The click of a changing derailleur gear, the smell of freshly
mown grass and newly laid tar on a country road are with me
still a lifetime later when I'm fortunate to be able to enjoy the
comfort and protection of a solidly built "automatic" on much
busier highways and byways. Thanks for the opportunity to
take this trip with you.

Comment is about GOING OVER THE TOP (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Never did get to that in between stage of riding a motor bike that
marked the progress from bicycle to car. I did get to sample the
passing excitement of "pillion passenger" on a family friend's
big bike...e.g. we passed most everything else on that 1950s country road! I like the rhythm of these lines. They go well with
the sound of a motor bike in my own mind. But I also have the
scene of the fate of T.E. Lawrence as depicted in the fine David
Lean "Lawrence of Arabia" and think I might have been lucky,
considering what could have been.

Comment is about BSA BANTAM (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Ha..,.Jennifer. Your comment brought back the memory of my
late brother's impatience at seeing an old man in his way and
realising with alarm that he was looking at a reflection of himself
in an adjacent angled shop window. You have to laugh, don't you? 😊

Comment is about COSTUME DRAMA (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Stick at it Keith. I keep thinking maybe I'll do something of note.....one day!

Comment is about Maybe (blog)

Original item by Keith Byrne

Welcome Jennifer to my humble poem. I agree about the perils of invisibility. Been there and still doing that. All the best Ray

Comment is about COSTUME DRAMA (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Ah ha thanks Jennifer another satisfied customer shall we say!
Hope you're well, a treat to hear from you.

Comment is about THE TOASTMASTER'S FLY (blog)

Original item by ray pool

A Honda 50 and then a Honda 125 were the biggest I've ever ridden. I have to say I still miss the feeling of freedom even those gave me.

Comment is about BSA BANTAM (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

That sounds very sad Mike.
For various reasons I became estranged from most of my school friends and family relations in my early teens and adulthood, which pains me greatly; but I count myself fortunate in that I still have close family and wonderful people who're the salt of the earth around me.
I wish you well.

Comment is about Feeling Lost (blog)

Original item by Mike Bartram

Oh dear...bad to verse.

Comment is about Stop the Stunts! (blog)

Best wishes Stephen.
💓

Comment is about A loss of life & words (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

Who'd a thowt it eh...the Fire Brigades Union being concerned for their members' safety and for the safety of the public!

Comment is about Stop the Stunts! (blog)

Thanks for finding the time to comment, Uilleam. I have always been rather suspicious of the spectacular! Tony

Comment is about THE LITTLE STREET* (blog)

Original item by Tony Hill

Glad you like the poem, John. I seem to recall reading once that it is Stephen Fry’s favourite painting. Tony

Comment is about THE LITTLE STREET* (blog)

Original item by Tony Hill

Thanks for reading, the likes, and comments. I was really feeling it with this one.

Comment is about You Gave Me Everything, and Nothing At All (blog)

Original item by kimberly

I have done a presentation in John Clare's cottage and walked his walks. Pastoral poetry is so beautiful I am at a loss to understand why I don't write more of it. Thank you John for reminding me of this sad genius.

Comment is about The peasant poet (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Tch tch tch, be nice!😊

Comment is about QUIET!! (blog)

Original item by Edbreathe

I just love French films , they are under rated globally.
Full of poetic comment , humour , and the state of mankind , pathos etc
Le Gloir de mon Pere is one of my favourites

Comment is about Le Grand Jacques (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

Love this poem, Tony. A high quality depiction of every day life
In case we pass and do not notice.
And those other lives we do not see.
Fab!

Comment is about THE LITTLE STREET* (blog)

Original item by Tony Hill

Thanks Tony.
Once again, beauty in the mundane-yet, would the inhabitants think of it as such?

Comment is about THE LITTLE STREET* (blog)

Original item by Tony Hill

Thanks Clare, that's lovely...I'm off now to talk to the trees-good therapy.

Comment is about The Walk. (blog)

Original item by Clare

A Trolley!
I used to have one of those-now I'm off it.

Comment is about The Age of Gold (blog)

Original item by David Cooke

Thanks John.
As you suggest, beauty is to be found in what some percieve as the mundane.

I note with some amusement that Clare’s “The Dream” was described by a “London Weekly Review” critic as an “absurd piece of doggerel and bombast”, yet, according to a “Literary Chronicle” reviewer, it possesed “…an almost Byronic strength and originality”.
So I won't give up the struggle yet.😏

Comment is about The peasant poet (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

My poem was written in reponse to racist abuse aimed at volunteers who put their lives on the line for all our sakes.
Those who try to justify such abuse are as guilty as the abusers.

In case my comment was missed, I'll repeat it.

Abuse, verbal or physical, of those who volunteer to place their lives in danger for a humanitarian cause, regardless of who is in danger, is truly despicable.
Those who knowingly and deliberately incite such abuse for nefarious ends are the lowest of the low.

Comment is about In Praise of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (blog)

Fascinating.
Who will they be once cleansed
Great line of poetry, Holden. 😎

Comment is about Avoidance. (blog)

Original item by Holden Moncrieff

I love this one Clare, so many great lines. I particularly enjoyed the opening verse and this:

"We might have
Missed
The sobbing clouds"

💪

Comment is about The Walk. (blog)

Original item by Clare

Very well written Kim and shot through with real sadness.

Comment is about You Gave Me Everything, and Nothing At All (blog)

Original item by kimberly

A beautiful poem Stephen and so sorry to hear about your brother.

Comment is about A loss of life & words (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

Sorry for your loss Stephen.

Comment is about A loss of life & words (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

Sorry to hear of your loss, Stephen. Tony

Comment is about A loss of life & words (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

Very sorry for your loss, Stephen. Well done for expressing it in such a way. The poetry will return, maybe is returning already.

Comment is about A loss of life & words (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

Have always loved libraries and bookshops, like Aladdin's Cave, full of treasures. The only place I really enjoyed spending time in at my school, (it was also the warmest place to sit)! Do mobile libraries still exist in the country? When I was a teen there was a fantastic one which came to the village with a huge choice. They would also provide any book, (within reason) you asked for. An incredible service. Lovely poem.

Comment is about A Library (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Don't see she was doing any harm. At a food bank people like her would have received the stuff, and if she had no other choice?Agree with Keith that as a child never saw a food bank, or so many homeless people in towns. We have come a long way forward, but many have been left behind.

Comment is about Martha (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Agree absolutely, with perhaps a few exceptions. They seem to delight in making the news as juicy and explicit as possible. A thing that really gets me is describing in gory detail how a person died, and even showing pictures of the horror. Perhaps admissible to show the effects of war, but not otherwise. The dead can't defend or protect themselves. Also there have been cases of people driven to suicide by the relentless media pursuit and search for scandal they were victims of.

Comment is about The Media (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Nice one yet again, Ray! Agre with MCN that sometimes it is amusing to be invisible. Find a big problem is if one inadvertently passes a shop window and sees an old trout in it, then comes the appalling realisation that it is yourself!

Comment is about COSTUME DRAMA (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Toastmaster, toastmaster what were you at? Really amusing Ray!

Comment is about THE TOASTMASTER'S FLY (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Liked the comment from M C N, Do not weep for what is lost, but instead smile for what has been. This is comforting when 'the bottomless hollow' starts to fill up a little. Beautiful poem.

Comment is about A loss of life & words (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

I'm sure none of us dispute that the RNLI is a fine institution and its crews are brave people. And they do what they were set up to do - rescue people in difficulties at sea. But we know that migrant boats refuse French help, preferring to risk their lives further by waiting for the RNLI. Who can condone this, unless we actively want to encourage illegal immigration?

Comment is about In Praise of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (blog)

The RNLI is an institution that has been placed in an iinvidious
position due to political failure. It is being used to facilitate a
well organised criminal enterprise that obtains significant
sums from the illegal transfer of people from one safe land to another.
That "employment" is at odds with any demands that might be
of it elsewhere by those properly engaged in legal activities.
One can just imagine the heavy irony of assurances offered
by its criminal perpetrators to the migrants: "Don't worry, the English are waiting to help you. They don't seem to mind
who enters their country."
UoC - you use abuse to make your point(s). One assumes you think that's OK.

Comment is about In Praise of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (blog)

Having lost my brother in the recent past, I can identify with
this. My own left home early to become a boy soldier while
I was still a sprog and memories of his coming home on leave
over those years stay with me still. His arrival was always
looked forward to with eager anticipation and his departure
always regretted. His final departure from this life was sudden
and involved me as his executor. Hard in so many ways.
Chin up, SA...he would have wanted you to carry on as if he
were still around. As the saying goes: Do not weep for what
is lost, but instead smile for what has been.

Comment is about A loss of life & words (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

A wonderfully heartfelt glimpse into your loss and pain, Stephen.

Comment is about A loss of life & words (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

I am so sorry for your loss. 😢. A beautiful poem from the heart. 💕

Comment is about A loss of life & words (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

Cheers Kev
and thanks for your likes
Stephen
Ruth
Kevin
jennifer
and
Greg.😁

Comment is about Sizzling to Blistering (blog)

Original item by Nigel Astell

Wise words! Thanks!

Comment is about Confused relationships! (blog)

Original item by pallavitryingthings

Thankyou, Uilleam and Stephen. I confess I am enjoying Brexit every bit as much as the cricket.

Comment is about DUCKWORTH-LEWIS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

@Hélène Exactly, I guess it was my way of summing up the human experience through my own. Thank you 😃

Comment is about Soliloquy under Tuesday Moonlight (blog)

Original item by Grace

I am culturally barren, as you may have gathered, Stephen 😀 however on your recommendation, I will give Monsieur Tatti a go. 😁

Comment is about Le Grand Jacques (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

These sorts of experience resonate with many of us, John. It is a privelege to read this incredible poem.

Comment is about Muscle memory (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Thank you, John. Duckworth-Lewis is probably the best and fairest of several inevitably imperfect systems available.

Yes, nobody understands it, least of all Peter Capaldi. But nobody understands most things. Who needs experts?

Perhaps a hidden message here? Don't ask me.

Comment is about DUCKWORTH-LEWIS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks Stephen. You're so supportive. I appreciate that! You may notice a North Norfolk refrain in my poetry?
Good friends let us stay with them each year, listening to Alan Partridge on Radio Norfolk haha.
Thanks for the likes Uilleam and Helene 😀

Comment is about This Train... (blog)

Original item by John Botterill

From one train to another train, I think, John. Very atmospheric.

A nice part of the world. North Norfolk always makes me think of Alan Partridge, although he's not a big train user!

Comment is about This Train... (blog)

Original item by John Botterill