Thankyou very much, I wondered whether adding pain would be too long or not. I shall now be able to improve my piece. The laat bit didn't flow the way I wanted without that rhyme so thank you so much

Comment is about Can't Escape (blog)

Original item by HayzTee

Awww thankyou Don ? this one came to my mind suddenly one day so means a lot

Comment is about Distrust is a bad trait (blog)

Original item by HayzTee

thank you

Comment is about Violet (0) Prelude To Space Cowboy (blog)

Original item by Damon Blackery

Taylor,
Keep writing....keep writing
Keith

Comment is about Mask (blog)

Original item by Taylor Crowshaw

Hello Kenny,
This poem proves to me that you are not insane as you stated in your profile because you write from the heart as all good poets do. You have some talents which are artistic so it is incumbent on you to use them. Keep writing and maybe send your beloved a poem as well.
Thank you for such a genuine poem
Keith

Comment is about Knight In Black Armor (poet profile)

Original item by Knight In Black Armor

Cheers Martin re "Driving responsibly " x

Comment is about Martin Elder (poet profile)

Original item by Martin Elder

Ta lah Tommy

Comment is about Applause (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Hi Jon, thank you for taking the time to read my poem. Enjoyed Back To Nature. Taylor

Comment is about Jon Stainsby (poet profile)

Original item by Jon Stainsby

Hi, thanks for taking the time to read my poem..loving your work. Taylor

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

Thanks for taking the time to read my poem Tom...Enjoyed New Year Blues..Taylor

Comment is about Tom Doolan (poet profile)

Original item by Tom Doolan

Kipling was never a great poet. Plus he was an apologist for empire and racial superiority. Bloody good on the students.

Comment is about Modern Times; Don't decry Manchester students' Actions (article)

Original item by Mike Took

Hi John. It's nice to have a parallel drawn with Dylan Thomas; that poem is like a furore of grief. Mine is a gentle little affair, but thanks for the comparison. There is a sequel: the partner now still comes to the garden but no longer sings, only a sort of death rattle, so sad now..
thanks.

Ray

Comment is about ‘Bye bye blackbird’ by Ray Pool is Write Out Loud’s Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by steve pottinger

The actions of students at Manchester University can find parallels elsewhere in the world where people find themselves uncomfortable with certain historic facts. Flags are frequently burned to display anger against a particular country´action or policies. Here in Spain, where I live, the target for such derision is often directed against the Franco dictatorship which lasted for several decades emanating from the Spanish Civil War. I have seen street names changed form Calle General Franco and replaced by Calle de Constitucion. Others are the removal of statues of the General from public places and more recently the proposed removal of his body from the Valley of the Fallen to another resting place. The question is ¨What does all this achieve?¨
It serves little purpose other than for people to vent their anger against the Franco regime. In reality it is a denial of history. People would do better to recognise that the dictatorship did exist for good or ill, as the country was very divided during the civil war. A socialist politician broke off the head of Franco from a monument which depicted him riding a horse. What did this achieve?
All nations have their histories and it is better that people acknowledge them and learn from them than to simply eradicate history or write a different version of it.
Those most keen to remove the remains of Franco, often do so to avert attention from their own inept policies.
Rudyard Kipling was a product of the Imperial Era and his poetry reflects that period of British history. Let´s learn to live with it in the hope that we never repeat it.

Keith Jeffries

Comment is about Modern Times; Don't decry Manchester students' Actions (article)

Original item by Mike Took

thanks for reading Martin - much appreciated. Col.

Comment is about The English River: Virginia Astley, Bloodaxe (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

I'm liking the addition of parsnips - it's not often they get a mention in poems. Hope life's treating you well pal.

Comment is about Langier (07/20/2018) (blog)

Original item by Zach Dafoe

I agree with Big Sal wholeheartedly - and linnets are delightful although not so very common where I live. Thanks for sharing. Col.

Comment is about Linnet (blog)

Original item by Wood

'I'll show you a place where lovers come to die' is a line to die for . . .

Comment is about Violet (0) Prelude To Space Cowboy (blog)

Original item by Damon Blackery

great poem Damon.

Comment is about Space Cowboy 8 Violet Moon (blog)

Original item by Damon Blackery

Brian, 'tis I Tina here
(I'm 'fraid Gina's asleep)
We are unsure like you my friend
What round don's head does creep

We both here at call centre
Await his next reveal
We're sure it will excite us
He don't know word 'conceal'

It's not in his vocabulary
But take it from us girls
His heart is in the right place
FUNBUS with us and whirl

Cheers from Tina (and asleep Gina)

(ribbit ribbit) ?

Tina here again Brian:

Brian you created me
Then Gina birthed from don
Where would we be without you both?

(Still floating in the ether...
waiting for other creatives...
to take pity on us...
and give us a home...

(ribbit...ribbit...froggie talk for 'thanks guys') ?

Comment is about Did You Miss Our FUN BUS Launch? You Can Still Catchup (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Can anyone figure out the contents of Don's head?

Answers on a postcard please.

Comment is about Did You Miss Our FUN BUS Launch? You Can Still Catchup (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Dorinda, that's very unfortunate. May she rest in peace.

Comment is about Stockport WoL (group profile)

Original item by Stockport WoL

A heart-wrenching poem. The last lines "Dreams take me" through "Majestic Delight" touched me deeply. Thank you for sharing! Get Well Soon!!!!

Comment is about Sepsis (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Feel better soon.

Comment is about Sepsis (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Last line really wraps the whole thing up nicely and on a melancholic note. Keeps it warming the heart.?

Comment is about No guide, No hero (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Yes indeed, Brian. One can imagine how difficult that must have been for Europe.

Comment is about A SONG OF PATRIOTIC PREJUDICE (Pt 2) (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Fog in the Channel - Europe cut off.

(50's Times headline allegedly.)

Comment is about A SONG OF PATRIOTIC PREJUDICE (Pt 2) (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thank you so much Frances Macaulay Forde for your kind words – they really mean so much to me, especially as I am very new to putting myself “out there” poetically online. You may be amused to know this sample poem (which does need a title, now you mention it) actually exists in 2 versions – the original is much freer in its rhythm and rhyming scheme, but somehow I couldn’t leave the text alone until I’d got the pattern to match in every verse.

Regarding describing myself as a slam poet – I hadn’t considered the label as a restriction as such, but I have to say I chose this particular poem to post as a sample because it is one I consider to be closer to “page poetry” than “slam poetry”. The relationship between these art forms fascinates me. I guess a lot of poetry (although not all) can be successfully presented in oral form, and can benefit from being recited well, but for me slam poetry really needs to be performed to be fully what it is. Page poetry can make paper sing, but a lot of slam poetry loses something when restricted to written form. I have always tinkered with words, but my discovery of the slam scene allowed me to at last find my writing voice, and to also get my adrenalin fix from the performance “buzz”. Now I am keen to explore other poetic forms too. Unfortunately living in a non-anglophone country limits my opportunities for exchange and for getting some measure of the success of my writing (and performances). So I was overjoyed to find this website!

Thank you again, I look forward to exchanging further!

Comment is about Becky Who (poet profile)

Original item by Becky Who

thanks jane and keith and i will change the name of the poem

Comment is about talking to a brick wall (blog)

Original item by racha

Enchanting. Really lovely.
Very much enjoyed this one.

Hannah

Comment is about Bucket spades and ice cream days (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Fantastic poem Ebonie, really enjoyed this.
This could apply to many people we hear about.
This person was lucky, he got the wake up call.

Hannah

Comment is about MATERIAL THINGS (blog)

Original item by Ebonie Camp

Racha,
A good and honest poem. You should have given it the title ¨Talking to a Brick Wall ¨.
Thanks
Keith

Comment is about talking to a brick wall (blog)

Original item by racha

This is so full of detail and beautiful imagery, I felt I was there.
Wonderful poetry.

Hannah

Comment is about mediterranean august (blog)

Original item by Jennifer Malden

I find this poem interesting. I like it. It reminds me of why there is the phrase "talking to you is like talking to a wall"

Comment is about talking to a brick wall (blog)

Original item by racha

I loved reading Maya Angelou's poetry when I was growing up as it contained one of the few bridges between hip-hop and poetry. Now more to the point of defacing, I think people like to get pissed off over anything nowadays considering the media attention, the ever-changing youth's tactics, and each new day that comes with it. Most people would rather believe the loudest voice in the room even if no one asked what it had to say. Just like those same people would rather ignore the humblest voice even if it was asked a hundred times and happened to be right. Protesting with poetry though? Hell yeah, some more of that everywhere would be great to see. There's already graffiti art of everyone's favorite singers, rappers, and actors in the least likely of places, why not add some flavor and throw in some actual words of merit to aid their endeavors? Here in the States, the only places in my home state that I have actually seen poetry posted on a wall for all to see (and not in protest) were at a cemetery and the zoo.

Comment is about Modern Times; Don't decry Manchester students' Actions (article)

Original item by Mike Took

MC & Brian,
Thank you for your comments. The poem was inspired by a powerful sense of outrage and rage.
Keith

Comment is about Shout it from the Hills (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Thanks for the "likes" to one and all taking the trouble.

Comment is about FANCIES AND FUNDING (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Certainly somewhat "biblical" in tone - so I'll join in:
Verily, I say to you
I am standing in your queue
Look behind and you will find
Your accuser there to haunt your mind.?

Comment is about Shout it from the Hills (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

Hi Keith - this is a piece with a really strong message! From the third verse onward you could be describing Jesus Christ.

Comment is about Shout it from the Hills (blog)

Original item by keith jeffries

WRITE ANGLE JULY: SARA HIRSCH FLIES IN

Sara had flown in from new Zealand where she's taken on the role of Education Director/Associate artist of 'Motif Poetry', spreading the word about poetry there and in East Asia. Still jet-lagged, for her third gig at Write Angle,she gave poems in her usual broad range of topics, including family history and the travails of moving country.

Sara led off with Deaf Poem - “The doctors in audiology have the loudest, clearest, voices you've ever heard.” In Blocked, writer's block becomes a blocked road; “It feels like the end of the road for us.” Nocturnal went back a year and started with the statement “His biggest fear is we won't want to live in each other's country; his biggest fear is geography.” Three poems followed, dealing with her moving to New Zealand: How to Move Country, On Emigrating and Welcome. The last of these was a hilarious welcome letter, approving her visa - “If you need help, you may communicate with a New Zealander who may understand your accent!”

Heritage was a poignant and emotional journey back into family history; of her great-grandfather who travelled to the promised land: “....and stepped off in America – only to discover it was Dover!” She told of how, if he had not come, his whole family would not have existed: “My ancestors...making up a line of the people who define me.” She continued the theme in These Hands: These great, great, grandfathers were boxers, were entrepreneurs who fought against the odds, tight-roped along their blood-line towards a better life.” In Oranges and Lemons, “sometimes the deathbed [of her grandfather] is as unexpected as the death”.

The Open Mic brought Dick Senior, who started with Turtle Dove - “a jewel”. Then, Ted Collins, a poem about his grandfather coming back from the Great War - “You fixed your gaze down upon the solid earth lest it sway away and prove as fleeting...as the shadow of a dragonfly.” A visit to Dublin produced On Grafton Street, about a blind man singing - “...and as verse three begins, the dog joins in.” Finally, in Poem for Tim, his childhood friend who died last Christmas - “Be glad for what we had; be glad for the days; I won't forget a single one, believe me.” Then, newcomer Ross Chapman, with his poem about being homeless in Paris, called Positive Night - “Everything is encompassed round with darkness and decay.”

Janet Turner, all the way from Brockenhurst in the New Forest, read View from the Top Deck, Sea Horse and Grannie, in which she portrayed herself as adventurous, saving her grandchildren from a tree only to find “I was stuck, wedged fast, can't turn around.” Sue Spiers provided 40 Degree Heat, Not Quite Warm Enough to Swim, and Breasts, the last of which brought nervous titters from the audience as Sue told of her experience at the Breast Clinic - “One nurse will manhandle them into position.” Damian O'Vitch, rejecting microphone and paper, started with a sonnet, Wind, then Tea Time Gigolo, beloved of women over seventy - “He comes not to judge, just to make them feel loved.” Finally, The Internet of Things, in which everything is micro-chipped, told of a distopian future.

This reviewer joined in with Judgement of Paris, in which his daughter said, “..we can love each other without that sex thing getting in the way.” This was followed by I Remember It Well - “Do all our memories tell more about us than the things we recall?”

Leah read Our Side, about a visit to family in Ireland – “...I can see photos of our trip. And maybe, if I look real hard, I'll find a leprechaun winking .” Dick Senior and she read Leah's short play, The Cherry Tree, in which nine year old George Washington decides to tell that he cut down his father's favourite tree to save his best friend – (a slave), from disastrous punishment “...my father will believe it 'cos he knows I never lie.”

The play seemed to have hit a raw nerve with the evening's guest, who then wrote to say it was inappropriate to use the 'n' word, (although spoken by the slave, and at that time, would have been considered common), or for a white person to read a black part. - Should a poetry venue aim to be a 'safe space, where nothing controversial is permitted?

Write Angle would appreciate any comments from its audience who were there that night
regarding the play and how it affected them.

The raffle, a meal for two at excellent Turkish Fez, was won, yet again, by one of Write Angle's loyal regulars.

Review is about WRITE ANGLE POETRY & MUSIC +OPEN MIC on 17 Jul 2018 (event)

Hello everyone! I have sad news to relate to those of you who met my friend Christine (Turner); she attended a couple of WOL meetings at Stockport. Christine died yesterday following a brain tumour some time ago. Please would you say a prayer for her family? Thank you - Dorinda x

Comment is about Stockport WoL (group profile)

Original item by Stockport WoL

Thank you.May God help the war-torn region a lasting peace

Comment is about Let Us Leave Divide And Rule For The Fool (blog)

Original item by Alem Hailu G/Kristos

Ashley,
This is a good poem and one which I can personally relate to. The last line is good, very good.
Thank you
Keith

Comment is about FREEDOM (blog)

Original item by Swetha Kandati

Well composed Ray. Reminds me of a phrase by Dylan Thomas, I think, "the dying of the light" but also in this case, the silence of the song.

John

Comment is about ‘Bye bye blackbird’ by Ray Pool is Write Out Loud’s Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by steve pottinger

Brian - Gina here (Tina's turn to sleep). We're helping Don to change the syllabus. He feels it needs a shakeup. Too much doom and gloom he says. That's why he's built this FUN BUS. Hey Brian, if you hadn't introduced us to him none of this would be happening. He's a fun guy to work with. Gotta rush, call coming in. Bye

Comment is about WOL's Bright 'n' Breezy Fun Bus Launch (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Thank's and I'll try

Comment is about Space Cowboy 7 The Great Depression (blog)

Original item by Damon Blackery

Brian - I know how I'd like to see the new syllabus. Tina and Gina are helping me.. Just think, if I had never met you, Tina would never have entered my life. What would I have done then? Having met Tina she then introduced me to sis Gina. What other goodies are hiding in that family? (forgot Tyson, sorry, woof woof)

(More like what other goodies can I create from my zany mind....)

D?

Comment is about WOL's Bright 'n' Breezy Fun Bus Launch (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

Graham - Tina here. You are the first person to knock on the call centre door , oops, email us. You were no doubt quite pleased that don was not pulling your leg after all, and that we do indeed exist here 24/7 (12 hr shifts each). Also a relief that you didn't end up with an Asian you couldn't understand. Isn't that so annoying!

Don is off working out the next Fun Bus trip but said we could handle any enquiries. No worries.

Now to your question Graham. I think you've hit the nail on the head. The Fun Bus goes to where the fun is, or will be. He's frantically trying to develop a route plan but doesn't quite know where he's going. We'll pass on you're wise words that any road will take us there. He'll be forever grateful to you.

Tina (Gina's asleep at present) ?

Comment is about WOL's Bright 'n' Breezy Fun Bus Launch (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews

If it does, I’m safe ?

Comment is about A Marriage of Ghosts (blog)

Original item by Nicola Hulme

I'm wishing for you Louise and think about you often. C?L x

Comment is about Wishing for me (blog)

Original item by Louise Clarke

Don, Tina and Gina can you tell me which route the Fun Bus is taking because as you know, as the words of the song proclaim,
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there”. ?

Comment is about WOL's Bright 'n' Breezy Fun Bus Launch (blog)

Original item by Don Matthews