Hah...RJ - I'll take that in the spirit in which I hope it is intended.
Inspiration for poems is a fascinating subject in its own right.

Comment is about Anxiety (blog)

Original item by JD Russell

To be frank, I;m just surprised to find anyone on this site who's
prepared to put their head above the parapet on this subject.
JC would certainly come to mind though for his willingness to
debate difficult contentious topics. I remain a monarchist when
considering the alternatives. Besides, didn't we try the other
thing and find ourselves with a Lord Protector who aspired to be monarch? The French Revolution found that it faced having
an Emperor after its blood-letting petered out while fighting a
war with a Britain under the indefatigable leadership of Pitt the
Younger and his champion George the Third? Give me the pomp and pageantry and the tourists with their millions in
various currencies. If they know a good thing, why shouldn;t we take the hint and stick with it? God Save The Bling!" 😊

Comment is about THE RELUCTANT MONARCHIST (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

A lot of beautiful hard work Lisa thank you

Comment is about A little girl that got lost (blog)

Original item by Lisa Harris

It is forgotten in these days of aiming for the "easy targets" that
the Arab nations were (are?!) front runners in the history of
slavery and the horrendous reports of numbers alleged to have
suffered/died in the work commissioned for this World Cup seems
to tally with that history. How else to explain the inhumane
disregard for the well-being of those employed?

Comment is about The Ghosts of Qatar (blog)

Original item by Mike Bartram

Welcome to WOL. I hope you find a home with us to express your poetry.
Keith

Comment is about Jorge Castro Esteban (poet profile)

Original item by Jorge Castro Esteban

Mike,
for those acquainted with the gulf states it is a fact that most labourers come from the subcontinent, paid substandard wages and given substandard accommodation by a state which is one of the wealthiest on earth. They are also treated as sub humans because of race or religion. These days of affluence will soon come to an end and the states of that region are in for hard times as they have not invested in a future alternative to oil. Then the boot will be on the other foot.
Thank you for this
Keith

Comment is about The Ghosts of Qatar (blog)

Original item by Mike Bartram

John,
This poem sums up my feelings on the past, present and future. The second stanza says it all. The past is over and done with. To revisit it has little value apart from learning from past mistakes. The future is not ours to know or determine. We are only left with the present moment in which we can make a difference and act positively.
Thank you for this
Keith

Comment is about History is Bunk (blog)

Original item by John Botterill

A captivating & thought provoking write.

Comment is about A little girl that got lost (blog)

Original item by Lisa Harris

Thank you for commenting Helene, Keith, Ulilleam, M.C. John B & John C (yes, the nip test is always a good gauge!). Glad you thought it worthy.
And for all the likes! 🌈🌷🌷

Comment is about Family Tree (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

Thanks Keith. Lovely comment! 👍

Comment is about An Elegy from a Malton Graveyard (blog)

Original item by John Botterill

Thanks John (Botterill) so good of you to point out what its strengths are. 🌷🌷🌷

Comment is about where might you be? (blog)

Original item by Red Brick Keshner

Thank you so much, Keith and John, your comments mean a lot! 😎😊

Comment is about Surf... (blog)

Original item by Holden Moncrieff

Brilliant Holden. Sheer class! 😎

Comment is about Surf... (blog)

Original item by Holden Moncrieff

I love your use of contrasts and your control of language, Frederick. 💪

Comment is about where might you be? (blog)

Original item by Red Brick Keshner

Rose,
the wrong doings of Prince A
the Princess Di conspiracy theories
The Crown
all fall within that category “Disinterest” for me.

Comment is about THE RELUCTANT MONARCHIST (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

The embrace of nature is a true kiss.
Thank you for this
Keith

Comment is about Cocooned (blog)

Original item by Hélène

A two edged sword indeed.
Thank you for this
Keith

Comment is about Surf... (blog)

Original item by Holden Moncrieff

John, although I love you to bits matey and would never be disrespectful to you, can I ask you if your last line translates as being what you are reluctant to be while stories like the one I read about today that the so-called Andrew shunners Anne and Edward have been supporting Prince Paedo at a shooting party-
( bloody hypocrites! ) are going about?

one of the other news reports that does it for me was the one stating that the time of Dianas death crash in the Parisian underpass all the traffic cameras were switched off

REALLY?

all these kind of iffy stories in my opinion do not rate any kind of trust or respect in ANY of the Buckingham brigade dead or alive-see episodes of The Crown for suspicious details!

any disagreement to my opinion and I'll meet you at-
Bosworth! 😃





Rose 💋

Comment is about THE RELUCTANT MONARCHIST (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks it seems hope joins it all up , and provides the glue

Comment is about hOPe (FuLly) (blog)

Original item by Edbreathe

KJ has a point. It's easy to go off on a tangent when there are
inter-connecting issues. I will close my own comments by
acknowledging a recognition of climate change as an event
to be confronted - with a wry smile at the name of Al Gore
(best known instigator of the above) in the list of Trustees of the
World Economic Forum. Who'd have thought it? 😏

Comment is about BIG JUD ET AL (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

This poem sums up well the words "Rest in Peace". When life is over only then do we find orderliness and dignity.
Thank you for this
Keith

Comment is about An Elegy from a Malton Graveyard (blog)

Original item by John Botterill

I think you rate a poem on several counts😂😂😂

Comment is about Anxiety (blog)

Original item by JD Russell

Thank you, John. Yes, the sheer number of people sleeping on cold streets is shocking and more must be done.

Graham - You raise an important point. I respect your experience and the work that you do and I am not naive enough to think that all the people on the streets are wonderful human beings. There is no doubt that a certain number, though surely not the vast majority, of rough sleepers (helped by such support from you and other fine people like Rose's Gran and Granddad) feel unable or unwilling to be 'reintegrated' into society. However, many such people could have severe physcological and other problems which may make 'normal' society seem a very forbidding place. I believe that, deep down, very few people would prefer this life, which is degradingly awful and often violent, to living in a flat or a house. It seems to me that we need to give everyone the opportunity to start again. But thanks for raising this point, Graham. It shows that the issue is complicated and that there are no simple answers.

Thanks for your reaction, Rose. Your grandparents do marvellous work.

And thanks to John C for the like.

Comment is about Rough Sleeper (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

Lovely poetry, Stephen. Out of the mouths of babes and suckling, eh? 😂

Comment is about Family Tree (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

Thanks Keith. This is an anthem for our times. This poem rings very true for us all. 👍

Comment is about I need to see clearly now (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

A brilliant, imaginative, perceptive poem, Stephen. And it is true. We do ignore the suffering in our midst! 💪

Comment is about Rough Sleeper (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

Great idea, Helene. I may try that! 😀

Comment is about Nap Time (blog)

Original item by Hélène

I remember showing the kids when they were little how you can tell someone's age by pinching the skin on the back of their hand. Theirs reverted to flat immediately, so fast you couldn't see it. These days mine takes a fortnight to subside!

Comment is about Family Tree (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

Any digression of yours is always welcome, Kevin.

Comment is about BIG JUD ET AL (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

As ever the thread of comments has gone off-track, and now have lost all relevance to the original piece.
This was about the colourful characters that John came into contact with, who happened to work at the coalboard.
Whether or not we should be using fossil fuels is a different matter.
Sorry if I aided the digression.

Comment is about BIG JUD ET AL (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

AND! if I may add! judging these people just by looking at them is a MASSIVE NO! NO! in my books

as in-ewww look at that pissed up scruffy b******d!

( me ) oh yes you mean the guy who has ended up having to drink nine litres of cider a day just to keep all the horrific things he's seen out of his memory while serving his country ( that has s**t on him ) in Afghanistan , yes, I CAN see him-can you!?

OBVIOUSLY F*****G NOT!!!!




Rose 💋

Comment is about Rough Sleeper (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

So you don’t think it’s worth doing anything then, MC?

Comment is about BIG JUD ET AL (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

I have had some hands-on experience with homeless/rough sleepers via the winter night shelter for a few years here.
It never ceased to amaze me how resolute in sticking to their (chosen) lifestyle some of them were. Most were happy with the ability to get hot food and a shower/toilet etc before almost gladly going out into the new morning following a safe night and a decent breakfast. Few wanted to get back into society as such. A very chastening experience for me.

Comment is about Rough Sleeper (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

A nice sideways look, Helène. I like the idea of the windows of a house being like eyes.

Comment is about Nap Time (blog)

Original item by Hélène

Thank you for your most interesting and heartening comments, Keith, Rose, Helène and Uilleam. Whenever I see someone on the street with their head sticking out of a sleeping bag, I try to remember that this is a real person with their own life and memories.

Rose - your Gran and Granddad are doing a great job and your poem did justice to them. Keith - I understand that there are many ex-servicemen out there, something which should make us ashamed. Uilleam - I agree that things are unlikely to get better, sadly. Compassion is a fine quality, Helène. Thank you.

And thanks to Steve, Stephen, Rudyard, K Lynn and Bethany for supporting this poem.

Comment is about Rough Sleeper (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

Thank you Stephen, Greg and Uilleam. People are afraid of the dark places. 'It is life and strength, not knowledge and words, that we get in them. Holy wisdom is not clear and thin like water, but thick and dark like blood.' (CS Lewis)


“That was their way, their heathenish hope; deep in their hearts they remembered hell.”
― Seamus Heaney, Beowulf

Comment is about Towards the year's midnight (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

A charming mix of a life lived and fond cross-generational humour.

Comment is about Family Tree (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

An intriguing observational foray into the realm of human
behaviour. I was in a local cafe the other day, collecting an online delivery that hadn;t found me at home ( altho' I was indoors
waiting!) and was amused to note how my appearance and
actions attracted the attention of the occupants at the cafe
tables. I wonder if I might rate a poem? 😃

Comment is about Anxiety (blog)

Original item by JD Russell

"Aren't doing much..."? I think that's a kind way of putting a policy that sees an opposite behaviour to that which we are told we
must follow. And I would recognise the reality that fossil fuels
cannot be discarded "to order" to our own cost while other
nations are used to supply what we have under our own feet.
I saw a good joke recently of a coal-filled tipper truck setting off
to supply the means to power the electric cars we hear so much
about. It provided its own value: a chuckle and a dose of timely
reality.

Comment is about BIG JUD ET AL (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

A lovely thought-short and sweet, as the best ones often are!💐

Comment is about Payment. (blog)

Original item by Jordyn Elizabeth

How true.
The hypocrisy is rampant.....it ought to be noted that many elements of the rabble-rousing homphobic, racist dog-whistling gutter press, who have been most vocal in condemning "sports personalities" on this matter, have themselves been celebrating the securing of "deals" with various Qatari authorities.

Comment is about The Ugly Game (blog)

Original item by Mike Bartram

Never the same pattern

As in life the moment passes

I like that; looking up at the clouds, or into a stream, never seeing exactly the same pattern - and yet there is a pattern?

Comment is about The Stream (blog)

Original item by Emma-Jane Stradling

It's not how we perceive the reality 

It's how we accept it and determine it 

How true.

Comment is about Miracles do happen (blog)

Original item by Ghazala lari

"Those creases are like the circles 

within a wonderful tree!

It shows how long I've been around

How long that I've been me!"

I love that.

Comment is about Family Tree (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

I've got the window open now, fresh air mixed with the sounds of a manic motorway nearby, while I try to make sense of the online world at my fingertips.

I sometimes have a nap time in the pub-when I've had too much amber nectar!😊

Comment is about Nap Time (blog)

Original item by Hélène

As a true witch should. She's swirling her feet and echoing, echoing a true heart’s beat.
We’re close to the secrets that grow from the roots, 

A shame that the name "witches" should have had such negative connotations throughout history.
Those who are closer to the truth of the natural world, who speak truth to power, are persecuted by the powerful.

Comment is about Towards the year's midnight (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

It's not going to get any better; public social services and mental health services are being deliberately destroyed so as to enrich private "entrepreneurs", while charities pick up the pieces-if theyre lucky.

Comment is about Rough Sleeper (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

I’m not sure that because some countries such as China aren’t doing much, that all other countries should do nothing. You’re not suggesting that are you, MC?

Comment is about BIG JUD ET AL (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Again that air of calm you instill into your poems Helene-lovely!

Us Brits call your nap time-cat nap and it is such a nice way of recharging ones batteries. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz followed by-

a nice cup of tea to round it off 👍




Rose 💋

Comment is about Nap Time (blog)

Original item by Hélène

' no more rolling down hills Helene!? ' what!? look, all you need to do is lie down and roll or sledge twelve inches from the bottom in that way you are still keeping up with and retaining your youthful practices albeit in a scaled down way! 😁



Rose 💋

Comment is about House to House (blog)

Original item by Hélène