Thanks Andy and a very Merry Christmas!

Comment is about Andy N (poet profile)

Original item by Andy N

thanks dave, yes fragility and specialness of having hope and happenstance that hasnt happened yet x

Comment is about Dave Bradley (poet profile)

Original item by Dave Bradley

Love your profile picture. My husband plays Santa at Christmas time.

Shirley

Comment is about Dave Dunn (poet profile)

Original item by Dave Dunn

Thanks for comments Isobel. I grew up under the constant threat of the mushroom cloud if the Cold War had turned Hot. We schoolchildren were told by the Jesuits during the Cuban crisis, that at no time were we to be more than four minutes away from the chapel as that was all the warning we would get before we got incinerated. Four Minutes was written to try and convey this to a generation brought up to think warfare is just a computer game. Our student protests were anti-war – todays protests are about cash.
References: to Journey’s End is to the play by R.C. Sherriff.
Runnymede, this was our school playing field.
JFK, President Kennedy, visited Runnymede Magna Carta memorial.
“irregular motions “etc from Catholic Catechism, meant ‘wanking’ to us of course.
And yes, boarding school was brutal then.

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

Hi Gary. Was great fun to see you at Poetry Unplugged (ages ago), and equally nice to bump into you online. Hope all is going well.

Comment is about Gary From Leeds (poet profile)

Original item by Gary From Leeds

Thanks for your view Isobel.I am sick of the stereotype of so-called "Real Men" in the media-especially that on TV-which potrays men as foul mouthed, loud mouthed boors and bores(like those who joke about killing cyclists or shooting trade-unionists).
Real men,just like real women, can be weak and stupid, but they can also be sensitive,vulnerable,and emotionally intimidated and damaged by aggressive verbal and physical behaviour from women.

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

hello marianne, thanks...she posed for T.Lautrec..I was intrigued by this photo of her...of course we'll never know.

Comment is about Marianne Daniels (poet profile)

Original item by Marianne Daniels

<Cheer-up it may never happen- then again it probably will.>
Tommy, it already has, over 60 and still not got over being brought up by brutal abusive Jesuits (already half my year dead from drugs an alcohol says summat)hic

Comment is about Tommy Carroll (poet profile)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Thank you Shirley, I really appreciate your kind comments about 'Couldn't Care Less' (I do really of course). It encouraged me to share some of your work which I very much enjoyed. I agree with your sentiments in 'Homeless', it is much easier to want to do something than to actually do something. I have dug out a poem I wrote on a similar theme called 'Tough Love' and posted it as a blog entry if you get the chance to have a look. It was your poem 'He Didn't Care' that really caught my interest as it seems to parallel 'Couldn't Care Less' in some ways. I like your illustrations too, do you do them yourself? As a matter of interest I found 'Couldn't Care Less' scribbled on a scrap of paper tidying a cupboard where it had lain forgotten for I don't know how long.

Comment is about Shirley Smothers (poet profile)

Original item by Shirley Smothers

Thanks for commenting Ann (and for previous comment/advice!). I heard this story on the radio and it really made me laugh... The thought of wool next to skin...not very nice!! :)

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hi Andy, thanks for the comment, sorry it's taken me so long to reply. There is some fantastic imagery in your writing.

Comment is about Andy N (poet profile)

Original item by Andy N

Thanks for your comment on my extraterrestrial poem Nick - I'm left wondering which verse applies to you ;)x

Comment is about Nick Coleman (poet profile)

Original item by Nick Coleman

Thanks Val - that's very kind of you.

Have a happy Christmas.

Fifi x

Comment is about Valerie Cook (poet profile)

Original item by Valerie Cook

ha watch yr fken mouth kaayyyy? love it

Comment is about Tommy Carroll (poet profile)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Thanks, Andy - I'd like to read your 12 Days!

Have a good 'un.

Fifi x

Comment is about Andy N (poet profile)

Original item by Andy N

Hi Steven Thanks for comments on 'Coelacanth'. Glad you liked most of it, although I'm not quite with you on the second stanza. I think I need it because it introduces the notions of beauty & ugliness and the way they symbolise innocence/and the Fall... if that makes any sense. Might just be me being a lapsed Catholic again!

Comment is about Steven Waling (poet profile)

Original item by Steven Waling

Hi Greg Good to hear from you and thanks for spot on comments. I thought it was about time I bunged something on again! Hope you liked the little journalistic touch towards the end. I really tried to get the name of the paper 'The Daily Dispatch' in but it just wouldn't go with the rhythm. Was hoping to see a new one of yours when I logged on!

Comment is about Greg Freeman (poet profile)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Hello Martin. Thanks for the comments on Model Husband.You're maybe right about the rhythm here and there. I like a bit of loose rhyme, near rhyme, though, and I've done a lot looser than septum/erection!Actually, the poem's just found its way into a proper book, one that people pay money for! Hard to believe, isn't it?!

Comment is about Richie Muster (poet profile)

Original item by Richie Muster

Cheers K...
''K...'' as Bill would say.

Comment is about Kealan Coady (poet profile)

Original item by Kealan Coady

Thank you John - tell your wife she's very discerning! xx

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Cheers, Cynthia, re: your comments on 'Poetry Is For Cowards'. I'm not married to this version, but it's an old one and I've grown used to it. I do however revisit old ones from time and try to improve on them; after all, for art to have any chance of becoming 'great' - not that I hold out any hope of that happening to me - artists should think in terms, not of finishing anything, but abandoning it when they can't find a way to improve it any further. After all, wasn't the Mona Lisa found at Leonardo's deathbed, with wet paint on it?

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Re: 'FOAD #2'; cheers, gringo. What say? Should I try to get it read out on 'Poetry Please'? Ask Andrew Motion to do it? [Can't stand the man, personally - or his poetry, to be more precise. Turgid drivel.] Well, it's way past noon: time to crack open a bottle of turps and toast the Queen. Care to join me? I make a dashing turps/battery acid cocktail - helps the spleen when I want to write about 'people' who deserve it [present company excepted, natch]...

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Howdy once agin, pard; 'Poetry Is For Cowards' is for someone I once met at a writers' group: she actually used that line within earshot of me [the stupid, braindead #&%@...ohh, I've no time for morons like her, except when they give me something to write about, of course.]

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks so much guys! You are all so kind!(In Sleep)

Anthony and John - I was aiming for a degree of poignancy - wot r u like! ;)

Cynthia - no way! (Mother and son). And he is "gone" into that deep untroubled kind of sleep that young people seem to manage. And maybe that sleep symbolises the unreachableness of the man.

Ray - re last verse - I'd like to add something to imply that skin/flesh has a memory, as they say that water has. Not sure how, yet.

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Thanks so much guys! You are all so kind!(In Sleep)

Anthony and John - I was aiming for a degree of poignancy - wot r u like! ;)

Cynthia - no way! (Mother and son). And he is "gone" into that deep untroubled kind of sleep that young people seem to manage. And maybe that sleep symbolises the unreachableness of the man.

Ray - re last verse - I'd like to add something to imply that skin/flesh has a memory, as they say that water has. Not sure how, yet.

Comment is about Nick Coleman (poet profile)

Original item by Nick Coleman

Thanks so much guys! You are all so kind!(In Sleep)

Anthony and John - I was aiming for a degree of poignancy - wot r u like! ;)

Cynthia - no way! (Mother and son). And he is "gone" into that deep untroubled kind of sleep that young people seem to manage. And maybe that sleep symbolises the unreachableness of the man.

Ray - re last verse - I'd like to add something to imply that skin/flesh has a memory, as they say that water has. Not sure how, yet.

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks so much guys! You are all so kind!(In Sleep)

Anthony and John - I was aiming for a degree of poignancy - wot r u like! ;)

Cynthia - no way! (Mother and son). And he is "gone" into that deep untroubled kind of sleep that young people seem to manage. And maybe that sleep symbolises the unreachableness of the man.

Ray - re last verse - I'd like to add something to imply that skin/flesh has a memory, as they say that water has. Not sure how, yet.

Comment is about Anthony Emmerson (poet profile)

Original item by Anthony Emmerson

Thanks so much guys! You are all so kind!(In Sleep)

Anthony and John - I was aiming for a degree of poignancy - wot r u like! ;)

Cynthia - no way! (Mother and son). And he is "gone" into that deep untroubled kind of sleep that young people seem to manage. And maybe that sleep symbolises the unreachableness of the man.

Ray - re last verse - I'd like to add something to imply that skin/flesh has a memory, as they say that water has. Not sure how, yet.

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Mike-have sent you email and tried to connect
with you on chat but to no avail.No probs,hope the email helps.Await a reply when it suits you

Our best to you

Patricia and Stef.xx

Comment is about Noetic-fret! (poet profile)

Original item by Noetic-fret!

I'm sure Cathy has no cause for complaint with you Andy - other than you breaking beer glasses and dousing her with beer now and again :) xx

Comment is about Andy N (poet profile)

Original item by Andy N

Hi J.C. - yes, I thought I.G.'s post showed
just how much thought and care can go into these things. This was consistently inventive
with a clear grasp of language, and left its message without being either portentious or pompous.
And a happy Christmas to you too!

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Pleased to see you found Ian Gant on the site.

Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Glad you liked "Akram and the Tank". (I think you liked "Akram and the Tank")!

Comment is about Richie Muster (poet profile)

Original item by Richie Muster

Glad you liked "Dear Sarah and Samantha", AE. I will say this about Santa - he might only come once a year down the chimney but at least he embraces diversity. He doesn't care if its the front or back flue.

Comment is about Anthony Emmerson (poet profile)

Original item by Anthony Emmerson

'Ey up, monkey,
Glad you liked "Dear Sarah and Samantha"

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Hi Fifi

lol. You are a v funny lady. Win x

Comment is about Fifi Fanshawe (poet profile)

Original item by Fifi Fanshawe

Hi Winston,

Thanks for the comments on the video - I just have to grow into the rest of me now!

:)

Comment is about Winston Plowes (poet profile)

Original item by Winston Plowes

Thanks Isobel. That was me at the end of the course, so I learned a huge amount! x

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

Thanks for taking time to read/listen to Depression. Impressed You were almost spot on with the influences. I had recently re-read some Kafka and D.T's Rage Rage against the dying of the light, and Bonzo's Canyon was in my head, but alter Bosch to Albrecht Durer a print of whose is above my desk.

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

I love him to bits Laura-...Lenny Bruce- Mort Sahl-
Richard Pryor- Bill Hicks- George Carlin :o)

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Hi Anthony,

Just wanted to say how extraordinary a poem 'Visiting Neil' is - and I felt that before I read the full story.

Reading it for the first time tonight (and then going back over and over it) I know that it has become one of my favourite poems and it will stay with me forever.

Your words are imaginative, conjuring instant pictures in the mind; you express yourself with a rare beauty and depth. Heart-rendingly gorgeous.

Comment is about Anthony Emmerson (poet profile)

Original item by Anthony Emmerson

Hello Anthony
Your comment is much appreciated
Meldrewesque? I honestly think you may have hit the nail on the head.
No hiding from the truth sadly

Comment is about Anthony Emmerson (poet profile)

Original item by Anthony Emmerson

Hi Lynn,

Thanks for your comments - I'm glad it made you smile.

Fifi x

Comment is about Lynn Dye (poet profile)

Original item by Lynn Dye

Hi Anthony,

Thanks for your comments on When I Was Nine - I'll let you know when the surgical reconstruction's finished!

Fifi x

Comment is about Anthony Emmerson (poet profile)

Original item by Anthony Emmerson

Hi Laura,

Sorry about the link. Try this one:

http://bit.ly/rPqaXx

Thanks,

Fifi

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Hi M.C.,

Sorry about the link. Try this one:

http://bit.ly/rPqaXx

Thanks,

Fifi

Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Hehehe :D

Comment is about Richie Muster (poet profile)

Original item by Richie Muster

My pleasure, chuck. By the way, all I want for Christmas is a Dukla[?] Prague Away Kit, if you're offering...

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Hello Larisa,
It's not just at football and rugby that England and Scotland have a rivalry. These are just examples. The best way I can describe the relationship of England and Scotland is that they are like brothers. They may be rivals, they may fight each other but they are family.
Incidentally, my suggestion that The Good and The English was the answer to question 1 was a joke response. If you are entering a proper competition I do not think this will do as an answer. I'm afraid I don't know the real answer.
Sorry.

Comment is about Larisa Rzhepishevska (poet profile)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Cheers Richie re 'Gordon' :)

Comment is about Richie Muster (poet profile)

Original item by Richie Muster