Brilliant Sian, obviously if very sad, could really feel this. The last lines say it all, best wishes Jeff X

Comment is about This (blog)

Original item by sian howell

Hi Mark, like this, neat idea, cheers Jeff

Comment is about A Career of Two Halves (blog)

Original item by Mark Niel

thank you! I love this and wish I could hear it. I am sensitive to sounds, think in sounds and fascinated by languages . This is refreshing to see and read.

Comment is about haiga with romaji and Japanese translation (blog)

Original item by Alan Summers

Excellent Gemma; this really came to life when you performed it, we were there with you banging and tinging! Well done on coming 2nd, great performance see ya soon Jeff X

Comment is about For anyone who got a crappy instrument to play in music lessons at high school (blog)

Original item by Gemma Lees

In a car park the size of Europe - love that line. Your arse is as big as a lorry - brilliant mate, good to see you getting your frustration out with this one, cheers Jeff

Comment is about tell me about YOUR traffic Jam (blog)

Hi Tony, this is great, I'm just catching up and this one of yours, one of your best I think, sums up Salford or scenes in other towns and cities, good stuff, see ya soon, Jeff ps great pic too!

Comment is about Salford Shopping City (blog)

Hard hitting stuff Mike, great lines cheers Jeff

Comment is about These Souls Bleed Real Love (blog)

Original item by Noetic-fret!

Hi Alan,
thanks again for further insight and educated response.
I will check out your site and i love the idea of wingbeats so will check that one out too.
Nice to meet you on here and look forward to reading more of your work. That's how i learn.

Janet.x

Comment is about voicemail and limes (blog)

Original item by Alan Summers

Hi Mike, enjoyed this, don't really know heywood but will bear this in mind next time I go through, cheers Jeff

Comment is about A Void In Heywood (blog)

Original item by Noetic-fret!

My Japanese is crap, but the english reads nicely..

Comment is about haiku with romaji translation (blog)

Original item by Alan Summers

Wow - absolutely stunning!

Comment is about those egg yolk daydreams (blog)

Hi Janet,

Thanks for the reply. If you check my website it gives a brief overview of the history of haiku in the West, and also an overview of what haiku is:
www.withwords.org.uk

My website also contains the results of last year's competition and winning examples.

A number of us have worked alongside practicing contemporary Japanese haiku writers for a number of years, and like the Italian sonnet, the Japanese haiku is starting to be successfully written including a number of other languages around the world.

I did check out the general discussion site but only spotted one topic which contained a humourous spoof series on haiku, which was very entertaining by the way! ;-)

If you'd like to obtain an excellent book on haiku I can suggest "The New Haiku" by Snapshot Press or their more recent anthology "Wing Beats: British Birds in Haiku" at their website:
www.wingbeats.co.uk

A lot has happened since Harold Henderson brought his book out! ;-)

all my very best,

Alan
www.withwords.org.uk

Comment is about voicemail and limes (blog)

Original item by Alan Summers

Its nice.

Comment is about the way to ruby (blog)

nice, to the point. yes troubles follow us. esp when we try and follow God. we all fail, its ok.but we keep going.

Comment is about HOLD ON...BE STRONG.. (blog)

Its nice, I hope she likes eggs as much as you seem to.if this is for your girl, you should share it with her and let her know. Other wise she may never know how you really feel. Unless this is about some people you know and not about you. great one, very soft very touching.

Comment is about those egg yolk daydreams (blog)

bloomin eck, thanks all! you just the best

Comment is about those egg yolk daydreams (blog)

Hi Val
thanks for reading and commenting on Where there's hope, glad you liked it.
winston

Comment is about Valerie Cook (poet profile)

Original item by Valerie Cook

Hi Alan,
thankyou for a quick response and detailed explanation. I'll look at the links you provide here.

There's been a number of times when attempting haiku i've had difficulty with some words pertaining to the syllable counts and invariably opted for a simpler but less effective word instead.
I checked out one of the links which the site provides and gained some insight from that but it is rather confusing and time consuming unless one has the desire to write a successful collection of them.
I've had some fun trying them out for size though. :-)

ps. you might find the topic on haiku in the discussion forum interesting. Click on the general discussion link and the list of recent topics shows up. :-)
Thanks again,
Janet.x

Comment is about voicemail and limes (blog)

Original item by Alan Summers

Hi Janet,

Thanks for asking.

I believe 5/7/5 is a misconception and a terrible red herring propagated by some Victorian gentleman which has caused an obstacle for at least two centuries.

Most published writers of English-language haiku do not use 17 English-language syllabic patterns in their haiku.

Also Basho often "broke" this pattern in the early days when haiku was unknown except in its early form of being "hokku".

First of all the Japanese language (and haiku originated in Japan) doesn't contain an alphabet in its various language systems.

Secondly, the Japanese language utlilises a word system for its grammar, not a symbol system such as the English-language system.

Thirdly, the sound unit system of the Japanese language currently uses the 'on' system of counting, which superseded the 'onji' system, and this sound unit system used regular length sound units unlike our irregular syllable length which has 'at'; 'a'; through; bough; froth' brought; etc... words which in Japanese would vary from one to four units in length.

I would beg you to read:
http://www.ahapoetry.com/keirule.htm

and Richard Gilbert's:
http://www.iyume.com/onji/onji1.html

as well as Richard Gilbert's disjunctive dragon:
http://www.iyume.com/dragonfly/DisjunctiveDragonfly.htm

I would be very interested in who has influenced you in the 17/5/7/5 system as well.

I'd like to say thanks for being positive in bringing this up by the way.

all my very best,

Alan

Comment is about voicemail and limes (blog)

Original item by Alan Summers

Hi Alan,
please excuse my ignorance, perhaps i'm missing something. I've viewed your profile page and see you have studied English haiku.
I'm also aware that haiku is a vast subject but can you explain briefly why your haiku poems don't comply with most peoples impression that it has to include 17 syllables, usually in lines of 5,7,5 please?

Janet.x

Comment is about voicemail and limes (blog)

Original item by Alan Summers

Hi Peter,
love this, and i can't list the parts i like best 'cos there's too many within the poem.
I was capured by the same lines as Gus though.

Janet.x

Comment is about those egg yolk daydreams (blog)

Hi Seamus,
ditto. very powerful and thought provoking too.
A poem which speaks volumes.
Janet.x

Comment is about Dead Eyes (blog)

Original item by Seamus Kelly

What. No colour? :-)

Hi Daniel, I like this, ' an angry soul in the womb with no room to roam.'
Great image.
Janet.x

Comment is about paint it black (blog)

Original item by Daniel Hooks

A few people on here are kindly looking at my short stories and I offer the same by email - just offering if you prefer that to blogs sometimes : )

Hope you're well and tc

Comment is about 'Sahara' (blog)

Hi there

Sorry for late feedback . you asked me to look at this . I think it needs trimming and sharpening in the same way as your other one, but more of it is needed here. eg

Everything that I possessed did not really mean that much too me

focus and take out the vague expressions. Add images or talk about specific things that will help the reader engage. It is more of a lament at the moment ? Is that what you intended?

'drank from your pool ' is a fine eg where u use metaphor and some others work well too espin last verse.

Hope this helps : )

Comment is about 'Sahara' (blog)

There's always passion in your work and energy and I particularly like this one .

Comment is about my botanist (blog)

really like the style / language you use : ) great stuff and i felt i was there

Comment is about untitled tube poem (blog)

Original item by owen calvert

Very thought provoking...


These lines say it all for those poor children:

'Eyes that can’t cry
Eyes that have seen
Too much
Eyes that have
No answers
Eyes that see
No questions
And the dead eyes ask
Why?'

Comment is about Dead Eyes (blog)

Original item by Seamus Kelly

shoeless and sally, thanks for the kind words. pete, what can i say, thanks so much for taking so much time over this one. i really appreciate your thoughts and praise, very kind of you to share. i didn't know about purple in hospitals so am very glad to discover a layer i didn't know was there!

yes, i am colour blind and so the whole poem is an imagining of purple, a colour i've honestly never seen! i hear what you say about that info not bein in the poem itself, but i kind of think thats OK, in a way the intro is aprt of the poem, in a way its not, i think its a nice way to cut a piece of thought up without using such blatant and unpoetic markers like 'part one' or 'prologue'. i hope the chit chatty start makes it easier to get into.

big thanks for the comments guys, d xx

Comment is about PURPLE (blog)

Original item by Dominic Berry

You must really love eggs ; )
This analogy is very touching... you have a lot of sensitivity and it shines through...


These lines show the depth of your love...

'both of us broken shelled, stripped
and revealed to each other
smothered smiles and wide eyed on realisation
both laid down and died for each other
such power of love to cut and recover
from anything'

J'aime tellement quand un homme peut montrer son côté sensible...

Comment is about those egg yolk daydreams (blog)

hi

I am very interested in your biography and esp. the collaborative work you do. I have started some collaborative work but only for the page, not performance ( yet!) and it is not easy.

nice to 'meet you' and thank you for reading my work

Comment is about Paul Conneally (poet profile)

Original item by Paul Conneally

me 2 :)

Comment is about Her Eyes Are Wild (blog)

Original item by Paul Conneally

very powerful

Comment is about Dead Eyes (blog)

Original item by Seamus Kelly

How liken to a woman..
simplicity, but so difficult to master

Peter once again you've cracked it.
Loved
In pan fried daydreams
I drift
thinking of her
minutes are miles

Sunnyside up
Gus

Comment is about those egg yolk daydreams (blog)

thanks

Comment is about the way to ruby (blog)

Thanks Paul!

I think we'll going to have at least 20 people crowding into the little Dashi Sushi Bar! ;-)

I love the 'hokku'! by the way!

Alan
http://area17.blogspot.com

Comment is about Alan Summers (poet profile)

Original item by Alan Summers

Hi Alan - Hope the Bath Spa Train Station Renga goes well today!

Here's something for you - wish I could be there!

spring haze
a Bath bun and a cup of tea
on platform 2

Comment is about Alan Summers (poet profile)

Original item by Alan Summers

Thanks for the comment on 'Her Eyes Are Wild' - the collaboration element is based on the link and shift of renga practice but also linked to Wordsworth - I find myself walking with Wordsworth more and more these days.

paul

Comment is about Winston Plowes (poet profile)

Original item by Winston Plowes

Hi Paul
thankyou for your comments and useful suggestions on "Where there's hope"
Winston

Comment is about Paul Conneally (poet profile)

Original item by Paul Conneally

Interesting collaboration this.. like the last stanza especially.
Winston

Comment is about Her Eyes Are Wild (blog)

Original item by Paul Conneally

An interesting and obscure idea to tackle in a poem. An interesting thing the empty hand... thought provoking. Thx for posting Winston

Comment is about The Hand Experiment (blog)

hi Pete, great read... Some really "human" images brought it to life.

we made the same shape in bed
ice-cream talk, under silk spreads,

a favourite

Winston

Comment is about the way to ruby (blog)

Hi Owen
I can feel myself getting sucked down the commuting plughole. Great stuff.

Winston

Comment is about untitled tube poem (blog)

Original item by owen calvert

Hi Barry. I am sure this poem is very powerful and important to someone in particular and hope they have drawn strength from it. I got some of that sense too. Liked the rhyming structure and the repeated message at the end of each stanza. Thanks for posting. Winston

Comment is about Look for the Light (blog)

My grandfather tried to give up smoking..he used to go claypipe shooting.

Love it Great imagery great poem
Gus x

Comment is about My Grandfather's Pipe (blog)

Hi Pete Love the pants off this1

we, as an item
belong on a catwalk stammer honeymoon
we are still beautiful together
don’t you just love the gale moon,
all sticky and sweet
looking back
a daydream,
Wonderful !!..
Regards
Gus

Comment is about the way to ruby (blog)

Thank you once again Sian.

. 'Sfunny she had the same clour hair as yo...........?????????


Gus x

Comment is about sian howell (poet profile)

Original item by sian howell

There were photographers amongst us, I'll add them as they appear on the facebook page as it all looked amazing.
This is the name I've always used for writing, performance and Net activity. I don't get quite so dressed-up for performance, though I might do one day, given enough preparation time.... :-)

Comment is about For those about to Kapow... (blog)

Original item by Danni Antagonist

Will you be posting the photos in the wol gallery?
It's good to see the events and performers in full colour and swing.

Love the review? by the way. You make it sound as if a great time was missed which might encourage others from farther away to travel to the next one. :-)
Janet.x


ps. do you have an alias? I'm sure i've seen your pic before somewhere, or a similar one. :-)

Comment is about For those about to Kapow... (blog)

Original item by Danni Antagonist

Poetry Kapow is sporadic, there tends to be 2 a year, but it depends when the theatre is available and what else we're up to as we like to put LOADS of effort into it. Facebook is the best way to keep folk up to date.

Comment is about For those about to Kapow... (blog)

Original item by Danni Antagonist