This is a kids one, and a bit Christmassy for April, but here goes:

When it Snowed Inside

On Christmas Eve I wished and wished: ‘Oh let it snow tonight!’
But then it snowed inside the house – I hadn’t got it right!
I woke up in a blizzard and out of bed I leapt
and ran to tell my mum and dad - but mum and dad still slept:
both snoring little flurries as snow up covered their bed,
so I put my best wellies on and went to find my sled.
As I tobogganed down the stairs the snowflakes softly fell
in drifts against the banisters and in the hall as well.
The living room was inches deep. I crunched towards the tree
that hung with real icicles - so very Christmassy.
I heard my sister getting up. I heard her saying: ‘Oh!’
and landing in the stairwell in a giant ball of snow.
When dad came skiing into view he didn’t even shout
but went and found us spades so we could dig our presents out.
The kitchen was an igloo with slush upon the floor
then, oh my gosh, we were awash after of a sudden thaw.
But all the food was frozen and so for Christmas lunch
mum gave us turkey lolly ices, sprouts that we could crunch.
Dad called out for a pizza (deep pan), crisps and even
nicer than sprouts and so I hope the snow’s not leaving!

Comment is about Win a Trip of a Lifetime to Reykjavik (article)

Ann, it is clever, short and pointed, a good satire.

Comment is about mother nature's victory!! (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

A heart gripper. Compelling in its universal pathos and beautifully written.

Comment is about Hunger Hill Farm (blog)

Original item by Tom

Interesting, a bit of this idea and a bit of that, with enough to make bridges.
I presume you are allowing for extensive 'borrowing' in your claim of biblical tales being 'as old as the wind'. Or do you use 'biblical' in a more austere sense? Still, SPEECH and WRITING are very new in Big Bang Time.

Comment is about The Search (blog)

Original item by John Togher

Thank you so much. I take all your points to heart and will seriously study them. You must have spent considerable time. Just a point, my name is actually Cynthia. Christine Dawson is a great lady with whom you frequently chat. Easy mistake.

Comment is about Antony Owen (poet profile)

Original item by Antony Owen

just my cup o shale. i want to bash my head off some rocks taste some big bangs and stand scary with death like a lighthouse :) i still owe you 1 guiness.

Comment is about The Search (blog)

Original item by John Togher

hey johnniejohn
new poem apocolypse heart, as liked by marianne, is on the page and ready to go in book if u agree...its suitably intense.

Comment is about John Darwin (poet profile)

Original item by John Darwin

Hey, your comment is right in that 'gallery of thoughts' is something i wanted to use,your advice is appreciated. Donna

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

A lovely poem Thomas. The last two lines finish it off perfectly. We should all be out there looking up at the stars! xx

Comment is about Hunger Hill Farm (blog)

Original item by Tom

Thanks so much for your note. You answered all my questions!

Lisa

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

i think that to write the story its best to detach and semi autobiographise it.in this way you may go over areas of your life that are compelling without getting caught up in detail...you can also explore areas that are what ifs...or seperate endings/ split characters all sorts of possibilities. its potentially less painful also.
only my opinion. I write much more interesting stories when my characters are composite and i have a distance from the subject. all our histories contain painful moments and i believe when someone captures them right without sensationalism and with imagination they are cathartic, healing and make a fascinating read.

Comment is about Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice (blog)

Original item by Lisa Milligan

Hi Dave - Having been on WOL just since March, I don't know how one gets chosen for Outstanding Poem of the Month. Is there a way to submit a poem, or some other process?

Thanks,
Lisa

Comment is about Write Out Loud Outstanding Poem For March (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

Snowtexts


‘Hey what are you doing?
Look out your window it’s snowing
(Do you know I love you?)
Amazing white faeries are floating down’

‘Oh yes it’s beautiful,
And thanks, I went outside to see,
(Yes I know you love me,)
Thanks for the text
(I know, so sad I don’t love you in return)

My tears are silently falling
Drifts of losing you pile upon my heart

Comment is about Win a Trip of a Lifetime to Reykjavik (article)

Good luck, good publicity Rach! Maybe afterwards you can post a recording of the show here, or a link to it. (No pressure)! Greg

Comment is about Ceci n'est pas une poeme... (blog)

Original item by Rachel McGladdery

Hello you, too, lovely poet! I still have the poems we created following our WOL chat (was that about a year ago?) and yours has remained fresh, resonant, funky and fab. A free-verse tour-de-force! I remain a huge fan.

Comment is about Shoeless Carole (poet profile)

Original item by Shoeless Carole

Bonne chance Rachel : )
x

Comment is about Ceci n'est pas une poeme... (blog)

Original item by Rachel McGladdery

i have been to word soup two or three times. Its really an enjoyable night for audience and performers

Comment is about Ceci n'est pas une poeme... (blog)

Original item by Rachel McGladdery

Good luck in deed mon petite fleur!! good 'ole lanky radio!!better than Neanderthal Cornwall-haha!! (Morning Ann...ooer!) Stef-x

Comment is about Ceci n'est pas une poeme... (blog)

Original item by Rachel McGladdery

Good luck!! Don't suppose I can get Radio Lancs down here in sunny Cornwall. I'm sure you'll be brill! xx

Comment is about Ceci n'est pas une poeme... (blog)

Original item by Rachel McGladdery

Mmmm better than being down in a sewer - on the end of a skewer! (Oooer, sounds like we're back in Dogshite Alley!) bye bye my pet (rattus) xx
P.S. Carol Ann who? I bet she took longer to write her though! I'm the fastest poet in town! xx

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

hah yeh...at the same time my mum was trying to deafen herself to the sounds of next doors piano practice...its a sign! of what i dont know but sign nevertheless

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

Cynthia, thanks very much for your comments on St Leonard's, although I think you really have been too kind. Thomas Hardy? On the other hand, you have made my day. Greg

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

hey Is. nice to see you at volunteers gig. werent they great. should have come and danced with me at the front. i like to find my place right next to the speaker x

oh yeh and that poem was great admin x

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

i ve stolen your word amphibuous for my poem apocolypse heart. its also got a lot of water in it but is not calm at all. this is peaceful and serene. 'first strokes move woman to water'...moves me to poem. i like your writing carole x

Comment is about swim (blog)

Original item by Shoeless Carole

hi lisa...ignore stefan.
i thought this was a great piece of writing as draft. the chill of realising the dad wrote the note is disturbing. id certainly want to read more from this as a novel/short story.the idea is strong.

Comment is about Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice (blog)

Original item by Lisa Milligan

hi. im at bolton uni fine art. its as incestuous there as it is here...how come we ve never met?

Comment is about ian leslie (poet profile)

Original item by ian leslie

trademark done up parka and pint. you're ace john

Comment is about John Darwin at the Tudor House, Wigan February 2010 (photo)

Thanks petal.
Cx

Comment is about Shoeless Carole (poet profile)

Original item by Shoeless Carole

Hi Colin,
"G-string in the wrong place" is v.funny! We always look where we shouldn't,don't we because we know we shouldn't! Haha!

Comment is about Colin Galbraith (poet profile)

Original item by Colin Galbraith

Hi Ann - i've already left this comment somewhere, but I screwed up. Yes - both Foal & Botany are very good indeed, but for me Coromandel has it all - perfect. B

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hi Ann - picking up where we left off - Botany & Foal are both very good indeed, but Coromandel makes me cry every time I read it - for me, it's perfect. B

Comment is about incantation (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

So much for politics! ;-)

Comment is about mother nature's victory!! (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

bet this poem causes 'ruptions!don,t ash me to dance Ann-I,m off 'tut LAVAtory! yipykyay M.F.!
(just jesting me)tee-hee-yer bin a luvverly hordjunce-gerrnite and there will be lemonade sandwhiches handed out as you exit-Stefanato-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Comment is about mother nature's victory!! (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hello, fair faced friend and wondrous poet! Thank you for your comments. You cheer me up so often and so well I've decided to make you a saint. There you are. How about that, then?

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

Hello Cynthia! Thank you for your very kind comment on 'How I...'. t's like a bouncy castle -- one of those inflatable fun things you can leap around on. The bacteria love it and are willing to pay £2 for an hour on it. Any more and they rupture their cell membranes, which is sometimes useful for me but not desirable for them! The mardi gras is a bit like 'dress down Fridays and, again, they are willing to pay for the fun of dressing up. xx

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

I just found this thanks to Graham's comment. It is a wonderful poem, subtle and powerful too. xx

Comment is about Failure (blog)

Original item by Alison Smiles

I found this looking back at your work. Some very lovely words here Alison. I wish I'd seen it earlier.

Comment is about Failure (blog)

Original item by Alison Smiles

I too liked this a lot although I would have liked the repetition at the end to mimic that at the beginning. A sort of wrapping up and affirmation. Good words though Georgina!

Comment is about So Lay Me Down. (blog)

Well, it's the nearest to a political poem you're ever going to get from me! xx

Comment is about mother nature's victory!! (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Not weird at all Cynthia...
I lOVE your comment on my poem 'Is it not enough...'
I can see it...

Merci : )
Francine x

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

It was the same for me passing by the house
I spent the most time growing up in...
Don't think that I could bear to ever see it again though.
A reflective and moving piece of writing.

Comment is about reflections on home (blog)

Original item by Julian Jordon

I don't get the word haunted, but the first verse is wonderfully evocative.

Comment is about Going to the Country (blog)

There's always the underlying thought that one should never go back. We took our youngest daughter some years ago now back to our first council house. It looked like the house in "shameless" and she thought we were winding her up. Ah well!

Comment is about reflections on home (blog)

Original item by Julian Jordon

Hello Alison, I just thought that I ought to apologise for my (now I think about it) inappropriate comments about Anniversary. Your reply hit me like a brick and I've felt pretty shitty since. So please accept my sincere apologies and ineptness for not reading the work properly. Graham

Comment is about Alison Smiles (poet profile)

Original item by Alison Smiles

Pretty good week since the cup exit I'd say. Hope springs eternal!

Comment is about You Spurs! (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Good one Mrs Milligan!(hows Spike?still dead? hee..hee...'I could feel my Father as he walked in???should,nt be allowed!!!I remain Madam, your 'umble servant-Mr Wildeaboutwomen-xx

Comment is about Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice (blog)

Original item by Lisa Milligan

Hi Christine, you asked me to stop by and I've looked at this in detail for quite some time so I hope my crit is useful to you in whatever way possible.

This 2nd poem is more succinct with tighter images than the 1st. It looks like you had some fun writing this maybe torn between narrative and a more minimalist piece letting the images do the work. I'd like you to elaborate on what kind of still life she could be as their are a number of possibilities you could use and elongate the effect. For instance if we look at everything in the poem from the urban background to the protagonist then still life could represent how unnoticed she / the elderly are to other people and a social commentary/statement is made.

in the gusty dusk
an old woman - like a still life -
tightly sketched -
like a twenty-something's shadow
glowing by hunched silence.

You've created a brilliant scene here with the image of the coat wings and the last 4 lines really demonstrate a respect for the character.

There are always scenes beneath scenes, images within images and you've opened the door here and I think with versions 1&2 as respectable as they are as poems that a hybrid and a patient final piece could be a seminal piece of work.

Example of tightening your original piece below too.

in the gusty dusk
still old life -
tightly sketched -
pitched in perilous geometry
to compass corner
defying phantom wheels.

anxious poise pressed against wind scarf-fiddling
flapping coat wings -
crow black
turreted eyes street fixed
denying symbols
credence

Comment is about Old Woman Waiting for a Bus II (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

this is such a good poem kealan x

furry faced cats pedestrianized
preside over freshly retired men
puffing cheroots outside warm cafes
uniform replaced by jazz jackets.

This work reminds me of Cannery Row Steinbeck. Another consistently genius writer.
if youve not read this you must.

i love the sound of this. the images and resonance of the words all tumble into this city scene.
mansions are hotels for the homeless. dead on.
where will i find one of those beautiful women then?
I can feel the steam from sreet coolants. Its all america to me...where did you have in mind?

Comment is about Serenicity. (blog)

Original item by Kealan Coady

Thankyou for commenting on my poem.. time for me to read some of your work now.

Comment is about Kealan Coady (poet profile)

Original item by Kealan Coady

Thank you for your generous review of "Cassie". She is very dear to me. I'm glad you enjoyed reading it.

Lisa

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas