Boy! do I know exactly where you are coming from Kath.Would that happen to be you,middle rear row?don,t bollock me too hard if not! neat poem-cheers-Stef-x

Comment is about looking back. (blog)

Simply Beautiful.

Comment is about A short study (blog)

Original item by Andy N

This seems a fair question. There is no reason why it should be politically incorrect. From whom should we expect an answer? Putting it into street 'talk' doesn't reduce its seriousness.

Comment is about just a couple of questions (blog)

Wonderful poem, Dave, spot on in every way. And, yes, the personification of the teacup is super. How our minds do wander in weird ways in the middle of family mayhem! The last line is outstanding.

Comment is about Family weekend (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

I agree :)

Comment is about A short study (blog)

Original item by Andy N

Excellent, Kealan - the 'universal' ideas in bold fresh language. 'Creating sense from Nature's disfigured corners' is superb. You inspire me.

Editting point: when you are hyphenating words together to make an adjective, do not add spaces before and after the hyphen; they should stay 'tucked'. Unless this is a deliberate quirk, of course.

Comment is about I Wanted to be a War Photographer. (blog)

Original item by Kealan Coady

This is a lovely, intimate and inspiring short poem. IMO one of your best.

Comment is about A short study (blog)

Original item by Andy N

Congratulations on winning the slam Fatima. It was well deserved and you gave a beautiful performance.

I love your profile poem. Indisposable sadness often comes with excess baggage - don't you think? Beautifully expressed.

Isobel x

Comment is about Fatima AL Matar (poet profile)

Original item by Fatima AL Matar

It's a bird isn't it John? (Or is it a plane? Nonono!)xxYep, just looked in me dictionary - it's a nightjar!
OH! You did it to me again! I just listened to the audio and you give the game away on that! It's "highly camouflaged and semi-crepuscular" you know!

Comment is about Goatsucker - Villanelle to Hell's Angel (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

I agree, a lovely poem.

Comment is about For you. (blog)

Thank you for the comments. I must confess that the "dedicated water damage claim handler" and the "dedicated loss adjuster" are total quotes from some tv add for an insurance company! I thought they were such marvellous phrases! I expect the man from the Pru or somewhere will be round shortly to arrest me for plagiarism! Must go and write the sequel entitled "Go to work on an egg!"

Comment is about insurance (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Magical!

Comment is about For you. (blog)

This is glorious! Is it based on the legend of Sweeney?
Have you seen The Mighty Boosh where Bryan Ferry goes feral in the forest and looks after Vince Noir?

Comment is about Goatsucker - Villanelle to Hell's Angel (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Dave hello. I'm sorry that this is so late, but many thanks for your kind nomination. It's been a very hectic time workwise and I am just getting myself organized on the poetry front again. Once again many thanks. Graham

Comment is about Dave Dunn (poet profile)

Original item by Dave Dunn

Ann the first two lines are superb. What an anti-hero, a dedicated water damage claim handler.......inspired!

Comment is about insurance (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

This is a charming piece Kathryn. I hope you find him.

Comment is about For you. (blog)

You dedicated water damage claim handler romantic, you! However, there's the problem of bigamy/two-timing here. The loss adjustor (water) butts in. You'll have to choose; perhaps it's fire hydrants/water pistols at dawn?

Comment is about insurance (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

enjoyed this piece, m8... the ending is interesting but for some reason i am drew to the fact more truth is always nearer instead off truth is always near..

keep em flowing however bud...

Comment is about I Wanted to be a War Photographer. (blog)

Original item by Kealan Coady

Hi Win; Cheers for the comments over my last two poems.. I didn't even know I was being sketched until sometime later.. To say it surprised me was a understatement... See you soon - Andy N

Comment is about Winston Plowes (poet profile)

Original item by Winston Plowes

Now you just did that to make me look silly!! xx

Comment is about Goatsucker - Villanelle to Hell's Angel (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Ann
Yer tiz

Comment is about Goatsucker - Villanelle to Hell's Angel (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

who are you callin' a goatsucker? where's the poem? are you getting forgetful in your old age? ;-) (I know I am!) xx

Comment is about Goatsucker - Villanelle to Hell's Angel (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Gus
I agree with Cynthia - lots of devices to heighten the effect, but so well done that I didn't notice them when I read it - only after I'd read her comment and checked it out. Clever work, Gus.
Also pleased you enjoyed my trip to the dentist - a lot of effort went into those rhymes!

