How to bring someone down to earth in one foul swoop, and what a victim ! Great how the indomitable woman deals the blow.
Happy Xmas Tommy.
Ray
Comment is about Nietzsche Declared (blog)
Original item by Tommy Carroll
A beautifully turned poem with craft and craftiness, bringing the past to bear on the future. A whole agenda of immigration and its expectations and frustrations are lovingly presented. It's interesting to note that the Waldorf also has its history in the Strand. Lovely to read your work here David!
Ray
Comment is about A Waldorf Salad (blog)
Original item by David Cooke
Strangely consoling Peter. A homily that has me admiring how you weave such intricate lines so casually and bind us with spells.
I can always your voice threading its way through the page.
Have a good Xmas !
Ray
Comment is about AFTERWARDS (blog)
Original item by Peter Taylor
The essence of this time of the year - which I think of as "Good will
towards all".
Comment is about The true meaning of Christmas (blog)
Original item by Andy N
We can take it in...we can throw it out -
But at least we'll experience what life's about!
This world of ours would be so tame
If all it showed was just the same!
Comment is about Who Let This Aussie Grammar-Bender In? (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
A timeless observation on how the individual can be a valuable part
of a larger world. I can easily imagine a Roman road worker here
in Britain stepping back to admire his handiwork while gazing at the
straight as an arrow highway he had helped put down...even as the
mist swirled down out of the hills. Those New York workers who
sat on dangling girders eating their sandwiches hundreds of feet
above the teeming city streets gave as much to progress as any
architect or planner.
Comment is about A Waldorf Salad (blog)
Original item by David Cooke
When women drive men to distraction
Words are the most merciful source of action!
A previous PM was known for hand-bagging,
A polite political term for nagging.
(In short, if women are so ready to use words that criticise, moan,
abuse or nag...why the surprise when men do it?).
Comment is about Oh yes he did ! Oh no he didn't ! (blog)
Original item by hugh
Thankyou for you comments Brian ?
PS. I've discovered what ' put 'em in a glass case and throw sugar at them' means. Seems it's an English/Irish expression.
Comment is about Who Let This Aussie Grammar-Bender In? (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
Thanks for your comments everyone, much appreciated.
Comment is about God Is No Man (blog)
Original item by David Irvine
I think it is more fo a concern to folk of a certain attitude - and maybe "vintage" - this restraint about giving offence.
There are some who do it intentionally for a purpose - and
sometimes gratuitously for show. But it's worth it IF the
expressed words have a genuine purpose and feeling as their source. I tend to raise my eyes heavenwards and
sigh at the readiness of many "agendas" to take offence
at every opportunity but the pleasure and power of poetry
of whatever stripe is that it is generally accepted as the
time-honoured forum for such material. Long may it be so.
Merry Christmas to you. Keep posting!
P.S. Love the picture on your page - brings back memories of family images from those black and white
more innocent days of yore.
Comment is about Stephen Mellor (poet profile)
Original item by Stephen Mellor
<Deleted User> (18980)
Fri 21st Dec 2018 11:19
Well Don, it's always good to take things on board, run 'em up the flagpole, put 'em in a glass case and throw sugar at them.
Comment is about Who Let This Aussie Grammar-Bender In? (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
Definition - Confused
Many thanks for comment. I wasn't sure when I posted, if certain parts may cause offence, but the feelings contained in the poem are gathered from conversations I've had with real people (family) and the frustrations they feel at life moving on at such speed.
Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Fri 21st Dec 2018 03:31
good for you for picking up litter.
i do the same, almost daily.
i carry my bags and collect trash as i walk,
and people think i'm crazy, but...
it's good exercise and good for the environment.
Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Great that you gave this your time and thoughts David. I wrote Letter from the Streets thinking this poem was too abstruse, and it hasn't drawn any comments apart from yours, so I was probably right. I was trying to contrast romance of a sort with the inconsistencies of little hope. You're right that cities do embrace all faces and turn blind eyes to tragedy and highlight the shortness of success too I think. I'm glad you like that line, it did feel significant to me in the idea of reaching out and back.
Thanks buddy.
Jennifer and Brian for liking, thanks.
Comment is about CITY LIGHTS (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Brian - unless I've got the wrong place this Milligan looks a shonky character
I hear this scamist Chad Milligan
Is really quite a chump
He tried to change his legal name
To, guess? Sir Donald Trump ?
Comment is about I'm Sorry You're Addicted. Signed Rhyme (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
Thanks you all: Randy, Jon, Jennifer, Anya and Po for your likes.
Nice to have your thoughts Martin. I think the innocence factor is something I injected into it to highlight the helplessness. An interesting point that - arguably the least innocent have the most options in life, and this guy has so few. Thanks for that. Really brings out a good point!
Another fine point David about the protection, to ameliorate the effects on someone other than the rough sleeper. I didn't want to crash in and overplay the obvious, so the letter idea seemed like a sort of get out. I didn't really think it through consciously, but that might bring out more thoughts that way. I actually thought of the lavender as a sort of Chaplinesque gesture. Plus it is my sense of humour creeping in. Thanks mate.
That's point has obviously come across ok Taylor, thanks for expressing it.
This is of course an emotive issues Mark, and you do point out a lot of facets of it. You know your history, and the whole sorry categorising of people as falling below the acceptable norms is an indictment in itself. If we take the opposite extreme of rich celebrity lifestyle, that should give us pause. Of course, ultimately, there is no real true answer, only the striving for it, which is the human condition. Thanks for your trouble.
Ray enjoy your Xmases, and may they be white(in our dreams).
Comment is about LETTER FROM THE STREETS (blog)
Original item by ray pool
<Deleted User> (18980)
Thu 20th Dec 2018 20:13
Jezza is nomally very truthful..as he was about the train seats that time.....
Comment is about 'ALLO 'ALLO (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
<Deleted User> (18980)
Thu 20th Dec 2018 20:10
Po...it's the bloody younsters who cause it in the main...so no, I won't praise them.
Comment is about Plastic Cup (blog)
Original item by d.knape
Rejected - what a sad word that is in the closest of human relationships. Love locked out is the hardest to bear of emotional
experiences.
Comment is about ｔｈｅｓａｄｄｅｓｔｏｆｂｏｙｓ (blog)
Original item by Mikey V Kinsey
Absorbing and stimulating to those - like me - of a certain vintage and
experience beyond that of many nowadays. I can easily identify
with much of what is set out here. Whether the future will be
good or bad from what has been allowed to happen in my own
UK lifetime is yet to be revealed to any extent.
But if you can find the words "England" or "English" on official forms
requiring ethnic origin and ID, it will surely be someone's misprint,
Comment is about Definition - Confused (blog)
Original item by Stephen Mellor
Thank you Don re "Word Smith", one can never tire of bowing in recognition of such worthy praise,
yours etc
?
Comment is about Don Matthews (poet profile)
Original item by Don Matthews
Thanks Po: for taking the troubled to comment.
I still relish the exchanges between Churchill and his political
opponents - of either sex. And in the USA, a certain female wit...
upon hearing that President Calvin Coolidge - a character hardly
known for exuberance - had died, tartly responded "How can they tell?" That's more like it!!
The current MSN online news page has an item from a female
columnist from The Independent banging on about HOW Corby's
quote matters and invokes the spectre of 2000 years of "patriarchal oppression". Ah, so that is what it was? My mother and sisters
never saw themselves as victims - and woe betide anyone of either
sex who said as much to their faces.
Comment is about 'ALLO 'ALLO (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Ah thanks guys, I did enjoy writing this over a year ago, it still gives me goose bumps whe I reviset it?
Comment is about ‘The Scimitar’ (blog)
Original item by Rick Varden
Thank you TC - the thoughts never fade - as long as life is here.
Comment is about THOUGHTS AT CHRISTMAS - a seasonal re-post (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Cheering stuff. Optimism is always a welcome currency in buying
some personal contentment (and, even "happiness", however that
is measured).
Comment is about Who Say's I Can't Be Happy All The Time (blog)
Original item by Pip Thomas
Those who deal - or have dealt - with the homeless on the streets
will know the word "Merrydown". Popular with the street-dwellers
in my own memory. Maybe still? The problem e.g. the reasons
and causes for living this way - never goes away, somehow
continually existing and "changing shape" according to individual
circumstances. There are those who actually prefer the street to
the shelter of a hostel despite the advantages offered by the latter
and it's interesting to remember that the Vagrancy Act 1824 was
introduced in response to the problem of that time of numbers
of servicemen who found themselves on civvy street without the
chance of employment. The Act even included categories - idle and disorderly persons, incorrigible rogues/vagabonds - exposing
wounds to obtain "alms". So, there's nothing new about the problem - just that no society seems to have managed to find a
solution that meets the needs and demands it presents...even now.
Comment is about LETTER FROM THE STREETS (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Very relevant to today's consumer/disposable society. The need to
dispose safely and usefully needs to be taught from the earliest time
of life so that we grow up understanding its importance for renewal
and for the protection of the environment. Parents have a vital role
and my own mother comes to mind with admonishments about
not throwing stuff into public places. In this particular regard, a
well-known UK public campaign was headed "Take Your Litter Home". On a personal level, I used to carry a plastic rubbish bag
out on country/coastal walks and add to my exercise by clearing up
the discarded items I found on the way. It's now a common sight
to see youngsters doing the same so something is getting through
at last!
Comment is about Plastic Cup (blog)
Original item by d.knape
Thu 20th Dec 2018 14:45
the mail box is only a few yards
but
i'm slow and old.
wink.
Comment is about Martin Elder (poet profile)
Original item by Martin Elder
We are all products of nature's design but in our humanity we are
given the opportunity to be kind and generous to each other. That
should be our aim - whether man or woman - as we live this life.
Comment is about Never complains (blog)
Original item by Hasmukh Mehta
Good seasonal acrostic. But the politicians saw fit to deceive their
people in the last few decades so let them sort out the result of
their own deceit...and be quick about it!
Comment is about And so this is eX Ministerial Accord Season (blog)
Original item by Chris Armstrong
Don't forget - that all good rhyming
Keeps to its own tick-tock of timing.
Sometimes, I wake up in my bed
With words in tune within my head
And before they play the great escaper
I have to reach for pen and paper.
But inspiration is always attractive
And helps to keep the old brain active! ?
Comment is about I'm Sorry You're Addicted. Signed Rhyme (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
Thanks, MC. As you will appreciate I agonise long and hard over Achieving literary perfection!
Comment is about STUPID WOMAN (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Still on form JC...and bang on time. You can make anyone's Christmas merry...ho-ho.
Comment is about STUPID WOMAN (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
<Deleted User> (18980)
Thu 20th Dec 2018 13:30
Don...try Milligans
Comment is about I'm Sorry You're Addicted. Signed Rhyme (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
And my similar thoughts... and my Christmas greetings to all... are at https://www.writeoutloud.net/blogs/chrisarmstrong
Comment is about STUPID WOMAN (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Thanks, Laura. The background to this is that the Leader of the Opposition was caught saying something at best unflattering about the Leader of the Government but has denied it despite it being on camera.
Comment is about STUPID WOMAN (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Rhymo, Dymo
Online store
Don't sell kymo
Anymore
Where can I get
Kymo now Brian?
I've looked everywhere
Sick of tryin'
Stores they just
Look blank at me
Give a titter
Kymo? (see?)
I'm sure it tastes
Very nice
Where do I get it?
Please Brian, advice? ?
Comment is about I'm Sorry You're Addicted. Signed Rhyme (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
No need for you to be conflicted
I tell you as a solemn duty;
there's no disgrace if you're addicted
for rhyming is a thing of beauty
Comment is about I'm Sorry You're Addicted. Signed Rhyme (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
Big Sal
Thu 20th Dec 2018 11:00
6th line sums it best.
Nicely done on this. It reads well.?
Comment is about The title of a decent poem (blog)
Original item by Clarke
<Deleted User> (18980)
Thu 20th Dec 2018 10:16
<Deleted User> (18980)
Thu 20th Dec 2018 09:52
Rhymo, dymo
Have a cup of kymo
Comment is about I'm Sorry You're Addicted. Signed Rhyme (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
Pictures and memories M.C. love this poem. Thank you.
Comment is about THOUGHTS AT CHRISTMAS - a seasonal re-post (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Love it Fred. Exceptional poem. ?
Comment is about ‘The Scimitar’ (blog)
Original item by Rick Varden
Love this poem D.K. humorous...sounded like something I would actually say.. in jest of course. ?
Comment is about The HOA (blog)
Original item by d.knape
I agree with David it is as tho the writer is protecting the recipient from the harsh reality of their life.
Thought provoking poem.
How fortunate we all are..❤
Comment is about LETTER FROM THE STREETS (blog)
Original item by ray pool
raypool
Fri 21st Dec 2018 16:53
I can't dissect this John as it makes such a great statement and has humour and irony , all the best ingredients with social history . Just love it a lot.
Ray
Comment is about NIGERIAN VILLAGES (blog)
Original item by john short