Very moving and well written, Ian.

Comment is about No Coin For The Ferryman (blog)

Original item by Ian Gant

Are you on liz's barge?

Comment is about Lullaby of the River (blog)

Original item by Lynn Dye

Reminded me of 2 of betjeman's - pershore station and remorse. Top quality again, ian.

Comment is about No Coin For The Ferryman (blog)

Original item by Ian Gant

Alanna,
Nice, spare, use of unfamiliar place-names and fauna and the windier side of Barbados to pay tribute to a person,

It`s a good contrast with your -equally spare -
and earlier `Stunned` which is impressively intimate (and which I somehow missed)

Keep `em comin`

Comment is about The Whisper of Miss El (blog)

Original item by Alanna Rice

title and first few lines sucked me right in.

Comment is about Love The Cage (blog)

Original item by Kealan Coady

Buy a map. You may have to travel!

Good luck finding a new one, though with only one filling perhaps you won't need to. You obviously have strong teeth. Or you are very young!!

Thank you for the welcome.

Comment is about Karen Robinson (poet profile)

Original item by Karen Robinson

Thanks Isobel.No, "you" is correct. She is extraordinary, I'm just a stupid twat who got lucky.

Thanks Steve. Yeah, but is there a better word than forgery that rhymes with extraordinary?
I saw the 2nd half of the JCC programme. I think I'll try and watch the whole thing on iplayer. I enjoy his stuff better when he slows down a bit - the way he performs Beasley Street these days is a travesty.

Thanks Harry. Bairns as peacemakers - yes, it does sound unlikely. I mean in the sense that couples are less likely to part if there are children to consider."Forgery" is ambivalent, I suppose, but there's a nod at "reproduced" in the first line.

Comment is about Wigwam (blog)

Within some italian families it was still the tradition to place a coin in the mouth of a deceased relative to pay the ferryman who took their soul from this world to that other dark place.Today here in Yorkshire it rains heavily and it took me back to that other June day when much loved my Mother died.ICG

Comment is about No Coin For The Ferryman (blog)

Original item by Ian Gant

I missed this first time round, Alanna. It is wonderfully evocative and atmospheric. I agree, change it not. As interesting as Alan's ideas are, that would be a different poem.
Long time no see.

Comment is about The Whisper of Miss El (blog)

Original item by Alanna Rice

Hello Win - it seems that sporting poetry is something of a Cinderella interest but some of those written over the years are worth finding. I have a book devoted to the genre - once owned by an elder sister who made a gift of it to me some years ago. Some of the older fox hunting poems would make today's PC advocates writhe in exquisite agony now that the fox is a Disney demi-god in modern sensibilities. The realities of the ravages of a hen-house are easily ignored by the city dweller.
Cheers...MC

Comment is about Winston Plowes (poet profile)

Original item by Winston Plowes

Thank you all for your comments, gave me lots to think and reflect on..I'm feeling that I may leave it in its current state - the poem is pretty much true to the flow of thoughts I had on the bus, and there is something interesting about that.
Thanks again.

Comment is about The Whisper of Miss El (blog)

Original item by Alanna Rice

Ray,
My fault (with this one) for being slow to `get` it - the clues are all there and they all appertain to the subject - it`s got a nice `whole` feel to it.

I`m fascinated by line three ( bairns as peacemakers?) Your `extraordinary` - for me -hints at thanks and admiration and the `forgery` (given the `we foster`) as a joke.

It`s all a case of aptly off-kilter words saying things in a thought provoking way, as Aristotle said (all right he was Greek)

Comment is about Wigwam (blog)

Superb interview. Excellent set of questions. I am somewhat reeling from being told by my erstwhile daughter in law, who is a second year English undergraduate and wannabe teacher, that she 'hates' poetry and has, so far managed to avoid it in her undergraduate studies.

Like, blimey, how does that happen?

Anyway, thanks for a fab read.

Comment is about The Write Out Loud interview: Kenneth Steven (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

What a hard act to follow...

Comment is about Mr Gabardine Man (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Hypnotically lovely!
Happy blue cruising!.xx

Comment is about Lullaby of the River (blog)

Original item by Lynn Dye

Self-revelatory villain 'ell? It will never stand up in court. It's not only hard rain that's gonna fall. I wrote about this subject for one of the Sunday papers: Exhibitionism, the pull-out supplement.

Comment is about Mr Gabardine Man (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

I'd be tempted to change the 'you' to 'us' in the penultimate line.

Children are a kind of cement. I imagine it must be hard when they've all flown to still find that momentum - most of us don't get that far :) I like the subtle undertones in this.

Comment is about Wigwam (blog)

:O I'm hoping this isn't autobiographical - my thoughts are with you...

Comment is about Mr Gabardine Man (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Apologies for the delay Cynthia I've been having some bad headaches from some meds. Don't worry about the crit, you're right, it was a rush of blood and passion upon reading the one you did for Fatima. I would like to send you a copy of The Dreaded Boy anyway so please email me an address to send it to you at caducus2004@yahoo.com

Enjoy the w/e

Ant
x

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Your parodies are obviously not a 'flash'in the pan. You've done it again!! great fun teehee.XX

Comment is about Mr Gabardine Man (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Oo er - I've come over all patriotic - I've a mind to go and buy myself a union Jack mini dress, a la Gerry Halliwell... or maybe I've had to much to drink :) A good antidote to all the knockers, MC. All the kids, in all the schools have a had a really lovely day today. There isn't much that unites us nowadays - it's nice to celebrate something that does!

Comment is about JUBILEE JOY - welcoming our guests (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Hi MC, thx for the comments. I'm afraid I am too young to remember Frank "Typhoon" Tyson but the Hampshire burr of John Arlott is timeles and thankfully lives on in the TMS link I posted in the blog comments. Have a listen and you will hear the lines of the found poem spoken by the master. Oh and do see if you can post up your Compton/Richie Benaud piece. Win

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

And all who sail in her.

Comment is about JUBILEE JOY - welcoming our guests (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Hi Larisa, I like this poem, and so glad that you are recovering, and hope you continue to do so. xx

Comment is about On The Photo In The Newspaper (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Good tribute, MC, well done.

Comment is about JUBILEE JOY - welcoming our guests (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Rhythm is such a valuable constituent of good poetry, even blank or free verse, in my view. I sometimes find myself listening to open-mic poets reading their own work who don't bring out the rhythm that I can hear in their work. It's as if they don't hear it. Rhythm helps the listener to hear and anticipate. Vital in oral poetry, as most folks' aural memory is not strong, so listeners are always a few syllables behind the reader/performer. I have no idea why, but I am convinced that rhythm helps. I do think that rap and similar stuff works with youngsters for that reason.

Comment is about The Write Out Loud interview: Kenneth Steven (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

@Harry: I like to play with words, I bend them, I twist them, I play with them as a child would play with a fly in a glass jar - pulling off a wing or two.
PURPOSE is used ironically and is meant as a consequence of the existence of the thing itself (there is no purpose)
KINK is the emergence of humanity, that as of yet is a solitary event. This event is the 'kink' in the time-line.
I agree with you on BILLION TRILLION as awkward, I thought so even as I wrote it, but used it to remind me of the need for a replacement.

@Graham: Thanks- I think therefore I thank.

@Yvonne: Thanks, but I'm not complaining. :o)

Comment is about Yvonne Brunton (poet profile)

Original item by Yvonne Brunton

@Harry: I like to play with words, I bend them, I twist them, I play with them as a child would play with a fly in a glass jar - pulling off a wing or two.
PURPOSE is used ironically and is meant as a consequence of the existence of the thing itself (there is no purpose)
KINK is the emergence of humanity, that as of yet is a solitary event. This event is the 'kink' in the time-line.
I agree with you on BILLION TRILLION as awkward, I thought so even as I wrote it, but used it to remind me of the need for a replacement.

@Graham: Thanks- I think therefore I thank.

@Yvonne: Thanks, but I'm not complaining. :o)

Comment is about extract of thought (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Dentistry...now there's a thought. Welcome to W O L Karen. Tommy
PS I have been told today that my Dentist's practice is to close at end of June- any advice?
PPS I have only one filling.

Comment is about Karen Robinson (poet profile)

Original item by Karen Robinson

Hi Larisa
Very pictorial.
You set yourself a high goal in writing in a foreign language. Keep writing - You are far more successful at writing in english than we would ever be trying to write in Ukrainian.
Good luck to your country in the forthcoming Euro Football Championships and I hope you continue to recover.

Comment is about On The Photo In The Newspaper (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

An antidote to the sneering.
The knighthood's in the post.

Comment is about JUBILEE JOY - welcoming our guests (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Tommy,
Agree that it`s a fine first stanza.

`Purpose` takes for granted an end game and therefore a direction (and a director?) And a `kink` - even in a continuum - is a discrete event.

The awe inspiring `across eternity` `billion trillion` and `nano second` is out of kilter
with the intentionality of `purpose`.

And Yvonne,
Don`t be so humble! Google is harvesting millions of presences all over the world, (together with their sales potential) and that technology has only just started. Rest assured that `creation` won`t have any registration problems.

Comment is about extract of thought (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

broom broom!

Comment is about Yvonne Brunton (poet profile)

Original item by Yvonne Brunton

Hi John.
yes, my knickers know what you mean about elastic.

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

When I was a boy in the 50s I was the proud owner of the Picture Post (remember it?) photobook of the tests in Australia when Frank "Typhoon" Tyson struck fear into their batsmen. These lines remind me of those halcyon days of this essentially English sport when the Hampshire burr of John Arlott told us all was well with the world. Happy days. I have a few lines I wrote in praise of Denis Compton/Richie Benaud. I must post them some day.

Comment is about A Garland of White Roses (blog)

Original item by Winston Plowes

Hey - was this timed to coincide with Bob Dylan getting his Presidential Medal of Freedom? He could have sung your version to Obama and proved to his fans that he was still the anti-establishment icon he used to be as Obama snatched the medal back! :-) Another inspired piece from a master mickey-taker.

Comment is about Mr Gabardine Man (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Hello Yvonne. Glad you liked my twangy thing. Unfortunately the ageing process seem to have perished the elastic these days.

Comment is about Yvonne Brunton (poet profile)

Original item by Yvonne Brunton

Hello MC. Thankyou for your comments on The Three Hulats and The Cart Belongs to Paddy.
A hulat is, rather disappointingly, a young owl; but I prefer the menace of interpretation of not knowing!

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Thanks for your comment on The Three Hulats, Martin. A hulat, rather disappointingly, is a young owl.

Comment is about Richie Muster (poet profile)

Original item by Richie Muster

Thank you all.

Great point Harry. It's not all about rhyme - perhaps rythm is the thing I talk about when I speak of flow? Certain combinations of words flow, whether or not they rhyme. Others clunk click like a Jimmy Saville seatbelt advert. I think, in all honesty, that the future does belong to free verse. The hard thing is finding the formula for good free verse - so much of it is by feel.

Comment is about The Write Out Loud interview: Kenneth Steven (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Great first verse Tommy. A thinker!

Regards, Graham

Comment is about extract of thought (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Thanks for the feedback Greg. A bit disturbing to write too. Graham

Comment is about Greg Freeman (poet profile)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Yvonne, many thanks for your kind feedback on my last couple of poems. It is very much appreciated.

Regards,

Graham

Comment is about Yvonne Brunton (poet profile)

Original item by Yvonne Brunton

Isobel, there it had to be you, making me do something that I hardly ever do.
I have qualified the last line as you have suggested (but don't tell anyone, I don't want to be asked to do this too often).

Seriously, thank you very much for the very generous words. It was a very worrying piece to write.

Best regards,

Graham

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

You've done it again Mr Coopey. Absolutely stunning. I think you should send it to Bob. Don't let's talk about footie eh? Cruel world.

Good to see the work again.

Regards,

Graham

Comment is about Mr Gabardine Man (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Good interview Isobel,
To take from it the points about teaching kids the `classical` poets when they are immersed in the modern plethora of sound and visual images:

I sometimes wonder if it might be possible to explain the rhythm and drum constituents of some of the modern popular tunes and relate them to the underlying sounds of some of the old poems. I think in this way the kids might better get the `feel` of what a poems about.

For me the problem seems to be not so much the `chopped up prose` as the lack of rhythm in a lot of it (not rhyme). This seem a shame, as so often what I call the `story` of the poem is undermined.

We have reached the end of a long `shaking up`
process in poetry and - for the sake of general communicability - we should be looking for some more popularly understandable forms of verse.

Comment is about The Write Out Loud interview: Kenneth Steven (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

A really interesting read Isobel, and one I can very much relate to after having taught poetry in schools for many years regardless of national curriculum. I covered all forms of poetry from ballads to Shakespeare, and being Performing Arts trained, often used it as stimulus for drama, dance and music, and the children loved it!
I would say at the end of the day it all comes down to the teacher. If he/she has a love of language in all its forms, and a commitment to pass this love on... then it will happen. If not, then the poor little mites may only come across it as a perfunctory sop to the system, or when a guest speaker of quality such as Kenneth comes into the school.
I can honestly say some of my best memories are the ones of tough Skelmersdale children coming into my classroom punching the air saying " Oh yes! It`s poetry today!"
Cate xx

Comment is about The Write Out Loud interview: Kenneth Steven (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Thank you so much my dear friends for your comments, for your advice and for your help. Much appreciated.
With warmest wishes, Larisa

Comment is about On The Photo In The Newspaper (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

yes you are right. Of what importance are we in the great scheme of things? How can creation even register our presence within its own timescale?

Comment is about extract of thought (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

I've just read your comment in the Discussion thread. Wow, that was some sentence. I thought I could rattle on a bit without dipping into my full stop tin but that was pretty good. I am, however, dismayed by the thought of a technical god causing you some erectile distress although this is tempered by the somewhat cheering image of you racing, full throttle, into an unknown landscape in an open-top roadster, scarf rippling in a macho Dick Dastardly meets Isadora Duncan sort of way (not that I am envisaging it getting caught in the wheel)that signals a devil-may-care insouciance about what may lie over the horizon. XX

Comment is about Tommy Carroll (poet profile)

Original item by Tommy Carroll