Comment is about Jack Came Dancing ( Re - Post Oct 2008) (blog)

Original item by Gus Jonsson

Regardless of any haiku definition (which doesn't matter IMHO) this is a fantastic thing. Win x

Comment is about A short study (blog)

Original item by Andy N

Absolutely, although there are definite answers for that particular conundrum depending on whether you believe in one of the the conventional monotheistic creeds or not. If you do then it's the chicken, if you don't, then it's the egg. :)

Comment is about Beulah (poet profile)

Original item by Beulah

Hi Ann - I agree on reflection that there is something there that could be better. I like your version as well, but in that case I think that (somehow) it would need another syllable in line 4. I think I'll have to mull it over, but thanks for pointing it out. I must admit that quite a few people have in the past pulled me up over a change of tense in a poem (as if the tense MUST remain constant throughout) but I don't see why. Many of my poems are like the spoken word, or a conversation, so the tense may well drift as (say) it brings a past recollection into the present discussion. Anyroadup, I agree that I need to work on this one. Did you ever decide on your own "best" poems so I can see if they are as good for me as coromandel? all the best. B

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Upon reading 'Where do we go from here' I thought to myself I bet this is good performed on the open mic. It also has a gentle wisdom without lecturing, lyrically persuasive too.

Comment is about Gus Jonsson (poet profile)

Original item by Gus Jonsson

Hi Andy and thanks for commenting on my river poem. I do plan to add music since my first collection was pub'd last year abd I will get round to it. Good luck on yours by the way, its a crazy time the editing period but it really holds a looking glass to who we are as writers. Some of your work reminds me of Billy Ramsell - a fantastic Irish poet who seems able to pull off getting people to care about the details most miss (similar to your lines of the cars parking in the distance.) I know poets always say 'have you read this poet blah blah blah' but check him out, his books called 'Complicated Pleasures' - its a keeper !

Comment is about Andy N (poet profile)

Original item by Andy N

I realised when I saw the mention in WALOP that I had talked about apple juice in this poem. But I didn't mean apple juice, I meant an art gallery (so easy to confuse the two - when you can't speak French anyway!) I think I have the correct spelling now. Nowadays, the gallery has a collection of photographs, but if it is the one I'm thinking of, it used to be full or Impressionist paintings. In my rusty bed post days anyhow! xx

Comment is about le weekend (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hi, thanks for comments on Missing Person. I wrote this on the bus yesterday, where there was a small poster about a missing woman. She looked so carefree in the photo. Bits of her car have been found washed up on the coast near where she worked. So who knows? The character in the poem is made up by me (or maybe is me!) As to the fate of the missing woman, her family still wait and hope!

Comment is about Tim Ellis (poet profile)

Original item by Tim Ellis

Hi, thanks for comments. I wrote this on the bus yesterday, where there was a small poster about a missing woman. She looked so carefree in the photo. Bits of her car have been found washed up on the coast near where she worked. So who knows? The character in the poem is made up by me (or maybe is me!) As to the fate of the missing woman, her family still wait and hope!

Comment is about missing person (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hi Ann,
Enjoyed this poem,another good line is the one about life being like a shade of lipstick that's just too bright.

Has the lady in this committed suicide or is she a missing person?. I know the title says "Missing Person",but wasn't quite sure;especially when the last line seems to suggest that she's gone from our world permanently?

Comment is about missing person (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

At last, a poem I like on this blog! Sad but sweet, with some good imagery- life as a shoe that doesn't quite fit - I like that. Nice one Ann.

Comment is about missing person (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Thank you Isobel,

Yes, I think you're right... that second 'for' was useless..

Comment is about I wish I can live life by Abu Al Qassim Al Shabbi translated by Fatima Al Matar (blog)

Original item by Poetry in Translation Group

Winston, thank you so very much for your immense kindness and generosity and support -- heck, more heck, triple heck and blimey. I'm still blushing. xxx

Comment is about Winston Plowes (poet profile)

Original item by Winston Plowes

Cynthia
Thank you so much for your wonderful and discriptive comments and yes myth always builds up mood and as a consequence ...flashes the spark and a poem is penned.


Once again so many thanks for your very kind words.


Gus x

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Yes Old Jack was a bit of a lad Isobel... Hope I don't spoil a good nights sleep... oh the very thought!...thank you for commenting....

Gus xx

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

Yes Old Jack was a bit of a lad Isobel... Hope I don't spoil a good nights sleep... oh the very thought!...thank you for commenting....


Cynthia
Thank you so much for your wonderful and discriptive comments and yes myth always builds up mood and as a consequence ...flashes the spark and a poem is penned.


Once again so many thanks for your very kind words.


Gus x

Comment is about Jack Came Dancing ( Re - Post Oct 2008) (blog)

Original item by Gus Jonsson

Thank you, Chris. Nice to see you again too. I hope all is well with you. :)

Comment is about Talk of Love (blog)

Jack came dancing back again in the 80's, his last victim taken from the block of flats where I lived as a student. This brings back a few memories... You have struck the mood brilliantly, as Cynthia says. If only we could understand such evil?

Comment is about Jack Came Dancing ( Re - Post Oct 2008) (blog)

Original item by Gus Jonsson

I think you have done an excellent job on translating this Fatima.There are just 2 changes I would suggest. Can to could in the title and 'where is this life for which I long?' - avoiding the repetition of for. I hope you won't be offended by this. I will be posting a song/poem in a foreign language at some point - I will welcome any such comments - the intricacies of foreign grammar are a minefield. It is fun to do this kind of exercise though and so enriching.

I think you have transmitted the poets feelings really well - I often wish for the same thing!

You have a lovely voice and I look forward to hearing more.

Comment is about I wish I can live life by Abu Al Qassim Al Shabbi translated by Fatima Al Matar (blog)

Original item by Poetry in Translation Group

Ladies,

Thank you for your lovely comments and your kind appreciation.. and a big thank you goes out to Paul Blackburn who has made the Cross Cultural Poetry project happen..

Fatima xx

Comment is about I wish I can live life by Abu Al Qassim Al Shabbi translated by Fatima Al Matar (blog)

Original item by Poetry in Translation Group

Hi Isobel, thanks very much for your comments on 'Minefield', glad you enjoyed it. You know, until you mentioned it, I hadn't even noticed that it fitted quite well with my war thingy, it actually preceded 'War' by about 2 years. Perhaps I have developed a fixation with combat as metaphor for life .... watch out for 'Tank!' - the story of my dieting ... ok, maybe not ;)
Cx

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

Thank-you Cynthia for your, forever generous, comments - I really value them. I read and enjoy all your work too, I'm just not very good at leaving comments, still campaigning for an 'I like this one' button. :)
Cx

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Hello Lovely, I departed, briefly, for a breather after a weird 'do' on Easter Monday. Massive big thank yous for your generous comment on the Dalek's nit, and for noticing I'd hopped off for a mo. You, as always, amaze me -- as both a poet and the person you are (each being somewhat inextricable from the other). xxx

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

Some other thoughts that have occurred to me...Death doesn't feature in your list so I am assuming that you have put it in with love/special relationships. To me, that indicates that LOVE is what drives this world, not sex. Love of partners, children, mothers, brothers, sisters. Much as I love sex, I find that very life affirming - or perhaps I'm morphing into tarmac LOL x

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

Original item by Dave Bradley

Thank you Dave and Anthony for handling WOLOP this month. It is great to have a different perspective every now and then.I love your analysis of the poetry posted Dave – it must have taken a lot of hard work. Who would have thought that death could have ranked higher than eroticism, as a subject matter? So we are more preoccupied by dying than dying for it… an interesting thought. I am a tad surprised that certain poets haven’t thought about combining the two yet. There is a gaping black hole in the poetry market there – soon to be exploited no doubt….

Anthony – you have a wicked sense of humour – and an obsession with food – I enjoyed meandering through your culinary selection – there was the odd one I hadn’t read in there.

I am sorry that you didn’t vote this month Janet. If you aren’t able to pick a favourite, a short list of nominees is always welcome. Perhaps WOLOP should be about celebrating the best crop, rather than the best poem.

Dave has already pointed out that the votes were very low this month. This brings me to question whether WOLOP has any kind of future. When I started WOLOP, I did so on the understanding that it was a trial experiment. I felt there was a need to celebrate the successes of actively engaged WOL members and to give some kind of monthly round-up. It is very hard to do that without support. It is possible that the number of blogs posted is making the whole selection process too cumbersome. I accept that a public holiday period is also not a great time for people to be thinking about poetry or WOLOP. I will run WOLOP for April and then take a view on whether to wind it up. If anyone has any ideas for how it could be run differently to make voting easier, I am always receptive.

Isobel x

ps Any chance of adding Ray's poem to your blog Dave?

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

Original item by Dave Bradley

Hey Winston, did,nt mean to make you feel you had to explaine yourself, your take on her is different to mine and cause shes a frigment of my imagination i wonder if i am that uncertain, and sometimes i am!So you were quite perceptive there,
Cheers again, Donna x

Comment is about Winston Plowes (poet profile)

Original item by Winston Plowes

This is an intimate moment well rendered, like a personal photo peeped at, almost causing a guilty feeling.
I don't think you need 'poetical license' with 'o'er'. 'over' seems fine, and fits with the type of poem.

Comment is about Lucy (blog)

Original item by Rachel McGladdery

The Master of Mood strikes again. Your choice of vocabulary is superb, the deliberate contrasts that heighten horror, the internal rhyming. Your craft in combining these words is marvellous - making sheer music play through your lines by using all the finest 'poetic techniques'. The innocuous 'dead of night', such a cliche, is a striking clincher. Oh, so clever, Gus.

Comment is about Jack Came Dancing ( Re - Post Oct 2008) (blog)

Original item by Gus Jonsson