Thanks Steve for your comment, an honest and beautiful one. Your friend sounds like she is in the midst of a difficult journey. I was a bit of a self fulfilled prophecy through a big part of my twenties. It's possible to find the light, but not always easy. I hope your friend can find some healing at some point.
Best wishes,
Rasa
Comment is about The Self-Fulfilled Prophecy (blog)
Original item by Rasa Kabaila
Hello fitzroy h.
I’ve been thinking about your comment addressed to me on Mirabel’s post: The Celtic Sea.
I’ve never viewed “The Enlightenment” as a discrete event, merely as a period in what’s been a gradual process in our increasing understanding and response to the world around us.
And the “British Dark Ages”? So-called because historians (Roman / Greek? et al) had recorded relatively little about the time after the Romans upped sticks?
Also, I suspect that some British historians right up to recent centuries, seized on that description because it appeared to justify the ambitions of British imperialists as bringers of the so-called light of “civilisation”, for example, to the likes of “Darkest Africa”?
Comment is about The Celtic sea / (blog)
Original item by Mirabel
This could almost have been written for a particular friend of mine. Sadly she does not want to be led into the light.
Lovely poem
Best wishes, Steve
Comment is about The Self-Fulfilled Prophecy (blog)
Original item by Rasa Kabaila
It's nice of you to mention that, Graham. It sounds like a most moving and uplifting occasion.
Thanks, Greg. Yes, the spectacle of those with power taking advantage of those who don't have any is a recurring theme now.
Probably best to keep Chazza at home for the moment, although 'it really is appalling' could have been used with some effect on the streets of Paris.
1649? A chip (or a chop) off the old block, as they say!
And thanks to Pete, Hélène and K Lynn for the likes.
Comment is about Pot Shots (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Interesting to link the royals and their 'harmless' country pursuits with Putin, Steve. Someone has mentioned 1789 when discussing the cancellation of King Charles's visit to France because of the current unrest. I always have 1649 in the back of my mind, too.
Comment is about Pot Shots (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Stephen, I was thinking of you last evening (Friday) whilst at the De Montfort Hall in Leicester. See 'Singing through the Tears' on the blog.
Comment is about Pot Shots (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Thank you very much, Keith. Some say that violence is part of the human condition, but I refuse to believe it. At least not this kind of violence - the violence of cowards, shooting (missiles or hunting rifles) from a safe distance at a defenceless target.
And thanks to John C, Nigel, Manish and Hugh for the likes.
Comment is about Pot Shots (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
I've only just seen this, Linda. Thanks for the mention. My theory is that most of us suffer from some degree of 'imposter syndrome', apart from Donald Trump.
I really enjoyed the MA but I did it part-time, over two years and so had more time to settle in.
I'm pleased you enjoyed your dissertation though and you do some great work in encouraging others to be creative . .
Comment is about ‘I now help many people find their own pleasure in writing. You can't put a price on that' (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
I would, if I could, but I can't!😊
Comment is about வாழ்க்கை பயணம் (blog)
Original item by Gopikrishna
6 years Cynthia and I missed giving my responce? (Hiawatha)
Tommy
Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
Dorries the Sycophant.
And thanks for the Like, Nigel.
Comment is about IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL LIE IF I WANT TO (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Lina Lee
Sat 25th Mar 2023 11:39
Thanks a lot! amazing verse! I would not be able to write! a heaven images https://depositphotos.com/stock-photos/heaven.html l would look great here! I really like the associations and this is exactly what caused me just such associations!
Comment is about Images (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
Re Old Testament question:
"Am I my brother's keeper?" Genesis 4,King James Version
9 And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
My Answer: I most certainly am my brothers'-and my sisters' keeper.
Another answer in the New Testament:
"When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.
35 One of them, an expert in Moses’ Teachings, tested Jesus by asking,
36 “Teacher, which commandment is the greatest in Moses’ Teachings?”
37 Jesus answered him, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 This is the greatest and most important commandment.
39 The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.’
40 All of Moses’ Teachings and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Just saying!
Hope that clarifies my position on social justice.
😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇
Comment is about Screwed! (blog)
Paying by cheque-mate?😉
Comment is about A bad move having a meal out with a mate!! (blog)
Original item by hugh
Thanks (again)! I don't usually write 'political' poems, but... needs must!
Comment is about Who includes diversity... (blog)
Original item by Chris Armstrong
I will be re-titling this piece Stardate 22995.3 which is the star trek date conversion for July 12th 1969, the UK date for the launch of this great ongoing story,
I know I sound a bit geekish, but this was just 8 days before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and we all considered we would be buzzing around in starships very soon, especially a nine-year-old boy with a vivid imagination
Comment is about It was, and always will be, 1969 (blog)
Original item by JD Russell
Yes I saw that Q. Time clip. Hilarious!
And this from Johnson sycophant N. Dorries.
https://youtu.be/7GePe_mp7Xo
In denial, lying through her teeth, trying to defend Johnson, claiming he’s being fitted up by a “Kangaroo Court”.
Again, absolutely hilarious, were it not for the tragic consequences for UK democracy.
Comment is about IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL LIE IF I WANT TO (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
A delicate and moving response to the horrors of war, Chris. I really admire this. The world needs a poem like this every day.
Comment is about Who includes diversity... (blog)
Original item by Chris Armstrong
Stephen,
Thank you for a poem of such poignancy. It made me think of how the world chases about and after all types of nonsense as others suffer in absolute torment.. Soldiers who die in their hundreds everyday whilst political leaders enjoy wealth and unlimited comfort.
Thank you for this
Keith
Comment is about Pot Shots (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Thankyou, Julie. And for the Like, Stephen.
Comment is about IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL LIE IF I WANT TO (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Thanks for the likes and kind comment Stephen
Comment is about Tree Blossom (blog)
Original item by julie callaghan
Thanks made me laugh and made me revisit my version from Jan 2022, shame this topic is still making headline news 14 months on! Mine was a different take and no comparison to yours though. “It’s not my party and I’ll deny it if I want to.”
Comment is about IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL LIE IF I WANT TO (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Thanks for your thoughts, Stephen and MC. This is phenomenal. No-one, that’s no-one, in the Question Time audience thought BJ was telling the truth.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-65064708
Comment is about IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL LIE IF I WANT TO (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
The Pied Piper of popular political pastiche on song again!
I can even imagine Bojo singing this to Carrie in the privacy of
their home!! Were you composing when Nixon said "I am not a
crook" or Clinton; "I did not have sex with that woman"? or
Blair's shameless huge hit: "Weapons of Mass Destruction"?
Just thinking of what we have missed. 😎.
Comment is about IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL LIE IF I WANT TO (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Enjoyed this, JD. William Shatner subsequently became the master of deadpan humour, although he wasn't always aware of it. All sounds a bit Corbynite now - for the many, not the few (or the one!)
Comment is about It was, and always will be, 1969 (blog)
Original item by JD Russell
Well said, Julie. The cherry blossom is already out around here.
Comment is about Tree Blossom (blog)
Original item by julie callaghan
Trevor Homer cites WB Yeats' poem "The Second Coming"
when referring to me as "the ever populist" (please enlarge on
that term if you can). It is a poem I too consider relevant to
the modern age for a variety of reasons. However, these are
not restricted to the rightful desire of a nation state to act in its
own interests when others do not. TH might refer
to the question posed in the Bible: Am I my brother's keeper?
A poet's style and perceived ability are indeed relevant when
commenting, but so is the content and intent of the material.
That's surely always an integral part of criticism or praise - and
an essential aspect of debate in poetry.
Comment is about Screwed! (blog)
I also enjoyed this poem very much (my previous comment was perhaps a little glib).
The Smogg's obscene views (e.g. on abortion rights) have to be challenged on every occasion.
Comment is about Screwed! (blog)
Thank you, Trevor. The Windrush scandal was just that - a scandal.
Good people victimised by incompetents for the sake of mean-spirited gesture politics (as you say).
Your poem is a hymn to their dignity and courage.
Comment is about LOST IN TRANSLATION (blog)
Original item by trevor homer
Well done, John. I think the text (well sung, by the way) brings out the fact that BJ has lied so much that he probably doesn't know, or care, that he is doing it anymore.
Lying is my way of life
It is my calling card
It's why I am so clever,
So devious, so hard.
Comment is about IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL LIE IF I WANT TO (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Been a while since I visited this site - I remember when it used to critique one's work; - now it criticises the poets credentials.
I wonder what our Mr Sherwood and the ever-populist Mr Newberry would make of W.H Auden's 'Refugee Blues' or W.B Yeats 'Second Coming'?
I like this piece and it's sentiment - keep telling it like it is. Thanks
Comment is about Screwed! (blog)
I’m not convinced Starmer is the PM-in-waiting many think, Uilleam. (And I say this as a (nearly) lifelong Labour voter.) His success in the polls predicates on not being Tory. That might not be enough. Add to that the certainty that the Tories will have some goodies to dispense before the next election. Which is why I’ve taken a bet at 7/2 on the Tories still being the largest party after it.
And thanks for the Like, Jack and Vanessa.
Comment is about IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL LIE IF I WANT TO (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Thanks for that John.
Oh boy. Made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!
Gorgeous voice, words and music; absolutely love that rhumba rhythm!
If only it were over; but I dread to think what'll take it's place-the corporate fascists policing our every word with Starmer's help?
Comment is about IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL LIE IF I WANT TO (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Sorry Uilleam. You should try this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IZk7jP0LkM
Comment is about IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL LIE IF I WANT TO (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
MC.
Your observation that there's not a fag paper's difference between the two major parties is correct.
T. Bliar's appearance on the scene with his gleaming toothy smile, and Thatcher's approval of him for continuing the destruction of the NHS turned my stomach; the Starmerite "New Labour" party equally so.
Starmer's abject cowardice in the face of the current attacks on women's rights is a disgrace. What Britain needs now is true socialism, as opposed to anti-socialism.
By what set of ethics can it be justified that raw sewage floods the UK's inland waterways and coast, and that railway staff are choosing between heating or eating, while company executives of those bodies are hiving off billions of pounds to the Cayman Islands?
Comment is about Screwed! (blog)
Thanks Adam.
Spring flowers bring welcome beauty after all that darkness and cold. Primulas, giant snowdrops and crocuses are out in my tiny north facing patch.
Comment is about In Memory (blog)
Original item by Adam Whitworth
Bloody Norah, John, you've only gone and nicked the title of of my next greatest hit😒
Hilarious, well done, spot on!
Comment is about IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL LIE IF I WANT TO (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Thanks to all for comments and likes.
Graham. I can assure you that I do not think managing is easy...that's one of the reasons I never studied for my promotion exams, and was constantly berated for not being "keen"; "impostor syndrome" or something?
The f*cked up state of the UK is not down to "mistakes", but due to very well managed policies.
As early as 2005 or so, Jeremy Hunt's NHS policy book: 'Direct Democracy: An Agenda For A New Model Party' called for the "denationalisation" of the NHS, and for it to be replaced by an insurance market system. That is now being enacted.
It was co-authored by Tories Kwasi Kwarteng, Michael Gove, Douglas Carswell, Daniel Hannan and Greg Clark.
The destruction of every last vestige of the UK's "welfare state" and of the public services is the primary aim of the Tory party; it's nothing to do with "feckless teen mums" or "people in small boats" as the Murdoch client press would have the gullible believe.
Comment is about Screwed! (blog)
I've just been looking back over some of my blogs, John M.
To what in my piece were you referring, when you commented about anti-semitism?
Comment is about Bigots (blog)
I’ve been told I have the voice of a bird, Graham. Unfortunately, a magpie.
Comment is about IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL LIE IF I WANT TO (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Thank you for all the kind, encouraging comments! It is so very much appreciated.
Comment is about In the Midst of Dying (blog)
Original item by Katherine Page
Leslie Gore will spinning in her grave!
Comment is about IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL LIE IF I WANT TO (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Brilliant poem, Tommy. Every line must be savoured.
Comment is about Spoken breath (blog)
Original item by Tommy Carroll
Thu 23rd Mar 2023 18:27
Manish Singh Rajput
Mon 27th Mar 2023 13:59
Beautiful.
Comment is about People Like Us (blog)
Original item by Clare