I will check the library on Monday for the novel you recommend.
One winter while visiting my sister in Canada I got completely snowed in for three days. She had a 'heritage' Bible from the late 1800's, a tome so big I had to spread it on a table to read. But I amused myself by reading completely through Paul's contributions to the canon. It was one of the happiest three days of my life; I was mesmerised once more, and privileged to stay with my reading for hours, immersion in 'his' words and philosophy. I never use the word 'doctrine' anymore. The fine aspects of Paul far outweigh the nonsense, although he has much to answer for in strait-jacketing Christian concepts about men and women. Well, hardly more than St. Augustine who really did a number with 'original sin'.

Comment is about Steve Regan (poet profile)

Original item by Steve Regan

Oy Oy, I'll attempt to fuse our words for the mail poem

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hi Neil! I'm sure you don't have to re-think your Grief Voyeur poem, I was being a bit thick ;-)
I get it now! xx

Comment is about Nells (poet profile)

Original item by Nells

Hi Ann, Ta 4 the feedback on "Grieve Voyeur". I think the point I was making is that if you go from being a morbid spectator to a paid counsellor in order to fulfill a need to experience grief there comes a time when you are going to get rumbled. I am sorry you didn't pick this up.I will have to rethink the draft.
Kind Regards, Neil

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

thanks for commenting on 'a biting of words' - paul

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hi Cynthia, thanks for sending "Perspective" to me.

I enjoyed it very much, in its themes and in its writing, and of course the use of the phrase "through a glass darkly". How right to bring to the fore the fact that we can have but imperfect vision and understanding.

Paul is so quotable. I loved what he said about fighting the good fight and running the race to the finish.

If you haven't already read it, I recommend the novel "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbary. It's about some of the very things your poem touches upon ... being considered an outsider, scholarship, humility. It's a lovely, philosphical and humane story.

Very best wishes,

Steve R

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Hello Cynthia and many thanks for your kind comments about "Mole".
I used funereal gauze as trees in mist/fog always remind me of being under burial shrouds.
I used nauseous because the oppressive silence when one stands in a snowscape can be really debilitating. Funiily enough I didn't reckon on their rhyme value, Regards, Graham

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Hi There Anne, Thankyou for taking the time to read my piece 'On Seeing a Boy's Face' and for your kind comments. This piece was removed by accident and is now back again. It may or may not have had the audio when you last visited. Win x

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Loved your comment Annipoo ;-) I am awake and I should be asleep!!
TC XX

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Thank you Steve for reading my poem 'Bound together'
and for your lovely words...

Francine x

Comment is about Steve Regan (poet profile)

Original item by Steve Regan

Thank you Sian, as always for your support and encouragement...
means so much!

Francine x

Comment is about sian howell (poet profile)

Original item by sian howell

Hi Mingo! Are you an anagram? It's always good to catch me on a jokey day - my default mode is 'Joyous Black' I'll pop over to your spot and make a comment. Cheers.

Comment is about Barrie Singleton (poet profile)

Original item by Barrie Singleton

Hi Kate, I love yer "Biscuit" poem - makes me mouth water!

Comment is about Kate Tym (poet profile)

Original item by Kate Tym

Hi Barrie, really enjoyed reading your poems - "Step Change" is me fave!

Comment is about Barrie Singleton (poet profile)

Original item by Barrie Singleton

Hello Oz
Enjoyed your spot last night at the Terrier, especially the one about the Stones (cold not rolling). Might make it to Harrogate next week - if so, see you there.

Comment is about Oz Hardwick (poet profile)

Original item by Oz Hardwick

Hi Neil, thanks for your nice comments on some of my poems. Glad to see you blogging! A good poem too.

Comment is about Nells (poet profile)

Original item by Nells

Steve, my sincere apologies. I can't get through to you via the other channel. Don't know why. I have chosen to share through this medium. I hope I haven't overstepped.



Perspective

They
Think
I am on the outside
Looking in,
Beguiled by questions …
Scholarship … intellectualism …
Erecting barriers against the sleeping spirit.
But I say:
What a strange thought.

I live to learn,
And learn to live
With understanding,
In the constancy of Spirit:
‘Is … was … and shall be …’
There is no sleeping!
And I wonder why they peer at me
With murky eyes
As ‘through a glass darkly’.

But who is boastful?
Humility
Is essential
To Truth
And Love.
It is hard to eschew
A sense of superiority …
Easily the greatest Lie
Of all Lies.

Cynthia Buell Thomas

Comment is about Steve Regan (poet profile)

Original item by Steve Regan

Happy New Year Gaia
Your comment is much appreciated.
I will email direct re performing The Sun Shone.
Steve

Comment is about Gaia Holmes (poet profile)

Original item by Gaia Holmes

Hi Ann
Thanks, as ever for the word. Still haven't got back to the laugh-a-minute stuff yet.

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hi John - re music for funerals! It's problematic choosing music for someone elses funeral. I had to make this choice, and of course it was at a time when you're in a state anyway. "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" seemed perfect, indeed it was, the result is I can probably never listen to it again. Also, cos of the words, we had "The Whole of the Moon" by the Waterboys. I had no idea if M liked that song, but the words summed him up, for me anyway. He was probably up there looking down and tutting! I think I'd like "I can see clearly now" by Johnny Nash, as it is so cheerful. But some bastards have recently used it in an advert, which is off-putting! I could go classical and have A Lark Ascending, bit of a cliche, but it is lovely. Re Nick Drake, it's another load of songs that I haven't been able to listen to for a couple of years, but I remember particularly loving Northern Sky. xx

Comment is about John Aikman (poet profile)

Original item by John Aikman

Noticed that you are a Nick Drake fan (in another thread). He will be played at my funeral...along with John Martyn and Joe Satriani (it's 'one on the way in...one in the middle, and one on the way out...) although, if the rules permitted, I could easily have three from any of them.... It's a game we play on long journeys. My choices have been the same for many years.

What's your favourite?

Jx

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hi Cynth.Yes email your poem inspired by "through the glass darkly"
stvregan@yahoo.com
I'l love to read it.

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Hi Cynthia
Comment appreciated.
As a voluntary worker in my local school, I often feel that parents are looking and wondering what an old gimmer like me is doing working with 6 and 7 year old children.

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

hi there ann, i sure am keeping myself safe from my scarey thoughts ;)hehe

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

hi there rachel, thanks for your comments on the "scarey thoughts" poem i thought i would get lynched for writing it ;)hehe

Comment is about Rachel McGladdery (poet profile)

Original item by Rachel McGladdery

Steve, I am a crow's wing circle from Wigan, just around the corner in Sale, Cheshire.
And I too think that Biblical phrase is glorious. It was probably very influential. I have a poem based on it that I might share. Your work is very inspiring you know - or do you?

Comment is about Steve Regan (poet profile)

Original item by Steve Regan

I'm way down in St Agnes, north coast. And have no car, so difficult to take part in stuff. I believe that there's someting at the St Ives and Penzance Art Clubs every fortnight, am going to get a friend to take me sometime. Whether I am bold enough to take part, hmmmm, hopefully!

Comment is about Richard Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Richard Thomas

Hey, thanks for your comment. Where abouts in Cornwall are you? I am quite new to the performance poetry circuit. Just found this site today.
Rich x

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hello and welcome - but I thought it was only women over fifty that were invisible? I like your poem, I feel that I can hear you reading it, or, that it would be great read out loud. (Is there a tiny mistake in the line "when there's nothing to say"?) Hope to see more!

Comment is about Nells (poet profile)

Original item by Nells

Very welcome Richard - and I don't like tea either! I am interested that you hail from the west country. I am in COrnwall, I'm very new to writing poetry, never performed but hoping to. So much of this performance stuff seems to be oop north. Good luck with it all anyway!

Comment is about Richard Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Richard Thomas

Really liked your samples Andreas.
There are too many good lines to mention, but the last few of I came to fight are really strong "fists cut on daydreams" for example. Keep the words sharp, well done. Graham

Comment is about Andreas Grant (poet profile)

Original item by Andreas Grant

Shards of spite and the grey dusty, grim musty silence are more evidence of your sharpening eye. However the use of single word lines twice......
Far
Too
Long

Together with the.......

Simple
Innocent
Laughter

...shows a really powerful emotional compass. I'm always interested in your work Sian. Well done again and keep them going. Graham

Comment is about sian howell (poet profile)

Original item by sian howell

Hi Rachel,

Thanks for the comment on my 'wall' or whatever I'm supposed to call it!

Interesting reading your stuff here. Hope you continue to get opportunities to do open mic and other performances - it's definitely a good way of getting your own 'voice' and meeting other people who enjoy the spoken word.

All the best.

Simon

Comment is about Rachel McGladdery (poet profile)

Original item by Rachel McGladdery

I too have seen that very same barge... near to Stockton Heath...

Thank you so much for your thoughts

Augusta xx

Comment is about Rachel McGladdery (poet profile)

Original item by Rachel McGladdery

Hello Sian
Thanks for your very kind interest. I am something of a reluctant blogger, having no great regard for what I do (not false humility).
I write to express those things that have passed through my mind (many and various), and if others find them of interest or enjoyable, I am both amazed and thrilled, in equal measure.
Steve

Comment is about sian howell (poet profile)

Original item by sian howell

Thanks Mark, no there's no more, I wrote it more or less on the spur of the moment, not having been on the site for a while.
Shame I've started the new year in Mr Grumpy mode!
I'm try ing to be more positive. will see what I can come up with.

Comment is about Horace Thespider (poet profile)

Original item by Horace Thespider

oh! watch him Sian,that T.C.-he,s a wolf in young mens clothes-lol!-goodnight all.Mr.Wilde

Comment is about sian howell (poet profile)

Original item by sian howell

Hi Sian seems to take ages to get to the bottom of your postings ha ha.... thank you for the comment hugs are on me, I will send some positive Karma your way, Thaumaturgically Charged of course ;-)
TC XX

Comment is about sian howell (poet profile)

Original item by sian howell

thank you "Dancing in the rain" Jane !

very good your stuff

take care

Carmine

Comment is about jane wilcock (poet profile)

Original item by jane wilcock

Weaving your prose around the chords of Rachmaninoff? I expect your story to be quite a grandiose, maddening experience...

Comment is about Marianne Daniels (poet profile)

Original item by Marianne Daniels

Hello Sian HNY to you. Thank you for commenting on Happy New Year. I unfortunately was one of those in last night's clothes. Have just read The Long Fuse. Will comment after a couple more reads. Always necessary with your work. I'm looking for the clever bits that you hide so well. Graham

Comment is about sian howell (poet profile)

Original item by sian howell

Simon, I feel the pain of being ignored by Sir Jimmy myself, also having neglected to send in the letter asking to be a ballerina for a day or whatever it was. I did have him as a friend on myspace some years ago though.
I liked your samples a lot
Rachel
x

Comment is about Simon Lee (poet profile)

Original item by Simon Lee

Kealan, we're all 'fairly shit' -- in our own eyes or those of others, but so what. 'Poetry will teach you poetry' -- that's all we need to remember.

So the greatest tribute we can offer to each other is this, as from me to you -- 'Keep writing..you have something to say..'

Michael

Comment is about Kealan Coady (poet profile)

Original item by Kealan Coady

thanks for your comment johnny

Comment is about John Darwin (poet profile)

Original item by John Darwin

Hi Both, thanks for the welcome, looks like a really useful site.

Comment is about Ant Smith (poet profile)

Original item by Ant Smith

Hi John. Keep looking, keep blogging and we will keep reading.
Winston

Comment is about John Turner (poet profile)

Original item by John Turner

Hi Ant . welcome to WOL hope you like what you find here. Winston

Comment is about Ant Smith (poet profile)

Original item by Ant Smith

Hi Carmine welcome to WOL . good to see you are getting to grips with the various aspects of the site - have fun. Winston

Comment is about Carmine Grimshaw (poet profile)

Original item by Carmine Grimshaw

Hi Andreas.Hope you enjoy the site. Winston

Comment is about Andreas Grant (poet profile)

Original item by Andreas Grant

..hello Ann..thank-you..I used the blackbird for two reasons..if 'man' disappears from the planet all the flora and fauna and planets will carry on regardless, they have no interest in any religion, and I've never seen a blackbird being instructed on how to build a nest, we don't understand how they know..therfore they are an obvious creature to take us by the hand and explain the universe, something no 'man' will ever be able to do.

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove