Simply that poverty and social problems were not exclusive to the Thatcher era. As is now widely accepted, the so-called 'post-War consensus' was rife with racism, class-distinction and poverty. To attribute these maladies solely to Thatcher is ridiculous. They existed before her and they exist now she has gone (oddly ameliorated, to no small degree).

Comment is about J F Keane (poet profile)

Original item by J F Keane

Hi Shirley - we could do with a bit of that famous "can do" that typifies the American(s) Iknow - some of whom are very blunt about those who they see as dragging them down all the time. Never could understand though why such a freedom-conscious "neighbourly" nation never organised the equivalent of our National Health Service (one of the Labour Party's very greatest achievements). What could be so vital as peace of mind when ill-health strikes?

Comment is about COMPASSION FATIGUE BLUES (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

To visit Souhad's profile: http://www.writeoutloud.net/profiles/suhadhijazi.

Comment is about link

Suhad is a young Palestinian woman currently living in the UK. She has a PhD in translation studies from Manchester University.

Suhad has offered this poem of hers to allow us to pilot this feature on the website. She wrote it in Arabic then provided her own translation, which I have now amended. to see the original, click on <view history. at the top.
I have to say that I was very nervous about amending the translation, as Suhad's English is excellent - obviously, given that she has successfully completed her PhD. However, the point of this experiment is to encourage participation in translation so that we can create a community, or communities, of poets from across linguistic divides.

So please feel free to make any changes you wish to the translation. You will not be seen as criticising her poem but offering ideas and suggestions to it. We shall not lose the original because you have had a go at amending the translation.
You can ask questions of Suhad or make comments in these boxes.
We also hope you offer us comments on the difficulties and challenges of translating and rendering a new version, or the ideas it gives you for your own work.
Thanks for your help and interest.

Comment is about link

Harry,

Thank you and yes - your right it should be more like a sine wave - but kinda tricky to do in a straght text editor and markup code as this one was origionaly! Must get a proper ASCII art program some time. This is more of a bouncing ball realy. I have a look at that competition, thanks.

:)

Roger

Comment is about On Reflection (blog)

Original item by Roger Fizzerton

Good go at a shaped one.

You`d need to curve the top and bottom of it.

Do you know that MAGMA is doing a competition on these?

Comment is about On Reflection (blog)

Original item by Roger Fizzerton

very enjoyable Mr.W.
that 'spectral sun'
is behaving itself very nicely today!
-might dust the bikini off!x

Comment is about The Ghost Of Summer (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

mine is not my best but it said what i felt towards her (i do write political poems however but don't always share them as some are personal).

http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=35910

Comment is about The Iron Lady's funeral blues poems (article)

Thanks Steve, visual poetry is a bit of thing with me, I'm glad you enyoyed it.

:)

Roger

Comment is about On Reflection (blog)

Original item by Roger Fizzerton

What's your point, caller?

Comment is about J F Keane (poet profile)

Original item by J F Keane

It's wonderful to see and read that your writing again Gus. I love this. It resonates.

Comment is about Dark Night (blog)

Original item by Gus Jonsson

Greg, keep these reports coming in. They give us a real insight into what actually goes on at a poetry festival, for those who have yet to visit one. Thank you.

Comment is about Counter-attack: poets with disabilities speak out at festival (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Oh! I see. Sadly this doesn't work if you navigate straight to the blog from the home page. Clever though!

Comment is about On Reflection (blog)

Original item by Roger Fizzerton

So where is the "read more" link. It's not on my page?

Comment is about On Reflection (blog)

Original item by Roger Fizzerton

Larisa,

Thank you for your kind words, I'm very glad it appealed.

:)

Roger

Comment is about On Reflection (blog)

Original item by Roger Fizzerton

Very interesting idea. Love it.

Comment is about On Reflection (blog)

Original item by Roger Fizzerton

The complainers complain
a self-pitying refrain-
'pity me - look at them
they're to blame!'

Comment is about COMPASSION FATIGUE BLUES (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Mark- I think a lot of people claim to have learnt lessons and moved on- yet thousands in power and millions of others remain ignorant of the issues or offensive in their crass attitudes. In your poem repetition has the effect of protest and warranted demands. An injury to one is an injury to all.

