Thank you for your very kind comments, Greg. I wanted the poem to be very autumnal and slightly late 19th century, with a bit of Edwardian thrown in for good measure. Tony
Comment is about OUR OTHER LIVES (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
Hi Stephen, so pleased you like the poem. I have always been fascinated by the idea of the lives we might have led had we turned left instead of right. A very personal poem. Tony
Comment is about OUR OTHER LIVES (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
Another wonderful poem, Tony. Every line crafted with such care. What might have been, but for whom? Them or us?
Comment is about OUR OTHER LIVES (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
A quiet opening that lures you further in to a poem of utter desolation, all the more effective for being understated. Keeping our attention on the issue that really matters, while some of us still bicker over Brexit. Thank you, Steve.
Comment is about Minefield (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Deeply profound poem, Tony, with such a mournful, melancholy air. A tour de force. I've just looked up Frost's 'The Road Not Taken', and realised how different your development of his theme is. Bravo.
Comment is about OUR OTHER LIVES (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
I agree with Clare, Chris. This brings us face to face with the depths of love and our soul.
Comment is about Twixt Pen and Eye (blog)
Original item by Chris Armstrong
I think this poem still stands up well, Greg. I had more or less forgotten about Farage until this bank account business came up. For me, he taps the worst instincts in people and offers absolutely nothing.
Comment is about Unhappy landings (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Telboy, it's hard to bang your own drum, and I would find it difficult to take you by the hand and lead you through the poem, to persuade you there is some craft there. Maybe try reading it aloud, if you can bear to?! Not all poetry has to rhyme, although I think you already know that. There can be a rhythm and 'music' to a poem, words that sound similar, and I would argue for that in this case. I agree with you that Farage had a huge influence on us leaving the EU, and this is a 'what if?' kind of poem, ie what if he had not survived his light aircraft crash on election day in 2010? Would we still be in the EU now after all? I should also say that this poem was previously published in The Morning Star, although I would not submit to them now, owing to their stance on Ukraine. PS by coincidence, today I am wearing my RNLI socks.
Comment is about Unhappy landings (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Thanks, MC. I used the word Moorside purely because it had the right accentual stress. Although there is a notorious Moorside in Dewsbury. And thanks for the Like, Kishore.
Comment is about DON'T TWITCH ASIDE THE CURTAIN (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Certainly, there's a reminder here of the gist of Kipling's
poem about the smugglers and its advice to the young girl about not watching "the gentlemen" go by. The activities described
here are hardly new and I can cite the Broadwater Farm estate
and the murder of PC Keith Blakelock as one lamentable
example. And how long ago was that - when the local black
MP boasted how the police had been given a good hiding?
Comment is about DON'T TWITCH ASIDE THE CURTAIN (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Thanks for the likes. My long life has seen a list of household names reading the news on BBC TV - Robet Dougall, Richard
Baker, Moira Anderson, not forgetting that graceful lady who
delighted us with her dancing on a Morecambe & Wise Christmas
Show and who is still to be found employing her talents on our screens today. Mr Alagiah was a worthy addition to their ranks!
Comment is about GOODBYE GEORGE ALAGIAH (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Whatever we may think of Nigel Farage we must surely recognise the huge influence he had on the Brexit vote, again not to everybody's liking. Without his contribution we would still be in the EU.
As to this poem, a while ago I was 'accused' by the author of submitting a piece of prose broken up into lines with a bit of political snobbery thrown in for good measure and told it was not a poem. How is this any different?
Comment is about Unhappy landings (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
I would respect giving credit where it's due. Farage performed
a signal duty by bringing to attention the socio-economic
posturings of the big banks, something I imagine hasn't been
considered before by many of us. Or would you prefer your
own attitudes be grounds for cancelling any bank account held
by you and others of differing opinions? As for the question of
immigration, his views about its effect - both immediate and likely - are a matter of public record. Considering the
government's inability to house and care for its own people,
let alone the uncontrolled numbers and their "baggage"
across the spectrum of the human condition, those views
are entirely relevant to life in the UK today. Closing down
opinions is not unrelated to closing down bank accounts.
We must all be on our guard for the risk that poses to
freedom of speech and the vital wider control of our lives.
Comment is about Unhappy landings (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
I really enjoyed this one Charlie. Great writing.
Comment is about Her Habitat (2011) (blog)
Original item by Charlie Sparkinson
Whatever is it in one's childhood that makes one an admirer of Enoch Powell, who makies racist comments with references to Hitler?
Comment is about Unhappy landings (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Since Farage is in the news again, here's my poem about him from my 'Marples Must Go!' collection (2021)
Comment is about Unhappy landings (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Really like this poem, Charlie, not least because it displays a pleasure in the sound of words. Full of wonderful imagery. I also like the flexibility of your rhyme scheme. Great read. Tony
Comment is about Her Habitat (2011) (blog)
Original item by Charlie Sparkinson
They’re a set of bastards, Uilleam.
Until you need them.
Thankyou, Stephen. You will have recognized the shoulders of Kipling I stood on to write this update.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pELNBp6DBh8
Comment is about DON'T TWITCH ASIDE THE CURTAIN (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Long time no see Charlie!
Comment is about Her Habitat (2011) (blog)
Original item by Charlie Sparkinson
...he has performed an important service...
indeed he has MC....a timely warning of the dangers of demagoguery in action.
Comment is about Rent-a-Gob (blog)
A very well-crafted poem, Charlie.
Comment is about Her Habitat (2011) (blog)
Original item by Charlie Sparkinson
Thanks Charlie.
I have serious concerns about the vast amount of money we spend on poisonous chemicals used around our home in the name of "cleanliness", and about its effects on the environment.
Comment is about Her Habitat (2011) (blog)
Original item by Charlie Sparkinson
Too close to the truth John.
The keepers of "His Majesty's Peace" are no longer servants of an increasingly vulnerable public, but of the ideologues and oligarchs who can shout loudest.
Should a cocky teen lad whistle at a pretty girl in the street, he will be eagerly pounced upon by a squad of half a dozen patrolling plastic plods for the crime of "wolf whistling", or whatever it's called these days...(yes they've been filmed admitting that).
Yet should my home be ransacked by burglars, not a cat in hell's chance that I will recieve anything approaching "justice".
Comment is about DON'T TWITCH ASIDE THE CURTAIN (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
You have a point, Keith. There's a lot of fact-free and airhead reporting around. That's why proper journalism, by informed people doing real research, needs to be supported (and paid for).
Comment is about The Media (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
Beautifully written and deeply disturbing, John.
Comment is about DON'T TWITCH ASIDE THE CURTAIN (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Thanks for the like Stephen.
Thanks Tony, I did some tweaking to this as I know how critical it can be with short poems not to wander off the point . I'm pleased you found it worked.
Ray
Comment is about DEATH ENCAPSULATED (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Hi Stella. Yes I was nonplussed by your removal of 'Away from the World' from WOL as I remember it being particularly great. Glad to know you're going to be published. I'll make sure I buy a copy. 😀
Comment is about Stella Forsythe (poet profile)
Original item by Stella Forsythe
Pleased you like the poem, Stephen. I’m glad they’re not triffids as they are pressed up close to my garden fence. I expect the farmer will be harvesting the crop soon. It’s been strange having these bright acres so close. I’m careful not to let my dog wander too far in for fear of losing him. Tony
Comment is about RAPE (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
A wry comment on the state of human concern today. I keep
looking for news about what is happening to the sun, but
without much success so far.
Comment is about IT'S THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT (blog)
Original item by Short Attention Span Poetry
Spot on. A small gem of insight which deserves anyone's time.
Comment is about The Difference (blog)
Original item by Mike McPeek
Stone the crows !! If you'll pardon the expression. 😋
Comment is about WHY, WHY, WHY...DELILAH? (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Excellent poem, Tony. Wonderfully sinister. Made me think of triffids lurking outside.
Comment is about RAPE (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
Thanks very much, John. Much appreciated. As with other issues I write about, I find it sad that I have to do it.
And thanks for your comments, MC. Always interesting to read your views.
Thanks to Nigel and Uilleam for liking this.
Comment is about Uxbridge (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Glad you like the poem, Ray. I wasn’t aware of how many military allusions I had made until the poem was almost complete. There is something threatening about a field of rape, at least I think so. Tony
Comment is about RAPE (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
A fine poem full of detail and the sweep of imagination - epic in its way and I especially like the line "sullen as munition." in fact the references to the military altogether.
Ray
Comment is about RAPE (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
Never mind Delilah – she’s the least of our worries- stop cruelty to Mice!
I think the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts (their proper name) should ban Havergal Brian’s "Fantastic Variations on an Old Rhyme" which used the tune of Three Blind Mice as the basis of his work – and to boot, Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 IV. Allegro con fuoco for similar reasons.
Just Stop Farmer’s Wives!
Save the Mice!
😑
Comment is about WHY, WHY, WHY...DELILAH? (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Ah yes, the Fields of Athenry, an absolute gem, to which we sang along many a time in karaoke fashion in my local a couple of years ago.
I once thought it was an "old-time song", not realising it had been written as recently as 1979-quality writing that.
Comment is about Noli Timere (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Gorgeous. A song to celebrate life, Helene. 😀
Comment is about Healing (blog)
Original item by Hélène
Well said, Uilleam. I couldn't agree more. 💪
Comment is about Rent-a-Gob (blog)
Thank you so much, Uilleam. I started out with a description and stumbled into a metaphor. Nothing much has changed in half a century, has it?
Working people get by on pride and not much else 😕
Comment is about Burley Road (blog)
Original item by John Botterill
Thanks for the kind words, Clare. Only just wrote the 'Twixt Pen and Eye' and I don't have any upcoming collections so it will be a while before it gets published elsewhere.
Comment is about Clare (poet profile)
Original item by Clare
A cracking line John: "...cobble-stoned determination"...ordinary folk around me every day, just getting on with the hard reality of life.
Comment is about Burley Road (blog)
Original item by John Botterill
Thank you John for a lovely poem.
I didn't realise it was that long ago.
Comment is about Noli Timere (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Thank you Keith; I am all too prone to "doom -scrolling".
As John B. suggests, knowledge is power indeed- and that is why so much money is invested in propagating lies and hatred through the Murdochian sewer posing as "journalism".
Comment is about The Media (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
Troubling times Hugh, and I'm sorry for your trouble.
Unfortunately, theirs is a generation for whose futures, nothing but contempt has been shown.
Their so-called "elders and betters", (the politicians who partied and vomited in the seat of government during lockdown whilst their mums and dads could not say their final good byes to their grandparents) effectively gave two fingers to any notion of "respect".
We reap as we sow.
Comment is about Hundreds of school kids run riot in Manchester city centre as cops hit with eggs,shops closed and trams forced to crawl !! (blog)
Original item by hugh
One of my favorites! 😁
Comment is about Just another tom petty reference (blog)
Original item by Jordyn Elizabeth
I agree with your analysis, Keith. Knowledge is power.
Comment is about The Media (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
Stuff and nonsense, MC. How before an alliance of animal rights activists, vegans, and the RSPB ban “four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie”?
Comment is about WHY, WHY, WHY...DELILAH? (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Graham Sherwood
Tue 25th Jul 2023 21:55
I noticed that the BBC Homepage had nothing about Ukraine on it today! It is becoming death by a thousand cuts! He must be stopped sooner than later.
Comment is about Minefield (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage