Thanks for that very wise advice, Hugh.
Though I wouldn't advise swimming in either our maritime or inland waterways; that activity poses a severe health risk due to sewage, plastics, and some "forever" chemical pollutants.
Comment is about Six ways to cut your cancer risk (blog)
Original item by hugh
On second thoughts, I take that last comment back.
Our Glorious Leader's Government of National Unity has just announced that from henceforth, we must all speak English, or risk being targetted as enemies of the state.
What a shame that all funding (£450 million) for “ESOL plus Mandation” has been cut as part of a so-called “savings” project.
No doubt the PM, in his new-found patriotic fervour will restore that funding, and with it, our national pride.
😐
😕
Comment is about Surge of sales as Welsh rivers anthology is launched (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
How very dare you, Stephen.
I'll have you know that a couple of years ago, I made a video about a certain little lady "excercising" in her bouncy chair, to the tune of Dancing Queen!
Both are close to my heart; their music was highly original, some of it emotional and far from trivial or shallow. Me embarrassed? Never!
As for Pam's poetry; I don't find it trivial or shallow; simply funny.
Why the hell should it be serious? Our mental health wards might be overwhelmed if we all took to readin Larkin!
Comment is about Pam Ayres, nation’s poetry sweetheart? For many, she still is! (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
A fascinating article, Greg. I suppose that poetry is a broad church and thank goodness for that. I have read that many students were once embarrassed to admit that they read John Betjeman, in the same way that Abba were beyond the pale for some time (and perhaps should still be), except for the likes of Alan Partridge.
I enjoy Pam's poetry but recognise that if all poetry was like hers, the art form could become trivial and shallow. At the same time, poetry as a whole would be poorer without her particular brand of entertainment, and certainly have less popular appeal.
Thank you for your honest and objective reflections on this.
Comment is about Pam Ayres, nation’s poetry sweetheart? For many, she still is! (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Thanks for the updated likes on this one.
David RL Moore
Comment is about Spectator (blog)
Original item by David RL Moore
A remarkable poem, Stephen, tightly written and rhymed. I still believe that a Good America will come back. We have to hope so.
Comment is about Why I Loved America (blog)
Original item by Stephen W Atkinson
Thanks, Yanma. I think perhaps the child in us is exposed when we are at our most vulnerable.
Comment is about Silent Voice (blog)
Original item by Yanma Hidayah
A lot of it about Rolph; what I call "Ladderism".
Many of the worst offenders here in the UK government, and their lackeys in the media, are those who, in the past might themselves have suffered from discrimination and abuse; ethnic minorities and women; those of the "I'm allright Jack, mindset".
Comment is about Bitter Heights (blog)
Original item by Rolph David
Can't beat a nice brew. Cheers!
Comment is about The Chill Factor (blog)
Original item by Rick Varden
I wonder if it's true - that no two snowflakes are alike?
What exquisite beauty is in their structure.
Comment is about Twists and Turns (blog)
Original item by Mike McPeek
Thank you, Stephen.
the land of the free
Has now become the land of the me!
But isn't the truth that behind the scenes, it's always been thus?
I often wonder whether I and our children would now be here, had Harold Wilson not put two fingers up to Johnson's imperial war in Vietnam...bad enough that the UK gave the USA financial and diplomatic support.
Comment is about Why I Loved America (blog)
Original item by Stephen W Atkinson
Love forms a hymn.
What a nice image.
Comment is about sleep on it (blog)
Original item by Red Brick Keshner
Thank you @Leonard Morse 🌷🙏🏻🕊
Comment is about sleep on it (blog)
Original item by Red Brick Keshner
Wonderfully written Stephen! It’s all in here, well done! A morally bankrupt man morally bankrupting a nation!!!
“ It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow.”
Comment is about Why I Loved America (blog)
Original item by Stephen W Atkinson
Leonard Morse
Thu 15th May 2025 04:01
This poem beautifully captures the essence of introspection and the quiet strength found within. The imagery of kindness as "oil of lamps" is particularly striking, suggesting that even the smallest acts can illuminate the darkest moments. Thank you for this gentle reminder that sometimes, the answers we seek are closer than we think.
https://snow-rider.io/
Comment is about sleep on it (blog)
Original item by Red Brick Keshner
Oh, so much better than the carrot dangling from a pole as incentive for the donkey! The allure of ascent and lofty ideals are much better represented here. It also encapsulates a generational angst above and complementary to individual inner struggles. Good one, Rolph! 🌷🙏🏻🕊
Comment is about Bitter Heights (blog)
Original item by Rolph David
Indeed, Stephen.
"Where have you gone Joe di Maggio
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you"
Comment is about Why I Loved America (blog)
Original item by Stephen W Atkinson
Thanks for extra likes: Uilleam, Stephen G, Aisha & Larisa. 👍
Comment is about Hole In My Heart ❤️ (blog)
Original item by Tom Doolan
Definitely a source of inspo
Comment is about You Shine On Me (blog)
Original item by Alexandra K. Parapadakis
Brava Aisha!
An inspirational, energising, positive poem, full of vim and vigour.😁
Comment is about Live It Loud (blog)
Original item by Aisha Suleman
I recall that I was undergoing every type of cardiac procedure under the sun culminating in a rib-cracking delve around my heart swapping three valves out for some South American pig flesh! All these attended on my own and only one visitor per day for one hour fully masked and gowned following the op! Every day precious
Comment is about Write Out Loud looks back … at the early days of lockdown. How did poets cope? (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Found some way to get back to WOL, having lost access to my original account and having lost contact with many of our past fellow writers. Don’t think that I coped by know that I survived. 🙏🏻🕊️
Comment is about Write Out Loud looks back … at the early days of lockdown. How did poets cope? (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Thanks to RBK, Stephen, Holden and Tom for the likes.
David
Comment is about Harm (blog)
Original item by David RL Moore
Hi again David,
I have revised my Initial comment.
My visitation to Gaza or not is an irrelevance in the context of this piece. I have struck it from the text.
It was a moment of selfish self importance for which I apologise.
All voices have value and worth.
David
Comment is about Everyday someone is Killed on your street... (blog)
Original item by David R Mellor
Cope? I didn't.
Couldn't face all that zoom stuff.
Went off my rocker!
Comment is about Write Out Loud looks back … at the early days of lockdown. How did poets cope? (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
You forgot Starmer, Stephen; they're all birds of a feather.
The UK electorate have consistently been fed a diet of porky pies, up to and after his election, on virtually every single issue.
Porkies helped bring the Tories down; now Starmer’s outdoing them, not a ciggy (or should that be piggy?) paper’s difference between ‘em - never has been.
Comment is about Porky (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Thank you, Uilleam.I tried to use a silly, child-like rhyme to make a serious point. It's a question of degree, I think. The regimes of Putin and Trump lie as a matter of routine, so that no one now expects them to tell the truth.
Spin and bending the truth to one's advantage are a part of normal democratic politics. What is important is that we have an open society with sufficient checks and balances to call out misinformation and hold people to account. From this point of view, what is happening in the US today is truly alarming.
Thanks to Yanma for liking this.
Comment is about Porky (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Thank you Uilleam I agree with you, to not care about about our fellow humans is evil , and the israeli govt at present is evil
Comment is about Everyday someone is Killed on your street... (blog)
Original item by David R Mellor
They're laughing at us because their propaganda's "Ideology of Fear" plays on our prejudices, it actually works.
We should fear the black man having "the Whip Hand", in Enoch Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech;
We should fear UKIP / Reform's "Men of fighting age in small boats";
and now Starmer, who's trying to outdo the lot of them, wants us to fear a "Nation of Strangers"! (I've not spoken to my next-door neighbour for months, I'd better check my doors and windows.😕)
Comment is about Porky (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
-on "Netherlands..." @Auracle ~
Your rivers remember,
even as the land shifts.
Not just water, but memory—
a pulse beneath the stone.
Time does not erase, it reshapes,
but you are still here.
🌹🇳🇱👍🕊️🕊️
Comment is about Red Brick Keshner (poet profile)
Original item by Red Brick Keshner
Thanks for your comments:
Red Brick Keshner
Tom Doolan
ErasmusBlack
Stephen Gospage
Aisha Suleman
Yanma Hidayah
Rolph David
I've used writing a Limerick as an opportunity to practice my Irish (Gaelic). As far as I know, there's no evidence that the form originated in Limerick; but it has been proposed that the name came about as a result of the Irish tradition of story-telling.
