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Steve Higgins

Fri 7th Oct 2022 00:45

Always nice to see a poet get published
Best wishes
Steve

Comment is about My book is published!! (blog)

Original item by Coralynn Roller

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Stephen Gospage

Thu 6th Oct 2022 21:51

Thanks for your lovely comment, Holden. I really appreciate it.

Comment is about Generations (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

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Stephen Gospage

Thu 6th Oct 2022 21:49

Thanks, Uilleam. Yes, the link worked and it is brilliant, if rather unnerving!
Flyntland - yes, in spite of COP 26, 27 etc, no one can admit that uncontrolled growth is not sustainable.
Thanks, John. I wanted to write something on the environment theme for National Poetry Day. I realise it is has a feeling of despair and I usually like to leave a bit of hope in my verse. But sometimes......

And thanks to Frederick, Holden, Tom, Nigel, Uilleam, Julie, Jock and Purplemoon for reading and liking this one.

Comment is about Sympathetic Stars (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

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John Botterill

Thu 6th Oct 2022 20:45

Succinct and Brilliant, Stephen. Spot on! 😎

Comment is about Sympathetic Stars (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

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raypool

Thu 6th Oct 2022 20:16

Coitus Interruptus by another name - I love the rhyme .

Ray

Comment is about Anthony Rowley's Roly Poly (blog)

Original item by Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh

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John Marks

Thu 6th Oct 2022 19:59

Like you Tom, there's something of the night about me. As a boy, I used to envy my dad's ability to rise at 5am come rain or come shine. It was only much later that I realised this was a 'habit' forced on him in the orphanage where he was dragged up and, later, by him 10 years in the navy.

Comment is about Morning People (blog)

Original item by Tom

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John Marks

Thu 6th Oct 2022 19:53

Charlie 2007-2020

Yesterday, after 13 years of unconditional love,
Charlie allowed death to overtake him
He'd been slowing down anyway
The old ticker on the blink
Arthritis in his legs and more.
The old trooper staggered on.
Out with me on his final night,
Plodding through the spring grass:
Making our time last.

Comment is about Trust (blog)

Original item by Tom

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Pete (edbreathe)

Thu 6th Oct 2022 19:51

Ha Ha those were the days , and all the youngsters are moaning they’re cold !

Comment is about Then (blog)

Original item by Edbreathe

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John Marks

Thu 6th Oct 2022 19:04

Thanks Flyntland, Frederick, Holden, Stephen & Tom.

“God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.”

J.M.Barrie

Comment is about De Profundis (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

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John Coopey

Thu 6th Oct 2022 17:50

Thankyou, MC and Holden. I confess it is a bit of a stretch to call them carp. I believe it took place on Lake Erie.
And thanks for the Likes, Frederick and Jock Strap.

Comment is about YOUR CHEATIN' CARP (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Holden Moncrieff

Thu 6th Oct 2022 17:50

A beautifully profound poem, Stephen! I loved the lines:
"A child, turning its twitchy gaze,
Is certain, in its innocence,
That its life will mine some marvels." 🌷

Comment is about Generations (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

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Flyntland

Thu 6th Oct 2022 17:30

Stephen Thank you for reading and for your kind comment,

Comment is about STORM COCK (blog)

Original item by Flyntland

Holden Moncrieff

Thu 6th Oct 2022 17:25

Excellent and entertaining, John! 😎

Comment is about YOUR CHEATIN' CARP (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

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M.C. Newberry

Thu 6th Oct 2022 16:48

Another cracker JC. No need to fish for compliments with this
Hank Williams "spin-off". You've got me hook, line and sinker!😋

Comment is about YOUR CHEATIN' CARP (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

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Greg Freeman

Thu 6th Oct 2022 16:47

Who ate all the pies in the sky?

Comment is about Pie Off (blog)

Original item by julie callaghan

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Greg Freeman

Thu 6th Oct 2022 16:46

I mentioned this poem in my recent review of David's collection 'The Metal Exchange' https://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=124889

Comment is about Cogs (blog)

Original item by David Cooke

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Coralynn Roller

Thu 6th Oct 2022 16:31

Thank you!!

Comment is about My book is published!! (blog)

Original item by Coralynn Roller

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Tom

Thu 6th Oct 2022 16:16

Thanks for the comment on this one John! I missed it back in 2020 and just spotted it now 😃

Comment is about There Will Be Birds In The Morning (blog)

Original item by Tom

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Flyntland

Thu 6th Oct 2022 16:05

"Will weep at our demise
And curse our leaders' lies"

Most of us do our little bit but we are helpless when it comes to influencing politicians- Why Oh Why! do they only pretend to be
responding?

Comment is about Sympathetic Stars (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

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John Marks

Thu 6th Oct 2022 16:03

This is a brilliant poem Tom and deserves a wide audience. My favourite line: "just empty eyes and vague replies."

Comment is about The Faintest Farewell (blog)

Original item by Tom

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John Marks

Thu 6th Oct 2022 15:58

My friend used to say that booze was an anaesthetic, I was never really convinced. “That's the problem with drinking, I thought, as I poured myself a drink. If something bad happens you drink in an attempt to forget; if something good happens you drink in order to celebrate; and if nothing happens you drink to make something happen.” Charles Bukowski

Comment is about Ship In A Bottle (blog)

Original item by Tom

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John Marks

Thu 6th Oct 2022 15:53

Half-created half-perceived journeyings Tom.

Comment is about The Wonder (blog)

Original item by Tom

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Flyntland

Thu 6th Oct 2022 15:52

This is a beautiful, whistful poem, it paints a scene that I too would love to be apart of, but it has left me feeling so sad. My family was once like that - a long time ago -and now it isn't - that bond did not last into adulthood..

Comment is about Young Family In The Sunshine (blog)

Original item by Tom

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John Marks

Thu 6th Oct 2022 15:50

'close the circuit' - we all strive to do that!

Comment is about One Last Affair (blog)

Original item by Tom

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John Marks

Thu 6th Oct 2022 15:47

Too much to handle - too many firings in the brain - nothing stays the same.

Comment is about Greenland (blog)

Original item by Tom

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John Marks

Thu 6th Oct 2022 15:42

Tom, funnily, or not, the first thing I thought was things are not always as they seem Reminded me of Charles Causley's bewitching poem 'Eden Rock':

They are waiting for me somewhere beyond Eden Rock:
My father, twenty-five, in the same suit
Of Genuine Irish Tweed, his terrier Jack
Still two years old and trembling at his feet.
My mother, twenty-three, in a sprigged dress
Drawn at the waist, ribbon in her straw hat,
Has spread the stiff white cloth over the grass.
Her hair, the colour of wheat, takes on the light.
She pours tea from a Thermos, the milk straight
From an old H.P. sauce-bottle, a screw
Of paper for a cork; slowly sets out
The same three plates, the tin cups painted blue.
The sky whitens as if lit by three suns.
My mother shades her eyes and looks my way
Over the drifted stream. My father spins
A stone along the water. Leisurely,
They beckon to me from the other bank.
I hear them call, ‘See where the stream-path is!
Crossing is not as hard as you might think.’
I had not thought that it would be like this.

Comment is about Young Family In The Sunshine (blog)

Original item by Tom

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Tom

Thu 6th Oct 2022 15:32

John, this is beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Comment is about De Profundis (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

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Tom

Thu 6th Oct 2022 15:28

Congratulations Coralynn!

Comment is about My book is published!! (blog)

Original item by Coralynn Roller

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John Coopey

Thu 6th Oct 2022 14:49

The news story.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ga3Rj9oaMWA

Comment is about YOUR CHEATIN' CARP (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

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Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh

Thu 6th Oct 2022 14:30

"Putting greater strain on our struggling N.H.S. !!"

The people responsible for this state of affairs are already of course, attempting to blame the NHS's struggling on covid, and on people irresponsible enough to get old and sick.

Fact is the NHS was already quote "on its knees" when the Johnson came to power in 2019 - 2000 uk doctors wrote to him before the election and told him so.

Comment is about Thoughts of a pensioner plunged into poverty as she struggles to eat and heat (blog)

Original item by hugh

<Deleted User> (34003)

Thu 6th Oct 2022 13:02

I'm keen to see how long this thread can be sustained.

How is it such apparently innocuous articles such as the Balaclava can be associated with so many negative thoughts, for example.

1. Criminality
2. Sinister state agencies
3. Terrorism
4. The humiliation and discomfort of school children.

I suppose some objects are more plyable to the wicked ways and intentions of men. Although I am reliably informed you can kill someone with a phone directory...if anyone recalls what such a thing is.

Next please...

Comment is about THE BALACLAVA (blog)

Original item by ray pool

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John Coopey

Thu 6th Oct 2022 12:25

You are so right, Uilleam. You need a conscience in order to feel embarrassment or guilt.
And thanks for the Like, Julie.

Comment is about U-TURN (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

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Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh

Thu 6th Oct 2022 12:18

Bravo Tom Pickard et al!


The purpose of stopping bursaries and scholarships for teacher trainees in art and humanities subjects is frankly, to shut us up, through, as George Orwell put it, the "Prevention of Literature".

That will be achieved by destroying the windows through which we view society, hopefully changing it for the better.

Sneering attacks on the humanities by the likes of Dominic Cummings, and attacks on BBC 2, the Arts council, the OU and such as the South Bank Show by Rupert Murdoch and "client journalists", are responsible for such as London's Roehampton Uni and the Universities of Sunderland and Hallam ditching history and language courses.

Enough is enough!

Comment is about Veteran radical poet Tom Pickard reads at Newcastle protest rally (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

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Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh

Thu 6th Oct 2022 11:20

No embarrasment 'cos no conscience.

Comment is about U-TURN (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

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Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh

Thu 6th Oct 2022 11:15

"Frost on the inside"
Born in 48, I remember that on the bedroom windows - it was our double glazing - and outside toilets - marked by two little squares in our back ginnel 😀on the old ordnance survey maps!

Comment is about Then (blog)

Original item by Edbreathe

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raypool

Thu 6th Oct 2022 11:06

Good for you Uilleam ! I think the wool ones were itchy but i'm sure you'll check for that. I wondered if your name is pronounced William - i'm interested in gaelic names . Thanks.

Comment is about THE BALACLAVA (blog)

Original item by ray pool

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Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh

Thu 6th Oct 2022 10:58


I've bought a bloody big balaclava, the type motocyclists wear, and I'm going to wear it this winter.

Comment is about THE BALACLAVA (blog)

Original item by ray pool

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Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh

Thu 6th Oct 2022 10:48

The government's "moneytree" policy is:
money grows on trees but only for the rich and powerful.

"Them uz 'ave will 'ave" as they say round these parts.

Comment is about Growing Pies (blog)

Original item by Steve White

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Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh

Thu 6th Oct 2022 10:42

I think there is still such a thing as the slow food movement?

I've sacked fast food - those kebabs I used to scoff at drunk o'clock in the morning, yeugh!

I've taken to baking, Christmas cakes, sausage rolls, and I'm going to have a go at making baguettes - I love those french ones. GARLIC BREAD!😄

Comment is about Hey Jude, why do you eat snails ? (blog)

Original item by hugh

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Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh

Thu 6th Oct 2022 10:34

You use the word spiritual a lot. I like that.
It's often confused with religion. For some, the accumulation of money for its own sake is a religion,

Comment is about Key to knowledge (blog)

Original item by N.B

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Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh

Thu 6th Oct 2022 10:25

Very well put.
I think this youtube video by Steve Cutts tells some harsh truths.

Don't know if this url will work?
https://youtu.be/WfGMYdalClU

Comment is about Sympathetic Stars (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

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Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh

Thu 6th Oct 2022 10:17

They say money doesn't grow on trees - but it does for the Russian oligarchs friends in the House of Lords!

Comment is about Pie Off (blog)

Original item by julie callaghan

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Flyntland

Thu 6th Oct 2022 09:48

Question
are snails really meat pies
in disguise
there is a similarity you know
meaty insides
with crusty tops
and snails can grow
and although rather slow
some are big enough for sharing.

I love the profound last line of your poem.

Comment is about Hey Jude, why do you eat snails ? (blog)

Original item by hugh

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Stephen Gospage

Thu 6th Oct 2022 07:12

Good to see that poets are protesting against injustice.

Comment is about Veteran radical poet Tom Pickard reads at Newcastle protest rally (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

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Tommy Carroll

Thu 6th Oct 2022 01:59

Cheers Martin, it's much appreciated.

Comment is about I have that tape still (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

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Ruth O'Reilly

Thu 6th Oct 2022 00:33

You've fixed the economy crisis Hugh, let's save money on fast food and forage snails!

Comment is about Hey Jude, why do you eat snails ? (blog)

Original item by hugh

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Stephen Gospage

Wed 5th Oct 2022 21:48

Thank you Frederick, Ruth Tom and Steve for liking this one.

Comment is about Generations (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

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Stephen Gospage

Wed 5th Oct 2022 21:43

Good one, Steve. It looks like pies and lies are the order of the day in No 10.

Comment is about Growing Pies (blog)

Original item by Steve White

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Clare

Wed 5th Oct 2022 20:45

Thank you to all who took the time to like/comment on this piece. I ramble through the lanes of time and I find that ageing is a bittersweet process. Live well, dear friends.

Comment is about Seasons Come and Seasons go (blog)

Original item by Clare

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Flyntland

Wed 5th Oct 2022 20:17

The simplicity and authenticity of this heartfelt poem is touching

Comment is about I ❤ Allah (blog)

Original item by Ghazala lari

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