Aww, thanks everyone :) That awful feeling of waiting to go on, urgh. It used to last the whole day for me, but I've got it down to about 30 minutes beforehand now ha. And then it hits!

Glad it's not just me then ;p

Big up to Steve for the pre-gig chat that inspired this piece! Cheers fella! :D

Comment is about Before and After (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Now that's writing! Best line is as Dave says. Yet, Laura, you know who you are and what you stand for (and what you don't). And you have created for yourself a means of standing for it. Keep doing it and inspiring others. Yes, you do!

Comment is about Before and After (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Hello Harry. I'm afraid I do "flaccid" rather too well these days.

Comment is about Old Age Kicks (RLS) (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thank you for your comment, Tomas. Now to read your poems...

Comment is about Tomás Ó Cárthaigh (poet profile)

Original item by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh

I'm a huge fan of putting poetry on film... thanks and well done to all involved. Loved the owl illustration on here too!

Comment is about owl - with a film by Paul Healy (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

A wonderfully wistful poem, beautifully observed. Well done Steve. Now I'll have to search for your other writing... I'm a new fan.

Comment is about girl next door (blog)

Original item by steve pottinger

A wonderful and seemingly honest insight for all poets hopefully sending their poems to judgement. Thank you. (I too will now reassess every first line.)

Comment is about The art of choosing: magazine editors reveal how they sift and select (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

The last stanza is superfluous but the rest of it is (genuinely) charming. The music is good in
itself, but I think it needs something chirpier.

Pay no notice to the cynics (and John is always like that of a mornin`)

Comment is about THE GALMPTON ROBIN - New Music Setting (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

I like the way that last line confirms that we`re not allowed just to leave it there.

Comment is about Ellipsis (blog)

Original item by Tom

Perish the thought!

Comment is about Surely not! (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

Following Dave, the physicality of this makes me
aware of how-in times of crisis- the connection
of flesh and spirit is indissoluble. And also
admire the self-awareness and overcome panic of
that `Who the fuck do I think I am` It`s an
excellent example of how a human being actually
operates.

Comment is about Before and After (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

I liked the spareness of this.

But should `infallibility` be inevitability?

I think also that `tried` hints at deliberation.

Maybe `met`?

With respect.

Comment is about Conceded Reality (blog)

Original item by Sunny Chopra

john,
Why did you have to remind me?

There`s nout `flaccid` about this (nor the music)

Comment is about Old Age Kicks (RLS) (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Pain-
but tomorrow is ALWAYS when a new story starts.


thanks and cheers Tom.x

Comment is about Ellipsis (blog)

Original item by Tom

a cast iron
solid gold copper bottomed....WOW!

Comment is about girl next door (blog)

Original item by steve pottinger

"Extraordinarily urinarily anxious."
Now THAT'S a line. Fantastic Laura. :)

Comment is about Before and After (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Ian,
Enjoyed this at the Tudor. Fitting tribute.
Dave

Comment is about Walkin' Man (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Laura,
Thanks for encouragement on Freckleton poem.
Hope the gig on 14th went well
Dave

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Chris,
Thanks for the comment on my poem & recitation although you didn't have to get up so early for that!
Enjoyed your poems at the Tudor.
Dave

Comment is about Chris Co (poet profile)

Original item by Chris Co

Cats are strange beasts. We love ours despite it killing the goldfish.
Dave

Comment is about Cat’s Prayer (blog)

Original item by Andy N

Nick,
Thanks for the interest in my poem about the air crash. It's the 70th anniversary this year. Look out for news items.
Had a look at your stuff. Such a lot and something for everyone.
Best wishes
Dave

Comment is about NICK ARMBRISTER (poet profile)

Original item by NICK ARMBRISTER

Thanks for the comments. Nice to get some feedback after all this time.
Dave

Comment is about The Freckleton Air Disaster (blog)

Original item by Dave Carr

I absolutely love this. Makes me smile in recognition! Bloody brilliant.

Comment is about Before and After (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

You've raised the question of the relationship between suffering and creativity beautifully, and left us hanging with it. And that's where it will have to stay, no doubt - one of those questions without an answer.

Comment is about Ellipsis (blog)

Original item by Tom

I've read a few poems about the open mic experience, but this is the best. The form and structure picks out nicely all those little physical things which looms so large, then right in the middle - "Who the fuck do I think I am", which nails it.

Comment is about Before and After (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Hmmm Ken - 'wearing a bit thin'? Not for me, certainly not for plenty of people I know.

As for 'it will always be thus' - nah, I 100% reject that. That smells very like a Powers-That-Be sentiment, or should I say, propaganda. 'It's always been like this'. 'Black is white'. No it hasn't. And it CAN change. Raising awareness one day/poem/chat at a time. Chipping away at the edifice.

Perhaps by continuing to highlight it, it could shame some people into changing their behaviour. It could bring into the light the exploitation and shameless greed behind it all - SOME people might not even know about that. Consciousness-raising, it used to be called.

Carry on Chris - belting poem. Both content and execution are spot on.

Comment is about Complicit (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

The robin is feeling a tad nauseous. It could be altitude sickness, or possibly the shadow of a raptor..

In any event, he's way out of his comfort zone and wants to get back to being a leaf-tosser. Let's leave him there.

Comment is about Omnipotence (blog)

Original item by fitzroy herbert

I share your reservations about punk, MC. The most self-promoting contestant on BGT has more honesty about their ambitions than those punk artists who made money out of decrying the commercialism of pop. And as for any melodic qualities... ...try whistling a punk tune.
And many thanks, Moriam for your kind words.

Comment is about Old Age Kicks (RLS) (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Enjoyable poem Linda, I like the rhythm and the repetition works well. Very agreeable politics too, with a sharp point brought into focus. A few extreme right-wingers may disagree like Ian Duncan Smith, then again - they would!

As for poor or poverty - there are differing working definitions and concepts at hand. But for anyone to access a food bank, they must be referred by one of the following;

A doctor
A social worker
A health visitor
The police
Somebody from the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB).

That is to say - people can't just walk into food banks and claim. They also tend to only afford basic provisions and using a food bank, for many people will undoubtedly and sadly represent an embarrassing low point in their lives.

They are used in dire circumstances when affording food and a roof over their head is often brought into question. Zero contract hour contracts and sudden reduced hours, benefits being sanctioned, bills to pay and or a lost job - these are the things that result in being granted access to thing like;

UHT milk
Sugar
Fruit juice
Soup
Pasta and pasta sauces
Rice
Tinned fruit and vegetables
Tinned meat and fish
Biscuits and snacks.

Sometimes these are given to people that literally have no money whatsoever for food. Always the issue is one of a minimum of relative poverty and pressing circumstances.

P.S

Dave Bradley knows a lot more and might be the best to speak of on this.

Comment is about Food Banks Are Bad (blog)

Original item by Linda Cosgriff

Enjoyed this, and know exactly where you're coming from. Been there.

Comment is about Ellipsis (blog)

Original item by Tom

Chris - now you miss the point. I used the word
"pretentious" to indicate that I had no such
intention of my own that might be defined via
that word when celebrating my pleasure witnessing
an unexpected source of life in action in a bleak
inhospitable environment.
As you say - it seems appropriate to leave things
there.
Cheers

Comment is about Omnipotence (blog)

Original item by fitzroy herbert

Wow - some deep dark and scary imagery going on here Kath! The rhythm is impeccable too, very impressive!

You know what it reminds me of? A song by Siouxsie and the Banshees - Peek a Boo.

*shudder*

Comment is about untitled (blog)

Original item by Kath Hewitt

I still seek the contemporary definition of the
word "poor" - used with such frequency in many
contexts, public and personal, that I feel there
should be some explanation - some reference - so that "we" might properly understand the use of
the word in any relevant social scenario. It is
too important a word to be subject to emotive abuse when it suits.
As it is, I am left confused, let alone ill-informed, and that can lead to what is called "compassion fatigue" when that feeling might be
unfair and unjust in various situations.
Has Parliament ever defined the word? Is it in
Hansard? As things stand, it seems liable to
misuse from whatever POV is held and that does
an injustice to language and to those who may
deserve better from life.
We should not aim to deprive the already deprived. So - enlightenment please!

Comment is about Food Banks Are Bad (blog)

Original item by Linda Cosgriff

If you are saying that my comments are either pretentious or invalid in reference to both Shelley and Hardy, or cannot be reasonably interpreted in relation to this and more as stated - I would disagree MC. On which note, I would add that intention can be based upon what you have said and my interpretation still be equally valid in the words as they exist on the page. The two are not mutually exclusive!

Maybe for politeness sake we can leave it there - I do hope so. Particularly as my time and effort was offered to Fitzroy and not yourself.

Comment is about Omnipotence (blog)

Original item by fitzroy herbert

Very interesting article about poetry editors and how they choose poems. One editor mentions choosing 'what is good' as (presumably) opposed to 'what they like' I would argue that if you choose what you like, you invariably end up with what is good. What you 'like' maybe purely subjective, but it is definite. What is good is (possibly) less subjective but much less definite too.
Choose what you like and you won't go far wrong, try to choose what is generally held as 'good' can lead you down the road of publishing poems simply because you know the name, so they 'must' be good. (PB avoids this and cronyism by reading blind)
I think the final sentence from Micheal Mackmin of The Rialto sums it up nicely “We are basically very odd, honest people … it’s just our opinion. We really don’t know.”
http://thepoetrybusmag.wix.com/change

Comment is about The art of choosing: magazine editors reveal how they sift and select (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

"I am Life"...that, my friends, is the spine
around which the poem came to be written.
The sudden unexpected reminder in a sparse cold
November day of the gift and thrill of it...from
a small wild creature to a much larger not quite
so wild one. Nothing more pretentious or
complicated than that, I'm afraid.
I note the comment from Moriam Nesa. It
appeared in my emails and was linked to my own
post of the poem "The Galmpton Robin". However,
the same comment also appears on other WOL posts
and seems to be an "ad" for another poetry site.
That said, I'm always grateful for a well-meant referral to other poetry online.

Comment is about Omnipotence (blog)

Original item by fitzroy herbert

All very interesting, the editors come out of this surprisingly well, better than anticipated! Good article Greg. Quotation brings the speakers into the light and then, of course, though it's futile to deny a return is a rejection, and "psychopathology" is not a word to be thrown around lightly, the editor who stumbled there was not the one to put it in print. I understand Maurice Riordan made a good impression: "saving some poets from publication." Yeh baby!

Comment is about The art of choosing: magazine editors reveal how they sift and select (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Like this, like how it rhymes.

Comment is about Conceded Reality (blog)

Original item by Sunny Chopra

I agree - this is lovely!

Comment is about A View to South (blog)

Original item by David Blake

Well Shelley sees God and heaven in the lark. He delights in it for its sake, but also for what it must mean for mankind. Hardy in the face of sadness, a religious man losing or having lost his belief - post Darwin, nods to Shelley and mourns in the Thrush, the beauty of which it seems is forlorn. The same delicacy, though fragile and not bound for a better place, but heading the way of us all. The Bird of both poems is above man in so much as they portend to much.

I would be amazed if you were not aware of the poems, poets and context above Fitzroy. Here man does not look to the bird as omen, good or bad, post-modern, perhaps the issue of God is not even a question that arises. As Nietzsche said - God is dead, and that is true for much of the western world.

Here ego has replaced God, rightly or wrongly. Man over nature, hubris is the plumage that has replaced feather.

I also like the stab at the notion of the robin playing for anyone, be it man or...The territory comment, humorous as is the notion that such pretty displays are for poets walking through parks lol The poet knows they are a part of the tooth and claw survival of natural selection. In an objective sense this could be seen as a comment upon Shelley's Skylark or Hardy's Thrush. Pretty though birds may sound and be, what they do is for themselves and as pretty or as ugly as a lion tearing a zebra in half lol

Not sure of the ending :) but...

I like the rhythm throughout, it adds weight to the deliberate pomposity and mirth.

More than meets the eye ;)

Best of

Chris

Comment is about Omnipotence (blog)

Original item by fitzroy herbert

Hey there, wonderful piece of writing. You might want to check out www.highonpoems.com Keep writing!

Comment is about THE GALMPTON ROBIN - New Music Setting (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Hey there, wonderful piece of writing. You might want to check out www.highonpoems.com Keep writing!

Comment is about Conceded Reality (blog)

Original item by Sunny Chopra

Hey there, wonderful piece of writing. You might want to check out www.highonpoems.com Keep writing!

Comment is about A View to South (blog)

Original item by David Blake

Hey there, wonderful piece of writing. You might want to check out www.highonpoems.com Keep writing!

Comment is about Omnipotence (blog)

Original item by fitzroy herbert

Hey there, wonderful piece of writing. You might want to check out www.highonpoems.com Keep writing!

Comment is about Old Age Kicks (RLS) (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Hey there, wonderful piece of writing. You might want to check out www.highonpoems.com Keep writing!

Comment is about GLIMPSE OF OLD THINGS . (blog)

Original item by NICK ARMBRISTER

Hey there, wonderful piece of writing. You might want to check out www.highonpoems.com Keep writing!

Comment is about sunset ... an elegy. (blog)

Original item by chris stevenson

Hey there, wonderful piece of writing. You might want to check out www.highonpoems.com Keep writing!

Comment is about The wet touch (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Hey there, wonderful piece of writing. You might want to check out www.highonpoems.com Keep writing!

Comment is about If (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

Hey there, wonderful piece of writing. You might want to check out www.highonpoems.com Keep writing!

Comment is about Staines just wanna have floods (blog)

Original item by Marnanel Thurman