enjoyed this Ray
Bernie

Comment is about Anything Goes (blog)

very enjoyable, repays repeated readings, love the jokes and rhymes

Comment is about Anything Goes (blog)

Yeah i really enjoyed this too. Some great imagery and the rhythm bounces along quite merrily. Love it!
Nice one! ;-)

Comment is about Anything Goes (blog)

superb. This shows real craftsmanship and discipline as well as having moments of sublime madness. Worthy of being megaphoned from the top deck of Preston Bus Station. On a Saturday.

Comment is about Anything Goes (blog)

Hi there, just listened to your audio. I like the fact that the acoustics don't override the words which does seem to occur with a lot of this particular style of performance poetry.

I love your take on Moses. Very funny. Great stuff :-)

Comment is about The Antipoet (poet profile)

Original item by The Antipoet

Hi Mal, thank you very much for your comment on 'Tiptoe through the tulips.'
Very much appreciated,
Janet.x

Comment is about Malpoet (poet profile)

Original item by Malpoet

Is this based on poetry critique Mal?
Seems like there's a fair battle going on. It reminds me of the phrase 'he/she gives as good as he/she gets.'

Nice to see you posting again (wish you would find a nicer photo though) :-)

Comment is about Armed (blog)

Original item by Malpoet

Yes - I would tend to agree with Ann's interpretation. This a poem about significant role change. A woman's need for a man who is distanced. The pressures that brings. Where he was once in control, the driving force of a knife in fact to her lamb, now he is domesticated, tamed, turned to stone by the weight of her expectations. I was a bit puzzled by the Frank reference but I've come to the conlusion you are referring to Frankincense which would tie in with the candles and prayers.

A sad poem but a good one cos it is so refreshingly different.

Comment is about How To Fix A Broken Man (blog)

Original item by John Togher

I have read through this several times John, and I keep coming back to it!
I do have to agree that I love how it can be interpreted in so many ways...

Comment is about How To Fix A Broken Man (blog)

Original item by John Togher

I enjoyed reading this sad tale, even though I will never understand
how someone could never have the courage to let someone else know
how they truly feel...

Comment is about I Was the Reluctant Lover (blog)

Original item by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh

Welcome to our not so little site Cathy, hope you enjoy reading and finding all the little gems on here. Winston

Comment is about Cathy Bryant (poet profile)

Original item by Cathy Bryant

I love the twist at the end - comes as a complete surprise
(in spite of the title, I didn't see it coming)

Comment is about falling in love by surprise (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

"Real neat" Alison

Comment is about Climber boy (blog)

Original item by Alison Smiles

ah no im sorry you felt like that. i love your enthusiasm and spirit, i once felt like that...my mind, jet streaming always but particularly that night. i had personal stuff going on, nothing to do with company.thanks for your concern x

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

wow its almost the valhalla sun in moonlight in its opposite.x

Comment is about Fragments (blog)

Original item by Marianne Daniels

Ta Stef - oooh! You are clever!

Comment is about new twenty pound note haiku (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Not even with my manly new scar Rachel!? :-)

Thanks for the comment though! :-)

Comment is about Your Eyes (blog)

Original item by Steven Kenny

i live on chapman st which i thought similar to the names of murderer harold shipman and the the name of mark chapman the fool who shot john lennon(GRHS)...now the name of a mutilated victorian prostitute...its all so grim i love it. yet it is really a very nice little street. The neighbour informed me however that one of us residents was held up at gunpoint for their shopping and another tried to cut off his own head! :) i believe non of it but not a bad welcome eh?

Comment is about Gentleman Caller (blog)

Original item by Steven Kenny

in my eyes kenny youre lovely like a cherub...sorry if this is not 'you are rugged like a swarthy handsome film actor', but i think its better x

Comment is about Your Eyes (blog)

Original item by Steven Kenny

I like that one John.Intriguing.

Comment is about How To Fix A Broken Man (blog)

Original item by John Togher

How the flip do you spell moustacheoed?? ;-)

Comment is about new twenty pound note haiku (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hi Gus, just doing a bit of reading and came across this. It reflects life and the human condition in all its complexity. The things we do eh?
It feels as though there's a little sadness in a moment of reflection. I like it :-)

Comment is about She Loved Sundays (blog)

Original item by Gus Jonsson

Thank you Larisa (Falling in Love by Surprise) for your kind comments! x

Comment is about Larisa Rzhepishevska (poet profile)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Beautiful poem Ann. I love it. With warmest wishes, Larisa

Comment is about falling in love by surprise (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Ta John (Falling in Love by Surprise) for your kind comments! x

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Hi John, yes this is an intriguing poem and i agree it can be interpreted in many ways. In my present mode, it reflects a love but the love can be associated with many things, this website just as an example :-)

Comment is about How To Fix A Broken Man (blog)

Original item by John Togher

defo song like quality to this, Ann. The twist round at the end works pretty well too.. Nice one! x

Comment is about falling in love by surprise (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Thank you for your comment, my dear friend.

Comment is about Lynn Dye (poet profile)

Original item by Lynn Dye

Beautiful, Larisa.

Comment is about I love you (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Your welcome, I love the first line, though not sure why you are in the wardrobe! Is that where men do these things?

Comment is about John Togher (poet profile)

Original item by John Togher

Hi again John - I've been reading through your poems and I like them a lot - esp this one. And you profile ones too, very much!

Comment is about The Waiting (blog)

Original item by John Togher

Lovely Ann. Nice turn at the end.

Comment is about falling in love by surprise (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

ooops! Yes, read it quickly this morning and then went back. Hence my mistake! x

Comment is about How To Fix A Broken Man (blog)

Original item by John Togher

Thank you for your comments, Val, on 'How To Fix A Broken Man'. Don't you listen too much to that Mr Thomas! (Although he can be very insightful...)

Comment is about Valerie Cook (poet profile)

Original item by Valerie Cook

Hello Ann,
Cheers for reading and commenting on 'How To Fix A Broken Man'. I've replied in the comments section of the poem, but I'll also tell you here - the 'marine on the beach' line was something Darren wrote himself in the comments under the poem, I haven't edited the poem since first putting it up and that line was never in the poem. He's a sneaky one that Mr Thomas.

Glad you enjoyed it! Even if you read lines that were never there! x

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Cheers for the comments, all.

Ann, I haven't changed it. The 'marine on the beach head' was something Darren wrote below!

But most are not too far away with interpretation, and as I've said before, there's no right or wrong way of interpretation and the writer's intent isn't that important as long as a reader enjoys a piece.

Glad you've enjoyed it.

Comment is about How To Fix A Broken Man (blog)

Original item by John Togher

For a friend who helped me through grief - and he never knew!

Comment is about falling in love by surprise (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Nothing wrong with hormones, Alison. At my age I rely on them!

Comment is about Climber boy (blog)

Original item by Alison Smiles

I've read this again and you've changed it I think and I like it much more. You've lost the marine on the beach head - and I didn't like that bit! I don't see it as having anything to do with the need of the woman to produce a child. To me, it is a domestice evening, to me Sandalwood and Frank are the pet cats (tell me if I'm barking!) To me, the man used to be the one in charge, sexually. But now, he is distanced from the woman. But her need of him is still great. This scares him. That's my reading anyway! Great poem - would prob be my walop, if we were having any!

Comment is about How To Fix A Broken Man (blog)

Original item by John Togher

Warm weather and hormones. Sorry.

Comment is about Climber boy (blog)

Original item by Alison Smiles

Hi Andy and thanks for taking the time to read Crixus story, much appreciated x

Comment is about Andy N (poet profile)

Original item by Andy N

Thank you Ann for reading my latest, i know it's quite a task lol You were right about the missing word - i hadn't seen it despite several read throughs lol

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

A lovely gentle poem Alison,well done.

Comment is about How? (blog)

Original item by Alison Smiles

Love it Pete,its just what we all need. I shall read this when such industry gets to much.
Relax relaxavou. xx

Comment is about the speed of life (blog)

I like this poem a lot John but the lamb and the knife confuse me.
Darren "she'll make you pay if you can't land a little marine on the beach head" helped me understand the poem. So I read it again.Thanks

Comment is about How To Fix A Broken Man (blog)

Original item by John Togher

This can be interpreted in so many ways that I've already got out my miner's lamp of intrigue and I'm off into the bowels of darkness, sadness and true meaning secreted inside these words...

First of all - I'd want to know why the man was broken - what caused this?

'Where she was once the lamb. I was once the knife, plunging to fashion equilibrium.'

A role reversal or a reversal of a particular role within a role. Sex maybe? Moving from the role of gratification to its more fundamental role of reproduction?

"And as the dark approaches outside,
candals are lit one by one".

A resignation almost that this attempt at conceiving is going to seem as futile as previous attempts have been so far?

"she becomes Medusa..."

She won't be the first and she won't be the last - she'll make you pay if you can't land a little marine on the beach head.

'And she carves me to her ideal'.

She wished she'd never married you - cos, if she's being honest, all she ever wanted were children -not a beardy layabout.


Ladies and Gentlemen...the fantastic, Mr John Togher... is there a band on John?

Comment is about How To Fix A Broken Man (blog)

Original item by John Togher

Wow!

Comment is about How To Fix A Broken Man (blog)

Original item by John Togher

I think this is a really good poem. Full of unexpected, seemingly unrelated images that grab at you like a teasel on your coat sleeve!

Comment is about How To Fix A Broken Man (blog)

Original item by John Togher

Thanks for the post Dave, I am an unpolished writer! sorry if I came across obnoxious, more insecure really! Thanks for encouragement, take care.

Comment is about Dave Bradley (poet profile)

Original item by Dave Bradley

Cheers Dave, for commenting on Carol Ann Duffy. As you say, one of those moments! I was very interested in your recent discussion thread about looking for more offbeat subjects, and will do my best! Greg

Comment is about Dave Bradley (poet profile)

Original item by Dave Bradley