Comment is about One Of Us - A Stephen Lawrence Tribute (blog)

Original item by Mark Mr T Thompson

Hmmm it could work both ways Cynthia. I like the idea of 'through' but 'from' puts the emphasis in the past which is where I see it. This may well morph into something more at some point although I like its simplicity.

Comment is about Traces of you (blog)

Original item by Andy Ainsworth

Twenty years ago...dear me it does not seem like so many years.

Comment is about One Of Us - A Stephen Lawrence Tribute (blog)

Original item by Mark Mr T Thompson

Sounds sensible to me, Ian.

Comment is about The Iron Lady's funeral blues poems (article)

Hard hitting and at the same time beautiful. Well said!! Take care, Tony.

Comment is about One Of Us - A Stephen Lawrence Tribute (blog)

Original item by Mark Mr T Thompson

Tom,
For me this recalls a discussion blog by Dave Bradley about poems`putting into words what can`t be put into words` (and a couple of lousy examples I gave) Isobel mentioned the ineffable (which I think it was really about)

This poem is `about` it`s last line...a last line which gets all its force from how the previous lines have led to it.

Leonidas Kazentheos (In a recent blog which has disappeared) gave a quote which drew attention to the way the lead up words in a poem operate in poetry...To me this is a good example.

Comment is about As She Lay Dying (blog)

Original item by Tom Harding

I was very lucky to be present. I always find Cynthia's poetry mesmerising (tho to be honest she has such a captivating presence & voice that she could read the instructions to self assemble bookcase and make it sound lyrical!)

I was hoping she would read the truly wonderful piece that was selected to be in the Best Of Manchester 3 Anthology, so was disappointed when she started by saying her set would be some linked "prosy" pieces.
Oh my... I didn't know what treat lay ahead. If it had been recorded and been broadcast on radio 4 it would have featured in "pick of the week!"

She deftly took us on a magical journey to another place in a flawlessly refined & delivered performance.
I was lucky to be sat with her family who quite rightly ended up sharing tissues to mop up the blubbings!

Cynthia's set was the epitome of poetic artistry and the result of a poet not afraid to break the mold.

I was chuffed to see that Julian had been touched as much as I had :)

I would pay to see her do one woman show. She must!

Comment is about A voyage around her grandfather: Cynthia Buell Thomas at Sale (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Harry, some good suggestions there - I have applied most of them.

Comment is about Cod Consensus (more Myth-Pricking) (blog)

Original item by J F Keane

And who said women are illogical?

Comment is about Wolves (blog)

Original item by Cathy Crabb

Sometimes,
Sometimes in the past I have let myself go
Or, some-time in the past I let myself go,
Let myself become the utterance of others
With malevolent thought and evil grin
And I realized as I picked through the evil smile they wore
That they were jealous but of what took me some time to think,
Thinking now I have the washing machine going around and around
And I have broken three at turbo speed like my mind can sometimes spin
But here I am before the machine as it goes round and round
Twelve hundred revolutions and,
It’s like my mind when the dopamine builds
I’m screaming for the revolution so I know people will
Treat people like people instead of objects
Round and round it goes like the globe that slows in times of war,
It’s just never over, never closer to peaceful ways
And I haven’t always been a soldier,
Haven’t always toted guns to claim a place in history
And though there’s been a victory in the past,
I am last at fathoming my psyche,
It’s tortured,
Torn like gristle prised from meat upon
A bone of weariness, skull shocked and head fucked,
Yet tucked away despite all incoherent fantasy is the belief
We can make the world much better than the rancour
Currently serving dishonour as a flavoured dish,
Dishonour, more like disbelief at actions in the past
Where action in the past stole my placid nature,
Made mockery of the Man that looked upon himself
Within a mirror of distortions, and it’s all distortion
When you sit and think,
It’s a crime living like this,
Schizophrenia is no joke
And I guess I’m tipping my hat my friend,
Tipping my hat like pinching words from Ben Okri –
My only act of plagiarism for the words that woke to all meaning
Of current play today,
We are all merely our ancestors offspring
Still spinning round – six thousand miles per hour
On a globe that’s past its best,
And how do you and I rest,
How do we chase demonic thoughts away
When they plague you in your sleep?
Sit around a campfire,
Strike a bass djembe
And play a chord while discord rocks the world,
Sit around a campfire and play a tune of melancholy
And debate the defeated planet known as Earth?
One life,
One world one people’s one hope
One love one soul one vibrant mechanism
Tapping one simple beat to the rhythm
Of where we used to be -
NATURE; is more than awesome
It is hurt like no-ones ever hurt before,
So hurt and all I can do is cry,
Cry inside at all the mockery we are
And I would love to sit around that campfire
In a world without the concrete jungle we’ve become
Where the new animals that roam are the paedophiles
And gangsters and whom can tell the difference now,
Whom knows whom is who when the world is held
To ransom,
You and I my friend,
We will remain unique even when the waters rise,
And despite their flaccid enquiry of the mind
They’ll never get the picture that nature’s what we’re all about,
They’ll never understand imprisoned in their minds
The conformity of values and norms
And it’s all going to pot my friend and there,
I cannot even smoke a spliff
I’m family I’m bringing up my children but I’m worried,
And it’s not just about the paranoia,

It’s about the failings that we are as humanity
Seeks comfort from his dieing,
There’s too many people congregated together
Making tensions more than high,
And I know they think the walls are all we want
But we don’t,
We want the move to nature so our
Children know the birds and animals,
We want to see the Sun shine and see it in their eyes,
We want to see the sea where dolphins grace
Again the waters that are currently filling up with fungi,
But most of all,
We want the choice of freedom
That has now become the loss,
Too many people congregated together,
Too many people throwing fists and kicking up
A storm for the money they don’t have,
Too many people losing all from what was God,
Too many people filled with tears of sorrow,

You and I will always be unique
Despite the nightmare now our world,
And if in turning back the clocks again
We lose a chance of our own life,
I would grant the Guardians of this world
Those travellers of space,
A chance
To place forevermore the sanctity of mind
Within the human race,
And if I have the power just to make it so,
Then all the suffering would be worth it,
Just to let them know of our mistakes,
The world is a delicate place,
So is the mind,
Peace brother!

Comment is about field (blog)

Original item by SPACEGHOST

J.F.
Dont `get` the last line and disagree with the three lines immediately before it. The first ten lines are undeniable.

I love the workmanlike way you have carved a sonnet out of this...particularly that `paternalism` (it`s not easy)...A tiny quibble in a clearly put poem...shouldn`t that be triple-binds` in line six?

(just a thought: If that black guy is one of those those black doctors we had to import to rescue the N.H.S. then your last line becomes clearer)

Comment is about Cod Consensus (more Myth-Pricking) (blog)

Original item by J F Keane

I don't have a problem with political poetry - or any kind of poetry for that matter - but where it has all become so tedious is that poets from both sides of the argument have attempted to 'ram their viepoint' down the throats of the opposite side - presumably thinking this will change their minds - IT WON'T. If folk would just appreciate that they have a viewpoint - make that point - then move on - it would make for better 'poetic' reading, rather than all the vitriol between posters who are, after all, just poets and people like everyone else. PEACE & LOVE MAN (WOMAN) PEACE AND LOVE
Ian

Comment is about The Iron Lady's funeral blues poems (article)

I'd agree with you Laura - poetry is many things to many people - and there's a place for political poetry in all of that. I've loved hearing your performances over the last 6 months - they are passionate and totally engaging.

What I don't like is our homepage and our poetical ethos becoming a political one. I feel that as a poetry site we should remain above party politics.

I accept that that is a personal opinion though - and that I don't own or represent the site :)

Comment is about The Iron Lady's funeral blues poems (article)

What a cracking poem Simon - loving the imagery and deep sadness that this resonates. Really excellant piece - I reckon I will now go and read some of your back catalogue :-)
cheers
Ian

Comment is about Broken Alone (blog)

Original item by Simon Austin

thanks for the recent comment David - I'm in catch-up mode and notice you've posted a recent blog - so will have a read shortly
cheers
Ian

Comment is about David Blake (poet profile)

Original item by David Blake

Steve
thnaks for commenting on 'class action' much appreciated mate
Ian

Comment is about steve pottinger (poet profile)

Original item by steve pottinger

You make me laugh dear Stefan. I am sure Patricia would never use that word. But... as to the room for two the age doesn't really matter. Now I think I had to put a picture with me on the couch so that everyone would understand the meaning of this haiku. Best wishes my dear friends! Love and hugs, Larisa

Comment is about My Couch (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Hi Mike
Thanks for your words on A Friday morning Bubble.
A sad time for me. Wrote a couple about livng in a bubble. Strange feelings at the time.

Comment is about Mike Hilton (poet profile)

Original item by Mike Hilton

Spot on. I myself have written poems about self pity. A famous comedian once said tell the truth Your Mom was fine, Your Dad was fine, You're just a sh--t head!
Your poem made me laugh.

Thanks,
Shirley

Comment is about COMPASSION FATIGUE BLUES (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

As if there weren't lots of poor, disenfranchised people before Thatcher... 70s Britain was racist, bankrupt and squalid.

Comment is about Dear Margaret (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Wow. Love this. It's epic. so big. So poems are so small but this is so much.thanks rachel

Comment is about go to the woods (relist) (blog)

Original item by Rachel Bond

Is there room for two old farts there Larisa?
nice little poem-thank you.xx

Comment is about My Couch (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

But Isobel - it is a huge thing that has happened. You can't ignore it. And it's not like it'll be up here on this page forever is it? Poetry is all kinds of animal - that's what makes it such a fantastically entertaining art form. You can't say it's 'this' or it's 'that' - it's everything that you can make with words.

Comment is about The Iron Lady's funeral blues poems (article)

Sounds amazing! Wish I could have been there.

Comment is about A voyage around her grandfather: Cynthia Buell Thomas at Sale (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

I like the imagination and the way it gives you time to think of similar situations without drowning your thoughts.

Nice one Pete!

Comment is about A FRIDAY MORNING BUBBLE (blog)

Original item by Pete Slater

No free bus, but your welcome to join us. I've done the drive to Hebdon Bridge for a poetry night before - so guessing that's similar. A journey, but doable.

The company is great, the event free. We'd even film a poet that travelled that far. If you search YouTube and type - merseypoetryscene into the seach bar as one word, you'll find about 9 months worth of poetry filmed from the event.

If you can't make the trip - you might enjoy some of the poetry in a virtual sense from home.

Best

Chris

Comment is about ThePoetry Spoke April - Open floor poetry & Guests (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

Police brutality? I keep seeing the image of a young miner (but was he, I wonder?) launching himself feet first at the unprotected body of a lone constable, apparently heedless of the potential consequences to his target; no doubt just another "uniform"...one of Thatcher's bully boys sent to stop them doing what they wanted. I wonder what would have happened if our troops had been deployed instead of police and used in the way the National Guard are employed in the Land of the Free across the Atlantic.

Comment is about There is No Such Thing as Society (blog)

Original item by Nigel Astell

When I joined Write Out Loud (the site), I thought I was joining a poetry website, not a political one. The whole wording of this article leads me to think otherwise.

I can see why contributions to this thread have been extreme in one direction or the other - that seems to be what we are encouraging. It's not something I like personally. I look to poetry to find beauty - I want it to transcend the everyday, the bitterness, the anger and certainly the party politics. I'm hoping this is just a temporary death induced madness - and that at some point we can get back to what it's all about.

Comment is about The Iron Lady's funeral blues poems (article)

Cheers, Julian and Joy-Amy! That old, bearded bloke? I guess it was the lone trainspotter. Look out for at least a couple more Cheltenham blogs during the week, if my dongle holds out.

Comment is about Beatlemania and Dylanology at poetry festival (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Thank you for your lovely words Greg. It was a relaxed and wistful event and I was glad to be part of it.
x

Comment is about Beatlemania and Dylanology at poetry festival (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Brilliant review Greg (aka old, bearded bloke) reading train poems?). It seems we are missing a fantastic festival. Keep the reports a-coming?

Comment is about Beatlemania and Dylanology at poetry festival (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

You are a master of the sonnet, John; this the tongue in cheek form. So topical too.

Comment is about Cod Consensus (more Myth-Pricking) (blog)

Original item by J F Keane

Oh, thank you dear Solar Winds. I am really blind.
:-)

Comment is about My Couch (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska