Hello Anthony, thank you for reading Springtide and your kind comments on Springtide. Thanks also for introducing me to another new word, sibilants, it sounds like some of those minions with exoskeltons but I'm sure it isn't, so I'd better look it up. They could be green with ten claws and live under shipwrecks.. or maybe I just had too much wine at Hebden last night.. thanks again, Deb : ))

Comment is about Anthony Emmerson (poet profile)

Original item by Anthony Emmerson

LOL Anthony!!!

right thats it!!!!
I'm doing a dualit poem!!!!!!!

My terrorist toaster and I
only see eye to eye
when it pops the bread
I called it a terrorist
for blackened was the offerings.
was it Luther who said
free at last?
I'm happy for bread ejected freedom
so liberating when your hear the click of freedom
from the bars and elements
they used to glow with anger, calm now subsided
less and less the divided lines
we can sit on both sides of the tracks
blackened bread is just that, a colour
love people not colour
and yet easy to forget it seems..in some corners
of the earth

I performed the ritual
atop the breakfast bar
trying to turn black to white
with a scraping,Frankenstein stroke of a knife
quarter to nine, nearly late for the world
and its wife
waiting for marmalade and
wondering where and why poor golly went
he did no harm
just the political incorrect, madness arm
happy to severe it
in the name of dualit duality
white bread
is incorect
im not sure whats really going on
I never thought about it as a child
I only know i go wild
when he burns the bread
I argued with the toaster
bread I said
bread
that is all.

Comment is about RE:BLOG ETIQUETTE (blog)

"Dualit toasters!" You posers! Mine was £5.99 from ASDA - and it's on its third ASBO.
Regards,
A.E.

Comment is about RE:BLOG ETIQUETTE (blog)

fair enough. Some valid points.
You never mentioned about writing for therapy, would like to know your feelings on that.

I used to attend an expensive psychoanalysis class (NHS waiting list was an incredible 2 years), most of what was purged was lost, i'm not sure if that was a waste. Whilst it was cathartic and therefore beneficial, I felt that the system of purging/expressionism/art therapy ( I used to attend the painting classes) was lost. I felt that the output in the form of the concious stream was a kind of art. These days it is formed into many of my poems. Therefore my poems are therapy.

I cannot reiterate enough Art is therapy no matter what the subject matter, you cannot stop the thoughts from entering your head

some people I fantasise about swearing at.Some I fantasise about loving. I never do, I bottle the anger or frustration and convert it into a poem of sorts. Usually called rants, often called love poems.

I always wanted to be an actor or be involved with stage and drama, I love words and I love expressing myself in an honest and raw way.
I prefer that to trying to be a page poet because I think the excitement of live performance poetry is more satisfying in an immediate way, and I'm a lover of quick hits and queeny driven drama, claws out and all. I think that's why I'm a roller coaster enthusiast. I receipted poetry atop the now demolished roller coaster at southports pleasure land, they knocked it down. I don't think they liked the rant.

Comment is about RE:BLOG ETIQUETTE (blog)

Hi Deborah,
I enjoyed this. An imaginitive way to look at the forces which shape our world, and ultimately our lives. Lots of hissing and shushing sibilants - especially here: "She inhales and all her minions in exoskeletons scrape together the seabed." and "she pauses, and then, rolls out her sigh. The lone surfer rides the sigh as it travels" - almost a sound track accompaniment, which would make it very easy on the ear. I could also hear the "washes across the pebbles making them rattle and dance." A much more staccato sound. Great idea very well expressed.
Regards,
A.E.

Comment is about Springtide (blog)

Original item by Deborah Jordan Bailey

I think this is a beautiful poem, Deborah. I enjoyed hearing it at Hebden Bridge, and reading it here gives me chance to linger longer over its rhythms and its beauty. Thank you.

Comment is about Springtide (blog)

Original item by Deborah Jordan Bailey

A bit spiritual, transcendentalist; can a little tin robot be that ? You appear to be trying to raise yourself above the concerns of everyday life, both the trivial and not so trivial. Lots of food for thought.

Comment is about The poverty of the light touch (blog)

Are you a heraldry fan, Freda ? clever use of imagery, and a positive outlook, nice one.

Comment is about On a Field Azure (blog)

Original item by Freda Davis

Anthony, I enjoyed Your IDOL homage to George Best - written with passion - and the footnotes. You write in a variety of styles. Not everybody does that but I think it's good.

Football is amazing. At root, it is an immense waste of cerative energy - 22 men chasing a bloated baldder around a field and trying to slot it between two posts. But beneath the apparent banality there is ... beauty, poetry, magic, athletic grace, tribalism, and, yes, passion. Keep writing. Be the best.

Comment is about Anthony Emmerson (poet profile)

Original item by Anthony Emmerson

Anthony, I enjoyed this homage, written with passion, and the footnotes. You write in a variety of styles. Not everybody does that but I think it's good.

Football is amazing. At root, it is an immense waste of cerative energy - 22 men chasing a bloated baldder around a field and trying to slot it between two posts. But beneath the apparent banality of it all there is ... beauty, poetry, magic, athletic grace, tribalism, and, yes, passion. Keep writing. Be the best.

Comment is about IDOL (blog)

Original item by Anthony Emmerson

Some good advice there Yosh. I'll try to put it into practice, and spend less time behind the bars of my mind !

Comment is about GET OVER IT!!! (blog)

I am touched by your support . Thank you. It is not an easy time for me on here i am often the only voice being drowned but i do not actually drown and you know that don't ya lol

Comment is about Winston Plowes (poet profile)

Original item by Winston Plowes

This is so sad as it reflects the feelings of someone whose dreams have been shattered and who feels they have no purpose in life...

'The sorry shell which he’s become

Contains an endless vacuum

Drawing out his heart and soul'


Very powerful and profound...

Comment is about The Beggar Man (blog)

Original item by Andy Williamson

Some words that grabbed my attension in this Phil,amongst them "flame sticks out its tongue, licking paper." Keep posting. Winston

Comment is about The Grip of ‘Midnight’s’ Glove (blog)

Original item by Phil Golding

Hi Sian, a brilliant if difficult piece (I would imagine to write - done a few myself). I felt claustrophobic reading it which I assume is the awkward trapped feeling you wanted to portray, great stuff, Jeff X

Comment is about Loose Ends (blog)

Original item by sian howell

Hi John, sounds like a right session!

I’m offered a whiskey tumbler;
taste my soul in its afterbreath

Love these lines and the others a good job done with a difficult concept - for me anyway!

Cheers see you thursday Jeff

Comment is about The Importance Of Magic In The Void (blog)

Original item by John Togher

Thanks very much Janet.

The poem DID have a point... but I was having so much fun writing it, the point get lost somewhere.

So... if anyone can work it out, please let me know!

Comment is about The poverty of the light touch (blog)

Hi Marc,
there are many interesting observations of life within your poem. I like that.
I'm not sure i completely got the point of it but that's probably my ignorance. The title confused me somewhat. I do like it the poem in general though. :-)

Janet.x

Comment is about The poverty of the light touch (blog)

Thank you for your comments re Ride my Lady, I'm only happy if I'm Naughty....
Thanks again
Gus

Comment is about Andy N (poet profile)

Original item by Andy N

hi Graham, thanks for the comments. I hope this means that you'll be coming to the Madcap on Saturday anyway to just soak in the fun atmos and scribble rhymes on beermats? First-timers are always most welcome! 7.30ish start, just £4 or £3 if you change your mind about reading, you don't have to compete!
also see www.poetrykapow.co.uk
see you then!

Comment is about Poetry-related events unfold in Milton Keynes (blog)

Original item by Danni Antagonist

Helvelyn creaks the bones,
An ancient wood nestled
Silently strips the clothes,

i was taken by this . thanks mike

Comment is about Chess (blog)

Original item by Noetic-fret!

'its like saying my dualit toaster is a bread terrorist'

like it Pete - mine wears a balaclava...

Comment is about RE:BLOG ETIQUETTE (blog)

yes big into talk talk!

Comment is about Living in another world to you (blog)

good stuff, pete.. are you into talk talk? i think they had a song called that... either way, i like the loop in the poem and the way it seems to slow down a bit towards the end off it

Comment is about Living in another world to you (blog)

good stuff, pete.. i think you worked well towards the end nicely..

Comment is about Facebook U Turn (blog)

:) x

Comment is about something to celebrate (blog)

Danni, good to see your hardcore approach to spreading the poetry word here in MK. I do think that there is plenty of culture here already, but not all in the same vein. All power to your elbow (and your vocal chords). I'm not into the slamming/performance stuff myself although I can see it must be good fun for natural performers. I think the best I could do would be to let someone do my stuff for me. regards, Graham

Comment is about Poetry-related events unfold in Milton Keynes (blog)

Original item by Danni Antagonist

Hi Alan, thank you for your comments on 'The One',
I'm a big joy division fan yet I hadn't noticed that (?) gave me a warm smile indeed x

Comment is about alan barlow (poet profile)

Original item by alan barlow

Thank you Daniel for your comments on 'Quench' you made me blush x

Comment is about Daniel Hooks (poet profile)

Original item by Daniel Hooks

Hi Winston, thank you for the comments on 'quench' . I'm enjoying your haiku's! if you were in southport have you been to formby point with your daughter yet? x

Comment is about Winston Plowes (poet profile)

Original item by Winston Plowes

great piece of work Sian, so evocatively written and the last few lines leaves the their gasp of sadness with you. lovely x
(im not too great at commenting effectively)

Comment is about This (blog)

Original item by sian howell

thank-you sian for your comments on quench x

Comment is about sian howell (poet profile)

Original item by sian howell

ta very much seein that you were the inspiration

Comment is about something to celebrate (blog)

i like this poem

Comment is about something to celebrate (blog)

Hi Yosh

I dont know where to post this so I hope you dont mind, me and my friend were discussing your poem, which we enjoyed.

this part of what I said:




I'm really happy there are sites like this that I can use for, amongst other things 'therapy' .
What is wrong with that?
Every day I will use WOL for writing therapy, I’m much more mentally adjusted these days as I found a great creative/performance/writing outlet in WOL. Not poetry? Not bothered.

I do use the site for therapy and I see no rules saying I cannot. At the same time I take time to comment on poems that I like and identify with or respect.
The day we start shutting down people for expressing opinion we may as well not bother.
I agree that we should be sensitive to others, I often throttle down my work, but I will never stop writing for therapy, it helps me and I KNOW it helps others. Its important to get the balance right, its important to acknowledge others views, common sense should be enough, I cant stand racial debates they never get anywhere, some asylum seekers annoy me, but then again I annoy myself a lot of the time, my boss annoys me etc etc etc, just because they have a label it should not be reason to shut up about it. I'm not defending outright abusive poetry, im not defending rudeness or disrespect, hatred of a race, im saying that its important to express ourselves in a manner that others can understand in a balanced, careful and considerate manner. The world is full of opinions, full of reasons, we all have our tales to tell, some hidden some shared. I agree with some of what you say but I sometimes feel annoyed when etiquette goes to far, I don't think it has on here but then again I don't like it when we have to dance around what we really want to say, maybe some have no ability to put their anger any other way, perhaps they dont mean to be, I like Mike, think that Yosh is developing.

This poetry site is for everyone. I have witnessed 2 years on here with no problems at all, 99.9% clear of any trolls, spambots or the like. People learn if nurtured, encouraged supported. If shut down, they rebel.

Nabilya mentioned that
"I am disheartened and quite disgusted that people can just come on this blog and post anything they like"

I'm so happy we can post what we like as long as it abides by the liberal rules. Thank god we still have a democracy what my grandparents fought for.

people make the world go round. It takes us all. At the end of the day, people instinctively know what is right and wrong, unless they are quite ill.

could I site an example?
I read an animal rights poem few years ago, I loved writing it, I felt it helped my feelings of anger towards cruel people who torture animals for pathetic human greed, I read it and was approached by another quite angry poet who said "what about peoples rights?" I responded "what about them?, we had poetry all night about them" it ended up in a row whereby I was assaulted, I felt like an outsider, like just because I was expressing my anger on a subject that I had ruffled the feathers, I mean the person had been going on about their sexual identity rights all night and I listened and supported, but oh, animal rights, those lot are terrorists, its like saying my dualit toaster is a bread terrorist, its not it makes my toast in the morning, its as absurd as that.



I didn’t get the feeling Yosh was doing anything other than expressing, maybe perhaps it just looked worse on here as we cant express our tone, maybe you are right, but it seems, or rather my instinct says that he's just budding.

free speech is extremely important. He could argue that you have had your free speech. I would welcome his opinion even if its racist because that is freedom of expression, i would try and show him that it could hurt or offend, but i would never shut someone down for it. I may ask him to consider removing or editing as a gesture, or perhaps by elaborating, but never delete or shut down (im not saying you want his poets deleted)

I was at the 'dead good poets' society on Wed and a poet read a poem about the pope. Let me say that it was portraying the pope in a blasphemous way, people were laughing. I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if it were about another religious leader, i'm sure the room would have gone quiet, thats why its frustrating and often unfulfilling getting involved in religious debate because you just end up where you started, people instinctively know what is wrong and hurtful, its just as easy to offend someone by saying 'you cant say that'

What is expression otherwise? Expression to suit certain beliefs? What about anger? Is it no less valid an emotion? Hatred is path you have to overcome, yet an emotion it still excists, you have to deal with it in a positive way, let it go, but you may have to express it. What less harmful way than to write it down, AKA therapy. Its not what you do, it’s the WAY you do it.

I read an 'anti' health and safety man poem few months back, I offended a health and safety officer who was drinking at the bar, he said it hurt, but ended up laughing with me about it once i had made my intention/idea clearer about the poem. I said I respected his work and that some of it I could understand, I showed him how much it had cost the company as we had to change all the light fittings as there was a problem with the appliance testing etc, and I thought ‘bloody health and safety’ this offended him as he said he wanted to save lifes, I said I never thought about that before and we resolves our diffrences and just laughed about it. I have had similar debates on religion, immigration, meat etc…..point being we listened to each other. Listen to Yosh JUST in case, benefit of doubt first, then if not, fair enough…just don’t read the work.

communication is much harder on the screen, so easy to get drawn into all of this.......

I'm a fan of good people, whatever race religion or creed, I’m angry with some people whatever race religion or creed. all depends. we all have right to our opinion.

I agree from time to time people need to be deleted and banned, it is a fine line though.
Some things are blatantly obvious. WOL reserve the right to ban anyone as it is the property of Julian Jordan LTD and freedom of ownership gives that right……

speakers corner on the other hand…..now theres something………….
I love going to speakers corner. Anyone else? (Hyde Park, London)
I used to love protests, but you need written permission these days….kinda defeats the object.

sorry i'm rambling now..............someone throw me a line or shut me down…………

Comment is about RE:BLOG ETIQUETTE (blog)

It just seems to me that whatever rocks the status quo, or whatever doesnt conform to certain peoples way of thinking is immediatly jumped on then gagged and tied up,...Then erased, like i have stated already i didnt write it to offend,shock,or anger people,
look at my surname its 'stanisauskis', to be racist or predjedice would be like for me to spit in my familys face...So lets get off our moral high horses.

Comment is about RE:BLOG ETIQUETTE (blog)

you have captured the essence and the beauty of the massi homeland in the serengeti really well in this poem well done!

Comment is about 'Serengeti Sunset' (blog)

reading stuff , i just want to link you to a song by chris woods , come down jehovah

Comment is about Simon Rennie (poet profile)

Original item by Simon Rennie

They’ll get you in the end... Ya im sure they will. you write poems

Comment is about Richard Raftery (poet profile)

Original item by Richard Raftery

yes , all opinions matter

Comment is about RE:BLOG ETIQUETTE (blog)

i could be wrong Nabila but i think your sarcastic commments were removed before the poem , as you then emptied the site of all your poems and profile , ( all of this could have been done by moderators i have no way of knowing )
apologies yosh if my previous comment on Nabila's thread made the assumption that your poem held your views or emotions, a common fault i feel.

Nabila how can anyone break down a barrier if they dont know its there and cant see it ?

Comment is about RE:BLOG ETIQUETTE (blog)

Hi Steve - thanks for taking the time to read and make comment on my work

steve

Comment is about Steve Regan (poet profile)

Original item by Steve Regan

Hi Tomas, Thanks, Nice to read yours too

Comment is about Tomás Ó Cárthaigh (poet profile)

Original item by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh

Gary, I fully believe that we all have gifts of some form. I started having dreams that were perplexing, so i started to write them down. Sure enough, one or two of my dreams came true, and I had the evidence to know it was not deja vu. As I had written the dream down six months earlier.
Mike

Comment is about 'Deja Vu' (blog)

I actually like this Gary. To me, although it speaks of much thats gone west in your life, it could in fact signal a new beginning. Coming to terms with all the deciet is not easy. The poem to me does in fact make me feel positive about the writer. As when your at rock bottom, the only way to go, is 'up!' Be well
Mike

Comment is about 'The Geisha Girl, Like's, Love's, & Another Tequila Sunrise' (blog)

Hi Yosh, I like your work. I know these kids and I too was once one of these kids, and still am. I must admit though, the word immigrant is banded around too freely. Especially when blame is directed at a particular group of peoples. This I feel is letting your work down. There are many reasons immigrants are working in this country, and having travelled overseas we have many more brits, exploiting markets in foreign climes. If you want a name for those who are exploting the immigrants here, its Capitalist. For it is the capitalists that are exploiting them, and want no better than to employ people at lower wage. I just feel it is a trend that you can rise above. You have the talent and intellect to do that. Just a little positive criticism there for you. If you want to see what some of us brits get up to overseas, there are a number of places i could tell you about. Where the local culture is disrespected to a certain degree by british people. There are the Euro Villages of Dharan and Riyadh, and various other places. I would also like to add this too. Britain is a violent place, many come here because britain advertises overseas, and, we cream the best of the third world in what is termed the Brain Drain. You are ten times more likely to be the subject of violence in britain, than you are in the indian subcontinent. Rise above the candour of tabloid media, and you will go far. I promise ya. Keep it coming blue. Just a few words to ponder on.
Mike

Comment is about SLUM KID....(dedicated to ashy valley flats) (blog)

This is nicely written Mike...
Having read many of your poems - it is obvious that your military experience deeply affected you...

Comment is about True Velocity (blog)

Original item by Noetic-fret!

Ooh la la... you may be right ; )

Comment is about Gus Jonsson (poet profile)

Original item by Gus Jonsson

I expect this will sound great if it is read out loud.

Comment is about MOODS...(dedicated to the colourfull nature of moods) (blog)

This is quite exciting - it gives a real sense of "being there". You could probably cut about half of the lines without losing anything important: it would have far more impact if it was shorter. It could also do with some more explanation of what it is that everyone is so angry about.

Comment is about 1st April 2009 - PART 1 (my account of G20) (blog)