cheers Laura - re 'Fracking' - must say, like most people, I don't know enough about the technical stuff to know how much harm and upset fracking is going to cause - but I don't know how syphilis works either - I just know I don't want it :-). I'm having a go at a few 'form' poems over next week or so - but a cinquain was new to me - so thought I'd give it a go
Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)
Original item by Laura Taylor
Ha :) Bloody separated at birth again. I had an idea for an anti-fracking poem last night, and here I come and read yours, and a fancy cinquain at that!
I haven't written in 'form' for ages now. Might have another crack at it. Good piece.
Comment is about Fracking (Cinquain #1) (blog)
Original item by Ian Whiteley
Come here and say that to my face (without spitting) ;p
Bet this was a bugger to proofread!
Original piece, and I'd agree,we ARE incredible ;)
Comment is about Women are.... (blog)
Original item by Dave Bradley
God no, never let them grind you down. You really do have to kill me to shut me up ;)
Comment is about Dragging my Life to School (blog)
Original item by David R Mellor
Play the game, Thomas!
While Gove suffers from ugliness (who am I to throw stones?) I think education suffers more from fashion than it does from Gove.
Government policy on education changes de riguer with every government. I change my shirt less frequently. No wonder teachers don't know whether they're coming or going.
Contrast that with, say, transport and there is a remarkable consistency of approach from every government, irrespective of political colour - the masterly strategy of inactivity.
Comment is about Vitai Lampoonda (blog)
Original item by Marnanel Thurman
by definition 'performance poetry' is also 'spoken word' - however, not all 'spoken word' poetry is 'performance'.
The real art to performance is in the performance itself - not just someone reading it - and that's what I look for in a good poetry night out. I can listen to the CD's if I want to just 'hear words'. :-)
Comment is about Has 'performance poetry' been replaced by 'spoken word'? Discuss (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
hey John - thanks for commenting on 'cheap whore' - I'm not sure I agree wholly with your view that we keep coming back for more - some audiences are much harder work than others ;-)
Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)
Original item by John Coopey
...and thanks for the kind and supportive comments on 'cheap whore' Alan - I was having 'one of those days' ;-)
Comment is about alan barlow (poet profile)
Original item by alan barlow
thanks for commenting on my last 2 efforts Laura - Gram Parsons never put a musical foot wrong in my opinion :-)I do keep coming back for more - but sometimes I could just walk away - very frustrating on 'certain nights' ;-)
Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)
Original item by Laura Taylor
<Deleted User> (11861)
Mon 27th Jan 2014 22:36
Greg,
I would appreciate the downgrading as the blog was a subjective recollection rather than a grand statement or manifesto. It was more reflective than it was declarative.
By omitting any reference made in the blog with regard to the Spoken Word era and everything that is happening right now you give the impression that I think that it all ended in 2005, which I agree would be a pile of old rat's testicles.
It's great that Clarkey, Attila, Linton and many of the Performance Poetry luminaries are kicking arse today but the point stands that the majority of the characters from those eras have disappeared from the scene for perfectly understandable reasons. It also stands that most of the young people flooding onto the scene today are calling themselves Spoken Word artists and not Performance Poets. Semantics, I know, but it gave me the reference point I needed to contrast two epochs in live poetry.
Thanks for correcting the surname (my ancestors didn't drop the O for a bowl of soup) and for the support you have given to Unplugged and all those other defiantly alive Performance Poetry events across the UK. I in turn apologise for neglecting to mention that sterling work in favour of name checking Facebook.
Kind regards,
Niall
Comment is about Has 'performance poetry' been replaced by 'spoken word'? Discuss (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Firstly, Niall, as the author of this piece, I must apologise profusely for misspelling your name consistently throughout. Of course, I will correct it. Secondly, I'm sorry that your criticism of the report develops from initially describing it as "a bit of a misreading of the blog" to a "hatchet job". A hatchet job, it was never intended to be. What would be the point of that? You are a well-respected figure in the poetry world and we at Write Out Loud try to support poetry in all its forms. You may disagree, but I don't believe I have reported anything you didn't say. As for "quote mining and paraphrasing", I reject that. I quote three long paragraphs, and include a link to the full blog at the end. Readers can make up their own minds. You also say: "I don't see what my presence at the reception at the Palace has to do with it." Only that it gives some indication of your standing in the poetry world, and thus the newsworthiness of reporting your blog in the first place. Your own account of going to the Palace was the previous item on your blog. Again, I have linked to that, too. However, it may well be that I have given your piece more news space than it truly merits, and that its arguments are more complex than portrayed. I plan to downgrade its prominence in due course, and replace it as the lead with something else.
Comment is about Has 'performance poetry' been replaced by 'spoken word'? Discuss (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
<Deleted User> (11861)
Mon 27th Jan 2014 21:09
Unfortunately, this is a bit of a misreading of what the blog was about. I wasn't heralding the death of performance poetry but rather talking about two generations/cultures of poets that fall under the admittedly intersecting labels of "Performance Poetry" and "Spoken Word".
It wasn't one of those disingenuous proclamations of the death of Performance Poetry that crop up every now and again. They get on my tits too. In a way, what I was actually saying was, "Performance Poetry is dead, long live Performance Poetry" Sounds a bit wanky when I put it like that, hence why I put it differently.
Also, I don't see what my presence at the reception at the Palace has to do with it. Are people going to throw the same ad hominem remark at Kate Tempest, Jo Bell, Lemn Sissay, Michael Horowitz, Kei Miller, Martin Figura, Malika Booker, Jacob Sam La Rose, George the Poet, Joelle Taylor and many others who attended in response to any unrelated argument they might make?
Attila, I have a ton of respect for who you are and what you do. If you read the blog itself it's not saying what the hatchet job above portrays me as saying through quote mining and paraphrasing. If you are commenting on what I actually wrote in context then I'm sorry for getting on your tits and would gladly accept your correction. I have read with you a couple of times over the years and have always found you to be an encouraging and energising person.
As for this article, I'm not that surprised that the writer has got the point of my blog all wrong seeing as he can't even correctly write my surname.
Cheers,
Niall O'Sullivan
Comment is about Has 'performance poetry' been replaced by 'spoken word'? Discuss (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
thank you Solar for taking the time to comment and pleases me no end that you liked my poem
Comment is about Dragging my Life to School (blog)
Original item by David R Mellor
Thank you Laura and yes it did but still ..don't let the bastards grind us down
Comment is about Dragging my Life to School (blog)
Original item by David R Mellor
What a festering pile of old rats' testicles :) If you go and lig with the Queen you're maybe going to come out with clueless nonsense like that - there's more going on now than there ever has been, and I know 'cos I'm out there doing it as always! Cheers A
Comment is about Has 'performance poetry' been replaced by 'spoken word'? Discuss (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
...and I don't know about being born out of my time, MC. But I've certainly been accused of being born out of wedlock a few times.
Comment is about Marvo, Leo and Flo (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
I've got to confess, fellas, it's an old joke I reworked into pure lyrical gold (ahem).
Comment is about Marvo, Leo and Flo (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
I relished the title and enjoyed the content - but
I'm left to wonder whether a search for votes
would be behind Mr Gove's deeds or utterances.
Neither seem likely to encourage the masses in
that direction - and they have the voting power
to make or break governments.
Comment is about Vitai Lampoonda (blog)
Original item by Marnanel Thurman
The great Stanley Holloway would relish this, I'm
sure. Entertaining and inventive in equal
"measure" (if you'll pardon the expression).
JC - I think you were born out of your time.
Comment is about Marvo, Leo and Flo (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
I like the way this `runs`...and I can`t stand Gove,
But as an ancient bod I wonder if the kids today are really as thick at English and Maths as they say they are...or - if they are -
what`s the solution?
Worrying.
Comment is about Vitai Lampoonda (blog)
Original item by Marnanel Thurman
Thanks for all the comments, chums. I was concerned that this poem would seem too personal ... I found myself thinking that each one of the images could make a poem in its own right, if I had the time and energy. And, yes, who was that stranger beneath the big wheel? How did he get in the picture?
Comment is about Snapshots (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Only Coopey could do one like this!
What a final stanza!
(I can`t say any more for laughin`)
Comment is about Marvo, Leo and Flo (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Gregg,
I was struck by the way your:
`the marriage lasting little more
than a year.`
instead of darkening ( perhaps by its almost unnoticed asideness?)somehow adds to the lovely nostalgia of the rest. Also that bit of
puzzled un-recognition at the end.
Comment is about Snapshots (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Here are the results of this one: http://cafewriters.co.uk/poetry-competition/
Comment is about Deadline nears for £1,000 Cafe Writers competition (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Lovely poem Greg! You can't beat proper photo albums - we all know it and yet how many of us are organised enough to get our digital photos onto hard copy?
And yes, I totally agree with Laura here - I spent a big chunk of my life thinking I was ugly - but the photos don't reflect that. Good lucks are at least 80% about how you feel inside and how you project yourself...
This kind of reflective poetry suits you Greg. Give me humanity over machinery every time :) x
Comment is about Snapshots (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
excellent, andy. really, really powerful. can really see the images flowing here
Comment is about Miracle (New Poem Published) (blog)
Original item by Andy N
thanks for the comment on don't take my... poem.. I do have a few more in mind, but getting time is always my problem but glad you liked it.
Comment is about Andy N (poet profile)
Original item by Andy N
thanks guys. do have a few more in mind, but getting time is always my problem...
Comment is about Don't take your Elephant to School (blog)
Original item by Gray Nicholls
Marvellous series of images both universal and personal.
Precious, Greg, precious.
Comment is about Snapshots (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
<Deleted User> (5011)
Mon 27th Jan 2014 10:27
Eee! Proper nostalgia, this.
I love this Greg. It is not just about nostalgia for the images in the photos and the lost youth, but also for photos as a tactile, physical object. You can't beat an album - one that you can open and close - for true memories.
A lovely, loving poem. By the way, re last para, line, five, who was it? Give us a clue?
Comment is about Snapshots (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Awww, I love this. I reckon loads of women will see themselves in the first two lines too, I know I did. I always thought I was really weird-looking. When I look back at those photos now, I think the same thing as you've written :)
This is a lovely nostalgia-soaked poem Greg, and one that most if not all people will identify with.
Comment is about Snapshots (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Yehep - I get this, been there done that etc.
I like your use of sparsity in here. It chimes with the feelings of trauma that are experienced on an ongoing basis. Sucks the life out of you does that.
Comment is about Dragging my Life to School (blog)
Original item by David R Mellor
Good one, Laura.
Thinking of you in these hard times. Hope you are keeping yourself safe. xx
Comment is about "Peaceful Ukraine, Peaceful Maidan" (blog)
Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska
Stay safe, Laura.
Comment is about "Peaceful Ukraine, Peaceful Maidan" (blog)
Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska
<Deleted User> (9882)
Sun 26th Jan 2014 21:52
personally,I didn't do much 'dragging'but I'm still here.Great poem Dave.x
Comment is about Dragging my Life to School (blog)
Original item by David R Mellor
<Deleted User> (9882)
Sun 26th Jan 2014 21:49
great place to be Tom.Loved it all,especially the ending.x
Comment is about Forest (blog)
Original item by Tom
thankyou Pat and Stef and that it resonates X
Comment is about Dragging my Life to School (blog)
Original item by David R Mellor
A lot of these issues are very complex. Rather than the generals being incompetent, military technology at that time made attacking very difficult. The same was true of the American Civil War. Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg was very similar to the Somme, and for the same reasons. And at the end of the Civil War, both sides were fighting in trenches around Richmond, just like WW1. Unfortunately, Europeans did not learn the lessons of the Civil War on either side. They imagined WW1 was going to be Napoleonic. Many Civil War generals thought that too, until they learned better.
Comment is about A Centenary War Poem for my father Bill Baine (1899-1968) (blog)
Original item by Attila the Stockbroker
jan oskar hansen
Sun 26th Jan 2014 17:35
The downside of "progress" we can certainly
identify with. My previous netbook lost its
its screen image just long enough after purchase
to make the inevitable cost of check and repair
fall before the chance of a new (alternative)
make and so far I've been lucky with it. But
like all things electrical/technogical it can
defy human ambitions at times...hiss and boo!
But the compensations outnumber the cussed
blips that occur.
I agree with Harry - sacrifice something else
and make your peace with the wizardry of cyber
space and its many wonders.
Comment is about Disaster (blog)
Original item by Paul Sands
Hello, MC!
I am so much thankful for commenting on my poem "My Long-Suffering Ukraine".
With warmest wishes,
Larisa xxx
PS You are incredible
Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
How can you claim anything to benefit knowledge of East-West relationships when plainly unaware of
those of whom I speak?
These middle-aged/plus ladies were clearly chosen for their size and fiercesome visage -
like Giles' cartoon "Grandma". They had the appearance of having swept Soviet streets for most of a life and been given an inside job as a perk, without the pension no doubt. You messed with them at your peril!
Upon reaching the hotel room, it was fun to
speak in a very loud voice in praise of all the
wonders found in Mother Russia and her
glorious city. A trouble-free visit was the result. A happy coincidence? I still wonder.
Comment is about The Time I Saved Western Democracy from Communism (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Lord Russell of Liverpool wrote two books about
WW2 warcrimes that have taken their place under
the term "essential reading" - lest we forget.
One was "The Scourge of the Swastika" and the
other - "The Knights of Bushido".
The horrors perpetrated by the Japanese -
especially in their assault on China (the "rape
of Nanking" for example) are set out in plain
unadorned prose and have stayed with me since
reading both books as a young man. Like the
Nazis they took photographs of their atrocities...
bayoneting bound victims, burying folk alive..
their brutality was unspeakable and inexcusable. The mindset that allowed this may have been a
product of their idiotic belief in a divine
emperor who was in fact the pawn of a brutish
ambitious military wielding the real power...
but their unwillingness to face their behaviour
since those days disgraces them still.
They would rather forget while expecting others
to forgive.
Comment is about Brutal Not Comfort (blog)
Original item by NICK ARMBRISTER
Hello Lynn - thanks for your reply on my profile
page.
I was astounded to read the other day that-as of
May 2013-there was a figure of 2.49 million
claiming ESA/or old-style incapacity benefit.
What country of any small size/population can
afford that?
"Disablement" needs the most rigorous yet fair
assessment. What might be a disablement for one
job might not restrict employment in another -
especially interchange between physical and mental work.
As I recall, the introduction of the system was
a right-minded policy to alleviate hardship
in the short term, not provide an entitlement
life-style. Abuse of the original concept has
now brought the latter into being - which cannot
be good for either self respect or productive human effort in the cause of national well-
being.
Having said that, the onus is on any government
to make a system easily understood and just as
easily applied. There can be NO excuse for
confusion or complications when dealing with
people's well-being OR the nation/s collective
purse. It is NO place for jobsworths seeking
to "play" the administration of public payments
and give deserving cases the run-around and
increase their difficulties.
Comment is about Lynn Dye (poet profile)
Original item by Lynn Dye
yes the image suits the poem. we can change it. use your time wisely andy.
Comment is about A BREAK IN THE OLD ROUTINE (blog)
Original item by NICK ARMBRISTER
<Deleted User> (6895)
Sun 26th Jan 2014 12:50
really good poem David-one that one of us can well relate to-along with thousands of others.xx
Comment is about Dragging my Life to School (blog)
Original item by David R Mellor
jan oskar hansen
Tue 28th Jan 2014 10:08
it is interesting to learn how a poem is born
Comment is about 'Yes. I remember Adlestrop.' Village's competition to mark poem's centenary (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman