Knowing and loving oneself is the way to wisdom.
Good poem
Thank you for this
Keith

Comment is about I LOVE ME (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Maybe if BoJo joins the ranks of the ennobled, he can adopt the
motto "Deceiving is Believing". He has plenty of examples
from the past to turn to.

Comment is about 'Incensed' Julian Jordon's video riposte to Dorries and Johnson (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Thanks Stephen
A community in uttermost grief was told the police waited over an hour before moving in.

Comment is about Bloodstains On The Blackboard (blog)

Original item by Nigel Astell

KT - glad to raise a smile. Life can be so serious sometimes!

Comment is about I LOVE ME (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

John,
you excel your poetic skills when it comes to raw emotion, grief and loss. This poem was written by you but could be written for you. I was drawn to the line "No pair of humans can attend each other's funerals". A strange but true thought which had never occurred to me before I read this poem. Suicide has a devastation which other sudden deaths cannot compare with. It is often a loss which cannot be explained which adds to the sense of grief. Well crafted and straight from a broken heart.
Thank you for this
Keith

Comment is about Suicide of a friend (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

John,
A deeply moving poem that must have been heart wrenching to compose. It is filled with love and a profound sense of loss; the desire to turn back the clock and restore and explore the emotions you so avidly express. This poem took my breath away by its depth of feeling. Very well written, a gem in fact.
Thank you
Keith

Comment is about Our kid (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

This is a quality poem which must have required quite some thought. The imagery is incredible. I enjoyed this enormously. Thank you
Keith

Comment is about hurt and soul (blog)

Original item by Edbreathe

Tantalising and full of imagery. " Do you smell as good as you look?" This line encapsulates the poem. Well written and well thought out.
Thank you for this
Keith

Comment is about One Last Affair (blog)

Original item by Tom

Clare,
This poem reminded me of my father who fought the Japanese during the Second World War. I was an immediate post war child and my father and mother steadfastly refused to talk about the war years and what they had experienced. I can so well relate to this as war bring personal tragedies as well as the wounded and the dead.
Thank you for this. A special poem indeed.
Keith

Comment is about A Conversation with my Father (blog)

Original item by Clare

Clyde,
This poem intrigues me as it generates a sadness all of its own. Somehow I think many readers will relate to this. It is quite beautiful.
Thank you
Keith

Comment is about The Lonely Old man Sits by the Window (blog)

Original item by Clyde McCulley

Mike,
I enjoyed this poem as the last line provoked memories of my mother organising tupperware parties in the 1950's or 60's. I have a vague recollection of pale green cups with a white interiors. They seemed to be plastic to me. However, thanks for this.
Keith

Comment is about Tupperware (blog)

Original item by mike booth

Hear, hear!

Comment is about God Save Our Queen (blog)

Original item by hugh

Thanks Keith. Much appreciated 😀

Comment is about We all live in the past... (blog)

Original item by John Botterill

You take the words out of my mouth John. Excellent poem.
Thank you
Keith

Comment is about We all live in the past... (blog)

Original item by John Botterill

This speaks to me, Keith. I agree with the sentiment. It takes us longer to construct buildings and furniture with no aesthetic appeal.

Comment is about Deprecated (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Thankyou, Keith. Knowing a little about your background, your comment means a great deal to me. Yes, this is a tragic situation for so many.

And thanks to Frederick, Stephen, John and Julie for liking.

Comment is about Letters (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

Stephen,
this poem trips along almost as a sing song which brings to life the theme of celebration. I too remember street parties with lurid memories of jellies and the dreaded blancmange. A treat nonethe less during a time of ratioing. I am of course referring to the Coronation of 1953 when I was five years old.
Thank you for this
Keith

Comment is about Where's Queen? (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

Stephen,
A very moving poem which speaks to us today as we see the suffering of war, a problem which plagues humanity. Those who are left, women and children are the most affected and this is a scar on their lives. Very well crafted and poignant.
Thank you
Keith

Comment is about Letters (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

IndeedStephen. There is a James O’Brien clip on YouTube where he identifies Johnson’s strategy as “It’s too early to talk about it until the Met reports”. Then “it’s too early until the Gray report”.Then “ it’s too late now we’ve got the Gray report. It’s time to move on”

Comment is about JUST LOOK AWAY TODAY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thank you, John. And thanks to Steve and Bethany for liking.

Comment is about Davos (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

Thanks, Julie. I think I'll stay with kilos where I am!

Comment is about Imperial Measures (blog)

Original item by julie callaghan

I think you have captured all the terror and confusion of this tragedy, Nigel.

Comment is about Bloodstains On The Blackboard (blog)

Original item by Nigel Astell

Very good, John. The 'move on' mantra is becoming an all-purpose method of washing away the past. And if you pretend something didn't really happen, then you didn't really lie, I suppose.

Comment is about JUST LOOK AWAY TODAY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks for all your likes
Frederick
Holden
Stephen G
Stephen A
Rudyard
julie
John B
and
Your Royal Poetess.

Comment is about Bloodstains On The Blackboard (blog)

Original item by Nigel Astell

JC - do remember that in this country government offered salutary condign punishment in exchange for the act of the
population in giving up their firearms back in the day when they
were .- and for countless years had been - lawfully held. Check
for example, old f/arms cunningly disguised in various ways..
But in typical deceitful political style, the protection of the law
has been steadily eroded down the years until it now merely
pays lip service to punishment and, instead, offers huge
satisfaction to the "we are all guilty" brigade who see no evil and hear no evil. let alone admit that evil actually exists! The,
US on the other hand, has a somewhat less gullible attitude to what is promised and rigorously defends their enshrined citizens rights., whatever the cost in sporadic albeit tragic individual terms. Their evolution was far quicker - and harsher
as a consequence - and they are prepared to pay its cost...from the
fight for independence through various
subsequent conflicts across its vast
continent in a relatively short period of history, always mindful of all the many sacrifices made along the way.

Comment is about IT'S FOR THE GUN WE SPEAK (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thank you Stephen. I originally wrote it as a childrens poem.

Comment is about Colours (blog)

Original item by Rick Varden

Thanks Stephen G, Holden and K.Lynn. See that now Trump is saying that the only solution is to arm the teachers!!!!!!! Am sure Far West schools in the 19th C weren't so dangerous, if they had them in some places.

Comment is about Twisted (blog)

Original item by Jennifer Malden

September’s Baccalaureate
A combination is
Of Crickets — Crows — and Retrospects
And a dissembling Breeze

That hints without assuming —
An Innuendo sear
That makes the Heart put up its Fun
And turn Philosopher.

Emily Dickinson

Comment is about (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Thank you sincerely Holden.

The summer ended. Day by day, and taking its time, the summer ended. The noises in the street began to change, diminish, voices became fewer, the music sparse. Daily, blocks and blocks of children were spirited away. Grownups retreated from the streets, into the houses. Adolescents moved from the sidewalk to the stoop to the hallway to the stairs, and rooftops were abandoned. Such trees as there were allowed their leaves to fall - they fell unnoticed - seeming to promise, not without bitterness, to endure another year. At night, from a distance, the parks and playgrounds seemed inhabited by fireflies, and the night came sooner, inched in closer, fell with a greater weight. The sound of the alarm clock conquered the sound of the tambourine, the houses put on their winter faces. The houses stared down a bitter landscape, seeming, not without bitterness, to have resolved to endure another year.

James Baldwin, Just Above My Head

Comment is about (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Yes, the mystery continues! Perhaps she was going to see her lover, the groceryman.
Thanks for comment

Comment is about I wonder (blog)

Original item by Clyde McCulley

Thankyou Bethany. You’d have to go a long way back to my early school reports to find anyone calling me “clever”. “Too clever by half” was what I think they wrote.
I agree with you, MC, about being “economical with the truth”. The point though is that he may have gone beyond that by actually lying. There is a difference!
And as for getting the broad brush strokes right and painting over his ethics, it’s up to us to care. If we don’t it shows what sort of society we are becoming. A sad departure from those standards our predecessors set.
And thanks for the Likes, Frederick, Stephen and Holden.

Comment is about JUST LOOK AWAY TODAY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

The post of Poet Laureate has not been without controversy.
Robert Browning is reported to have written "The Lost Leader"
in some anguish after William Wordsworth, formerly a radical,
had agreed to become Poet Laureate. But then poetry and the
term "precious" are hardly strangers at certain levels of the
written word.

Comment is about ‘Shaman’ Ted Hughes and the royals: Simon Armitage on a previous laureate’s reverence for the monarchy (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Loved your comments Stephen and Bethany. Made me laugh out loud!!! 😂👍
Thanks for the like, Nigel.

Comment is about Becoming a Nokia G50 (blog)

Original item by John Botterill

I have long suspected that those entering politics approach the
job with built-in personality adjustments that adapt to suit the
situation and that today's variety merely reflect the fluid
morality that pervades public life today. Behind Bojo there's
someone else just as "flexible" - or as a certain senior civil
servant once observed in a famous case involving the government and its ministers - a readiness to be "economical
with the truth"! I think that as long as Bojo is successful with
the "broad strokes" of his office, he'll survive in a society that
itself has become very forgiving of all manner of social
solecisms and a marked decline of standards that used to be
taken for granted.

Comment is about JUST LOOK AWAY TODAY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Glad you liked it Ruth.
😎

Comment is about Nigel Astell (poet profile)

Original item by Nigel Astell

I most definitely fall in with the previous comments John


but don't phone me and I won't phone you 😁

Comment is about Becoming a Nokia G50 (blog)

Original item by John Botterill

yet another of Mr Coopey's constant clevernesses! 👍

Comment is about JUST LOOK AWAY TODAY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Good will keep evil far away😈

Comment is about Extension (blog)

Original item by Sunshine

Any thing sour is sweet at the start😍

Comment is about Not a poem; diagnosis (blog)

Original item by Sunshine

We are all becoming slaves to our phones, John. I recommend one with a dodgy battery and a slow charger, enforcing hours of non-use!

Comment is about Becoming a Nokia G50 (blog)

Original item by John Botterill

It is important to say this, Keith, in the name of humanity. Well done.

Comment is about Never Again & No More (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

I think you sum it up perfectly, Jennifer. Twisted indeed.

Comment is about Twisted (blog)

Original item by Jennifer Malden

A beautiful poem, Rick.

Comment is about Colours (blog)

Original item by Rick Varden

Thanks Carol. I'm a miserable old git, I know. 😊 Phones do want to take over your life though!!! Mine gives me unwarranted advice!

Thanks for the likes : Holden, Frederick and K. Lynn

Comment is about Becoming a Nokia G50 (blog)

Original item by John Botterill

Thanks Holden. Your comments mean a lot to me 😀

Comment is about Shapes (blog)

Original item by John Botterill

Life seemed a lot simpler before mobile phones, and yet they are also wonderful to have these days. But to become a slave to them is not good. You have penned an accurate portrayal indeed!

Comment is about Becoming a Nokia G50 (blog)

Original item by John Botterill

You've set a lovely scene Julie! Mmmm, we had a mini Magnum ice-cream last evening for dessert. 😋

Comment is about Right Here, Right Now (blog)

Original item by julie callaghan

A wonderful poem, John, the beautiful relationship you have with your grandson always shines through! 😊

Comment is about Shapes (blog)

Original item by John Botterill

Interesting! Might have been both[?]

Comment is about I wonder (blog)

Original item by Clyde McCulley

A remarkably powerful poem, John, very evocative! 🌷

Comment is about (blog)

Original item by John E Marks