Hi Richard,
thanks for letting me know what you're up to.
I had a feeling you were busy with study. Just wanted to let you know you haven't been forgotten.
Hope you found all the inspiration you need for your course work. Good luck with it.
Love Janet.xx

Hi Richard,
Just a quick post.
Hope you're ok. I presume you are back into studying as we haven't seen anything new from you lately.
No pressure! Get some work done. ha ha.

Love Janet.x

Yep, Robert Johnson. My favourite though, is Mississippi Fred McDowell.

hi Richard, Carla's fine, think she's coming watching me at a gig I'm doing on saturday in Bolton!

Thanks for comments about my poem, will catch up with yyour recent entries soon, been busy and off to wigan tonight!!

Its great how you managed to show the resuer as the one needing the help of the lady in the long run as he had amnesia...

yeh john cooper clarke is my uncle babes

ps. it didn't transfer as i wrote it.
Not as easy as it seems. Must have to be copied from the computer i think.xx

Hi Richard,
Your anchor does look better, but i still think if you raised the first and last word one more time as well as raising again the ones you did, it would be spot on.

is it.
this owe
death etc. etc... etc... they


Great stuff, this concrete poetry though, and something completely new to me which you've inspired me to practice with. Thankyou.
Love Janet.xx

Thanks Richard for you nice comments. I generally avoid the showcase (and it took a long time before I posted a profile) because I still bear the scars of mutual self congratulatory writers workshops where people write a complimentary comment on your poems and it is expected that you will do the same for them. That said, I genuinely do quite like a couple of the ones you've posted up here - with the hopping around from one setting to the next (urban street tableau to dark forest tableau to etc.) in the first one, and the lass who'd fallen off a pier and dragged down the coast to a waiting rapist in the poet and muse thing.

As to my attitude in the discussion thing - it's mostly put on. Mind you almost everyone else is being disingenuous in that thread so it's not just me. For all the "well I could call x a poem and I could call y a poem" (and so on and so forth), if those people were reading an article in the financial times and their significant other said "what are you read dear?" they wouldn't say "a poem". So, deep down, they sort of know.

Hello Cir!!

You won't believe this, but you are only the 2nd person to use the name Ffej!!! A very good girlfriend of mine who I used to go out with, used to call me that all the time, it was very sweet, until we finished!

I still keep in touch though she works in Thailand now. Uncanny though because you couldn't have seen that anywhere!

If you go to any gigs in Preston let me know, if I'm free its no problem driving up Mway, be good to see you and do a couple of poems up there, cheers Jeff

hiya richard

thanx for the comment
being compared to eminem is a major compliment,
thank you
i know i write angry poems about my mum
but i love her really lol

much love

sez x

Hi Richard - Perform? Well, I got up on stage and mumbled a load of sprouts. I did the 'Making love with a size ten' which I posted this morning. I was the penultimate poet - which is another phrase for ' blind drunk'. Good fun though.

Hi Richard, let me know how wigan wass if you went. I still havent been to that one yet but will get there, too much on this week.

Prob confused you, I don't play anything, just poetry with me, they had guitarists on before and after me, so quite a good night, hope to meet you soon, prob 2 poems at howcroft, cheers Jeff

Hi Richard,
If you do decide to tonight, i'll be there too.
It'll give you a chance to get to know the people behind their poetry. It can be a real eye opener as well as a great experience.
Bring a sample with you just in case you get drunk enough to give you some dutch courage.
Love Janet.xx

Richard - get your ass to The Tudor House tonight. You don't have to perform, just take it all in. Watch and learn. Learn what not to do - learn what to do and get blind drunk in the process. Apart from spending a night with Emily what's her name - I can't think of anyhting better.

Hi Richard,
Yes, these discussion lines do get quite heated but they're all a really good bunch of people, most of them very well educated in poetic writing. They all seem to get on well together when they see each other at the gigs too.
It's great when you actually meet the poets in person. You should get yourself out to a few of them. Who knows? it might even give you that courage you need to stand up and read some of your own.
They're really informal and non- judgemental.

I see what you mean about getting Darren involved on your topic. I think you two would get on great, as he is studying and you have too.
He seems to love a good, friendly argument.
Maybe you could have a chat with him through the wol chat service, or start the line of discussion and see how it turns out.
Love Janet.x

Hi Richard, Finity/Infinity - fair enough, doesn't take a lot to throw me, understand now! Yeah love the concept, life after death of some sort, or something after the 'end' of the universe - does my head in!

Yes, you will have to get to a gig, I'm doing loads now! I will be at Howcroft in Bolton this sunday and the boars head in Middleton next sunday. I'm also doing a gig supporting my mates punk band this saturday!

Doing a similar set to last week when I did a punk/acoustic night in Bolton. Did 13 poems incl some john Cooper Clarke, went really well! Hope to meet you soon, cheers Jeff

Hi Richard,
Thanks for the comment to " I am me."
That word is "me " but i ended the poem like i did because it actually begins with " I. "
Do you see?

I've never attended writing classes but i stumbled on a link on wol which had a section about how to write a poem.
Played around with the words and ideas and that's what came of it.
Blogged it just for a bit of fun really.

