Hi Brian - welcome to WOL - great to have you on board!Hope you enjoy taking part in the site.

Comment is about Brian Wake (poet profile)

Original item by Brian Wake

Hi Brutus - or should I call you Juan? Welcome to WOL. Look forward to reading more of your poems on here.

Comment is about Brutus Paulinus (poet profile)

Original item by Brutus Paulinus

I shall echo what Ray has said about the sentiments..also found the reading super too.. :)

Comment is about UNICEF (blog)

Original item by Noetic-fret!

enjoyed and I liked US too from the link

just three lines threw me, where you use motionless with flickering and constantly changing (couldnt get my tongue round metamorphosing!)

Comment is about A distant Memory (blog)

Original item by Brutus Paulinus

Attention all Poets...and WOL Gig Guide/Editorial Dept.
The above information is nearly 3 years out of date..I am a Wirral based Poet and have been reading throughout both The Wirral and The Northwest for sometime now.
I have recently created 'Poets Corner' at Glassfire in Hoylake which meets on the 3rd Tuesday of each month, it is an 'open mic' evening with Guest Poet and Guest Musician plus raffle with proceeds in aid of Clare House - (a local Childrens Charity).
All Poets over 18 are welcome to come along and either read or simply to listen to other performance poets! (other reading venues/events are as follows):
...I am aware of The Poetry Spoke in Liscard.open mic)
The Wirral Ode Show at The Stork Pub in Birkenhead.
The New Brighton Bards at The Magazine Pub.
The Liver Bards of Liverpool (although it is not Wirral)- it is related to The New Brighton Bards.
Tales Around The Fire at Fort Perch Rock New Brighton.
'Poets Corner' at 'Glassfire' in Hoylake (open mic)

There are 2 Poetry Workshops (maybe more) that I know which are Poets A'Hoy of Hoylake contact Judy Ugonna.
and Greasby Poets and Writers at Greasby Library.

These are the only regular Monthly Poetry Events currently on The Wirral..so The Morton Arms and The Riverview events are no longer running!

I suggest any interested parties go to The WOL Gig Guide to get up to date information on all events!

Graham Robinson - poets-corner@hotmail.com or Fbook.

Comment is about Live poetry goes WEEKLY on Wirral - the ‘Poetry Peninsula’ (article)

Cuts that wound.

Comment is about Insult to Injury (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

I have read what is being said about poets and their poems. Personnaly I feel there is a great need for poems in this society cos it brings the romance back into peoples lives, but of course not everybody likes poetry! Only today I took some poetry into work to read and there was a work college who was looking for something to read in break time.... I asked her would she like to read my book of poems? (not mine personnaly of course, another poet)The look that she gave me well!! So not everyone apreciates poems, I dont think some folk understand it and find it boring... To me I feel it brings the imagination out of us. A few times ive been asked why dont I get my own book published?, the first thing I said was.... there's loads of poets out there doing that and no one buys! It would be good for students to study poetry for what it portrays in life and about life in general.

Comment is about The Write Out Loud interview: Fiona Sampson (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Yes, I liked this short one Chris. Because of its word combinations and imagery regardless of any current government policy. Win

Comment is about Insult to Injury (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

I'm not sure if teachers are afraid to teach poetry but I'd be very surprised if this were true. The English teachers always seem to be good, even if it can be hard to get good teachers in other subjects. Teaching is one of the popular careers for English graduates to go for. They have studied poetry and they have great communications skills, as would be expected of English literature graduates. They usually have a love of their subject so they should be able to communicate enthusiasm.

I wasn't sure how many poems from the anthology they studied. The whole anthology would certainly be far more than the amount we had to study in grammar schools when I was a teenager for the poetry part of our O levels. As I remember we studied four poets and a small selection by each, so sixteen poems must be fairly similar. In my day we studied Keats, D H Lawrence, Wilfred Owen and Edward Thomas. No women and no living poets.

My son's class were given a choice to see which part of the anthology they wanted to study. They chose the relationships part, although he wasn't keen as that doesn't really reflect what the poems are like. This section includes Robert Browning's My Last Duchess, which has become one of his favourites, Christina Rossetti, Carol Ann Duffy's 'Valentine' and other wonderful poems.

I think English GCSE teachers would be surprised to hear they're afraid of teaching a subject they've studied and loved for years, and the selection of poems is one I would have liked myself as I really wanted to read women poets and living poets when I was doing GCSE.

Comment is about The Write Out Loud interview: Fiona Sampson (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Dave, the distinction between what is art and what is entertainment has become very blurred over the past century. I don't make proscriptions. The problem is that treating poetry, or any art, as entertainment is lazy. It does nothing to engage the audience, in fact it does the opposite. Art does not challenge us simply by its presentation. A work of art will force us to engage with the work, it will tell us about the world and it will force us to understand. In short; it will impel us to actively engage.Entertainment, on the other hand, works to pacify us; helps us to, momentarily, escape the world. I would not like a world where we are forced to treat poetry as engaging, just as I would not like a law that says we cannot use a chair to prop open a door. My problem is not with the audience but with those who purport to be its practitioners, but who seem to view the audience as being incapable of appreciating art on its own terms.

Comment is about The Write Out Loud interview: Fiona Sampson (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Poetry should not be treated as entertainment? No doubt, it can do all that you've said, Denis, in the way of challenging, exploring meaning etc. But should those who use it for entertainment be told to stop? Or told that it isn't poetry at all? Surely not.

Comment is about The Write Out Loud interview: Fiona Sampson (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Hi spaceghost.

I always read your work, although I can't say I fully understand all of it and feel hesitant to comment. Perhaps that's understandable as most of your writing seems extremely personal. You have an interesting and unique "voice." I hope you won't be offended, but I want to ask you if you ever write poetry that isn't first-person, i.e not about you and your own experiences?

Often people are reluctant to comment on "personal" poetry, perhaps because it almost seems like an intrusion into someone's personal thoughts and feelings.

Regards,
A.E.

Comment is about SPACEGHOST (poet profile)

Original item by SPACEGHOST

Powerful stuff Chris - you get your message across really well.

I'm not very well versed in the rights and wrongs of the proposed changes. Just tried to look them up. From what I could see, the government was trying to introduce more tests to make sure that people were indeed disabled, a few years down the line. I personally can't see anything wrong in that. Any system needs to build in cross checks, verification. That isn't to say that all disabled people are deemed scroungers. All systems are abused by a minority though.

My mum once did an evening course with a lady who was deemed disabled so given a disability car. She never had the use of it though. My mum ended up giving her lifts to save her waiting for the bus. Her husband used the car to go to work in... see what I mean?

Comment is about Insult to Injury (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

I guess that I shouldn’t be surprised any more that those who are in a leading position of British poetry seem to have the same contempt for it. Fiona Sampson starts out by correctly saying that not everyone can become a poet and then spends the rest of the interview talking complete dross, fashionable dross, but dross nonetheless.

Of course this might also be because of the questioning. Teachers scared to teach poetry? Then they should find another job, because educating children requires that the teacher is the voice of authority and that the role of the teacher is to bring new experiences and ideas to children. If they haven’t experienced poetry and they are supposed to be teaching English Literature then they shouldn’t be teaching. Children may well find thing that they ‘love’, but education should be about the things that are alien to children; things that will challenge and push them on.

There is no basis to the idea that the political and economic fortunes of the world are a determinate in writing good poetry. Like all art poetry is the expression of our humanity. We respond to the world whether things are going well or whether they are not. Right from the time of the Ancients poets, such as Homer, were composing poetry that is still with us to these days, in a world in which Greece was one of the major powers. Unless you view poetry as misanthropic whining, then there is no basis to the claim that “political instability can generate poetry” any more than its opposite premise.

Whilst there is a cathartic element to all the arts, there is something cheap about the manner in which poetry has become a healthcare tool. It has also given a wider and negative image of poetry. Poetry performances these days sometimes make you feel as though you are in some sort of psychiatric therapy ward. The doggerel of the poet laureate’s Guardian pieces or the adolescent whining that one experiences at many readings these days, may well make the author feel good, but it doesn’t make what they are doing, poetry. Like all art, poetry should challenge an audience rather than be something as banal as a coffee break chin-wag. As much as Ms. Sampson might think otherwise, poetry should not be treated as entertainment. Having meaning is not the same as something being relevant to one’s life. Meaning is something that one discovers through interaction, relevance is just a comfort blanket.

I have a high regard for the poetry of Fiona Sampson it is a pity that she seems to have such a low opinion of the art itself.

Comment is about The Write Out Loud interview: Fiona Sampson (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

The feedback is appreciated- thx

Hi Neil, I was going for the gut, so it helps to know it seemed to hit the mark.

Hi Rachel, I agree, though I think the country faces a situation this government cares little for those on the wrong side of the divide.


Disability, incapacity- both are lumped in with the umberella term benefits. And if we played word association right now, thanks to our government, national newspapers and media; the word most associated with benefits would be- cheat.

In this context (an injured returning soldier) it appears impossible to levy that word or logic, yet if an injured soldier returns to this country/civvy street and is disabled, collects benefits; he falls into the one tarred, all tarred category doesn't he?

The word association, targeting of benefits by the gorvernment and the loaded feeling of resentment in the country; it can't make an allowance for one good man or woman.

Of course this also brings up the emotive question; what difference is it how or where you get/become disabled? To which most would say; it doesn't matter. Furthering the logic, it doesn't matter if you are a soldier or faced trauma in the womb, faced your woes on cancers battlefield, lost your stability to depression or far away polio.

I think this context and that of the soldier helps to consider the issue in a more heroic light or at least from the point of view of the genuine individual. It is true, sad and wrong in the literal sense that this has and will be happending to soldiers returned and returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. But in the universal sense; all disabled people are soldiers one way or another- aren't they?

Comment is about Insult to Injury (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

very good co. i know a soldier who after 20 years exemplary service with the british army was told to work voluntary while he learned his civilian job. i think this a disgrace. after serving as a soldier if you are lucky enough to still have all your limbs, then a job guaruntee should be a given. some disagree, i say fuck them they only have an opinion cos our soldiers have fought for it. rightly or wrongly with no army wed all be speaking german and i would be dead.

Comment is about Insult to Injury (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

Thx Chris

Praise indeed from one so esteemed.

Glad it hit the spot for you.
Ken.

Comment is about Chris Co (poet profile)

Original item by Chris Co

Very powerful. 'bullets for cuts'. Very strong gut thumping stuff.

Comment is about Insult to Injury (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

I think Adele has made some very valid points. With a flexible curriculum comes greater responsibility. Fine if you have brilliant teachers – not so find if you have boring windbags, who neither teach nor inspire. What strikes me from this discussion is that we all have different perspectives based on our own personal experiences at school. At GCSE level, my experiences were great because the teachers majored on aspects of English Language that I enjoyed. Had they concentrated on grammar, writing letters, comprehension, or doing summaries of text, I might not have enjoyed the subject as much. Clearly some kind of balance needs to be achieved and that is what a National Curriculum should try to achieve.

Adele was also right to say that some sweeping generalisations have been made throughout this interview and some follow on comments. I had the perception that no creative writing was done at secondary school. I based this on conversations I’d had, plus the lack of evidence from what my children bring home. I’ve just taken a look at the AQA curriculum. I see that 15% of the final exam is based on a creative writing exam , the other 85% going to : understanding and producing non fiction texts, speaking and listening, understanding spoken and written texts (comprehension?). I personally, would like to see that 15% increased significantly.

As Adele points out, the opportunity to study poetry is included in the GCSE with an impressive anthology that includes both contemporary and classical poetry. I think the problems may stem from the way that poetry is presented to pupils in the classroom – and that may vary depending on which school is attended.
Of the 63 poems in my daughter’s poetry book, the class only read and studied 16 – all the poems relating to relationships.
I think pressure is on teachers to achieve the best marks possible – after all, league tables and reputations depend upon them. To achieve the best results, they cut corners. Any pupil inspired by this one section of poetry though, would have the opportunity to personally read and enjoy the 3 other sections of the book...

Comment is about The Write Out Loud interview: Fiona Sampson (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

I would lose the comma at the end of the first line of each stanza; the lines flow well with enjambment and the commas hinder the flow.

It's interesting and I like the final line as it reverses the expectation.

My Best

Chris

Comment is about Apathy (blog)

Original item by Martin Nelson

I like this M,

Blood does indeed run through instinct. Through the instinct of the fight or flight mechanism of the adrenal glands and through the instincts activated by the brain. Including the older more primitive parts of it.

I would lose the comma after 'I find' and I would also lose the capitalisation of 'Or' and would tend to go with commas thereafter. Just subjective though- well thought/written.

My Best

Chris

Comment is about DNA (blog)

Thx Mike and Stella- appreciated :)

I see nowt wrong with structure, meter etc.
I use it as much as free verse- but!

I know of people getting right up their own passage talking about the merits of pentameter or other forms. Half the time the people doing it haven't got a clue what they are talking about, but continue for Kudos!

Sounding like little lord fauntleroy lol.
I can hear the air and grace of one right now trying to run from his own accent Haha.

Imbuing the tones of the gentry whilst casting off the clothes of all real life.

One does need to take scansion into account.
One certainly does. I personally only shoot the best scansion this time of year- wot oh!

Hehe

Glad it borugh a smile :)

Comment is about What's the good (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

My son was annoyed with me for saying there wasn't creative writing at GCSE level. Apparently they do creative writing - he would just like to do even more of it! And I think he fancied more creative writing exams as they wouldn't need revision.... But they do creative writing after all.

It was so lovely when I told him about the discussion on here as he was just going out the door and smiled to think we were talking about teenagers and their study, while also commenting on the coincidence - he was off to meet his teenage friends in Costa to start on discussions of Romeo and Juliet.

I wish you could all see these very street wise London teenagers at a standard secondary and how they learn poetry, both from the canon and contemporary, and how they love it. Some of them have only learnt to speak English in recent years. Poetry does talk to teenagers and they respond to it.

I'm glad there's a national curriculum. When I was at school so many hours and days were spent listening to teachers rambling on about their own lives, and repeating it all over and over. Teachers can still be creative around the national curriculum, and at least they can't waste children's time rambling on about their own interests and what they think would be best talked about in class.

Comment is about The Write Out Loud interview: Fiona Sampson (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Hi John, As a Selby lad it's nice to see this tribute. Went to The Abbey primary School and was stood outside the Abbey on xmas day 2011. Its a wonderful place. Win x

Comment is about Selby Abbey (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

thanks both x

a soldier is a great metaphor for a man struggling to be that. i was brought up with soldiers and war. my dad, my brother i thought you could hit them with anything and they would never bleed. i still cannot stand to see a man cry. i like the idea of being a man. i like the idea of living in a loveless world of logic and control.

Comment is about landing (blog)

Oh Chris!!...Pen-tam-et-er indeed big smiles :)))

Comment is about What's the good (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

Really chuffed with your 'I Pledge' discussion. It doesn't matter how many get involved, even 1 is a step forward.
I've just posted War & Peace to explain myself better (I hope)
Getting involved at school may well be the most enjoyable thing I've ever done (outside family) - hope you do

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Brilliant interview--thank you! We've shared it on the Cork Spring Poetry Festival facebook page. People who'll be in Ireland next month should check out Fiona Sampson's reading on Thursday, 16 February at 9pm in Cork (Metropole Hotel, MacCurtain Street). More about the event here: http://www.corkpoetryfest.net/readings.html#biagini

Comment is about The Write Out Loud interview: Fiona Sampson (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Fiona Sampson: "Learn the rules, do the hard work".

Rosalind Bentley (journalist): "Reading a Billy Collins poem isn't like stepping into a room where you haven't been invited".

The latter comment was in my Google Alert summary for "Poetry" today-lots of sentences like that come up in the articles on there. The "Shock horror poetry can speak to people after all" trope is probably the most common one in general journalism which covers poetry. I'd be happier to see unapologetic elitism balanced with a recognition that this trope needs more active combatting than "If we build it they will come". They won't you know. There are too many subtle messages that you didn't build it for the likes of them- and Poetry Review sends them frequently. Maybe let it remain unmolested but also have a journal that unapologetically speaks to a more general readership too? It can seem like a room into which few are invited.

The "invitation" bit is missing from most of Fiona's interview- apart from when she speaks eloquently about the power of authentic poetry in healthcare settings. I think the "Disenfranchisement" Anthony writes about is real and strong.

Many of the school poetry projects I've been involved in have provided the invitation by getting students and teachers to write and speak their own poetry alongside their reading of the work of contemporary poets. There are many, many projects still focused on getting poets into schools to work on this. Lots the Poetry Society run, plus the Well Versed project run by various literature development agencies, the Arts Council funded, Apples and Snakes led "Shake The Dust" slam project running across ten regions and many others...not enough, but lots.

At University I read and loved Lawrence and Whitman and Plath. I was a sitting duck for being invited to the contemporary poetry room. But school (canon reading only) hadn't done it, open mic nights in pubs where I wouldn't have gone on my own couldn't do it for me, a London-centric Poetry Society with a journal I'd never encountered couldn't do it- it took poetry coming into a world where I was already active and comfortable (stand up comedy of all things) for me to be pulled in and then reach out. The more worlds poetry is in, then the more it might connect with people and then and only then will they "learn the rules and do the hard work".



(Link here to the Billy Collins interview-it provides a great counterpoint to much of what Fiona says) http://www.ajc.com/lifestyle/poet-is-inspired-when-1321820.html

Comment is about The Write Out Loud interview: Fiona Sampson (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

This one had me smiling Chris, I could feel the humour and to be honest, the poet can find nothing to write about without the wife job and car lol. As for pentameter, pentameter's are a damned curse if you ask me.

Nice little poem and well received.

Keep writing Chris. Nice one.

Mike

Comment is about What's the good (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

Hi Rachel, I agree with Stella, this is a very strong poem and for me, it speaks volumes about bitterness. Men do have feelings though, but in the field of conflict they have to cover them up, discard them. it is sad they are expected to do this but that's how it is. Nevertheless the metaphor i read into this is a good one.

keep well and be safe and warm this winter.

best wishes

mike

x

Comment is about landing (blog)

I'll be "Motorcycle News" if you'll be "Jewish
Chronicle"!
:-)

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Aye MC Newbury Thanks for comment much appreciated; this was for all children stuck in our wars our famines our stupidity

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

A telling comment on the idiocy (with cunning awareness) of some in our society...all too often reported in contemporary news reports.

Comment is about Yorkshire Steel (blog)

Original item by Adam Warwicker

When I hear women discussing how they are always playing catch-up to men in this life, I
think upon the hidden power they wield when it
matters - and how often they manage to mess it up when it matters. The difference is there
to see in so many lifetimes. Those who have
the ones "who know" are fortunate indeed. And
it's not about playing "catch-up".

Comment is about MY MOTHER (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Selby Abbey might well be
An icon sublime
But this tribute contributes
To its place set in time!
I hadn't known of it before. What was the Royal connection?

Comment is about Selby Abbey (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Did you mean the the sort of clinging clitoris that needs plenty of moisture for an optimum performance.
Where on earth is this going?

Comment is about Mike Hilton (poet profile)

Original item by Mike Hilton

The antidote to your previous one, John, and I agree - Selby's saving grace.

Comment is about Selby Abbey (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

You're quick of the blocks. I'm still scratching my head. I've had a couple of stabs but nothing poetic is coming out of me. Perhaps I need to sleep on it.

Well done you - this reminds me of the house that Jack built.

Comment is about Serendipity (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

I was a coin collector too - and have a lot of those same coins you talk about :) My mum was a taxi driver for a period of time - she'd always try to get foreign currency when she could. There was something magical about foreign money - any money in fact...

I love the nostalgia in your poem. Perhaps collecting things is a bit out of fashion nowadays - my kids start to do it but then forget - there's no real passion there. I think it may have something to do with them all having a lot more and not needing a treasure box quite so much.

Comment is about Coin Collecting (blog)

Original item by C Richard Miles

Mathmatically known as the butterfly effect.
The truth that initial conditions/variables small or not can have a profound or even determining effect.

It in part explains the nature of our universe.

Interesting.

My best

Chris

Comment is about Serendipity (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

We often forget that we all contribute in some measure.
The story goes that a President of the US was visiting Cape Canavarel. He met the toilet cleaner and asked him what his job was. The man said "My job is to get a man on the moon".

Comment is about Serendipity (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

In our whole family she was the best of us.

Comment is about MY MOTHER (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Hi Mike. Our contributions merely emphasize the genius of others. Or did I mean each other? Ken

Comment is about Mike Hilton (poet profile)

Original item by Mike Hilton

Hi Ann. never thought of the stomach ache angle, although it's the obvious result with a diet like that. a gut full of splinters.(wood chips) xxx

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

M.C.
My mum used to say the same to me, I know how it feels.

Mike

Comment is about MY MOTHER (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Strong Rach..I enjoy the way you go with your feelings on different subjects..true to yourself..like this :)

Comment is about landing (blog)

Thanks for reading my Golden Vision. Glad it brought back memories. I loved the bread bin comment! great stuff!

Cheers Mike

Comment is about Nick Coleman (poet profile)

Original item by Nick Coleman

Thanks Winston I appreciate your comments and version - I like it! It goes to show that you can always learn and improve.

Cheers Mike

Comment is about Winston Plowes (poet profile)

Original item by Winston Plowes

I'm re-posting a thread from the 'X Factor' discussion, purely because there seems to be an overlap between that Discussion, and this interview, and that I believe that what happens in school at the very earliest age has a massive impact on what follows:-
Picking up on Anthony’s thread, there are several elements that I, in turn, wanted to comment on, or put out for discussion

I ‘volunteer’, with Years 5 and 6, at a local Junior & Infant School, doing 3 half-days a week, so I have just a little (and I mean a little) experience about what happens in the way that children are exposed to poetry. From what I see, the teaching staff are so constricted by the national curriculum that there is only a limited exposure to poetry, and much of that is given over to the comprehension of the work, rather than in the appreciation of the specific poem.

I have the idea that the teachers may like to go off-curriculum, but SATS are always on the horizon, and that seems to control every activity, no matter who might like to think otherwise.

‘My’ school is wonderful. It appears to have limited funds, even for those things which are a must, and finds it difficult to attract funds from parents for extra-curricula activities. Poetry would, I am sure, if voted on, not even register on the clapometer. So, for the last 2 years, I have put together a smallish booklet of my poems (those which couldn’t be taken anywhere close to the wrong way, and hopefully won’t warp the child’s brain), and given the 10 and 11 year old’s (Years 5 & 6) a copy each, for them to take home. The response is, to a simple soul like me, a little overwhelming. I have a few children who approach me and recite the odd, simple, poem to me (something I can’t do, even though I wrote them), and there are several who tell me that they read my poems at home.
I have contact with one child who particularly enjoys poetry, but his parents have told him that he’ll never get anywhere with poetry!

It appears to be difficult to get those in authority (not teachers or Heads) to appreciate that exposure to poetry can allow a child’s mind freedom to think in the abstract, thereby assisting in the more conventional aspects of literacy within the school

So, what is the Poetry Society, or anyone else for that matter, going to do about making poetry available to children and schools.

Any ideas?

Comment is about The Write Out Loud interview: Fiona Sampson (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman