I enjoyed the history lesson and the poem, John. XX

Comment is about Their Finest Hour (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

I never spotted it was a triolet.
And a neat one too.

Comment is about In depths of darkness out of doors (blog)

Original item by Marnanel Thurman

Marvellous, MC. I can hear Khatchach, Kacht, Kactha, Kattaturina,
The Onedin Line playing in the background.

Comment is about SAILING DAYS (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Can't help you with the axe and tumble line until I have a clearer understanding for what it's about. I liked the axe and tumble cos it fits in with the idea of medieval fighting. I don't understand what the unfamiliar constructins are though, so that is the bit that I would change.

And now I've read everyone's comments I realise that I was probably totally adrift with my earlier interpretation. Is the battle about two different religious beliefs?

You don't have to answer that one - it might break your rules :)

Comment is about As It Is (blog)

I'm writing my comment without reading all that went before, cos that's the way I prefer it.

To me the poem is about the battle of life - the cards all being loaded from the offset.

It's not easy to understand but I like it very much. I like the medieval imagery - the savagery of it all

The gods wag their fingers
yet the sky stands still.

Regardless of what is right or wrong, we can't change our essential selves. It could mean anything of course - but that will do for me :)

Comment is about As It Is (blog)

Beautiful!

Comment is about SAILING DAYS (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

I'm slightly worried what you're doing with this whisk. It's helping you lose a lump in your throat?? Fun poem.

Comment is about The blend of old and new (blog)

Original item by Alison Smiles

Said with commendable brevity, John. Like it. ('Cept I've now got ONE-2-3-4, ONE-2-3-4, ONE-2-3-4-ONE stuck in my head..!)

Comment is about Their Finest Hour (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

I agree with the others- i enjoyed the movement here- i can almost hear the accompanying guitar chords.

Comment is about SAILING DAYS (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

By 1807 the Napoleonic War had become a stalemate. The French had defeated the armies of Austria and Prussia at Austerlitz and Jena, and had control of virtually all mainland Europe. The British had destroyed the combined French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar and controlled the seas. What this meant was that Britain could not invade Europe because its army was no match for the French whilst the French could invade Britain because any invading force would be destroyed in the Channel by the Royal Navy.

Attention turned to neutral Denmark; specifically, to its navy.

The British, acting on intelligence that the French intended to invade Denmark to seize its fleet in order to address its naval disadvantage, decided to impound “for safe keeping” the Danish fleet. Denmark resisted, seeing this as a threat to its neutrality and an insult to its national integrity.

Britain sent a small fleet of its own to take the Danes’, by force if necessary. Denmark refused to surrender and the British fleet, along with a land force, bombarded Copenhagen which lay in its path to the Danish fleet.

After a number of days of cannonade, rocketry and shelling the Danes, recognising the futility of further resistance, surrendered the city and fleet.

Britain’s actions were successful and, in view of the fact that the French arrived days later, it can be argued, strategically justified. But it was not their finest hour.

Comment is about Their Finest Hour (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

I enjoyed this & agree with Neil, the two lines are excellent.

Comment is about As It Is (blog)

Thanx for credit Gus and great review, amusingly written, great to see you mate, I have to say I really enjoyed the night yours Effin n Jeffin!

Comment is about REVIEW - WOL 'Ring of Bells' Middleton (blog)

Original item by Gus Jonsson

(Nearly forgot to mention!)I really don't know why my original profile and sample poem disappeared..but then I am pretty hopeless with computers, due to lack of experience. (Oh what a sheltered life I have lived:) !!!!)

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Dear Ann,
Thank you so much for your lovely, warm welcome to WOL - that - and your comments really lifted my flagging ego. Thank you! x

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hello Lynn,
thank's so much for your positive feedback on my poem! I really love "teardrops in my coffee" and have felt the same, occasionally but could never describe it as perfectly and poignantly as you. Thank you :)

Comment is about Lynn Dye (poet profile)

Original item by Lynn Dye

Hi MC - have to say I enjoyed all the ripostes to my poem, but I decided against posting another riposte as no one wants it to go on forever!
But if any good has come out of it, I now walk on the left of the towpath and allow loads of room for cyclists coming up behind. :))
The main problem with mooring a boat, though, is that you actually need the whole width of a towpath to moor it, so I would only ask that cyclists remember this. (By the way, it was others who were apoplectic, not me! haha.)
As for your little ditty about cyclists wanting highways and byways, I would be completely all for it!!

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Superb poem, MC, really enjoyed it, and a very fitting tribute. x

Comment is about SAILING DAYS (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Beautiful.

Comment is about In depths of darkness out of doors (blog)

Original item by Marnanel Thurman

I agree with Stella. Love the closing lines especially.

Comment is about Sunday Evening (blog)

Original item by Tom Harding

Thank you for the kind comments.

Ray - ammunition to be sectionned.

Comment is about Inception (blog)

Original item by Marianne Daniels

Thanks to you all for the kind comments. Jack
had a love of the sea in younger days. These
lines are a memorial to that time - and one
particular holiday when we sailed from
Lymington to Dartmouth, Devon - and back.
I recall that "pass the bucket" was routinely
heard!!

Comment is about SAILING DAYS (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

oh bugger...you got me good!

Comment is about The blend of old and new (blog)

Original item by Alison Smiles

I do enjoy these moment pieces Tom..you slice a piece of life so well here..and yes the clouds do pass. :)

Comment is about Sunday Evening (blog)

Original item by Tom Harding

This is such an uplifting tribute MC..very spiritual and I loved it. :)

Comment is about SAILING DAYS (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

I would have prefer not to know the context, because much of the fun is in the interpretation. For me this was about the battle with the different sides of the same self, the continual duel between the dark voice and the conformist. For what it's worth I think I'd move away from the questions.
Stanza 3 is a bit too explanatory for me. Maybe start it with;

Warrior names of sentence length.

Love the last two lines.

Comment is about As It Is (blog)

nah keep the or lol. :)

Comment is about Music (blog)

Original item by Glyn Pope

I think this is bloody great Glyn...you know something though..I do not think you really need the 'or' as the disconnected 'r' does the same for me..whatchathink? :)

Comment is about Music (blog)

Original item by Glyn Pope

Thank you Glyn for searching me out! :)

Comment is about Glyn Pope (poet profile)

Original item by Glyn Pope

Cynthia...firstly sorry to be so late with my thanks of your lovely comments of the confusion of Mary M. Very much apprecisated. This is the first looking at religion write I have done..I have no idea why but there it is. I performed this for the first time this week and it seemed to go down ok! Again thanks for your time. :)

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

ello and sorry to have been so long in replying..my head is full of half lines that just won't join together lol...and yes I doodle of sorts..I work with wax and also do floristry..(I am a very, very mature student struggling with a diploma a present lol) I am sure the words will arrive eventually..

Comment is about Richie Muster (poet profile)

Original item by Richie Muster

Sorry for taking so long to thank you for the comments on the confussion of Mary M. Andy..very much appreciated... :)

Comment is about Andy N (poet profile)

Original item by Andy N

Thanks, Alison, Andrew and Steve - yes, I did write it! Is it that bad? One of my daughters was going out with a Hare Krishna so in anticipation of a discussion that never actually materialised, I read a bit of The Bhagavad Gita, also called As It Is.
I don't care much for this bit

unfamiliar constructions

await the axe and tumble

so if anyone has suggestions?

I see what you mean about that 3rd verse, Andrew, maybe it needs be in a poem on that subject instead!

Comment is about As It Is (blog)

Gus, you are such a wag. Had me in stitches. Well done Rob, too, for fueling this rather ribald reflection.

Comment is about REVIEW - WOL 'Ring of Bells' Middleton (blog)

Original item by Gus Jonsson

Your third verse seems to suggest this might be the battle that ensues as we try to write words down on a page.

Comment is about As It Is (blog)

I enjoyed this. Leaves you with a question as to what the battle is about, and it more than floats the suggestion that slogging it out is pointless. Particularly liked the last verse.

Comment is about As It Is (blog)

*minutes*

Comment is about REVIEW - WOL 'Ring of Bells' Middleton (blog)

Original item by Gus Jonsson

Thank you for once again a glowing review of my "performance". I haven't got the vocabulary to match your rather very good poetic verse, but I enjoyed the evening and yes, the 15 mintues did go very quickly for me and it was a darn better "spotlight" for me at Middleton than the one nearly 2 years ago. But then, certain persons where not in attendance.


Thank you Guss :-)

Comment is about REVIEW - WOL 'Ring of Bells' Middleton (blog)

Original item by Gus Jonsson

Sorry I missed this evening Gus.

Comment is about REVIEW - WOL 'Ring of Bells' Middleton (blog)

Original item by Gus Jonsson

I can almost taste the salty sea and the rush of the wind in my hair.
I love your poem and I am sure your family will cherish this elegy to your brother in law Jack..well done x

Comment is about SAILING DAYS (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Very appropriate memorial, M.C. (Beautifully finished off)

Comment is about SAILING DAYS (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

This is a fab show! I saw it in Manchester, it's amazing... Vibrant imagination plus stark reality and poetry all magicked together into proper theatre - entertaining, thought provoking and truly moving. You'll feel proper daft if you miss it.

Review is about Dominic Berry's WIZARD on 3 May 2012 (event)

Nearly missed this,

An enjoyable and witty recitation of the effects we would feel if you`d only written the poem.

(But - in a way - you have written the poem)

Comment is about This is the poem (blog)

Original item by Marnanel Thurman

hi........no need to thank me......as yours surpasses mine............what i love about this poem is the third person omniscient narrator style...........which makes it sound like an eopic story of a woman that has had many loves and experiences in love.......it creates a relationship between the reader and the men and the poet........i think i will now try and write my own, third person omniscient poem of women and love......thanks

Comment is about For Whom To Fish Or Hunt (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

I think the first and last verses are very good. I'm less impressed with the 2nd.
I'm maybe being a bit dim but I can't quite make sense of this

After the party, your deflated balloons

have more in common than the years' full moons

with these once magnificent rising orbs.


And the gravity/ brevity rhymes seem at odds with the rest.

Comment is about Breasts (blog)

Original item by Alison Smiles

hi , i love your poem MY WISHES, it is very much my style, the short stanzas and monosyllabic lexis creates a snappy and straight to the point poem. the paralinguistic form places good emphasis on the differences of WANTS, WISHES and NEEDS, and many of my poems also use this paralinguistic style.

Comment is about Larisa Rzhepishevska (poet profile)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

John,
Believe it or not that poem was the only one that ever got me the girl. Kathy was a young surgeon and a wizard with a scalpel.

YOU BET I KEPT IT IN MY BREECHES!

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

There are many beautiful images. My favourite

She was rough for love,

dragged slate, flint ticked,

a quarry of crashes –

nose, cheek, fractures of kisses

a lost eyelash singed

I do have trouble piecing all the parts together, though."ammunition for section" - don't get that at all, for example.
fever sped,

Comment is about Inception (blog)

Original item by Marianne Daniels

A great piece Gus. It had me chuckling - especially 'and not a dry cake in the house'.

Comment is about REVIEW - WOL 'Ring of Bells' Middleton (blog)

Original item by Gus Jonsson

Nick - What is this proper poetry of which you speak?

Isobel.I certainly do welcome honest critique. There isn't enough of it on WOL!No problem at all with your comments. Elsewhere, folk have felt that the harrumph line is "too good to lose" but the preceding trunk line is not so good.

Cynthia.The poem wasn't meant to be funny but now, with the benefit of some distance, I can see that it veers that way in the 2nd half.

Comment is about The Vapours (blog)

Hurrah for the triolet! Well done TT. XX

Comment is about In depths of darkness out of doors (blog)

Original item by Marnanel Thurman