The heating's come back. I was almost beginning to feel nostalgic for the big chill, or for being aged ten again, at any rate. As long as I didn't have to take the eleven-plus again ...
Comment is about 1963 (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Ok ... but if your teachers catch Covid from unmasked you, how's that going to help anyone?
Comment is about The rebellion of a 14 year old against wearing a mask in school (blog)
Original item by hugh
Neatly put.
I have little time for anyone who consciously sets out to defy a country's laws, let alone at such a time. However, it has been
argued that having the jabs may provide a degree of protection
for the recipient but they don't prevent the virus being caught
and carried by that recipient. - and passed on, of course. A case
worthy of debate as limitations are being placed on the freedoms of non-vaxxers.
Comment is about "LIFE'S A BITCH" (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
In 1963 i was about to join the Met. Police, patrolling London's docklands, but my family were living in rural Wiltshire and the
highways and byways were filled with snow, preventing folk
getting around when they weren't home scraping the ice from
the inside of their bathroom windows and gratefully lighting
living room fires with rolled "circles" of newspaper before
making breakfast! A far cry from the winter noted by Samuel
Pepys in early1661 - no cold at all...the flyes(sic) flying up and down, the rose bushes full of leaves and the ways all dusty.
Time tells us that Mother Nature is nothing less than unpredictable..
Comment is about 1963 (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Thanks for like of my true story Holden.
Comment is about Dark Knight Mystery (blog)
Original item by julie callaghan
An easy mistake to make, Stephen. The days of welfare state consensus, and 'Butskellism'! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-war_consensus
Comment is about 1963 (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Thank you, Greg. I enjoyed the rhythm of this and the final verse in particular. As for the heating breaking down, I feel your pain and hope it gets fixed today.
I remember the 1963 winter as a boy. One odd incident from it: My mum came in to the bedroom one morning and told me that Hugh Gaitskell had died. For some reason, she thought he was deputy prime minister. And so I did as well, until I knew better.
Comment is about 1963 (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Thanks for the comments, Moonlight and Graham, and for the Likes, Nigel and Holden. Just hope the right part for the boiler arrives today!
Comment is about 1963 (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
i like the fluidity of this poem nice work
Comment is about Your Turn (blog)
Original item by Brian Hodgkinson Jr.
Fri 7th Jan 2022 02:59
I really can't argue with your interpretation, Stephen, a world falling apart indeed! 😎
Comment is about Undoing (blog)
Original item by Holden Moncrieff
Fri 7th Jan 2022 02:50
I've heard of Pitt bulls & Pit Pythons
but never a Pit Yakker!
😃
Comment is about Stephen W Atkinson (poet profile)
Original item by Stephen W Atkinson
I'm in love
with each word
good vibes sent
heart filled lines
love I'm in.
Comment is about 89. Poem "love the 89" (blog)
Original item by Sunshine
A fine review of sixties childhood Greg. Weren’t we awful. Good character forming times outlined sharply in the final stanza.
Comment is about 1963 (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Thanks for your thoughts, Stephen G and for the Like, Stephen A.
Comment is about "LIFE'S A BITCH" (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Beautifully expressed. A heart wrenching sad wrote. Healing and peace💕
Comment is about Lost Love (blog)
Original item by Jacqueline L Elias
A journey to the past well travelled. Thanks for sharing your experience. I enjoyed reading it.
Comment is about 1963 (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Life is stuck for everyone. I like your expression of anxiousness.
Comment is about We’re all Stuffed! (blog)
Original item by Rick Varden
I appreciate your understanding of what I write. Thank you for your feedback, it motivates me to write more. 🌷
Comment is about Nigel Astell (poet profile)
Original item by Nigel Astell
Well put, John. Hard to see how anyone can sympathise with him. Great player, less than perfect human being.
Comment is about "LIFE'S A BITCH" (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
I read this many times, Holden. Perhaps a world falling apart?
Comment is about Undoing (blog)
Original item by Holden Moncrieff
Thanks, John. I'll take your advice for now.
Thanks for the like, Mike.
Comment is about Strange Times (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
What? So now I'm old? haha. I do remember moving the aerial around to get a better picture! 😀
Comment is about The Grataerial (blog)
Original item by kJ Walker
Thanks for the like Stephen.
Comment is about Elegant And Graceful (blog)
Original item by julie callaghan
Thanks for the likes, unsure about this one.
Comment is about January Blues, Today’s News (blog)
Original item by julie callaghan
Thanks, Kev and Leon. I wouldn’t expect that given his age and fitness a dose of Omicron would be particularly disabling for him. It’s just those he might kill for which it would
Comment is about "LIFE'S A BITCH" (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Thanks Stephen and John. I think it's a generation thing. Telly's these days are a lot more reliable. And back in the day we were more likely to improvise.
Cheers Kevin
Comment is about The Grataerial (blog)
Original item by kJ Walker
This is awesome Adam. I will never look at a duck in the same way again hahaha 😀
Comment is about Unfinished (blog)
Original item by Adam Whitworth
<Deleted User> (33000)
Thu 6th Jan 2022 19:11
well John, I would say to people like him, ok don't have the jab but if you end up at deaths door, remember someone told you so!
Sincerely hope he doesn't cop for it, but if he does, will his money save him I wonder?
Comment is about "LIFE'S A BITCH" (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
He'll get no sompathy here. I can't understand why anyone wouldn't have a jab, but to publicly speak out against them. No. Send him back.
Comment is about "LIFE'S A BITCH" (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
John, after reading your last poem about Gert's er, ... ahem....I think this is the least of the things you ' really shouldn't' do 🤣🤣
And, yes I sang it to the wife trying to recreate that scene, but she just said: bugger off ye stupid sod. No sense of romance 😉
Comment is about If Ever I Fall (blog)
Original item by Stephen W Atkinson
I really shouldn't, I know; this poem deserves far more than this. But I couldn't help seeing that scene in Gavin and Stacey where Pete and Dawn sing Time After Time by Cindy Lauper to each other.
Comment is about If Ever I Fall (blog)
Original item by Stephen W Atkinson
We should start a club. Each of us should finish off another's poem. Not this one, though; it's best left hanging.
Comment is about Strange Times (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
A lovely idea but I'm not sure there was ever a time that we "noble savages" didn't conduct war.
Comment is about World peace (blog)
Original item by Ghazala lari
I'm going to stick my neck out and comment here, only because I think it's a good poem.
You mention "human glory" and "the humanity high" alongside "previous atrocity" and butchering". Your questioning about any restoring of past ways is not clear because both good and bad are included in all this.
My preffered way out of this quandary is to accept the good and the bad as integral parts of human nature. The questions then melt away. There has been good and bad in all societies and eras and that will always remain the case.
Of course this makes a lot of the pondering redundant. People simply take their turn on the wheel of fortune and some are luckier than others. Yes, some are nicer or nastier than others; so it has always been and always will be.
These are comments any decent editor would make, it's not meant to be easy but I for one would love a lot more of this detailed interaction on this site. As I say, I find it a good poem. I particularly like the way "God" is not explicitly mentioned until the final line.
The third verse is different from the others, more controversial and perhaps weakest. "peace for all or doom" is the problem already alluded to because it is not a real dilemma at all. Also the invitation to misunderstand destiny or fate in the last line is objectionable.
Comment is about World peace (blog)
Original item by Ghazala lari
Stephen and John, thank you for your comments. I think both positions are valid and it is fascinating to see how different people view a poem. It's true that there is no conclusion; the last line is open-ended. One might say that the emphasis is on the current strange times rather than the unfortunate park poet, but what happened to him? Perhaps we should be told. I'm thinking of how to resolve this one...
And many thanks to Nigel, Tom, KJ, Holden, Jimakos and Moonlight for the likes.
Comment is about Strange Times (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
A very powerful account Cassandra. He'd be pretty proud of that too. Keep writing!
Comment is about One Year, Daddy (blog)
Original item by Cassandra Louise
Hi Keith, I just spotted your comment on my profile. Thanks for that and all the ongoing support and encouragement. I really appreciate it. Happy New Year and all the best, Tom
Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)
Original item by keith jeffries
Lovely poem posing the key questions for us all, Ghazala.
Comment is about World peace (blog)
Original item by Ghazala lari
Ah John, this is brilliant. I loved the audio too.
I've long wanted to write about the North Yorkshire Moors railway. You've even captured my most vivid memory in these two lines:
"You’re leaning from the window
...
There’s cinder in your eye"
Wonderful stuff!
Comment is about THE MOORLAND TRAIN (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Great poem! I'm sure the Solanum simile(?) didn't mind the rain along with the frogs
Comment is about So she let the rain set in (blog)
Original item by Rasa Kabaila
Thu 6th Jan 2022 12:51
I had to look up "piffle"
meaning piddling or a trifle
but I like the word
and will attempt to use it
I will try it out on my wife
I'll let you know how that turns out!
😃
Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Many thanks for your kind comments on 'Flora and fauna', Rasa, only recently spotted. I hope to include this poem in a collection about the Burma-Thailand railway and other war-related poems, to be published later this year.
Comment is about Rasa Kabaila (poet profile)
Original item by Rasa Kabaila
I'm glad you like my poems. Thank you for your footprints, they are priceless🌷
Comment is about Nigel Astell (poet profile)
Original item by Nigel Astell
Always good to be reminded of seldom used effective phraseology.
When I endured a contemptuous "Piffle"
It was difficult to disguise a sniffle! 😟
Comment is about Pshaw (blog)
Original item by d.knape
Holden Moncrieff
Fri 7th Jan 2022 17:52
This is a great sequel, Julie! 😎
Comment is about Dark Knight Mystery (part 2) (blog)
Original item by julie callaghan