I've always maintained that the essence of Jesus' message was socialism...wonder of wonders, at last, a socialist Pope, who can get the bigots' backs up!😊
Comment is about Naofa Deatach! [Luimneach Thriarach] (blog)
Original item by Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh
Anonymous notoriety, Uilleam. A strange commodity.
And thanks for the Like, Tom, Red Brick, Aisha and Stephen.
Comment is about SYCAMORE TREE (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Western imperialism knows no bounds.
I agree with you; so too, will the people of Palestine.
Comment is about The divided nations (part 2) (blog)
Original item by Your Royal Poetess
Thanks, Jobair. I wish Bangladesh all the best.
I fear your sonnet could equally apply to the UK.
Comment is about A Sonnet for Bangladesh (blog)
Original item by Jobair Mahmud
Thanks, Mike. an interesting take on our use of language.
I view punctuation marks as equivalent to rests and bar-lines in music; the silences are just as important as the sounds.
Comment is about Semi Colon (blog)
Original item by mike booth
I'm truly mystified, John. What is it in their tiny minds which prompts such mindlessness?
Comment is about SYCAMORE TREE (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Thank you, David; the most important word in your poem is “human”.
“Have you been to the crossing point…when were you last there at all?” demanded that supercillious twonk of a shill for a genocidal apartheid regime, whose sole talent is to hate-monger in the guise of being a historian - he who posed, journalist-like, in a flack - jacket and helmet with protection of the "most moral army in the world"!
I don’t need to have been to Gaza, to know the truth; that my country is being run by a psychopathic / sociopathic cowardly excuse for a man, who is enabling genocide there, whilst fuelling racial hatred in the UK…(and that IS awful, truly awful).
My only qualification to comment on your poem is to be human.
Comment is about Everyday someone is Killed on your street... (blog)
Original item by David R Mellor
Thanks for likes: Red Brick Keshner, Holden & Auracle. 👍
Comment is about Hole In My Heart ❤️ (blog)
Original item by Tom Doolan
I understand that and appreciate your words David...
Thank you for caring. It is extremely worthwhile, I would not mean to diminish your thoughtful words.
David
Comment is about Everyday someone is Killed on your street... (blog)
Original item by David R Mellor
the poem is a bit of shack up from slumber as the slaughter continues , i . I praise your work their . However my compassion is limited to the pen which I have used for a force for good hopefully , thank for your comment Dave
Comment is about Everyday someone is Killed on your street... (blog)
Original item by David R Mellor
Much love to all who endure their own challenges and persist in life.
David
Comment is about Harm (blog)
Original item by David RL Moore
Larisa - Thank you for this poem and its reminder that there is still hope, if only we learn to love and not hate.
Comment is about The Greatest Day (blog)
Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska
I came to the semi-colon quite late, Mike. A lot of truth in this. Interesting read.
Comment is about Semi Colon (blog)
Original item by mike booth
…revisiting the Velveteen Rabbit by way of poetry, pursuing a conversation with @Tristan on the classic children’s story by Margery Williams Bianco, 1921. 🐇🕊🙏🏻🌷
Comment is about to be real (blog)
Original item by Red Brick Keshner
There are no streets
David
Comment is about Everyday someone is Killed on your street... (blog)
Original item by David R Mellor
That's rather lovely
Comment is about Elephant's Walk (blog)
Original item by Frances Macaulay Forde
A lovely poem - delightful.
I've enjoyed re-reading your work after being away...
Glad to be back, to re-connect with favourites and discover new poets.
This is an excellent library of words and I have missed it.
Hope this finds you well. 😍
Frances.
Comment is about New Year's Morning, 2021 (blog)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
Hi Binte,
As promised I have read and enjoyed your sample poem 'Silhouette'. It reminds me of a performance by an Eastern European sand artist who very cleverly wove a similar story with shadows.
I look forward to reading more...
Frances
Comment is about Binte Afroz (poet profile)
Original item by Binte Afroz
David RL Moore
Thu 15th May 2025 10:36
Stop eating animals.
Comment is about Six ways to cut your cancer risk (blog)
Original item by hugh