We may have our differences outside poetry, MC, and maybe within it, too, but I was warmed by your words about Edward Thomas. I admire Frost too, and his encouragement and friendship helped Thomas find his poetic voice. Hardy, another great. Thanks for spotting my typo, too. I will amend.

Comment is about Robert Frost tops the list on BBC's Poetry Please request show (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Shouldn't "Tim Gee" (see above) be "Tim Dee"?!
Fascinating - and truly relevant - how many of these favourite poems connect to timeless human
traits and shared sensibilities. I know all
bar one of the above (the Dylan Thomas poem),
and "Adlestrop" was committed to memory long ago.
Just reciting its words to myself conjures
up that landscape, with the imagined hiss of
the waiting steam locomotive and the clouds
high over the rural vista beyond. I am THERE
- with Edward Thomas - gazing out of an
Edwardian carriage at an England unaffected
by the results of the nightmare war to come.

Comment is about Robert Frost tops the list on BBC's Poetry Please request show (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

I like the idea of conquest in the first three lines and the gender reversal that's implied; I'd like, personally, to see it carried through to the end.

Comment is about Transit (blog)

Original item by Katy Megan

I think I see where Ocean Trapped is going; enjoyed it. A modern cousin of Milton's Lycidas.

Comment is about Irina (poet profile)

Original item by Irina

Many thanks, Francine.

Comment is about Forever Now and All I Might Have (blog)

The first few lines are powerful. I had to read this several times because it just resonates so beautifully. Thank you for sharing :-)

Comment is about Forever Now and All I Might Have (blog)

Enjoyed this very much.

Comment is about Frances Spurrier (poet profile)

Original item by Frances Spurrier

Jet Set is wonderful.

Comment is about Sunshine Faggio (poet profile)

Original item by Sunshine Faggio

Liked the honesty of Error Report.

Comment is about Genevieve Walsh (poet profile)

Original item by Genevieve Walsh

Smart and honest.

Comment is about Jackson (poet profile)

Original item by Jackson

Hey Ged,

Thanks for your comments, I love reading them, you always seem to get my sentiment spot on :) You actually inspired me to start writing again this morning, not written in months :) so thanks for that.

Glad you enjoyed it, and keep up the good work, your poetry is great :)

Wez.

Comment is about Ged Thompson (poet profile)

Original item by Ged Thompson

I love this

Ive been very concerned with the rise in technology and the digital revolution and how it is causing tears in person to person interaction.

You go the bank: Machine
Tesco: machine
Try to talk to someone: earphones in

A virtual ocean full of of sharks and we immerse ourselves in its waters.

To the detriment of human contact we also lose the ability to read peoples eyes, the intuitive mechanism to decipher their motives for saying things rather than just hearing what they are trying to tell you and what they would like you to believe.

Conversations ensue with faceless avatars and while in the guise of a 2d illustration they often find detachment from compassion in the same way that it is easier to drop a bomb with a computer programme on a foreign land miles away than it is to cut a mans throat who stands before you. This happens on a micro level between individuals on line. Trolls poke at people at their most vulnerable and predators find prey in the innocent and unweary onliners.

Fuck me, got carried away there....Back to the poem. Brilliant as always Wez. Always like your stuff, its always very good.

Take care mate

Ged

Comment is about Prism (blog)

Original item by Wez Jefferies

Love this.

Comment is about Winter (blog)

Original item by c byrne

Very well said. The judge's innate fairness--no matter how overblown by the tabloid press--reflects the genius of British common law.

Comment is about Daily Mail (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks:)

Comment is about RNCM Canteen (blog)

Original item by Neil Fawcett

Deeply beautiful.

Comment is about breathing (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Brilliant poem.

Comment is about Turning Over Tables (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Thank you for your suggestion in 'Naughty but Nice' gratefully accepted.

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Very fine.

Comment is about Heather Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Heather Taylor

Very fine.

Comment is about Catherine Smith (poet profile)

Original item by Catherine Smith

In heaven, Orwell's smiling.

Comment is about Anneliese Emmans Dean (poet profile)

Original item by Anneliese Emmans Dean

Box-office stuff - with a disarming (and slyly ambiguous) touch of humour to finish.

Comment is about The Mousetrap (blog)

Neat and petite...
That's quite a feat!

Comment is about Though I'm not a Shropshire lad (blog)

Original item by Marnanel Thurman

Poignant, especially when you think that technology as we know it today, will become museum exhibits in 10 years time. Will we go into reverse? I see they are bringing back the old Sony Walkman tape recorder systems. Books will never die. Thanks for questioning FK.

Comment is about Would They Have Listened, Then? (blog)

I agree with Charles B. This is a fine poem & should be celebrated. Am still ploughing through 'Misery begins at Home' BTW, in spite of many distractions.

Comment is about Ineffable (blog)

Original item by Marianne Daniels

I can see you had a lot of fun writing this. Well done.

Comment is about Disco Nights (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

Poignant and tightly expressed.

Comment is about Though I'm not a Shropshire lad (blog)

Original item by Marnanel Thurman

Hi Ged, was out your way earlier in the year. Great City & people. Glad to see your poem attracting so much debate which I followed with interest. Thanks also for commenting on one of mine recently.

Comment is about Soliloquy of the damned. (blog)

Original item by Ged Thompson

Can't believe no one has commented on this yet. Very evocative.

Comment is about The Mousetrap (blog)

Harry, so topical with the world-and-his-dog having a slightly different take on it. We need only look to China to see (now regretted) mistakes of the past. Keep 'em coming Harry. It helps us remember.

Comment is about Lines of support for Anne Feradi (blog)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

Music to my ears. Enjoyed.

Comment is about RNCM Canteen (blog)

Original item by Neil Fawcett

Further,thoughts,
(you call these thoughts!)

An obvious fact about most of the poetry written today is that it has little to do with what we`re talking about here. Although the `competition winner` stuff is creeping back a little, most of the other is what some might call the `anything goes` `chopped up prose` utterly free verse type.

In other words fee verse has won the day...the question is: Is this a liberation? In my opinion it is, as many people who would fight shy of the old stuff now feel free to join in - folk are now `trying their hands` at it, which is a good thing.

In my opinion, the problem is that some of the `academics` have persuaded beginers to abandon and forget the past (instead of using it).

Language has it`s own internal rhythm, which can be effectively used in both `traditional` or `free` poetry. I believe that we need to juxtapose and combine, alternate or hybridise both together and feel our way towards something structurally worthwhile.

A good start would be to display the generally admitted best of both styles together and discuss them.

Laura,(peace!) There are many poems on here I`ve not understood, for all sorts of reasons.(sometimes my own thickness)

The metaphors I`m talking about are those that are so private to the poet that they do his poem a disservice by making it obtuse to fairly normal interpretation.
The glaringly obvious ones do it a disservice by being
obviously glaring.

Comment is about 'Poetry can't exist without rhythm. Don't be academically bullied into dropping rhymes' (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Love this work.

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

Original item by Harry O`N eill

I liked "Home Is" very much.

Comment is about Gemma Lees (poet profile)

Original item by Gemma Lees

Very fine, and very honest.

Comment is about No title (blog)

Original item by Kath Hewitt

Very fine.

Comment is about emmarichenda (poet profile)

Original item by emmarichenda

Very fine work and a smart poem.

Comment is about Ineffable (blog)

Original item by Marianne Daniels

Nice one Pete

I totally get why you put it in this format.
It reads as it sounds and it flows in the right directions for me.

Right up my street!

Mike

Comment is about A TINT (blog)

Original item by Pete Slater

I'd just like to add that since writing the above I've been playing Little Machine's second CD Madam Life, that I bought last night, and suddenly heard their version of Wilfred Owen's 'Anthem For Doomed Youth'. Brought tears to my eyes.

Comment is about Oh frabjous day! Carol Ann Duffy's words with a Dire Straits vibe (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Hi Cynthia, thank you for your comments on The Tint. I did deliberately line it this way so the words would seem to tumble rather than flow as they were read. Thank you for liking though it is much appreciated.

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Thank you for your feedback, and your kind words - I will take it all on board (the raft) ;)

Comment is about From Beyond a Dream (blog)

Original item by Simon Austin

Anacreontics are bouncy, joyous lines of 7 trochaic syllables. This is not a "perfect" specimen as I had to accommodate some oft-penned graffiti.

Comment is about Cottage Sleaze (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

I wish I had Starfish!

Comment is about Some Love (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

Apologies Starfish, I stand corrected!

Comment is about Starfish (poet profile)

Original item by Starfish

Hi Cynthia
Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment on 'Life's a Blast'. I was fun to write.
Regards
Starfish

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Hello Steve
As regards an 'American influence' - Ee by gum no. Hope that answers your question.
Starfish

Comment is about Steve Higgins (poet profile)

Original item by Steve Higgins

I like this Steve. What a lot of love you seem to have had!!

Comment is about Some Love (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

John - nice to see you looking in on us :)x

I can see your point that this errs more on the side of prose than poetry, but I don't think that really matters. It's a musing, a piece of thought. I don't think all musings need to illuminate - in fact I think it's far better when they raise questions and aren't too didactic.

Having said all that, I actually think this piece doesn't raise too many questions. I think the author/poet has already worked out the answers for himself and that many of the questions are rhetorical.

Ged - when I next make it over to the Wirral, I'll give you one hell of a bear hug - which will put you back together if it doesn't break you into a million pieces! xx

Comment is about Soliloquy of the damned. (blog)

Original item by Ged Thompson

If this is reverting to type then I also find this beautifully and effectively written on an 'interesting' subject. Informative for us ladies too.
Starfish

Comment is about Cottage Sleaze (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Glad it made you think

Depends how you view ego I suppose and what you consider as ego.

Your comments/sayings are far from useless Isobel and always welcomed.

Your a ribcage poet and you can say whatever you like because I think you are Brill XXX

I fell n love with your poetry the first time I heard you perform 'dolls' not for the nature of the poem and its sexual explicity but for your honesty in writing it and being brave enough to perform it.

Thanks and hope to get that big hug soon.

Comment is about Soliloquy of the damned. (blog)

Original item by Ged Thompson