing from the heart

Well done

Brilliant poem!!!!!

Comment is about A Bigger Man Than Me (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

Well done Shirley XXXX

Comment is about Ninety one Word Story of My Life (blog)

Original item by Shirley Smothers

Awww Jade!so very sorry for late reply to your comments on 'Mater'please accept my apologies.

Thanks very much.x

Comment is about Jade Eloise (poet profile)

Original item by Jade Eloise

good poem young man!x

Comment is about VEILED (blog)

Original item by Mike Hilton

I hope I never have to pass through here in me Lamborghini-what?-and come out tuther side wiv no wheels? which number do you live at Ian?is the 'ouse with the dirty 'coitunz? great and grim tale-told so very very well-dont panic! I can wait till the cows cum 'ome for yer response!(but ta chuck for the apollywollogy on me profile page.)


haha-x

Comment is about Desolation Alley (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Thanks all. What has happened in the world of cricket? More football manager-speak and though it wasn't initially my intention, I began to think about Gary Speed.

Comment is about He knew the score (blog)

Original item by Ray Miller

Despite what John Coopey says JFK was about to withdraw his advisors from Vietnam. It was LBJ who escalated the conflict! Quite a few Kennedy poems on WOL and I've commented on Simon Austens 'Kennedy' so I won't go on and on here except to say, nice work MC,
Steve

Comment is about THE DAY THEY MURDERED JFK (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Hi Starfish, Thanks for looking in on my latest piece,
Steve

Comment is about Starfish (poet profile)

Original item by Starfish

Dave,
thanks for looking in on 'A Bigger man Than me'. best wishes, Steve

Comment is about Dave Bradley (poet profile)

Original item by Dave Bradley

As this is a poetry blog we really should be discussing poetry not history but here's my view for what it's worth;
Ian, if you want to read about the JFK assassination, why not choose a classic? ‘Rush to Judgement’ by Mark Lane or ‘Six Seconds in Dallas’ by Josiah Thompson or even ‘Death of a President’ by William Manchester?
I could go on forever and pick up on various minor points that themselves alone make it unlikely that Oswald shot Kennedy like the rifle for instance; The FBI tested the weapon and found that the telescopic sight was not aligned, on further investigation they found that the sight could not be aligned at all, so they added metal shims to make the sight align. It was tested fired in an orientation not available to Oswald and they still couldn't match his shooting as MC mentions below.
Anyway, excellent poem Simon, powerful and thought provoking!
Steve

Comment is about Kennedy (blog)

Original item by Simon Austin

I suspect that DNA testing would show very little Anglo-Saxon traces in any of us, MC, which, personally, is not an issue for me. My own name is said to be of Dutch origin.
With regard to the Northumberland castles, we hope to take a caravan holiday there next year.
And another thing - whilst it is historic dross don't you just love "The Vikings" with Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis? A real romp even though the Northumbrian castle of Saxon King Aelle was filmed in Brittany.

Comment is about If They Come (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Glad you enjoyed it Ray - but no - it's not meant to be racist - just a gentle poke at the Hispanics.

And to answer your question - no - I've never been manhandled by any other race. Someone did once offer to buy me for a case of whisky - but when I found out that they planned to send it to my father, I declined ;)

Comment is about Touch and Go (blog)

Original item by Isobel

IW looks to this establishment lawyer's book as his reference but almost as soon as the shock
of the original event wore off, it became
doubtful that Oswald could have acted alone,
based in so many glaring discrepancies. But if
you were a trusting 1960s American, what would you
prefer to believe - that your president was killed
by a nutter, or that powerful influential elements
wanted him dead and would use that power to cover
it up? No prizes for the answer! In the Hughes-
Wilson book just published - on the subject of
who fired, the author writes:
"Gunnery Sergeant Hancock, an ex-senior instructor at the USMC Sniper School at
Quantico - with 93 kills in Vietnam -(confirms)
"We have constructed the whole thing: angle,
range, moving target, time limit, obstacles,
everything...but we couldn't duplicate what the Warren Commission said Oswald did."
And that's one vital aspect of all that has
become known since. How about the knowledge
that LBJ ( a whisper away from the presidency)
was under investigation for matters that could
have seen him jailed - and was in line to be
dropped from JFK's ticket in the 1965 election?
Personally, I find this LONG-DISTANCE killing
completely contrary to the behaviour of lone nut/obsessives. History shows that all OTHER
presidential murders/ attempts have been CLOSE
RANGE as befits the mindset of the deranged
hate-filled individual. Another reason perhaps
to see the murder of JFK as something much more complex than one man with a rifle unfit for the job.
We may never know the complete truth but it's a
healthy sign that we are less trusting now
about the deeds and the deceit committed by those in power when they think they can "get
away with it".
Cheers.

Comment is about Kennedy (blog)

Original item by Simon Austin

Enjoyed the poem. Is it just a Mediterranean thing? I bet UKIP would love this!

Comment is about Touch and Go (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Enjoyed. The 2nd stanza works well, the piece repetition.

Comment is about People who climb K2 (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

A comment on another's post mentioned that I lost
my own father when I was five. You have your grief but you also have your years with him.
Try to be positive and give thanks for what they
gave you (both of you!).

Comment is about Difficult Haiku (blog)

Original item by Shirley Smothers

A stimulating very personal "tour" through London
- a place I've known since I came here to work
in 1960. I enjoyed the various comments about
its parts - and could have added a few of my own!
I still live here after retirement: in Westminster
as it happens, JM. I'll forgive your opinion
about it, happily assuming you refer to the
politicians down the road!

Comment is about A London view (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Will new centuries see the Saxon blood make
way for the offspring (in their multitudes)
of the modern "invasion" from contemporary hordes?
Weird - or should that be "Wyrd"?
On a personal note, I still have a number of pics.
taken years ago on a memorable visit to Lindisfarne,
Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh. Wonderful open (and
very bracing!) territory that easily evokes the
images of those feared visitors from across the
North Sea.

Comment is about If They Come (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

My own father died when I was five and I never
knew him - but I can understand the feelings
set out so strongly in this piece and I enjoyed
it for its own sake.

Comment is about A Bigger Man Than Me (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

An extraordinarily affecting essay about a visit
to that country of "a fine madness". The style
is difficult to follow at first but then it
seems to fall into place in the context of the
piece when emotions and a sense of place take
precedence and we are treated to what is almost
"a running commentary of the heart" - with the
feel of the power of being torn between two
worlds: so close, yet so far apart in many ways.
There are some infidelities in spelling and the like but the overall effect overrides those and this post bears repeated reading.

Comment is about Going Back To Askeaton (blog)

Original item by SPACEGHOST

No charge for the tutorial, Starfish.

Comment is about If They Come (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks S.F. for your very kind remarks.
I don't like to use my leisure time being serious

Cheers K.E.D.

Comment is about Starfish (poet profile)

Original item by Starfish

I really enjoyed this. Thank you for the added explanation of terms used. See, I said WOL was an education.

Comment is about If They Come (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Very poignant tribute to your father. Lovely.

Comment is about A Bigger Man Than Me (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

Comatose and Dave - Many thanks for your kind comments.
As for your wife having a large amount of Viking in her - how lucky for the both of you!

Comment is about If They Come (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Sad, but very, very powerful.

Comment is about He knew the score (blog)

Original item by Ray Miller

As Izz says, great analogies for just losing it. It holds out the hovering threat that it could happen to any of us and leaves the reader wondering what it could be like (or possibly uncomfortably reminded of what it was like)

Comment is about He knew the score (blog)

Original item by Ray Miller

I really like this Steve. It stands well in the blogs next to Shirley's poem. Two people writing about how much their dads meant to them - and writing very well.

Comment is about A Bigger Man Than Me (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

Some poems seem to punch the reader in the stomach and this is one. So few words about something so massive, but so effective.

Comment is about Difficult Haiku (blog)

Original item by Shirley Smothers

Excellent, John. Captures the historical reality well. I was only reading recently about how the monks took Cuthbert's body away from Lindisfarne because of the raids, which terrorised people for years.

PS I married a Yorkshirewoman and am sure she has some Viking in her.

Comment is about If They Come (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

I really enjoyed reading this.

Comment is about If They Come (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Hi Nigel,

Thank you for your comments on my poem "Happiness". This time of year is especially difficult. The fourth anniversary of my Fathers death is Dec.9.

Thank You once again,
Shirley

Comment is about Nigel Astell (poet profile)

Original item by Nigel Astell

Hello M.C.

Thank you for your comments/poem for my poem "Happiness?". This time of year is especially difficult. The fourth anniversary of my Fathers death is Dec. 9. Your comments have helped.

Thanks,
Shirley

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Thanks for explanation,we all been on the internet and looking in dictionary's we couldn't find it !

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Hello love, just stumbled on one of your poems and added comment, WELL DONE X

Comment is about Jade Eloise (poet profile)

Original item by Jade Eloise

Very good mate

Comment is about One for the couple at the back (blog)

Original item by Wez Jefferies

Quip coming, Ian:
Large portion, you say? Then it's certainly not mine. (Boom, boom)

Comment is about If They Come (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

good poem Simon - full of telling images
as for the conspiracy theorists (and MC knows my position on this) you can read as many money making theorist books as you like - but it's like the Jack the Ripper mythos - the simplest answer is probably the one that's right - in the case of the Ripper it's most likely to have been done by a 'nobody' who died before he could decide to stop - in the case of Kennedy it's the lone gun man - read 'four days in November' by Vincent Bugliosi for a more realistic - less sensational - viewpoint (it's his account that is used in the current film 'Parkland')this highly respected and much published author states 'Oswald did it and he acted alone'

Comment is about Kennedy (blog)

Original item by Simon Austin