The tragedy that affects families needs no amplification. This
situation is no accident but rather the combined failure of political
courage and will that undermines the efforts of those who are faced
with dealing with the growth of this grotesque situation on a daily basis.

Comment is about Knife crime (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

great one

Comment is about Dear Poet (blog)

Original item by Vautaw

Chickens coming home to roost" is a saying that comes to mind. For the families who are burying their children?

Comment is about Knife crime (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Thanks for taking the trouble to read this and add your responses.

Comment is about HERO AND COWARD (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Thanks guys for your encouragement. I will do it . I now have to make the time.

Hazel thanks for your comments. I suspect that Brighton is like many old seaside towns on stretches of the U.K. coast in that regard. When I was kid it was bit tatty . When I was in my late teens and early twenties it was still the place to gravitate to even after we had moved out into the country. Even though I now live up North it still resonates with me along with the rest of the Sussex countryside


Thanks

Comment is about city of birth (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Phil,

A story within a poem which is filled with the humour of a first time experience.
I enjoyed this.

Thank you
Keith

Comment is about New York 1979 (blog)

Original item by mentalelf. Philk.

Phil
this is a world I have no knowledge of - and yet you bring it to life -
I can experience it to through your words.

This why i like this poetry blog - so much to read - so many new things to experience.
Dorothy

Comment is about New York 1979 (blog)

Original item by mentalelf. Philk.

Thank you Jon and Trevor for reading and commenting on my poem.
I really appreciate it.

Dorothy

Comment is about Dorothy Webb's 'The Silent March of 2001' is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Stuart Buck

The oldest beings. Our true ancesters still with us.

Comment is about Stone (blog)

Original item by Rich

a thousand times beautiful..your poems make us want to be better writers...

Comment is about Walking Backwards (blog)

Original item by Hazel ettridge

Thanks, Ray. There were some tight spaces to turn the rhymes round in.
Dorothy - many thanks for your thoughts.

Comment is about GAYS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

John So well said.

M.C I agree with you, lurching is never pretty and the last three lines of your comment exposes the lack of empathy shown by their 'leaders'

The Catholic Church is guilty of preaching love - and then denying their clergy the right to love. How can that be justified?

What is wrong with love?

"Ours not to reason why" - as they say.

Dorothy Webb

Comment is about GAYS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Brilliant first line. It is a beautiful poem you have here, which pulls together emotion, hope, and fear of the colourless heart's world.

Comment is about Heartache (blog)

Original item by Mazzi

Thanks Kate, thanks Dorothy - thanks for your interest and kind comments.

Comment is about Stone (blog)

Original item by Rich

I find the harsh reality of this poem very striking - the smell, the taste, the desolation, is captured very well - congratulations on POTW - Trevor

Comment is about Dorothy Webb's 'The Silent March of 2001' is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Stuart Buck

i'd buy it

Comment is about city of birth (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

I very much enjoyed this John. Anything that shines a light on hypocritical moral supremacy has to ask for it. Puncturing the Pontiff should be applauded. If I have one criticism it is that one or two of the characters have been overblown. (oops).

Actually it is bloody cleverly put together!

Ray

Comment is about GAYS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Stop you crazy word
I am the language cop
Did you not see the stop sign?
Wot? No, rhymes have no stops

dk he has no problems
He's used a sorta prose
Without him using full stops
I don't know how that goes

Now Kate she agonises
When to use them D
Maybe she should try rhyming
No stops, like you and me ?

Comment is about Stop Signs (blog)

Original item by d.knape

There should be a 'Love' button!
Beautifully restrained but inclusive, offering an expansive view of possibilities.
Well done, Hazel.

Comment is about Walking Backwards (blog)

Original item by Hazel ettridge

Your work is so multilayered Robert, it invites reading again and again.

Comment is about The Loss Leader (blog)

Original item by Robert C Gaulke

And how I agonise about when to use them D. Great poem this one. Very creative.?

Comment is about Stop Signs (blog)

Original item by d.knape

They tell me that in UK
It's much too cold you see
To galavant round naked-like
At a sex party

This could explain why you lot
Are not free openly
You need to loosen up, let go
At a sex party

You'll find it cleans your inner self
(Make sure you're wearing condoms)
Cos if you don't take my advice
You could be facing problems ?

Comment is about Why Haven't We Been Invited To Our Neighbour's Sex Party? (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Thanks, MC. The Church (particularly the Catholic Church) has got a lot of recovering to do at the moment.
Are you familiar with the song?

Comment is about GAYS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

It's my view that the intent of capital punishment was to signal to the
evil doer what awaited him/her if guilty of the criminal taking of another's life. The word "awful" translates as inspiring awe and dread. Like the confessional, there was a public interest in being
witnesses to the determination of
lofty authority to act on behalf of us all, here removing the resort by
individuals of taking the law into their own hands - as has been
witnessed in places without the omnipotent black cap protection of "the law". How ironic that now we consider ourselves more
civilised and humane that the rate of death from violent crime is
going through the roof. To borrow a certain "yeuky" saying heard
so frequently these days: lessons must be learnt.

Comment is about Hangman (blog)

Original item by Jon Stainsby

The trials of childhood well caught!
I particularly like the last lines - how real these seem when recalling
the idle cruelties of tender years!

Comment is about Inclement Weather (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

I agree with Kate! This is one if these poems that you want to come back to again. Lovely picture! I'd like to lean back and submerge into this lovely fantasy too!
Thank you?
Mae

Comment is about Walking Backwards (blog)

Original item by Hazel ettridge

I'm reminded of a famous literary title of yesteryear:
"The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter".

Comment is about Whispering Winds (blog)

Original item by Shirley Smothers

The social background to this deplorable aberration is worthy of the
closest study. With the exception of the "flick knife" back In the 50s,
when the American influence was strong, the use of a knife in crime is barely known here. It has grown like a cancer in my own late
lifetime and chimes with changes in society, its values and its
origins. Both Parliament and the courts must get their act together
to confront this malaise in the same way that their predecessors
confronted the "razor gang" crime of the past...with strength of
conviction and determination, both often lacking in perceived attitudes and policies of recent years.
"Chickens coming home to roost" is a saying that comes to mind.

Comment is about Knife crime (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

The theme still has relevance, that's for sure.
The established Church
Continues to lurch -
Uncertain of its direction;
Sometimes left (rarely right!)
It hides in plain sight,
Deploring manly affection.
When push comes to shove
On the subject of love
Its leaders declare an objection.

Comment is about GAYS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

As Keith says, open to interpretation. An excellent verbal changing of pace and in my interpretation. It near perfectly describes the beautiful transition between the world in which we live and one which I very much like to journey to, as often as I can. Where you are alive, alert, awake and poised.
Very, very good.

J. x

Comment is about Walking Backwards (blog)

Original item by Hazel ettridge

No wonder one of the most popular programmes from a certain part of the world has the title "Neighbours"!! ?

Comment is about Why Haven't We Been Invited To Our Neighbour's Sex Party? (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

I suspect you may not be that familiar with my poems, Frances. Personally, I think they are two of the finest lines of verse I’ve ever written. The previous lines are trite pap.
On a more cerebral level you will have recognised the form - an anacreontic, a number of undefined lines consisting of seven syllables arranged trochaically.

Comment is about INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S WEEK (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Hazel,

this poem is exquisite in its profound descriptive quality. It is also open to interpretation. Well done. I really love this kind of poetry.

Keith

Comment is about Walking Backwards (blog)

Original item by Hazel ettridge

13762 was Colin Hill.

Comment is about Love (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Honest and strong. And inspiring.

Comment is about Heart on fire (blog)

Original item by mentalelf. Philk.

I've seen it Don and D and you have cracked me up. Great bloody Poem.?

Comment is about Blood Pressure (blog)

Original item by d.knape

Thanks Kate. Walking backwards is a big theme in my life right now.

Comment is about Walking Backwards (blog)

Original item by Hazel ettridge

I like this very much Hazel. As if being so much in the present heightened your awareness and took you somewhere else. One I'll read again. X

Comment is about Walking Backwards (blog)

Original item by Hazel ettridge

I guess we all have a hang man inside. I think my own hang man is in my complacency, both on personal and societal levels.

Comment is about Hangman (blog)

Original item by Jon Stainsby

A conversation with you must surely swing in wide arcs, challenging and informative, and stimulating. You are a thinker - sometimes a gift; sometimes a burden.

Thirty-five years at sea must have provided many solitary hours for self-probing in an 'ocean environment', its sheer immensity ideal for self-examination fundamentally personal and honest. I admire your journey and your conclusions. And your reading! Especially the dictionary.

I don't think I ever quite accepted how ill I was this past year. And could still be. Semingly, not now. Cancer is such a personal affliction. But, there's definitely more than one way to be 'eaten up alive'. I consider myself truly blessed (if I may use that word with very wide scope) and I am so grateful to the Christie and the NHS.

Comment is about Cancer (blog)

Original item by mentalelf. Philk.

Really enjoyed this Martin. I was thinking of Brighton as I read It, but also my own seaside home town oop north. The non-stop images, like a series of old fashioned picture postcards, were vivid and full of humanity. Like it very much.

Comment is about city of birth (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

A poem is an offering
like a small host of bread
a taste of more coming
to a place in your head,
why waste a treat passing
your option instead
is to consume it, assuming
the poem is truthfully said.


dk

Comment is about Blood Pressure (blog)

Original item by d.knape

Thank you Frances and Jason for your encouragement. It is something I have considered for some time. Maybe it is time to do something about it.
Thank you again

Comment is about city of birth (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

BLUE BLOOD

What can you do
if inside of you
runs royalty since
your blood is blue
write poetry
and seek the truth
inside of you
if your blood is blue.

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

I wish I could take credit for saying that, but I've brought that bit of wisdom along with me through the last couple of decades after hearing it from a college English instructor. She may not have been a favorite of most of the students, but she was no-nonsense with quite a lot to offer if you were willing to take some criticism.

Thanks for looking in,

Rachel

Comment is about Jason Bayliss (poet profile)

Original item by Jason Bayliss

Kinky, eh, Don?

Comment is about GAYS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thank you Rich - for your kind words, and for writting 'STONE'

Don you are so right, I think my emotions morphed into poetry without my permission for that reason.
Trying to suppress them or showing them to the wrong people was like sitting on a volcano in an effort to stiop the erruption.

The erruption, when it came, was almost catastrophic and was aimed at the wrong person,

I am so glad he was blessed with the power of perception.


Anya thank you so much.

Comment is about Dorothy Webb's 'The Silent March of 2001' is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Congratulations, Dorothy

Comment is about Dorothy Webb's 'The Silent March of 2001' is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Stuart Buck

An interesting re-post John
The Church allowing gays
But not permitting sex at night
Not even during day?

Now if they let their priests go wed
And not stay celibate
They may not then get itchy balls
And look for child to bait?

Comment is about GAYS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Poetry is a powerful urge to bring what's inside out. You can't stop it. You're in the right environment to do this

Comment is about Dorothy Webb's 'The Silent March of 2001' is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Stuart Buck