Hi Allison. lots for taking a moment to read 'the long and dusty road' Got stuck on this for a long time but my breakthrough moment was the verse you mentioned :
'I’ll breathe my last in a side road, a by road
An end of the line quiet road'
Still not completely happy with this but thanks for your comments,
Best wishes, Steve

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Thanks for your lovely comment Alison I am glad you enjoyed 'Us Nolympics'

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thanks for your recent comment, Alison - i appreciate it. dt

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Hi Alison, thanks for your perceptive comments on The Show. It's show week next week! Greg

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Hi Alison, glad you liked Fizz Bomb. good to catch up at Sale the other night. It was a great night wasn't it, must go more often, Win X

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Feel free to stalk me all you want. I appreciate the attention, it just lets me know I've not ran out of things to say and ways to say them.

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Alison, thank you for your comments on Day 6, you made it sound so much better than it was.

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Hello Alison
Many thanks for your comments on Metre.
I've never got round to reading Beowulf myself. I wonder if it loses something in translation to modern english

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I love 'Wife and Mother'. I think it's one of the best poems I've ever read. Incredibly powerful.

Great to meet you at Lumb Bank.

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Glad you posted this poem Alison, it was lovely to meet you at Lumb Bank! xxxx

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Cheers Alison, have a great time at Kendal the anticipation of the constipation, theres a poem in there somewhere!

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Hi Alison, thanx for your comment, it can be a cruel place, glad you didn't get stuck! Glad you like it, by the way I had started to write it then your ghost theme came up so very well timed! Keep up your good work Jeff X

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I looked for you on Tuesday night, at the end of the programme, but you had left so quickly I missed saying 'hello'. I enjoy your work and wanted to tell you so, in person. Perhaps next time.

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Thanks for your comments on Penicure. It's not entirely autobiographical!

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Hi Alison

Thanks for your comment on Mish-mash. It was indeed a thin gap. From my view I could see the dog in this gap like a silouette. Horible :-(

I will try and write something more cheery next time! Win x

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Thanks for the comment on Let the Beast Dance Alison - David
(Hope to see you at Sale on 28th)

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Hello Alison,

Thanks so much for your comment on my Turncoat poem. I thought it was going to be another one with not even a gravestone comment ;-) But you stepped into the breach. I'm glad you were brave enough to like it.

I must say that I love your "style naif". Very fetching (old-fashioned word which I like and which suits) with touches of wisdom.

Keep in touch!

With love & light,

Alan

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Hey, thanks for the notes Alison :)

See you at the end of the month then!

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Above my bed there is an fact a painting of an old boot.

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Hi Alison - thanks for your comment on 'On finding a tiny hole in my shoe...' -- raising a smile is exactly what it was intended to do -- I've been keeping my grandson amused for a week or so with this sort of stuff, while he's visiting from Canada!

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Glad you liked the poem - remember to stick to the "country lanes and bridleways" on your bike
:)

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P,S. Went out on my bike round the haworth and calderdale moors for 4 hrs on mon. Wet cold and v.Windy. nearly got blown off several times and at the end too cold to speak properly. Spring! Win X

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Hi Again Alison. Lovely to meet you and chat at the Big Weekend. Hope you got lots out of it, and judging by your recent offerings, you did! Win X

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Hi Alison, Thanks for your comments on Sleep if only.. Dreaming is over rated ?? i'll have to have a good deep ponder on this. Dreams is sometimes all you got to hang on to!! And when your Dreams don't come true then you know its only a dream.. Food for thought... Cheers Ian....

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Hello Alison,
Sorry for the belated response - I've been browning my belly in Fuengirola.
Thanks for your comments on I Dreamt You Were Little Again.

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My friends get dimmer!! Nicely written with a hint of optimism to end ?? Dave

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is it because 'them up north' are outsiders?

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Can I just add my congratulations.

That is a very powerful poem and you are indeed a worthy winner. I am sorry that you have had to go through such experiences to write it though. Your grit and determination not to be beaten does you proud. x

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Hi Alison,

Well done on your much deserved POTM.

Regards,
A.E.

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Hi Alison,
Congratulations on poem of the month!

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Thankyou for looking at my Manboobs, Alison. I did try an all-over corset once but found it a little embarrassing when the constable had to help me off with it.

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Thank you for your appreciation of my latest poem.

I only posted it because of the 'Love is...' thread on the Wonderland section of the 'Discussions' section on here...have you been following that one? I wrote this ages ago but didn't dare post it because I think it's a cliche...and I've been a bit too fond of criticising other people's cliches so I hadn't got the nerve to post it until the 'Love is...' thread on Wonderland appeared.

Glad you enjoyed it.

:-)

Jx

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Hello Alison
Just read "Wife and Mother" and was touched by its poingancy. I especially liked the last lines where "hope still glimmers" x

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Hi Alison, thanx for your nice comment about my poem, much appreciated. Not had chance to comment on WOL for a while so missed your work, will have a good look soon tho, best wishes Jeff X

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Thank you Alison for your kind comment on my Questions poem. xx

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HI Alison. Thanks for your comments on Snow on the Pass. Well done for spotting that line: it was a late addition and does jut out a little. It may be in the wrong place. Greg

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Thanks for your thoughts on Tale from the North Country.
I'm happy to present you with the image of a frozen prong! Many of us have spent a lifetime blaming the cold weather in that department!

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Tommy - try google!

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why are they referred to as: 'home'?

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Thanks for your comment on "Untitled - you bastard".

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Hi Alison and thanks; xx

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Hi Alison

Thanks for your kind comments. I was trying to write a sonnet but am easily distracted. I bought the anthology staying alive (and being alive) which you mentioned and am enjoying the variety. I like Alden Nowlan’s poetry. Nowlan said “I think you have to risk sentimentality…because after all sentimentality is very close to the things that genuinely move people” and for what it’s worth I agree.

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hello there , I thought about the way the sentence was constructed and decided that it had a better impact the way it is , after all it made you think !!

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your right about pissed I have knocked two verses out , I was hammering it home a bit too much but it is OK now , I read and appreciate all comments as they are constructive and aid my thought process. Thank you

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Hi I've read through your stuff and would now recommend Maiden Speech by Eleanor Brown very skilful, passionate, funny. Her sonnets are stunning

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You have to give Billy another chance. Try this linkhttp://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=6478He gets criticised for being too whimsical but there are plenty of serious poets writing serious poems

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Hi Alison - thanks for reading and commenting on "It Only Ends Once" glsd you enjoyed it :-)

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Hi Alison - "pearls" - many thanks for the very kind comments.
If you want a really good cry, what about Anthony Emmerson's "Visiting Neil" ? B

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Thank you for comment on my "Play". Yes, i think aloud/allowed definitely would occur to people when the poem would be allowed to be read aloud :-)

I think a lot about poems how they look on paper and when they are being read and all these alliterations that make one's thought drift in certain direction.

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My poem on a similar theme

Gone

It’s gone now.
That gentle all-forgiving love,
the love that just accepted,
never saw the changes
as we melt softly into age.

A hand to hold
when walking down the slippery hill.
Shoulder to cry on.
Voice on the telephone.
Just gone.

I’d rather stay alone
than fight on,
than try to catch
another pair of eyes.
No eyes as gentle-kind
as yours.
No others to see me
and to know
the me that no others
ever see.

If you were here
you’d pass the tissues now.
Make me a coffee,
cheer me up.
Perhaps you’re giving me
some little bit of strength
to carry on.
Thanks for that darling
but I’d rather have you near.


The hand I thought
would hold mine
until deaths quiet call
has gone.

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