Rather lovely. Agree with Steve about that phrase.

Comment is about A stranger. (blog)

Original item by Danny Metcalfe

Very intriguing - nicely done.

Comment is about (blog)

I loved this! Public transpaort is a great way of "finding" poems - not Larkins etc but our own. I also wondered about that first line - maybe a bit of graffiti is in order?

Comment is about The fine art of being a miserable bastard (blog)

I haven't been to Bolton so I can't comment. It's a shame you didn't see anything Jane. I suppose it's a bit like the St Ives Festival where one minute you can be walking round town and see buskers everywhere, open studios advertised with big arrows pointing you in the right direction, Bob Deveraux and friends entertaining a crowd in the square with music and poetry - and an hour later people are taking a break or there's indoor stuff going on and you could walk through the town and think nothing was happening. Little plug for St Ives Festival 8th-22nd September. (Did you see what I did there? ;)

Comment is about Imagine, a poem in every shop (article)

Original item by Julian Jordon

Hi MC, thanks for the comment on my latest poem, "Fleeced". I am somewhat puzzled as to your rhyme though, as the subject was not about the work ethic, it was about private banks' ability to create money out of thin air as debt. This is affecting the whole world's economy.

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Larkin? Man hands on misanthropy to man.

You didn't say if they had the first line of that poem up in the buses, Joe? Bet they didn't.

Comment is about The fine art of being a miserable bastard (blog)

Thanks Ann, i too like your poems, with the metaphors and similes, you have alot of presentational devices which i like :) x

Comment is about Jason Holland (poet profile)

Original item by Jason Holland

Ah, now I understand it all, Lynn! Thank you. No wonder the Greeks are going spare. Keep up the good work.

Comment is about Fleeced (blog)

Original item by Lynn Dye

I'm a Larkin fan and loved this. Great title, of course. He did make a fine art out of it.

Comment is about The fine art of being a miserable bastard (blog)

Yvonne,

Witty - woman - witty!

Comment is about The Wrong Sort of Train (blog)

Original item by Yvonne Brunton

Lovely. The strength to endure... that last line says so much.

Comment is about For I will Praise My Father (blog)

Thank you Yvonne, sounds like a plan to me! x

Comment is about Fleeced (blog)

Original item by Lynn Dye

MC what are you saying???

This is not about benefits or the work shy!

The banks are corrupt and working on a ponzi scheme.
If everyone demanded their money back from the banks at the same time, there would not be enough money to pay their depositors.

I know it is hard to believe, but research brings up the truth every time. I even read on the Bank of England's own website that only 3% of the total money is in cash and coin.

P.S. Sorry, good rhyme though. :-)

Comment is about Fleeced (blog)

Original item by Lynn Dye

Thanks for your kind words and advice, Yvonne, they are most welcome. I have updated "the spider" a little, would be interested in your opinion. "Greenwood" comes from the heart. I love the natural world around us. Shame it's taken for granted. 8-)

Comment is about Yvonne Brunton (poet profile)

Original item by Yvonne Brunton

Poems on the Undergroud give ordinary poets a chance. Larkin has had his day and you can get his work in books and on line.Why doesn't Hull put up our poems?

Comment is about The fine art of being a miserable bastard (blog)

Well said Lynn. Maybe we need to bypass the banks a lot more and use alternative currency for local trade.

Comment is about Fleeced (blog)

Original item by Lynn Dye

Bankers continue to be a pain
To those who seek society's gain -
The entrepreneur who creates work
And sees cash going to those who shirk.

Trade is trade - in cash or kind,
If you take no part then you shouldn't mind
Not getting paid by those who do,
No one is born to indulge you!

Nature shows us how it's done -
To catch your quarry, expect to run;
No sitting back and taking your ease,
Get busy - like the busy bees.

You have a body and a brain -
Use both and do not be a drain,
And if local prospects start to unravel
Be prepared to pack and travel!

Comment is about Fleeced (blog)

Original item by Lynn Dye

Thought provoking stuff! Nice one.

Comment is about Nuclear Cradle Song (blog)

Original item by Yvonne Brunton

Absolutely love it! Nice one, Yvonne.

Comment is about The Wrong Sort of Train (blog)

Original item by Yvonne Brunton

Hi Ann, I'm afraid I don't have the unedited version of my recent translation experiment. It was a sort of instantaneous thing. I will send you the orig (before translations however)

Thank you for popping by. More experiments to be posted soon

Win

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hi Steve, If you mean reading the stanzas in reverse order, then yes I just tried that and think it makes for a better result.

Graham, Glad you liked the results. At least you don't spend half your time running down blind alleys.

Ann, I'm afraid I don't have the unedited version. It was a sort of instantaneous thing. I will send you the orig (before translations however)

Thank you for popping by. More experiments to be posted soon.

Win

Comment is about solemnity (blog)

Original item by Winston Plowes

A great initiative, Bolton! But don't forget that Hoylake achieved a similar feat with Gallery Hoylake at last year's Wirral Festival of Firsts when we displayed art works and A4 poems in shops the length of Hoylake's Market Street. It was so popular with the community, that we are repeating Gallery Hoylake again from 23 June - 8 July 2012. Can I thank everyone who has supplied us with wonderful poems for our poems in shops project? !

Comment is about Imagine, a poem in every shop (article)

Original item by Julian Jordon

Enjoyed this, Roy. My kind of poem. Nature is such a beautiful subject to write about. 8-)

Comment is about Spring; Hopes Eternal (blog)

Old Speckled Hen & Hobgoblin, not to mention Bishops Finger. Mmmmmm proper ale. Put hairs on your chest! Well done! 8-)

Comment is about Eudyalite; in praise of real ale (blog)

Nicely done, Roy. My sentiments on life also. 8-)

Comment is about Defying Age (blog)

Thanks for your comments, Graham and Ann. This one is based on an idea that struck me the other day, that with money tight for the forseeable everyone will have to settle for less ... but that might not be such a bad thing. Maybe it could do with another stanza in the middle. Don't get me started on TOTP re-runs, Graham!

Comment is about Gentler pleasures (blog)

Original item by Greg Freeman

I went yesterday with 2 sisters to check out Booth's music shop, where my sister's poem was hanging. Despite the heaving rain, there was live music, a stage and a very large canopy up to shelter a large crowd from the rain.

It was such a shame about the weather. We would have hung around longer outside, had it been warm. Instead we had to go in the pub and treat ourselves to steak and chips.

We were going to do the poetry trail, but the weather put us off... I imagine it has done the same for plenty others.

Comment is about Imagine, a poem in every shop (article)

Original item by Julian Jordon

I have not been myself but here is the response of the festival organiser:

I really don't know what to say apart from, how unobservant, and maybe they were looking in the wrong place.

On Sunday there were outside drama performances in St Andrews Court and the arts & craft fair in St Andrews Church. The list of shops with poetry and art work is on the website and in the brochures that can be picked up around town.

I've been in St Andrews Court today and all the shopkeepers have said how
much they like the poetry.

Laurette

Comment is about Imagine, a poem in every shop (article)

Original item by Julian Jordon

Yes, it is, at Sale Waterside Write out Loud. other than that...?

Comment is about (photo)

A great poem,loss takes a long time to get through, if at all, a lovely tribute.

Comment is about For I will Praise My Father (blog)

Hi,
I wandered into Bolton today to view the festival. There were some car exhibits about re LeMans in the central square and market hall but I found no evidence of an Arts Festival - not any poems, artwork, music except an old man out of tune on a recorder. Sorry to disappoint.

Comment is about Imagine, a poem in every shop (article)

Original item by Julian Jordon

How on earth do you come up with this stuff Win? You make me feel so pedestrian! It works well too.

Regards,

Graham

Comment is about solemnity (blog)

Original item by Winston Plowes

Very cleverly done. Anyone with grandchildren will have experienced similar put-downs. What DID happen to the peacock? You've damn well gone and done it again, haven't you. Teaser!

Comment is about With peacocks at kew (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Lovely poignancy attached to this one Greg. Cricket on the Green one of the nicest pastimes left I think (no-one to see you nod off).

Nostalgia is a cunning vixen though. I recently watched TOTP on a re-run channel and thought what a load of old codswallop. Memory is indeed selective.

Very best regards,

Graham

Comment is about Gentler pleasures (blog)

Original item by Greg Freeman

J.C. - you'll excuse me if I don't read too much into your observations. They just don't add up! Or is it me?
Personally...
I'm all for lathering the little beasts until they have "The Ancient Mariner" off word-perfect and can discuss its meaning!!!

Comment is about Should five-year-olds be made to learn poems by heart? (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

its okay shirley we'll all be skeletons one day and anger will be contained in several maggots bellys

Comment is about Anger (blog)

Original item by Shirley Smothers

I like the peaceful adventure described here, with its tinge of sadness/regret maybe?

Comment is about Gentler pleasures (blog)

Original item by Greg Freeman

I'd like to see what it was like before you edited it Win. And the exisiting text also. Very enigmatic! I like

"You are my pen
after the punishment."

especially.

Comment is about solemnity (blog)

Original item by Winston Plowes

There's always one nearby, Ann, (a smartarse). Where would we be without their expert guidance...tee hee! Nicely done, Ann. 8-)

Comment is about With peacocks at kew (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

We think writing poems like this one Dave
will surely earn you a pair of wings.

Are you much cop on the harp by the way?

Lorra love-UZ-2.xx

Comment is about Conversations With An Angel (blog)

Original item by Dave Dunn

Gosh you changed the tack of this so well Ann..

enjoyed it..x

Comment is about With peacocks at kew (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hi Richard, you might like this - http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/newsgroupview.php?NewsGroupsID=33&NewsThreadsID=1235#msgcontent_15002 Winston

Comment is about C Richard Miles (poet profile)

Original item by C Richard Miles

Nice one, Ann, enjoyed this. Totally unexpected ending which is good. xx

Comment is about With peacocks at kew (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

I love it too! (And me other 'alf larfed...)

Comment is about Research (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

I love your poem about your father. It is just how we should remember our parents - if we were amongst the lucky ones to have parents like this. Your picture of your father is a great tribute to him.Well done and thank you for sharing it with us. xx

Comment is about For I will Praise My Father (blog)

To celebrate sport's soccer world cup
Every young man I fear has his flag up
In this prime football season
This request shows no reason -
The Doctor's, in fact, made a 'cock-up'.

Comment is about Research (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

What a great project. Thank you for all the hard work behind the scenes that brought it into being. Win

Comment is about Imagine, a poem in every shop (article)

Original item by Julian Jordon

With the limeric wot you have written
I am quite inexplicably smitten
Though the thought drives me frantic
Of their bedtime antics
By the limeric bug I've been bitten.

Comment is about Two Limericks for Janet and Phil (blog)

These words were created by taking one of my existing texts and translating it into French and back to English using Google Translate. Then into Greman and Irish. Then edited. (This process has been called Hyena poetry). Win

Reposted by request

Comment is about solemnity (blog)

Original item by Winston Plowes

In my teaching experience, children of all ages loved to do poetry 'classes'. They enjoyed learning about standard 'forms', reading poems appropriate to their age group and interests, either personally or aloud to a group, and then, especially writing their own ideas. It took remarkably little encouragement to set their creative fires alight. I still have 'samples' of their work that please me today to reread. Poetry should be part of the English curriculum, even for five-year-old's. But, seriously, so much depends on the teacher's personal enthusiasm, accurate knowledge and skills in motivation. Most teachers would benefit from some official 'poetry-teaching' seminars. Many of our current educators were deprived of poetry exposure in a vital, inclusive way.

I think the 'common' Nursery Rhymes still used today are basically a travesty of 'literature', never ever intended for children's consumption. Put them back into the historical, satirical, political arena where they might have been originally 'clever' to the sniggering adult populace.

Comment is about Should five-year-olds be made to learn poems by heart? (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman