Wow, Nigel! well said/writ.

Comment is about October Collage Poem: Sacrifice (blog)

Original item by Stockport WoL

I like this a lot, Daz. It stumbles and stutters across the page like rainwater tumbling into the Croal, or a dropped dog end, or a man's life slipping away. Briliant.

Comment is about Deansgate Bridge (blog)

Original item by dazzer

To sacrifice one night in a month - - -
reaps a reward of several to bring forth themselves inside this Collage poem.

Comment is about October Collage Poem: Sacrifice (blog)

Original item by Stockport WoL

Caroline Riley has passed on her thanks to everyone who sent her poetry and hope you all like the website.

http://www.healthywaterwaytrust.org.uk/index.php/about/your-mersey

Comment is about Stockport WoL (group profile)

Original item by Stockport WoL

Poetry as theatre, seemingly. It sounds quite an experience to have witnessed, Frances.

Thank you.

Comment is about Waiting for the dawn: lyrical perfection from Alice Oswald (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Big praise indeed Aiane. Ta. Tommy

Comment is about Agony Aiane (poet profile)

Original item by Agony Aiane

Hey Greg! I'd really like to her speak, but... I'll get in touch if I can make Tuesday 4th.

Comment is about Family odyssey: Hannah Lowe's tale of the first ship that brought Caribbean migrants to Britain (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Excellent, Dom! Maybe see you at the launch?

Comment is about Family odyssey: Hannah Lowe's tale of the first ship that brought Caribbean migrants to Britain (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Chick is very good: the poetry strong, well-rounded, the history and enthusiasms something of a privilege to take on. A considered voice made available, when it is gender specific, a woman's voice - conjuring vague jealousies in me, which I generally concede to be a good sign - I'm glad to read Hannah Lowe is a teacher, this can only be good for the community at large. Her poetry isn't the ethereal hokum or empty enthusiasm fashionably common today, it might satisfy the rhymers, it has place, and moment. Recommended!

Comment is about Family odyssey: Hannah Lowe's tale of the first ship that brought Caribbean migrants to Britain (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

mixing vodka with crack-cocaine can and sometimes is required when having problems with new-fangled technology Natalie. ;)

Comment is about Crap Poem (blog)

Nice. I enjoy fervently. :3

Comment is about This is how I nearly died (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Beautiful.

Comment is about COMING HOME (blog)

Original item by Pete Slater

Thank you so much!

Comment is about Forever (blog)

I agree about the quality of the poetry, but also of the reading/performance/delivery. I was also pleased at the number of people who'd written poems about or inspired by the jazz festival or Marsden, or both.
Thank you to you all who read, including: Dorinda MacDowell (first-time open-mic reader), Anne Broadbent, Dot Foster, Shaun Bartlett (cycled from Perth!), Felix Owusu-Kwarteng, Jean Bennett, Stephanie Blythe, Robert Norbury, Freda Davis, the clog dancing Isobel Malinowski and her sister Cate Greenlees, Paul Broadhurst, Terence Cavanagh, David Coldwell, Dave Morgan, Jan Scrine, Tony Hargreaves, Gordon Zola, Liam Toolan, Lorna Brooks Theo Ayres' proud mum), Greg Freeman, Diane Green, and Joy France.
Missing from the list is Jo Murphy who I failed to call to read and to whom I apologise.

Comment is about Brass bands, clogs, the rail ale trail and all that jazz at Write Out Loud's poetry jam (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

thanks for your help graham, if they can delete the old dazzzer account i will be able to use that name again...good job ive not made my name yet :) thanks again for your help and encouraging words

Comment is about dazzer (poet profile)

Original item by dazzer

Hello Mike - having read your entry on my home
page, I found a report on MSN about promised
change(s) in the treatment of mental illness.
It featured a 24 year old woman who had suffered from degrees of depression since
12 -13 years of age. The saving grace of how
she was given help by one worker after her GP
seemed to have failed to put her forward for
talking therapy provided some light in a long dark tunnel for her.
Your own circumstances - also from a young age - exacerbated by your later experiences and a
failure of society to adequately accommodate your situation reads like something from Dickens or Dostoevsky! Your fortune seems to
be your family when material comforts remain scarce. Wealth comes in various forms and your gratitude for that blessing is touchingly
obvious. Life is an unpredictable adventure:
grossly unfair and cruel, amazing and glorious,
it gives and takes away without any apparent
sense or sign of fairness or justice. But it is STILL life and has to be met and greeted
with as much positivity as possible. The
alternative comes soon enough.
Love to live - and live to love! You may not
have had a proper crack of the whip in the
former but you have the chance to prove the
latter. Many never have that in their lives.
We are what we are but it's what we CAN be that propels us on through the vicissitudes of this journey through life.
Bon chance!

Comment is about Noetic-fret! (poet profile)

Original item by Noetic-fret!

Good to see you're back on here after your sign in problems Daz

Comment is about dazzer (poet profile)

Original item by dazzer

simply beautifully worded! loved this

Comment is about Forever (blog)

Hi, thank you for commenting on my poem entitled 'For My Family.'

Yes it is a plea. During my life from very small, the things i loved were often taken away from me. Later in life that too became apparent. It's as though I have had to forgo my heart just to live. In saying that, even since my time in the military life itself just took turn after turn after turn for the worst. My health has been poor ever since, and my existence on benefits and low pensions exacerbating the poverty with which I grew up, where I even had to go to school wearing plastic clown shoes at one point.

I have never been one to gather the materials that other's have and take for granted, material wealth that is. I am not even allowed to buy my own house because no one will insure me because of my conditions since service in the Gulf.

Where i sit now in a run down terraced house, with an adorable wife and two fantastic children; has in essence only come about with battle after battle after battle with ill health and conditions we all fear.

It's not so much as been a journey, it has been in getting to this point, an insult of an experience that defies my compassion and intellect. Now I am at a point with my wife and children that i fear may be taken away once and for all by my own ill health and for that, I have never had chance for my heart to rest, prosper and admire the very people in my life that has made the process worth it. It is as though I am to be deprived by none other than jealous gods.

That's how it feels. I don't see many of my comrades suffering so much. Whereas, ever since a child, the love i have felt for other's, has always been taken away.

Thank you for commenting. It means a lot as i don't get many comments for my work. This poem, should my demise happen sooner, rather than later, it is hoped, will find its way to my wifes hands. That's my hope

Mike

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

It was a great festival, great poetry jam and a great article, Greg!

Can't say how much I enjoyed the week-end. Each year I think it can't get any better and then it does! I was particularly struck by the quality of poetry this year. There really weren't any bad ones and most were either very moving or very entertaining. Congratulations to everyone who organised this.

Comment is about Brass bands, clogs, the rail ale trail and all that jazz at Write Out Loud's poetry jam (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

thanks for the kind comments on 'funeral days' and the blog about the new CD MC - appreciate it

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

thanks for the kind comments on 'blockhead' Martin - pleased that you liked it :-)

Comment is about Martin Elder (poet profile)

Original item by Martin Elder

thanks for the kind comments on 'blockhead' Andy - pleased that you liked it

Comment is about Andy N (poet profile)

Original item by Andy N

thanks for the kind comments on 'blockhead' Daniel - I'm in catch up mode again - I'm bloody useless at keeping up to date - cheers mate

Comment is about Daniel Dwyran (poet profile)

Original item by Daniel Dwyran

Dave - you mentioned t'other night you were on facebook - but there's bloody hundreds of you - can you friend me instead? there's less of me :-)

Comment is about Dave Carr (poet profile)

Original item by Dave Carr

thanks for the kind comment on 'kraken' Laura - sorry I've taken a while to get back to you - thought I'd responded, but obviously that was on facebook - so here's the WOL response :-) cheers

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

thanks for the kind comment on 'kraken' Laura - sorry I've taken a while to get back to you - thought I'd responded, but obviously that was on facebook - so here's the WOL response :-) cheers

Comment is about kraken (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Hi M.C. - thanks for your comments and insight. I felt the need to post something to celebrate autumn. Tom :)

Comment is about Look At The Trees (blog)

Original item by Tom Doolan

Hi M.C. Thanks for your kind words

Everyone reacts differently during the old age period.
Men of note write memoirs, peasants write silly poems.

I know which I'd rather read.

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Martin-
the beginning of this poem had me thinking it was going to be about scallies in gangster land-

but then the ending made me almost feel soooo apologetic in a way for having done so.

A very unusual approach to a very moving conclusion.Great work!x

Comment is about Run boys run (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

The feeling of being torn between emotions is
well caught here.
Is "bare" (although apt in one way) actually
meant to be "bear"?

Comment is about It's not easy (blog)

Original item by Kassandra Morris

An effective and affecting visit to the way life
can transfer its experiences as time passes. The
ending is spot on.

Comment is about Run boys run (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Well what a fantastic write-up too, Greg, and big thanks to all who make this work, from Barney and the other jazz festival organisers, through the readers/performers, Diane Green and Kirklees Libraries, and the heroes who helped the event happen this year in spite of some challenges: Hedley Rayner, Greg Freeman, Paul Emberson (our website guru, who made both bed and breakfast) and Jane Jordon; to Liam and his team at the Railway Inn. THANK YOU.
you can find your photo here: http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/galleries.php#_gallerydate2014-10_gallerytag_gallerypage1_gallerytagMarsden+jazz+festival%2C+October+2014

Comment is about Brass bands, clogs, the rail ale trail and all that jazz at Write Out Loud's poetry jam (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Amen to the plea contained in these lines.
We all have our allotted time and must make our
way as best we can, often beset by the cruelties
of chance. To have the grace of knowing joy in
any form that enhances our humanity is a gift
that should be honoured and treasured.
Living well is not all about material things.

Comment is about For My Family (blog)

Original item by Noetic-fret!

Any hymn of praise to trees is worthwhile in my
book.
The modern awareness of their importance to life
on this planet is one of the saving graces of
mankind's habitation. If you cut one down, plant
two.
Look at the trees indeed!!

Comment is about Look At The Trees (blog)

Original item by Tom Doolan

Two FREE creative writing workshops with Margaret Holbrook on Saturday 1st November and Saturday 22nd November between 2 and 4 PM.

email

john@screenstockport.co.uk

to confirm your place.

Comment is about Stockport WoL (group profile)

Original item by Stockport WoL

You are joining a lot of people who find the same thing, Megan. Writing poetry is a good way to find your voice and say what you might not be able to express in other ways; if you can get out to an open-mic poetry event and share the poems, or just do so on this site, it is a way of having a conversation with other, friendly folks who might well appreciate your sharing your feelings with them.
Enjoy the site, and keep writing!

Comment is about Megan Stephens (poet profile)

Original item by Megan Stephens

ta Mart :)

Comment is about Martin Elder (poet profile)

Original item by Martin Elder

Loved the idea of night being blinding but I feel you could have made the body of this piece more malevolent and dark. It didn't seem to frighten you enough.

Well done

Graham

Comment is about Night is blinding (blog)

Original item by Lyra Greene

Clever work. I liked the unbalanced lines and run-overs.
Did you make them murderous enough though?

Comment is about Why I kill magpies. (blog)

Original item by Alexandra K. Parapadakis

This is a really nice, charming piece. I think it could be improved if the rhythm of each line was in better balance and trilled more evenly.

well done,

Graham

Comment is about Story Time (blog)

Original item by Lyra Greene

Thanks Harry and nice to hear from you again.
Don't know about you but when I get to the other side,
I hope they've got more fucking sense than in this dimension.

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

Original item by Harry O`N eill

Shame I missed the original mate, great images here though, can feel the warmth radiating through, no need for the apology, just what we need with the autumn nights closing in, Jeff

Comment is about FIREFLY (Revised) (blog)

Original item by Daniel Dwyran

Nice little ditty, yikes we cant slow down time mate! :-(

Comment is about ANOTHER GREY DAY (blog)

Original item by Daniel Dwyran

OMG Daniel!how quickly you've aged!love the tartan headband though-haha!(hope it ain't your Pater apologies if so.)And your poems continue to please,as this one does.x

Comment is about ANOTHER GREY DAY (blog)

Original item by Daniel Dwyran

WOW!!! - My first reading at an open mic event: what a marvellous experience! Julian, thank you for your warm welcome; your encouragement; your hospitality..... an event I will never forget!
Dorinda

Comment is about Countdown to Write Out Loud's open mic poetry jam at Marsden jazz festival (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Thanks Anthony for reminding us of this one.

This and Kens are two good `uns.

They both make me wonder if free verse could have stretched to a theme like this.

Comment is about Last stop before paradise. (blog)

Original item by Anthony Emmerson

Anthony. Your comment to Ken on his poem directed me to have a look at this...
'He thinks of the hands of his latest surgeon, who just last month had saved his life.
Fortunate really for two weeks later he was able to watch as they buried his wife...'

This poem is so powerful it grabs you by the throat and compels you to read it over and over again. Brilliant work.

Comment is about Last stop before paradise. (blog)

Original item by Anthony Emmerson

Hi Daniel

Thanks for your nice comment. If your ever in town on the night, come and join in with us at the Ringers

Ken

Comment is about Daniel Dwyran (poet profile)

Original item by Daniel Dwyran

Yes that nasal hair is a real pain as is the stuff that starts to grow out of your ears. i can also empathise with the creaking joints it's so unfair.
Thanks for the comments on the trobador.

Nice one

Comment is about ANOTHER GREY DAY (blog)

Original item by Daniel Dwyran