All comments (page 2394 of 2927)

Mon 18th Apr 2011 15:57

Awwww, that's lovely John, really lovely. I hope he likes it :)

Comment is about Happy Birthday, Dave (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Mon 18th Apr 2011 15:53

Meth labs? Beg to disagree ;)

Comment is about Modern Imperfections (blog)

Original item by Kealan Coady

Mon 18th Apr 2011 15:49

Now then - I love this. flicker dripping wick - sooo sensual and reminds me of that huge candledrip extravaganza in the back room of Little 15 :D

Each line is gorgeous - basking in amber, again, massively sensual

Great haiku :)

Comment is about Candle (blog)

Original item by Elaine

winston plowes

Mon 18th Apr 2011 14:51

What a fantastic list Kealan. 'cucoons'? Win

Comment is about Modern Imperfections (blog)

Original item by Kealan Coady

<Deleted User> (9299)

Mon 18th Apr 2011 12:41

I liked this - as a reader I liked it's length - I think that is very well judged. I liked the detailing, the use of lower case letters throughout - somehow suits it. Like the language as well, it reads well, a really good piece.

James

Comment is about Time-riding (blog)

Original item by Kath Hewitt

Mon 18th Apr 2011 08:39

Awww - thanks for using my piccie John. Who was that other geeser trying to hog my limelight? If I remember rightly that was the slam last year - one of the best nights ever. It's hard to pick with the Tudor though - so many great nights... Even on a flat month, it's ten coats of paint better than any other venue. I think having a proper stage and sound system helps - also the room not too big/too small and the atmoshere that buzzes from the rest of the place. And of course you can't forget the no nonsense, tell it like it is, unpretentious poets that go there...

Comment is about Wigan WOL Open Mic at The Old Courts (group profile)

Original item by Wigan WOL Open Mic at The Old Courts

Louise Fazackerley

Sun 17th Apr 2011 23:02

Great idea! And a super-sexy slick photo! Wigan WOL is the best! xxx

Comment is about Wigan WOL Open Mic at The Old Courts (group profile)

Original item by Wigan WOL Open Mic at The Old Courts

Francine

Sun 17th Apr 2011 19:57

Thank you very much Andy, for your comments on
'Stranger in a strange land'...
I am familiar with the plot summary of the novel by Robert A. Heinlein, but have never read it - sounds very intriguing though.

Comment is about Andy N (poet profile)

Original item by Andy N

Sun 17th Apr 2011 19:02

I thought as much you minx! Your artist friend is very talented indeed. The eyes have it though. The eyes are the mirror to the soul - they never age either. I'd love to make your acquaintance if you ever take to the stage at the Tudor. x

Comment is about Rachel Pantechnicon (poet profile)

Original item by Rachel Pantechnicon

Rachel Pantechnicon

Sun 17th Apr 2011 16:55

Hello Isobel

Thanks for the comments. Much appreciated. I'd been reading the discussion about poets keeping their photos up-to-date, and felt compelled to act upon it. Blame my artist friend for apparent grubbiness - he does put some odd colours into those skin-tones of his.

Nice to hear from you. I hope to return to Wigan one day, if Mr Togher will have me back.

R x

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

Julian (Admin)

Sun 17th Apr 2011 15:38

I don't think cans had been invented...

We had tins though.

Comment is about Spitting at Bus Stops (blog)

Original item by John Togher

Ray Miller

Sun 17th Apr 2011 11:05

Thanks, Steve. Quality with a cockney accent is a lovely phrase.

Thanks, Chris. Nothing to do with Brian Cox, I'm afraid. Time Must Have A Stop is a quote from Shakespeare and also a title of a Huxley novel, as is Brave New World (from The Tempest, I believe). A canopy hung starless sounds Shakespearean, but I made it up myself -I think!Shakespeare had a way of encapsulating whole philosophies in a few words

But thought's the slave of life, and life time's fool;
And time, that takes survey of all the world,
Must have a stop.

Soma was the name of the drug in Brave New World. Huxley took LSD on his deathbed in order to better negotiate an afterlife of whose existence he wasn't quite convinced.Covering all the bases, I suppose.
As for the ending, it's as vague as Huxley's faith, perhaps. He embraced Buddhism to a certain extent in his later life and there's points at which Buddhist philosophy and modern science weld harmoniously.

Comment is about Island (blog)

Sun 17th Apr 2011 10:19

I can imagine how confusing it could be with gorgeous twins, of either gender. Too much of a good thing? Maybe :-) I loved the twist in your poem.

Comment is about the male twins (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Sun 17th Apr 2011 10:16

That was just the best double entendre I've encountered these days! [ (w)hole ]

Comment is about For Dicks (blog)

Original item by Max Wallis

Sun 17th Apr 2011 10:12

Who would think that role reversal doesn't always translate into stigma reversal. This poem will make heads and minds turn. Watch the moral cogs burn as they churn!

Comment is about Homo World (blog)

Original item by Max Wallis

Sun 17th Apr 2011 10:09

Indeed! I shall count and record before I shut the front door. :-)

Comment is about 'When A Thief Kisses You, Count Your Teeth' (blog)

Original item by Max Wallis

Sun 17th Apr 2011 01:02

So you were lucky enough to have a cycle eh? I didn't get one of those till I was around 12...

We did make great entertainment with old beer tins though - can you remember threading strings through them and making home made stilts? They could also be used for 'Kick the can and hop it'. I also remember my brother convincing all the kids in the neigbourhood that we could make gold out of pulverised brick dust. He had us all at it for days. That's how we kept out of trouble. WIs and Playstation have definitely taken away the imaginative games. Someone else is doing the thinking for our kids - it's really not good. If you want to think big as an adult, you have to start thinking big as a child. But that makes me sound pretty ancient.

Comment is about Spitting at Bus Stops (blog)

Original item by John Togher

Philipos

Sat 16th Apr 2011 23:52

Hi Greg - Re; Old Brookwood Hospital - and not just Hilary whatshername - even I live on part of the old grounds though probably on a part where they housed the pig farms before the top-soil was removed and building began - thanks for commenting.

Comment is about Greg Freeman (poet profile)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Philipos

Sat 16th Apr 2011 21:03

Hi Kath - meloncholy but moving I would describe this poem - liked especially 'riding the hours again' and using cigarettes as a marker for time - (think you have a typo in line 7) but the grey dawn bit certainly underscores your message here - well done

Comment is about Time-riding (blog)

Original item by Kath Hewitt

Larisa Rzhepishevska

Sat 16th Apr 2011 20:52

Hello, Jeff!
My English is not better than yours and can't be. There are some things in the language that I know for sure, but... I still make a lot of grammar mistakes. My oral speech is just horrible because I have no practice. My written speech is a little bit better as I have more time to think. But..., anyway... Could you do me a favor and have a look at my site?
http://www.learninglanguagesl.jimdo.com
It sometimes seems to me that I am like a computer - translate from Russian into English, but...at the same time my poems I write in English when I think in English.
With warmest wishes, Larisa

Comment is about Jeffarama! (poet profile)

Original item by Jeffarama!

<Deleted User> (9186)

Sat 16th Apr 2011 20:30

The tone of the two poems is very similar, a spiritual meeting - who knows maybe one day, lovely write Debs

Comment is about Samhain (blog)

Original item by Deborah Jordan Bailey

Julian (Admin)

Sat 16th Apr 2011 19:31

I disagree Isobel. As a kid my cycle was always broken and that was not a good thing to see.

Comment is about Spitting at Bus Stops (blog)

Original item by John Togher

Chris Co

Sat 16th Apr 2011 15:38

Excellent poem Ray.

Lots of great lines and ideas.

I am surprised nobody has mentioned prof Brian Cox and the nature of the speed of light. At least I took this as an allusion for;

Quote
an emptied stage and canopy hung starless
Unquote

And the stars in the cosmos in time disapearing from the night sky and leaving humanity with a certain sense of lonliness (if we are still here at all that is).

A canopy hung starless is a great way of putting it.

Time must have a stop- I took to be the nature of space/time and their link and the fact that eventually time itself must end.

I take it brave new experiment is a reference to Huxley's Brave New World?

Though I must say the general Huxley reference went slightly over my head. I have only read Brave New World and that was a long time ago so?

Quote
and mankind is a martyr to myopia
Quote

A triad of head-rhyme/aliteration that works very well...more importantly the content. Mankind is a martyr to myopia- I would agree with that, though I recognise that could be my own short-sightedness. It's a great/memorable line.

Quote
Fortified by pain relief and LSD
in the pleasure dome he floats on the waves
Unquote

If I recall their was a drug they took in Brave New World- soma or something like that. I vaguely recall the idea of happiness- keeping people happy. I guess this LSD could be a reference to that. The waves could be a reference to background static/cosmic background radiation that was emited from the big bang or thought of as a possible allusion to this. Isn't it the case that this will eventually dissipate/no longer be measurable in the distant future?

What makes me think the above could be right is this further reference;

Quote
There's no heaven or hell, only eternity,
yet perhaps there is an entity that saves?
Unquote

Eternity or at least a seeming perception of it was again something Cox covered? When we get to a certain point in time, it will if the theory he detailed is correct, reach a point where planets and stars and pretty much everything else- is no more. God will no longer exist at that point from the atheist position- because humans will not exist- so no heaven or hell.

Will eternity save? I am not sure how and would be interested on your thoughts here.

Really liked 'templed schemes'.

Again would be interested in any enlightenment as to interpreting the end of the poem.

Anyway in a world where far too much is dumbed-down, it is good to read something packed with concepts, allusions and...thought!

My Best

Chris

Comment is about Island (blog)

Chris Co

Sat 16th Apr 2011 15:10

a tale of two halves
and one too familiar

A truism.

The serrated language of the final stanza leaves its mark and rightly so.

Well written

My Best

Chris

Comment is about CONFERENCE JUNKIE'S (blog)

Ray Miller

Fri 15th Apr 2011 19:39

Thanks, Greg, Philipos. Huxley died the day Kennedy was assassinated. Perhaps the poem's title should be 22/11/1963? After Many A Summer is the title of one of Huxley's novels.

Comment is about Island (blog)

Fri 15th Apr 2011 19:05

Hi Laura – I’m sure your daughter is lovely. My comments were provocative. I do that when I’m bored which unfortunately happens often.

I think that as a race we simply reproduce and stay alive too well at all levels of society. That probably sounds rich coming from someone with 4 kids. I just feel oppressed by the number of people around at times. There are no easy answers cos no-one wants to die and survival instincts are hardwired into us. Once they crack the aging gene – we won’t even have to grow old – happy days eh? I should write a poem about it.

I accept also that you can't blame parents for everything a child does. I know lovely parents whose kids just went off the rails - peer group is something to worry about. I think you are right about cycles though. Very often bad cycles are repeated. It is good to see cases where the cycle is broken.

Comment is about Spitting at Bus Stops (blog)

Original item by John Togher

<Deleted User> (7212)

Fri 15th Apr 2011 18:45

it was written a long long time ago & not directed at anyone in particular, but of course, it is indeed about CC.
The button nose boy was a child from his own childhood - without spoiling the book, just read 57-60 (if you want, that is )

http://www.wattpad.com/77040-a-seperate-reality-carlos-castaneda?p=57

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

<Deleted User> (7212)

Fri 15th Apr 2011 18:28

Hi - no, but I'll have a look then... I'd read some of Maya Angelou's stuff that you mentioned though - great writer.

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Fri 15th Apr 2011 18:04

You're looking a bit grubbier Rachel - maybe you just got back from Glastonbury...

I enjoyed reading your profile poems - they are very wacky and clever.

Comment is about Rachel Pantechnicon (poet profile)

Original item by Rachel Pantechnicon

Philipos

Fri 15th Apr 2011 15:46

Hi Ray - liked especially 'mankind is a martyr to myopia' how very true - thought 'many a summer time' might have been slightly better if expressed rather as a plural but that's me - overall a poem to stretch the mind with talk of saints and bodhisattvas and with just a hint of someone with a theosophical background - well done

Comment is about Island (blog)

Fri 15th Apr 2011 14:20

Enjoyed this last night John

I have unfortunately had the pleasure of attending shit like this myself, and general business meetings, and found it's really quite hard to disguise the loathing and contempt that is running through my veins!

Management speak - raising my hackles since the year dot

Comment is about CONFERENCE JUNKIE'S (blog)

Fri 15th Apr 2011 14:17

Petrova - oh yes! Spooky shit like that happens to me all the time :D I'll hear the first few bars of a song in my head before it actually comes on, then it comes on and my eyebrows raise so high they warm the back of my neck :D

Thanks again for comments everyone, always appreciated :)

I have actually JUST this second been whistling bloody Hawaii Five-O. AGAIN! nnnggggg

Comment is about Ohrwurm (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor