"We can fix it". Yes they have, haven't they. Nice one Chris.

Comment is about Manufactured CONsent (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

wow! Fantastic work Alan! Though i'd expect nothing less from you of course!

And there was me bemoaning the lot of a laureate at such a tedious time. Where has she gone?

Comment is about No Carol Ann Duffy? Write a poem for the little prince (article)

A poem about the manufacture of consent and the world we have been left with, post Edward Bernays and the taking of his uncle's (Sigmund Freud's) ideas of the understanding of unconscious human desires. A poem of politics, the loss of conviction, principle and high ideals to the world of focus groups, short term-ism and big business. A poem about the new Realpolitik, policies sold as products, marketed to the individual desires of the selfish needs of consumerist society.

Toward the conclusion of the poem, some lines are formed with double meanings from product slogans, inclusive of Apple, McDonalds, Coke, Nike, L'Oreal and finally Tesco - (a UK supermarket to US friends) the last line itself a reference to the saving or gaining of money in the buying of products.

Further reading;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays

Comment is about Manufactured CONsent (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

Thanks Francine, Appreciated lots as ever xxx

Comment is about Francine (poet profile)

Original item by Francine

Hi Ian

Thank you for your great comment on my poem. Much appreciated :-)

Comment is about Ian Whiteley (poet profile)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Hi Harry,

Thank you for commenting on my poem. Cacophony felt right for me at the time, I was laying in the sun in the garden and all these noises seemed to be growing and working together in a bid to shatter the peace! Ha ha Maybe I could have used a different word

Kath :-)

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

Original item by Harry O`N eill

I embrace my feminine side Isobel - and all it takes for that vocal is a tighter pair of jeans :-)

Comment is about Alien Feelings (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Tee hee - now I've listened to it again, it's obviously a man - or a very masculine sounding woman!

I think that aesthetically I just thought it should be a woman so I imagined it - I wasn't questioning your manhood at all - now how's that for you sir?

:))

Comment is about Alien Feelings (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

thanks for the kind and supportive comments on 'Alien Feelings' Isobel - much appreciated - and I couldn't resist adding a tongue in cheek response to your edited response :-)
Ian

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

Isobel
some people think that backing vocal sounds like a woman, you know ;-)

Comment is about Alien Feelings (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Thanks for your kind and supportive comments regarding 'alien feelings' Francine - I do try to include provocative images to tie up with the words and this one fell into my lap - Harry thinks that Alien is cuddly - me, I think its rather disturbing :-)

Comment is about Francine (poet profile)

Original item by Francine

Hey Harry - no problem with the comments regarding 'Alien feelings' - I did throw the picture in to try and muddy the waters to what is, basically, a love song with sci-fi imagery. So in a way I was asking for it :-) I do like to combine image with the poetry though - I suppose its my art background coming through - I do try to chose evocative pictures - and if you think that alien looks cuddly (or anything other than disturbing)I think you need to see someone about it :-)

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

Original item by Harry O`N eill

Ian,

(Pay me no notice)It`s just this `thing` I`ve got about pictures(and sometimes music) sometimes restricting or overpowering (or over, or mis - directing) the words of the poem.

I felt that the delicate,inter-stellar quality of the alienation in the poem is not helped by the `cute` E.T.-like little guy.

(mind, with the hair, the tattoos and the studs it`s a toss up which one is the alien :)

Nevertheless, I`d miss most of the pictures if they weren`t there.

Comment is about Alien Feelings (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Dave,
This is the kind of a haiku that we all hope one day to write.

Comment is about It seemed just a pebble (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

M.C.
Just noticed...it was actually Victoria station (It`s age)

By the way, I like the way this jigs.

Comment is about THE RACISM ONE-STEP (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Thanks, Jane. Glad you enjoyed it.

Comment is about 369 000 (blog)

Original item by steve pottinger

shaking a glittered halo of guilt
right through your heart inside his
those ten miles apart killing both.

Comment is about Instar (blog)

Original item by Katy Megan

Hi Katy

I hadn't seen Collier's Lilith. Impressive. And the original is just up the road in Southport - may take a look.

Coincidentally I've been re-reading George Macdonald's enigmatic 'Lilith'. The Victorians seem to have been fascinated by her. Have you run across it?

Comment is about Katy Megan (poet profile)

Original item by Katy Megan

What a catchy little tune we have here - love it!
The words, the music, the photo - they all blend so well together!

Comment is about Alien Feelings (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

I am really liking these poems from you!
It's nice to see you writing (and sharing) again - trying different formats!
Now pass along whatever it is you have... xx

Comment is about Sounds of Suburbia (blog)

Original item by Kath Hewitt

hope the 'town halls'have recovered Mike..10/10.xx

Comment is about The Text (blog)

Original item by Mike Hilton

loved where this is coming from Mr.H. xx

Comment is about Numbers (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

Hello Shirley,
Glad you liked "The Rhymes They Are A-Changin'" and that it made you smile.

Comment is about Shirley Smothers (poet profile)

Original item by Shirley Smothers

Thanks for your comments on "The Rhymes They Are A-Changin'", Harry. I bet you take some frightening.

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

Original item by Harry O`N eill

Hello MC,
Glad you enjoyed "The Rhymes They Are A-Changin'".
Again, another one I wrote for Bob Dylan which he never used!

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Hello, Izzy,
Thankyou for commenting on "The Rhymes They Are A-Changin'". It's only when I came to write this I realised what a clever and unusual rhyming scheme (aaabab) Dylan used. And harmonically, the penultimate line is a cliffhanger of the dominant chord, its 7th, its 6th and then the dominant again, all complimenting the single note melody.
Not just a hat-rack, that Dylan.

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

Thankyou for your thoughts on "The Rhymes They Are A-Changin'", Francine. I suspect it may not be my last parody!

Comment is about Francine (poet profile)

Original item by Francine

Thank you for your comment Jane, glad you enjoyed!

Comment is about jane wilcock (poet profile)

Original item by jane wilcock

Hi Dave, my Lilith is a recurrent theme of the first wife of Adam in the bible and also the prostitute, and the vampire that runs through some of my work in this collection to try and make my work more accessible by using characterisation that a reader can identify with more easily. Who knows whether it actually works or not!! It is also very personal and I have collier's Lilith on the wall of my bedroom which inspires me as I write : ) thanks for your comments on my work, really appreciate them, Katy

Comment is about Dave Bradley (poet profile)

Original item by Dave Bradley

Beautiful poem Jane - lovely delicate imagery - a definite feel good poem!

I'm amazed no-one else has commented - I think it's all this sun that's driving people away from their computers - perhaps they're all fusing in those dew dangled threads...

Lovely to see you back posting! xx

Comment is about Slipstitch Day (blog)

Original item by jane wilcock

Awww - how could I not love this?

In answer to the issues you have raised, it IS possible to love that which is alien... perhaps it's the 'otherness' which makes for the compelling attraction.

Great audio Ian and I liked the idea of having a second person come in on harmony - it should have been a woman though!

Comment is about Alien Feelings (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

That's how the ladies see us Harry - I thought you would have realised that following your 'praise' query :-)

Comment is about Alien Feelings (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Ingenious Ian,

Although the picture somehow compels it to be read in `space-man` space rather than in incompatable, and emotionally human, space.

Like I said...ingenious.

Comment is about Alien Feelings (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Hiya Kath

I'm liking this a lot - it's got a nice, simple rhyme pattern and builds a vivid urban picture. It reminds me a little bit of 'that's entertainment' by The Jam - which Weller has said was a simple, yet effective piece and I think the same can be said for this :-)

Comment is about Sounds of Suburbia (blog)

Original item by Kath Hewitt

Hi Dave - thanks for the comments on the sound/audio stuff I've been doing with a pal of mine here in St Ives. I think it might be my way forward. I seem to have stopped writing poems these days - and I miss it! But been writing some songs and now this more experimental stuff has come along. I'm wondering about putting it here on WOL. Might be fun - and bring me back into the fold!

Hope all is well with you! :)

Comment is about Dave Bradley (poet profile)

Original item by Dave Bradley

Kath,
I like this very much and agree that it is (mainly) smooth and pleasurable.

I think lines ten and fourteen should change places.

I can see the intention of `Cacaphony` in that last (noisy?) stanza but feel that the word itself is too strong and `startles` the poem too overpoweringly.

Much better that most of the `list` poems.

Comment is about Sounds of Suburbia (blog)

Original item by Kath Hewitt

as you say Butterfly - something a bit different - and I like it - a bit more hard edged and pithy - lets have some more like this please :-)

Comment is about Something different (blog)

We all (all of us) start of perfect, and then go on to be influenced by the good and bad things in this wonderfully diverse world.
I would prefer to keep my powder dry until little George is seen falling out of the 2026 version of Bougies at 3am pissed, until I make my judgements and of course record them in verse!

Comment is about No Carol Ann Duffy? Write a poem for the little prince (article)

We could do a little anthology of all these and send them to him on his 21st birthday. Perhaps the newly-elected President of the Republic of England-south-of-the-Tees/Exe-line could present it to him?

Comment is about No Carol Ann Duffy? Write a poem for the little prince (article)

well, that's me told, and well! Thanks Alan. Perhaps you could put this on a blog on here? Have you stuck it on the Guardian site?

Comment is about No Carol Ann Duffy? Write a poem for the little prince (article)

Hi Ann

It's been a long time since you posted. Has the house move accounted for all your creative energy? Perhaps you are posting elsewhere. The one piece I accessed via FB was remarkable.

Dave

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Thanks Marksy, I like yours too. Your profile poem is a cracker.

Comment is about Marksy (poet profile)

Original item by Marksy

'if I could swim in your eyes and not drown' - just lovely :-)

Comment is about IF (blog)

Thank you :-)

'and Morecambe weeps' - lpvely even in it's heavy sadness x

Comment is about Richard Alfred (poet profile)

Original item by Richard Alfred

A measured, balanced response, Alan ... with "Some plankton-brained hack is on a hackneyed quest" one of the most resonant lines for me!

Comment is about No Carol Ann Duffy? Write a poem for the little prince (article)

Loving your stuff Dave - makes you think, which is the whole point of this, isn't it?

Comment is about Dave Bradley (poet profile)

Original item by Dave Bradley

Many thanks Dave, I work in the journalism profession and have had, in the past, to tolerate Mail sympathisers, so my heart goes out to you. But cheers for the kind comments.

Comment is about Offend a Daily Mail reader - today! (blog)

Original item by Marksy

Looks like baby George will have to write his own bleedin poem. It's called I don’t want it

I miss that muffled bass beat,
the soothing heartbeat
that pulsed about my
lazy warm malingering
before I got expelled.

Crikey! – I’m absolutely shattered -
All that traumatic clattering
and clamour, It’s hardly glamorous.
But lo and behold how the bells do ring!
that herald a baby’s plight to be king.
They’ve already got it in for him .
Can’t even put up a fight, poor thing.
Apparently it’s hereditary. . . .
Oh shite – it’s me!

It turns out I’m third in line to the throne – Well I knew
this had to be Britain, I’m already in a queue.
There’s this complex hierarchy, and this here new kid
is born to be the lid on the pyramid.

Well,
I don’t want it
I want tit.
I want to piss and shit.
I want to gurgle and posset.
You can keep your sycophantic adoration,
and all your republican vilification,
and your obsequious infant adulation.
I just want instant gratification



Some plankton-brained hack is on a hackneyed quest
about ‘bottle or breast - What’s best for the kiddy?’ It’s
obvious to me - I’m surrounded by idiots
with all the language of praise and contempt to conjure.
Call me national treasure, or benefit sponger,
or prince, or parasite. The nation is torn.
Look - This is your crazy planet - I’ve just been born.
I can’t figure this archaic construct out.
I don’t know if I’ve come up trumps or lucked out.

No,
I don’t want it
I want tit.
I want to piss and shit.
I want to gurgle and posset.
You can keep your sycophantic adoration,
and all your republican vilification,
and your obsequious infant adulation.
I just want instant gratification.


So when the gushing and fawning and fuming and spite
is over, and the last plaudit and insult’s been hurled
Ask yourself
What’s blue and green and covered in parasites?

I think you’ll find the answer’s - The world.

Comment is about No Carol Ann Duffy? Write a poem for the little prince (article)

great poem. I like the Queen but I see the world as you do in this poem. Never mind royalty, we each have our blame.

Comment is about 369 000 (blog)

Original item by steve pottinger

I like the rhythm of this peace, it sends me thinking forwards.

Comment is about Instar (blog)

Original item by Katy Megan