By the way, did you see how the discussion link continued, which you started before you biked it?
The one about "what is poetry?"
Take a peek, i think it's still there.
Thanks again, love Janet.xx

Hi, Richard.

Thank you for your comment on my poem, Fine Line. You hit the nail on its head with the existentialism and nihilism.

As for the soldier's life, it is something that I could never do myself, but I feel that these men and women should be recognized as heroes for putting their lives on the line.

Take care. :)

-Melissa

hey Richard, cheers for the comment, but don't worry - I didn't have to suffer for that particular piece, it was just for fun. Love the poet and the muse one - really good. cheers,
a
x

Cheers for your comment Richard.
Haha well the book is a long way off yet, it is one chapter and a notebook full of notes!
But we must perservere I guess.
I love The Poet and his Muse. Please post a clip of you reading it!

Hi Richard,
Sorry about the misinterpretation of your poem.
I read it 3 times and got the same feeling each time. It was as if he enjoys the silence of being alone but she simply feels lonely.
The bereft feeling i got was whenever he was about to leave.
I've just read it again and felt the same. Perhaps it's the punctuation or the way it's laid out on the page, but i'm certainly not the one to ask how it would read any differently.
Maybe other poets would see what is intended. But that's the beauty of good poetry. Each person who reads it will "see" something different, depending on how it relates to them.
Love Janet.x

Hi Richard, how's it going? What you been up to, not heard from you for a while?

Did you see my poems for July. The last one, about the man in the moon, was for my daughter, but the other two are very deep, the first one 'When will it pass' is personal.

Appreciate your thoughts if you haven't seen them, cheers Jeff

'Depression was my friend
understood me so well
the time we spent
writing till he goes
his pain my prose'

you have a fantastic way with words

Hi Richard, Thanks for your comments, they really are very much appreciated.
I hadn't heard about the reps in Spain. We were a party of 8 women ranging between the ages of 30 and 55. Each time we went down the strip as it's called, young lads called reps insisted on literally man-handling and scooping us up off the floor in a bid to get us into bars where they got tips for doing it. I blame the tour companies myself. They really should be more responsible when training them up. It wasn't even high season. Everyone complained.

I meant to tell you last time i visited your profile. When i read "The poet and his muse." Just 2 nights before i had a dream very similar to what is written. I was washed up on shore and a man breathed life back into me. I felt it was significant . Though i don't remember him being a poet or writing a poem for me.xx

Hi Richard.

There seems to be a few coincidences on here. I was undecided whether to put this poem on or my 'Stallion Of A Dream'. I went to check blogs after I uploaded and saw that Phil Golding has a great poem that he put on before me, with similarities to both of my poems, crisscross/dream/stallion etc. Antonionionis' '666' next to my 'Theatre Of Hell'. Now you tell me of your uncanny experience. Strange eh?

Thanks for reading my poem. I am so pleased.

Sincerely Shirley

Hi Richard, this is the first time i've visited your profile, although i've read blogs and commented.
I just love "the pen," it really is right up my street. In fact, i like all of them very much.
Are you really only 22?
I find that hard to believe, you write as a much older soul would. Maybe there's more to the idea of an older spirit working through you than you think.
Really is good stuff. Pity you don't feel confident enough to perform some of it.
I look forward to reading more. Janet.x

Hello, Richard

Thank you for the comment you placed on my poem...Appreciated.

Kind Regards,
.Zuzanna

hey you are good. Enjoyed all your poems and you have great musical taste. Tc Tim

Hey honey,
Thanks for your reply - you are very welcome you have a truly beautiful way with words and such a light touch and intense flourish, keep at it sweet.
lots of love.
xxxx

I loved Working Class Blues

there is so much talent in the north west.
we need to bring it all together one day for a big northern poetry extravaganza.

HI, Richard

Thank you so much for the comment on my latest poem. I am looking forward to read more of your poetry. Like I said before you have a wonderful talent with words!!

Kind Regards,
Zuzanna

oops think that should read 20th - ah well Jim's a God of any century - interesting fact for you - do you know that they 'The Doors' got their name from a William Blake poem. ooh and I forgot to say The Poet and His Muse is absolutely beautiful - well done.
xxx

Richard,
I love what you wrote on Zuzannas profile about the Doors, I think Jim Morrisons is certainly one of the best poet and songwriters of the 21st century - good to have some one who recognises such talent - good luck with your work - I look forward to reading more of your poetry.
xxxxx

Hello Richard

I have found your writings interesting and diverse.Your ideas to create a poem comes from different life experiences. At times perhaps observing people... Etc... This is great point as it gives the reader a choice to learn something new from each of your poems. You have way with words which is great gift! Keep up the great work!

Thank you for the comment you recently left on my latest write. The poem is based on my own life experience. Great Intuition !!
Thank you ...Zuzanna

HI, Richard

I forgot to say THANK YOU!!
For the comment you left on my page.

Thank you...Zuzanna

Hello Richard

Your varieties in writing that give more broad spectrum and enjoyment to read. The poem will be very boring if there were only one style. The more styles the better. I see you being very gifted and it is good to have you here. Keep up the great work!
It is mutual pleasure to read your writes.
Welcome to W.O.L World!!...Zuzanna