Thank you for your service. My late father was stationed in London throughout the Second World War with the OSS, and the city's bombing. He said his handprints were on every sidewalk of London. He asked me once if I understood how Britain survived the war, and when I was silent, said, "because the whole People are valiant."

Comment is about terry ireland (poet profile)

Original item by terry ireland

Food for thought: the ongoing personal puzzle of
the passing and the perennial - and their elusive
presence in our lives.
Welcome back.

Comment is about There are many..., There are a few... (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Go away MCN

Removed your comment - stop trying to show off

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Interesting. I would have thought the poem's
"question" would've been aimed at ITV etc. rather
than the BBC whose alleged bias chimes with the
job ads. placed in "The Guardian".
So - where was the missing coverage complained
of - and why was it absent?

Comment is about Regarding the BBC's lack of coverage... (blog)

Original item by Gray Nicholls

the truth to put it simply.

i love honest poetry like this.

Comment is about Regarding the BBC's lack of coverage... (blog)

Original item by Gray Nicholls

need to refer this to our Cathy, Laura. It's defo her cup of tea also.

For me - I loved it to put it simply.

It's a great piece and i hope the demo does do something. We have to hope it does i guess.

Comment is about Assembly (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

excellent, excellent Laura. Raises some serious points here... kinda annoyed me that the BBC and some of the other news didn't cover as much as they should have.

does raise the point will the demo do anything however? i hope it does, but am worried it won't.

Comment is about Assembly (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Thanks Steve. That's true and the only fact. X

Comment is about The Prime of Life (blog)

Original item by CathyLCrabb

Yes. On Saturday, when I wasn't allowed to go, the other team awarded him their man of the match. I am usually quiet but not when it comes to harm. It's a good lesson to learn I guess in not being able to solve everything.

Comment is about Goals in Perspective (blog)

Original item by CathyLCrabb

Haha - loving the new profile pic :D

And exactly, re chips/JCC. Bloody hell, it's not like he's advertising arms or owt is it?!

Comment is about Ian Whiteley (poet profile)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Cheers Greg and Dave. Yep Greg, it was :) I'm really glad this poem moved you so much.


MC - Jog on, you tiresome right wing troll. You make a bigger show of yourself each time you post anything. Sad thing is, you don't see it yourself.

Comment is about Assembly (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

thanks, once again, for your kind and supportive comments on the JCC thing Laura - totally agree with you about the 'chips' thing, he deserves it - we'd all give our right arms to make that sort of money out of poetry - it's only the snobs who think you should forever suffer for your 'art' lol :-)
Ta
Ian

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

thanks for the kind comment on 'dust' starfish - much appreciated as always
Ian

Comment is about Starfish (poet profile)

Original item by Starfish

thanks for the kind comments on 'dust' Isobel - yes, I was pleased with that ending which just dropped upon me, unplanned, from the....dust :-)
Cheers
Ian

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

thanks for the kind comments on 'dust' marksy - much appreciated mate
Ian

Comment is about Marksy (poet profile)

Original item by Marksy

thanks for your kind comments on 'dust' Dave - it's a real pity when you write something that you think is profound only to find that someone else had the idea a long while ago :-( still - great minds think alike I suppose - and they do say that no idea is ever really unique

also - a big thanks for your kind comments on the JCC poem Dave - much appreciated as always

Ian

Comment is about Dave Bradley (poet profile)

Original item by Dave Bradley

Hi Cynthia - the poem's original language is English.

I've just added a scan of a handwritten translation into Bengali, done by Saleh Uddin Talukdar and Afia Begum during a workshop - but unfortunately not sure if it's legible - I thought we'd be able to click on the image to open it bigger in a new window, but I don't think that happens.

During the workshop there was lots of discussion about the layers of images in Carol's poem; the connotations of the "chaste, virgin, untouched" imagery and the way it's connected with snow and whiteness; and the idea of the bricks, and how to translate the idea of something that is at once structured, and also muddled.

Comment is about link

It is that time again tomorrow!

Comment is about NPD (blog)

Original item by Mark Mr T Thompson

By all means, let us rejoice and celebrate the
freedom to protest against perceived injustice.
I'm not sure about who are "the many" and who
are "the few" when considering current national
sensibilities about the wider benefits of contributing through work whenever possible.
I'm considering the representation of lawyers
challenging a £500 per week cap on benefits at
the High Court. It is hardly likely to elicit
heartwarming sympathy from those working hard
for nothing like that gratis sum.

Comment is about Assembly (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Thanks for the comments, one and all.
Ray - I was tempted to use "determined" in the last line but the alliteration of 'seem' & 'set'
appealed more and I was content to double up on
"to".
If you "sing" the first two lines - the word
'even' keeps the rhythm - IMHO.

Comment is about Zzzz!! (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Fabulous -straight to the point!
Best wishes, Steve

Comment is about Zzzz!! (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Thanks for looking in on red wine. Not my best work but and maybe too personal but I'll just say 'cheers'anyway, Steve

Comment is about Fragment (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Enjoyed this Ian. Particularly liked 'raging zeitgeist troubadour'.

Comment is about Thirty Plus Years In An Open Necked Shirt (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Wholeheartedly agree with Greg. The way that the Tories have cynically and hard-heartedly worked with the right-wing press to make 'benefits' a 'bad word' is sickening. We should be proud that this country does so much to look after those with needs - that we act like a proper community. Of course there are abuses and the system needs monitoring and administering. But it is still a wonderful thing. But we're now in a state in which politicians can hardly dare stand up and say what great things benefits are - and they ARE!!. Just ask anyone in a poorer country or look at our own history. Well done, Laura.

Comment is about Assembly (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Tories may sneer and mock, but I don't mind admitting, Laura, that I welled up reading this. What a moving, inspiring poem! Great that you mentioned Shelley, too. Don't know if it's true but I read somewhere that it was the greatest congregation of protesters in Manchester since Peterloo. Very fine piece of work. I will try and find this poem now and again, every time I feel I need to cheer myself up.

Comment is about Assembly (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Great idea for a poem! And when you perform it you're gonna HAVE to do it in a Salford drawl ;D

I've nowt against him doing that ad btw, it's up to bloody him innit?

Anyway, thought the repetition of Johnny Clarke very effective, and you didn't do the predictable thing of incorporating loads of his lines in your own poem.

Nice tribute.


Bloody hell Ray!! Did ya?! Woooo!!! You can still be working class and like nice wine and cake you know. Ahem.

Comment is about Thirty Plus Years In An Open Necked Shirt (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Howdy Cynth!

Many thanks for your lovely note on 'Fragment'. Can't begin to tell you how strong and euphoric the feeling was. The hypnagogic state is very similar to an opiated one, and I think that led to the feelings. I've tried in the past to teeter within the hypnagogic state as I find it so immensely pleasurable, but it's a contrary beast and will not be controlled easily ha :D

Yes - I would agree completely with you about the different layers of poetry and its reception. Sometimes I think a piece isn't 'good enough' to blog, and then I think 'well, this was such a strong thing within me, and it's not as 'good' as X or Y or Z, in a certain way, but that's because it is a DIFFERENT animal altogether'. So I blog it, and be damned haha ;D

Anyway, thanks again :)

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

thanks ray - amended for accuracy following your knowledgeable comment :-)

Comment is about Thirty Plus Years In An Open Necked Shirt (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

;)))

Comment is about Zzzz!! (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

bad dreams and PPI :)

Comment is about Interest Only (blog)

Original item by Paul Sands

I love this poem, and the way it unconsciously ( perhaps) reflects modern physics.

Comment is about Geraldine Monk (poet profile)

Original item by Geraldine Monk

I believe you. I applaud you! I envy you. Never lose that dream. Even the poem above, just 'scribbled' in haste, carries much power.

Most poems that I consider 'great' are very simple ones, easily structured, easily stored in memory, and not necessarily supported or propped up by educated dictums.

To be honest, I'm not sure 'great poems' are even possible anymore. As in: 'great to whom'? The scope, and sheer numbers, of writers and readers has broadened so much, that perhaps there will now be only 'great poems in certain circles'. We have such distinct strata now, each reaching a particular audience, that cross-over may be severely limited. I sincerely believe that one 'type' cannot claim to be better than another. Such dialogue will be entirely within a particular layer.

So keep writing, shafting your great talent straight out to the world in your own inimitable way.

Comment is about Fragment (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

"Song to the Sea" is stirring and deeply touching. The fourth stanza knocked me off my feet- to my eyes, a single poem.

Comment is about Fay Roberts (poet profile)

Original item by Fay Roberts

I totally agree that the word was taken out of context within 'social banter'. It wasn't smart. but it wasn't dreadful either, in the circumstances. The women in the group probably laughed. You'll notice the actual clip appeared very fast and only once, that I saw. In the correct meaning of the word 'slut', most of us girls (and guys) qualify at some time or other. I do have a problem with whether or not Bloom knew the difference between 'slut' and 'whore'. Maybe that's really where the UKIP gang had the inner knowledge, and needed to cut their ties asap.

Comment is about FADING BLOOM (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

I do like work that seems to be 'unlinked' or 'linked wherever the reader chooses to connect'. This is not an easy poem, but it does have a certain dynamism. 'square' and 'cask' certainly got my attention, as they seem utterly the opposite. And the ending is quite profound.

Comment is about Interest Only (blog)

Original item by Paul Sands

beautiful poem

Comment is about Adam Lowe (poet profile)

Original item by Adam Lowe

Hi
My neighbours cat disappeared and was found much later curled in a ball under the stairs dead. I think they find a quiet place when they are ill. Fortunately, the field mouse was a figment of my imagination.

Comment is about Steve Higgins (poet profile)

Original item by Steve Higgins

I celebrated International Translation Day yesterday by trying a Spanish version of Fran’s poem! My Spanish isn't really up to the task of rhyming - but I had a go. I managed it OK a coupla times (usually by sacrificing the metre, ha) but the rest of the time I settled for a sort of vague assonance :-)

Things I noticed:
Line 3 – translated word-for-word, it woulda been really long; so I found a way to shorten it that I think works OK (Literally, “I came home; his empty wardrobe left me stunned”)

Line 8 – I coulda used the more normal verb “amancebarse” (to live together), but I think “vivir en concubinato” has the same florid, slightly tongue-in-cheek flavour of “live in sin”.

The “he picks his nose” line – I so liked the snappy internal rhyme of “nose/clothes” that I had to try and get a rhyme in - so I had to change the meaning.“Marear la perdiz”– literally “to make the partridge dizzy”– is a funny idiom that means a combination of mucking others around, stalling/time-wasting when you should be doing something important, and not getting to the point or getting on with stuff. It's a bit of a stretch but hey, I tried :-)

Last line – I completely ignored the “bloody”, cos swearing in another language is the quickest way to sound silly (well OK maybe not the quickest, but…) I'd love to know what someone with decent Spanish would say for this.
vik x

Comment is about link

The Mail has always been Britain's nastiest newspaper, ever since it backed Oswald Mosley in the 1930s. Why they've now decided to smear Ed Miliband's dad, God only knows. Shame on Waitrose for giving it away at the checkout (Apologies to the checkout staff for my reaction when they've offered it to me!)

Comment is about Daily Mail (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Hey Starfish,
The cat poem is a true story. Came home from work one day and was making a cuppa, looking out through the kitchen window onto the street. Our neighbours cat had a stretch, had a good look around and went to sleep under their tree. Later on various screams and tears were heard and I asked next door what was going on and they said the lady opposite came home and found her cat dead curled up under the tree. I prefer to think, romantically perhaps, that the cat knew the end was nigh and took his leave of life in a calm feline way. Not a bad way to go. Much better than the poor old field mouse . . .
Steve

Comment is about Starfish (poet profile)

Original item by Starfish

Among my collection of vinyl LPs, I have a boxed set called "Poetry For Pleasure" (Concert
Hall Record Club) which contains an incomparable version of "Dover Beach" read by
Stephen Murray - and "Adlestrop" read by Dame
Flora Robson. Other front rank readers include Michael Redgrave, Marius Goring, Jill
Balcon and John Neville.
Anyone knowing the quality they represent will
know how well they do their job with material that ranges from Thomas Wyatt to W.B.Yeats. Wonderful stuff from nearly fifty years ago that is as fresh and fine today as it ever was. Only Richard Burton is anywhere near when
it comes to reading great poetry.
Finally - I have emailed Tim Dee about the poems
featured and the programme in general. I was
minded to include the question:
Where will future requests for today's poetry come
from if poets are omitted by fashion and passing
fad that leaves little that is truly MEMORABLE?

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

Original item by Greg Freeman

Every worthwhile writer borrows. It is amazing how inspiration can be encouraged by the most(I nearly tapped in "moist"!) unlikely places. I found myself undergoing an MRI scan earlier during which I was placed in something resembling a torpedo tube for 40 minutes and occupied the time making up songs to the sounds of the various weird noises the machine emitted. Don't see a hit in any of them, though!! :-)
Cheers - and thanks, as always, for the lift your work provides. Such a pleasant change to be positive and mean it when knowing of the fractious precious types on WOL who trot out insults like "troll" at the drop of a hat when the comments are not the 100% approbation they seek. Your latest piece on the Daily Mail was interesting, but that newspaper is a byword for emotive stuff that plays to those who think the country has gone to the dogs since WW2. The BBC can't let a week go by without featuring the title in one of its programmes...and not appreciatively! Check "Mock The Week" and "Have I Got News For You", as well as some dramas of late. What fun!!!

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Sorry Ray,
It was just my thickness and the superb sexiness of that first stanza.

I just couldn`t believe that any woman who had tilted her `weight` into the warming cup of those `stilling` palms and had four thousand trips to Paradise would ever dream of going anywhere else. :)

Comment is about The Mousetrap (blog)

Awww... I like this. I like the way it is written, the message and I like cats!

Comment is about The Cat that lived Across the Road (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

Hello John
Re: Cottage Sleaze, I was referring to an earlier comment. Certainly, a beautifully written piece, though. Starfish.

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Brilliant, angry, plain; it travels perfectly across the sea.

Comment is about 50,000 (blog)

Original item by Gray Nicholls

Deeply beautiful impressionism

Comment is about Carla Tombacco (poet profile)

Original item by Carla Tombacco

Hello Starfish,
When I wrote "Cottage Sleaze" the word "beautiful" didn't seem the most apt description! You will gather that not all the lines are my own. (And, No, I did not do a lot of research for this).

Comment is about Starfish (poet profile)

Original item by Starfish

Hello Steve,
Many thanks for your kind thoughts on "Cottage Sleaze".

Comment is about Steve Higgins (poet profile)

Original item by Steve Higgins

Hello MC,
Glad you enjoyed "Cottage Sleaze". I have to confess that some of the lines were not entirely my own!

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry