Thanks again, Kate. Yes, I too was lucky enough to get a full grant to go to university, all the more philanthropic since I failed my first year and took 4 years to pass.
I certainly stood out, Cynthia. Put another way, they used to watch me like hawk.
I think you have the jump on me by a few years, Keith. I was at grammar school during the 60’s.
Many thanks, all, for your kind observations.

Comment is about THE WORST SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Tonight the theme is In The Wardrobe

But before we get chance to do any poetry we will be looking at the the display of both art and poetry in the new Ekphrastic Towers Exhibition which is now on!

Comment is about Write Out Loud at Stockport art gallery tonight (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Thanks for your Like Kate G

Just been looking at Red Dawn took a few minutes gazing at the breathtaking photo before going onto verse after verse of uplifting poetry.

Comment is about The Waiting Game (blog)

Original item by Nigel Astell

Thanks Martin look forward to seeing you tonight

Comment is about The Waiting Game (blog)

Original item by Nigel Astell

Yes! Spring is my favorite season. This poem makes me want to skip down the road with you! ☀️?

Comment is about Spring (blog)

Original item by mentalelf. Philk.

David, That last line has been on my mind all weekend, “The responsibility and expectation of being considered a healer is not a gift, it's a burden best ignored.”

Here is what God, the Universe, or that crazy voice in my head keeps whispering back to me, “If our words, our hands, our mind, our passion has the power to help others, isn’t it our moral obligation to do so?”

Maybe that “voice” is different for each of us, and thankfully so. The world would be a much darker place without doctors, psychiatrists, and other healers.

Comment is about Dear Poet (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

Story, pace, atmosphere - all the qualities of a good poem handled very skilfully to create a vey engaging read. Excellent

Comment is about The Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is 'The Racing Stable' by M.C Newberry (article)

Original item by Stuart Buck

John,

An interesting and somewhat controversial piece of prose. I certainly go along with Kate´s last sentence about the forties and fifties of which I was a product.

Thanks
Keith

Comment is about THE WORST SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

"You plunder my being
much more than you need
show some restraint
just stop all your greed"

This should be shouted from the mountain tops.

If we lived within our needs and limited our luxuries we would be all the better for it.
We would probably enjoy our luxuries all the more too.
More please
Dorothy

Comment is about And the Earth Sighed... (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Don,

And you did not not know what to write!!!!! Very well done. A first rate poem

Thanks
Keith

Comment is about And the Earth Sighed... (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

And I was a teacher in a large Middle School in an area often called 'inner city', with many connotations implied. Even in those long-ago days, in any given classroom, I was often working with four different languages and very diverse backgrounds . It was hugely exacting, but I loved it. My subjects were Music, History/Geography and Health. You can cover a wide arena of 'life skills' with those four, rich outlets. I still remember certain students with much delight.

As you probably stood out as an individual to your teachers, John. It happens.

Comment is about THE WORST SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks A.M. for all the support! Write on!?

Comment is about AM Cash (poet profile)

Original item by AM Cash

"It is our song, we are strangers in a strange land". Haunting. As a Greek whose historic past you described may I say thank you! Tha mosaic of cultures, the customs and ways of the era, everything. We took and gave so much, exchanged a lot. But sadly here were also comes committed against ethnic or non Muslims minorities. And also sadly at the end of the day the politics ruin us. And I agree with the rest as far as those go. And the whole Erdogan debacle doesn't help at all. Though the peoples tend to feel friendly towards one another!
Thank you?
Mae

Comment is about Soldier of fortune (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

When it comes down to the basic truths of it all, I would be interested to know what the world's many populations would look like were it not for religious conversions accomplished through coercion in any of its many insidious forms.

Rachel

PS
I really don't want to ignore the writing, which I feel is a strong piece. However, at the risk of stirring the pot, I would just like to say as one who is unaffiliated, there are plenty of us who live in the hope that the higher law of our common humanity will eventually prevail and erase these artificial divisions.

Comment is about Soldier of fortune (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Wonderful Don. ?

Comment is about And the Earth Sighed... (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Of course you are remarkable! Funny too! I think a school does its job when a creative soul survives to emerge..... My school was rough as guts. Fist fights in the classrooms. I was the only girl in many of my classes (senior maths science). The first in my family to go to uni, on a scholarship too - they could not have afforded it ... My parents were not allowed to go to high school. I'd argue their grammar beats mine though.... and English is their second language. Speaks volumes. Some things were done better in the forties and fifties.

Comment is about THE WORST SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks Desmond, your words are a wonderful exploration of the hidden, darker sides of self.

Comment is about It and I (blog)

Original item by DESMOND CHILDS

Thanks, Kate. It wasn't all down to them, though. I was a remarkable person to begin with!
The other important thing, I think, to remember about grammar schools is that they were "of their time"; product of the 1944 Education Act and its push to provide better education to the working class.

Comment is about THE WORST SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

As one who is woefully lacking in knowledge of history, your poems spark a new thirst to know more. Some beautiful lines in here.... Thanks for sharing.

Comment is about Soldier of fortune (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Ah, but look what it produced, John. I really enjoyed this little window on your past.

Comment is about THE WORST SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

MC.,

You have galloped to victory with this excellent poem. Congratulations and well deserved.

Keith

Comment is about The Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is 'The Racing Stable' by M.C Newberry (article)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Lovely rhythm of race day captured in the pace of the poem. Well deserved, MC. Its only omission? It would be nice to have listened to an audio.

Comment is about The Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is 'The Racing Stable' by M.C Newberry (article)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Wonderful MC, a well deserved POTW

Comment is about THE RACING STABLE (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

I'm not a follower of the gg's, MC, but I do enjoy your poems, and this one captures the rhythm of a race day. I felt my reading quicken as the race unfolded. Top bombing and congrats on being POTW.

Comment is about THE RACING STABLE (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

John,

Thank you for this comment. Have you read William Dalrymple´s bood ´From the Holy Mountain ´?If not, then may I recommend it to you as it covers present day Turkey, Armenia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. He spends a significant amount of time in Constantinople.

Erdogan may play about with religion but no one successfully plays about with God. Byzantium existed in all its glory and that period of history cannot be swept under the carpet. Present day Socialists in Spain have been busy removing the last vestiges of the Franco period but it will never go away because it took place. Most politicians are a curse.

Thank you again
Keith

Comment is about Soldier of fortune (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Desmond,

What an exquisite poem as you delve into your inner self to explore and consider those movements which often pass unnoticed yet are there all the same. I must re read this a few times and ponder more.

Thank you for this. A good poem.

Keith

Comment is about It and I (blog)

Original item by DESMOND CHILDS

Thank you very much Keith. Now there are 15 million Muslims and 2000 Christians in Constantinople. 500 years of forced conversions and murder reached their apex in the genocide of millions of Christian Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians during the period 1915 - 1922. A genocide for which the present Turkish state continues to deny responsibity. Erdogan's latest idea is to convert the Hagia Sophia/St Sophia's cathedral to a mosque probably on the 29 May. John

Comment is about Soldier of fortune (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

yo tommy!!!

Comment is about Tommy Carroll (poet profile)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

WOW You tell it like it is - no romantic gloss.
When I read it I did not realize that I was holding my breath.

Dorothy

Comment is about The Anti Shanty 2016 (blog)

Original item by mentalelf. Philk.

Truth in them words Don. ?

Comment is about How Do I Solve This Battle? (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

I love the fighting spirit in this Phil. Nothing like a dose of reality to enlighten the ignorant, there's something very satisfying in it.?

Comment is about The Anti Shanty 2016 (blog)

Original item by mentalelf. Philk.

A reminder to value those close to us Melissa.

Comment is about Tonight Posted 3-11-2019 (blog)

Original item by Melissa Wayner

Don,

Poetry is a highly subjective genre which is undertaken, not primarily to meet the expectations of others or to seek their approval, but to transmit feelings, ideas and thoughts. Those who comment may or may not like the content of what you have written, but that is not important; as a poet your style, use of vocabulary and means of expression, in the form of comments received, can be helpful.

I write often to vent feelings as the voice of dissent. Yet I take close interest in the comments of fellow poets, not on what I have said but how I have approached the subject.

Keep writing without inhibitions. Say what you like but say it well

Keith

Comment is about How Do I Solve This Battle? (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Thankyou for all your comments.. Why I write varies. Sometimes for catharsis where it doesn't matter if I get comments or not (or does it?). Sometimes I write just for my own enjoyment not expecting (but secretly hoping for?) feedback. Other times I want to deliver a message and hopefully look for comment. Regardless, we all like a pat on the back every now and again....

Don

Comment is about How Do I Solve This Battle? (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Thank you for your comments on primrose

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

John,

I am fascinated by this poem as well as the previous one both of which speak so eloquently of Byzantium and then the Ottoman period. The way you play the part of someone during this period is quite remarkable. The poet in you also becomes the teacher bringing to life the events of the day.

The contrast between the Byzantine Empire of Constantine is in such marked contrast with the Istanbul we see today. I am amazed that the Ecumenical Patriarch continues to inhabit the city when he is so frequently shown such discourtesy and often violence.

Thank you for this
Keith

Comment is about Soldier of fortune (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Thanks Lisa. I try, in fact I'm very trying!? John

Comment is about The kalash (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Thank you for caring about the candles burning x

Comment is about Heart of Lead (poet profile)

Original item by Heart of Lead

Keep going strong

Comment is about Mae Foreman (poet profile)

Original item by Mae Foreman

Yo Stu!!

Comment is about Stuart Buck (poet profile)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Thank you, as ever, Keith. I suppose my defence of Kassia is that if you believe, as I do, that purity of heart (and soul) is not incompatible with either taking a lover nor breaking vows made to men, not God, then Kassia's sincerity remains inviolate. John

Comment is about Kassia (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Keep going strong

Comment is about Mae Foreman (poet profile)

Original item by Mae Foreman

Other than the "heart" Npaub it resonates. There is more to your situation than the Cardiovascular. The piece is good. And is personal and universal.

thank you-

Tommy

Comment is about Needling (blog)

Original item by Npaub Lis

you do great with your poems man, keep going strong!

Comment is about AM Cash (poet profile)

Original item by AM Cash

Very beautifully done. The outward forces that silence can be so hard to fight against. Silence... So well put.

Comment is about Needling (blog)

Original item by Npaub Lis

This is a poem based on HP Lovecraft calling of Cthulhu.

Comment is about The Old Ones (blog)

Original item by Mikey V Kinsey

John,

This poem paints a picture of Cassia the abbess as being someone of exceptional beauty and purity; her beauty is well recorded, her piety found in her becoming an abbess but what of the many relationships she had with men which have no explanation attached to them, yet suggest infidelty to her vows?

Well composed as a fitting tribute to one who contributed to the Empire and Church of the Day.

Thank you for this

Keith

Comment is about Kassia (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Cynthia,

This poem raises questions about the nature of the word itself. Do you consider oratory to be the clever use of language to manipulate or is merely the ability of some to be more articulate in what they say?

Thank you for this

Keith

Comment is about Oratory (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

I am glad to say that it is a skill that you definitely have Cynthia. when ever I read any of your work I always imagine you reading it in a way that is totally and uniquely yours.


Wonderfully written. Hope to see you soon


Martin

Comment is about Oratory (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

When the governed feel that those who take on the power and responsibility to govern are using those to benefit their own ends it can signal the possibility of something dramatic and dangerous to
occur. Humanity and nature are linked and the analogy here is
apposite. Stand by for a potential politically induced earthquake!

Comment is about No more of this..... (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries