Glad you're in there pitching. I wondered where
you were.

Comment is about LIVE ON! (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

great writing, Indigo.

Comment is about Lover's Limbo (blog)

Original item by Ushiku Crisafulli

Same for me, Dave but this is top stuff..

Comment is about Birthday with a zero (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

very clever i think - think you could have carried this on for a few more stanzas must admit however as there is more that could have been said here.

Comment is about NEVER LOST, EASILY FOUND (blog)

Original item by Mike Hilton

really enjoyed this - perhaps the last line 'How I hope not' could do with breaking away from the rest of that stanza however.

Comment is about Untitled as yet! (blog)

Original item by kayberley

HI Greg thanks for comments on the Ali poem. It was a spin-off from my 'Shadow Boxing' poem for my dad. I had a stanza about him liking Ali, but thought it was too much, so it ended up in a poem of its own!

Comment is about Greg Freeman (poet profile)

Original item by Greg Freeman

like the use of short lines here, Chris but it's a top piece in my mind totally

Comment is about Yesterdays Post (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

good stuff, John - must admit - bet it was good fun to write - who wrote what out of interest?

Comment is about January Write Out Loud Collage Poem (blog)

Original item by J F Keane

particularly like the way you build up to that last line standing alone from the rest of the piece, but it's a very strong piece i think otherwise.

Comment is about Fate Modern (blog)

Original item by Marianne Daniels

Straight from Neatsville!

Comment is about NEVER LOST, EASILY FOUND (blog)

Original item by Mike Hilton

Pity about the controversy and big congratulations. I've enjoyed Burnside's work for years.

Comment is about John Burnside wins TS Eliot prize (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Some excellent imagery and left-field rhymes (millennia/heavier).
I also like the ambivalence of "sustaining us in uprightness" - the physical and moral. (I'm less sure about its cadence which hiccups a bit).

Comment is about The Dream Ticket (blog)

Good stuff, Chris.
I'm a bit less certain than SB about the final line, though. The cadence if it seems to hiccup a bit - that's me being picky!
Give me a crack on the nose when we meet next.

Comment is about Yesterdays Post (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

I'm not having that, Ian!
We can't blame the muse for what we write.
I like the image though.

Comment is about IMPISH (blog)

Original item by Ian Gant

John, have you noticed only men have answered this poem?
Oh, and for the record, there's nothing wrong with my map reading!

Comment is about Clitoris (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Cogito ergo sum....
......unless I'm in someone else's dream.

Comment is about LIVE ON! (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Congratulations to all the winners! :o)

Comment is about WOL competition: and the winner is ... (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

High Chris,

Missed this. Would love to guest the Spoke in April.

Plenty of time to put something (hopefully) entertaining together.

I`d love to see the Wirral Ode show sometime (I went once on the wrong night) But can`t make this one.

Comment is about Chris Co (poet profile)

Original item by Chris Co

Haha - the former, sir ;) You'd have liked the tshirt I customised for my last performance, as it goes. You ever read my Cause and Effect poem?

You on Facefuck?

Actually, re the religion thang, I was brought up an atheist, no baptism etc, believed that firmly for years. Now, however, I have actually read the whole fucking bible believe it or not and hold a different view. What's in there is nowhere NEAR what the so-called 'Christians' would have you believe!! I changed my mind a lot but not enough room to do it justice here really - demands a proper debate. It's a comment, admittedly caustic, on all those eejits who take Revelations as a seriuz part of the bible. The bible is an astounding collection of writings and I think everyone should have a read, so you're not getting regurgitated shite for info.

Anyhoooo - no, I haven't performed it because a) so very few people would actually get it, and b) those who did would be divided equally between a lynch mob and buying me drinks ;)

Maybe I should perform it sometime...see what happens :)

Thanks chuck :)

Comment is about Richie Muster (poet profile)

Original item by Richie Muster

I appreciate the empathy expressed in your comment on my recent blog. Thank you. As for your own poem, I was "captured" from the first line - a sign of better things to come, usually, - and I wasn't disappointed.I thought the lines -
"In the last fitful fluttering of her fingers
And the resignation of her senses to eternity..." particularly impressive - as was the whole poem. I'm almost tempted to say "they don't write 'em like that any more".(Tiny caveat: couldn't "my own" <death> replace "mine" in the closing lines?) I took up my pen and copied it - and I can't say fairer than that to a fellow scribbler. It is clear your poem was written with the closest attention and care...a fitting tribute to your departed loved one...and one worthy of a place in any anthology.
MC

Comment is about Richie Muster (poet profile)

Original item by Richie Muster

Whoo-hoo, another heathen! Let's you and me go into the temple, single out each and every moneylender and make a fiery deposit, eh? Have you performed this? What was the reaction?

Comment is about Biblical Imbecility (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Ta very much for the comments re: my profile rant, chuck. It's all been taken on board, processed and assimilated. As for you being a 'reliable anarchist': if you mean you're a libertarian socialist/communist [a la Kropotkin/Bakhunin/Chomsky etc] rather than merely anarchic then you're not boring. 'Merely anarchic' to me means 'flibbertigibbet', 'formless', lacking rigour; someone without a code of ethics intended to make [better] sense of the world. Anarchist is force for good: the tempest come to change the world...for the better. Long may you be a 'reliable anarchist' in a world in thrall to shallow commodification and zedlebrity status!

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Coincidence or synchronicity? - that you should read 'In Her Passing' [about my dear auntie, my 'second mum'] and I find that you have written this sweet eulogy for your sister. Not being a christian I look on these departures as a return to the 'ocean of consciousness', from which we all appear as mere droplets of condensation in this particular multiverse, a comment which is NOT intended to cheapen the intensity of your loss. Think of this posting, not as sympathy, but empathy [feeling 'with', not 'for'.]

Comment is about THE DEATH OF AN ELDER SISTER (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Souls to sell
Poetry bids high
Quick as fire
Thin as wire
We return to
Write yet another.

A collection of minds
Expressing so many
Workable different lines.

Comment is about January Write Out Loud Collage Poem (blog)

Original item by J F Keane

Hi Laura I'm glad you liked the Ali poem. Yes, he's a great man and one who when he was really quite young took so much crap from the establishment.

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Thanyou all. I love trains, too, when I can get a seat.For me it's a tier of hell to be squashed up against others in a confined space. Well, maybe not all others. Kate Moss would be ok.

Comment is about The Dream Ticket (blog)

What Steve said...interesting to read your note on the mix and match thang. I like the surrealism of this...tied to the title. Love the line about Crime and Punishment - totally fitting.

Comment is about The Dream Ticket (blog)

Meant to comment on this at the time and got distracted.

This is an unusual one for you Ray, and I find it really intriguing. I love the structure of it - it's like you're breaking all your own usual rules.

Comment is about Erosion (blog)

Hello chuck - just read your updated grumpy-arsed profile :D

What does tend to happen on WOL - to EVERYONE on here - is that you get most of your comments in the first 48 hours of putting it up. I think this is because there are a certain amount of regular readers/posters/contributors, and they will be the people who see it and comment. You may get the odd delayed comment, but it happens to everyone.

Here's a big tip though - because your monthly entries 'stack up' in weblinks at the bottom of your most recent blog, I find it much better to just put one up at a time, and then leave it a week before putting another up. I've not read them yet, but I see already that you put up five yesterday. People will only see the last one you put up, and not everyone will be arsed enough to backtrack to the previous ones.

There y'are, don't say I never do owt for ya! ;p

Comment is about Richie Muster (poet profile)

Original item by Richie Muster

Summmons up a place and time very strongly - an experience of what it can mean to be stuck on a crowded train. But there's more here than just that

Comment is about The Dream Ticket (blog)

Enjoyed reading this as I too can relate to this 'wonderful' experience... Interesting how our mind takes us through.

Comment is about The Dream Ticket (blog)

Awwhhh thank you, reading your comment has made my day. Thank you so much :-)

Comment is about Gnomic love affairs (blog)

Original item by kayberley

I think this is really funny. She's doing the right thing!Sorry if it should have more tragic elememts but I think she's got ir right. The last verse is just great!

Comment is about Yesterdays Post (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

Hi Ray, I love this. I love trains though and journeying through... and people watching.Very good!

Comment is about The Dream Ticket (blog)

Thanks for commenting on Christmas 2012, your thoughts are much appreciated. Like you I sometimes find I miss a few weeks and then catch up with the reading. Best Wishes, Jane

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

This is so romantic, I love it!

Comment is about Even The... (blog)

Original item by Marianne Daniels

Thanks, Cynthia. I just noticed your initials - CBT. Used to be my speciality. Misadventure should be a verb, don't you think? I'll take no credit for the innovation, though.Tortured diction - now that has got me worried, flummoxed too. What d'you mean?!

Thanks, Steve. I pinched the idea from some dead French bloke, Verlaine or Rimbaud, can't remember, and tried to modernise. Maybe that accounts for the mix and match.New St Station meets Le Metro.

Comment is about The Dream Ticket (blog)

Thanks, Phil.

Comment is about An Unannounced Inspection (blog)

Many thanks for your feedback-I'l pass it on to the big man next time we chat!

Comment is about I spoke to God today. (blog)

Original item by Brian Wood

Thanks Laura - I was very lucky with both my parents. I wish everyone could say the same. xx

Comment is about missing mum (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Fascinating - and so true for many who strive
to "say" something that they feel needs to be said.
The consistency of invention in these lines is
obvious and leaves us knowing that the self- recognition won't necessarily affect the outcome! Three cheers for that!

Comment is about IMPISH (blog)

Original item by Ian Gant

Nice one Chris..I like the reference to 'the Seasonal grind through the gears' and 'what to do when pension nears'..'gambling ways' and the potential lack of those 'better days'...Yes! it's my kind of poem Chris.. as it reminds me of the grief of growing up as a child with an alcoholic, aggressive father who spent and gambled our family money away, whilst my dear Mother worried how to pay bills and provide food and school uniforms for us! (desperate times had)...
As one of my poems says ' Oh the grief and sorrow...all my brother and I could hope for (in those post war years and fears) was a far better tomorrow! (Happy days eh mate)...beautifully written Chris!
My Bests - Graham

Comment is about Yesterdays Post (blog)

Original item by Chris Co

Howdy Cynthia - yeh, I ended up looking it up as I could have sworn it was breech! Well, technically, in my case, it should be 'rear' as she did actually come out arse first :D

Thank you re the comp :) Chuffed to be placed :)

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Lovely poem, but I always get badly wistful when I read about people missing and/or loving their mums. There's a huge gap in my life where that should be.

Comment is about missing mum (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

The pace is just perfect, 100% bang on. The content isn't really sad at all, despite it being the death of your sister (real sorry chuck) - it's really positive in fact. A fitting tribute.

Comment is about THE DEATH OF AN ELDER SISTER (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Should that not be 'are' in the first line?

Whatever, am nitpicking. I like this piece, have thought the same things myself - especially that bit re the heaven

Comment is about Microbes, looking (blog)

Original item by Kealan Coady

ooops! Thankyou for pointing that out to me!

Comment is about Then (blog)

Original item by Marianne Daniels

Wot Anthony sed - very clever, without looking like it

Comment is about I spoke to God today. (blog)

Original item by Brian Wood