Thank you old shoes. It's not everyday that a song from the universe is sent to me. ?? I love the raw authenticity, I'm lost for words. Thanks again.

Comment is about A Gift From the Universe to Emer (blog)

Original item by old shoes

Well-written about a deep subject, compassionate and accurate.

Comment is about Light & Shade (blog)

Original item by Paul Booth

Look up. The beauty of the sky may lend a whole new slant on 'blue'. The sky really doesn't encourage self-internalisation; and it opens whole new vistas of self-worth.

You have shared deep feelings honestly. 'the button on your backpack' is terrific; shows a real sense of humour about yourself. If you have such self- humour, you can conquer anything. Write a lot.

Comment is about What Color Do You Feel Like Today? (blog)

Original item by kenz_myers5

A charming concept.

Comment is about DEEP SHADES OF YOU (blog)

Original item by lynn hahn

Dear friends,

Thank you all so much for your feedback, thoughts and comments.

The drone gives us all a glimpse - a window into the future - of what different kinds asymmetric warfare might look like: AI, robotics, transhumanism, cyber warfare will take us down many rabbit holes?

Quite a while ago, I think it was Newsnight, the whole thorny issue of drones was discussed. The debate was introduced with a short film of where drones' control centre was based, described, without irony as housed "in a light industrial unit somewhere in the UK". A number of things struck me, one of them was how mundane the control centre looked. Men sat in front of screens, cups of coffee to the side..It looked like a small boutique bank dealers' room..It was so surreal I didn't know what to make of it. It throws up so many questions way beyond my pay grade..

Most of the poems I write I am pointing at myself in the mirror: You don't know, do you?

Yeah, that's poetry!!

Suki

Comment is about The Cappuccino Captains' Buzz (blog)

Original item by Suki Spangles

Comment is about The Football (blog)

Original item by Poetry for schools

oh happy days! thanks for the well written memories.


P&S xx

Comment is about The Football (blog)

Original item by Poetry for schools

lovely poem-now get ready to pucker G.N.D.

......MWOAHH! MWOAHH!

don't dare wipe them off!


P&S xx

Comment is about Kiss me now I say (blog)

Original item by G.N.D.

nice to see you posting again Lynn.
Gorgeous poem!

P&S xx

Comment is about DEEP SHADES OF YOU (blog)

Original item by lynn hahn

we'll also be getting on our bikes today Wendy-but not the kind that has to be pedalled! ;0)

P&S xx

Comment is about Tour De Yorkshire (blog)

Original item by Wendy Higson

what a brave brave little boy.R.I.P. Bradley

P&S xx

Comment is about A Feather To Drift (blog)

Original item by Mike Bartram

Pictures fade, memories don't. Cynthia I'm so happy that you had a pleasant flashback of your experience when you met the lovely lady.

I would change his name to "Sir Harry". He demonstrated the qualities of a true Knight.

Beautifully painted episode Cynthia. I could actually see it.

Raj x

Comment is about One Standard Poodle (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Mike,What a lovely poem no one could ever forget this little boy he gave the biggest smile and all the love he could give no one will ever forget him .all my love Wendy

Comment is about A Feather To Drift (blog)

Original item by Mike Bartram

A really clever twisting of words.

Comment is about SHORT POEM (blog)

Original item by ray pool

REALLY enjoyed this Cynthia. Of course it was a re-telling of a situation that you observed, that's what story telling is.
only sometimes you tell it -as it happened, and sometimes you have to embellish it a bit. I don't think anyone plucks stories out of thin air, without there being at least an element of truth to it.
Kids say the funniest (and most profound) things.

Thanks Kevin

Comment is about Three Kids Having Snacks (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

MC. I confess I've had a soft spot for Rees-Mogg for a while, even though my politics don't overlap his. Politics needs people like him along with a couple of my other favourites, Boris and Diane Abbott.
Your Everly Bros suggestion for a R-M parody uses a source a good bit older than mine, which will no doubt soon be revealed.

Comment is about 262 (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

I met a lovely lady walking her standard poodle today; and we stopped a few moments to chat together. Then this memory just welled up.

Comment is about One Standard Poodle (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Fascinating and horrifying Suki. I can't help seeing the Hollywood Blockbuster just under the surface that wants to be made, and the young getting off on it all - it's just business as usual. The cappuccino has a lot to answer for.

Ray

Comment is about The Cappuccino Captains' Buzz (blog)

Original item by Suki Spangles

Welcome all to the gentlemen's club of mild dissenters.
LCPT for the relevant and timely tip of the Saudi iceberg.

Thanks Mark for the verbals, as always in depth and almost entirely appropriate.

David what can I say? but I did get stuck on the first line.
Get over it.

Thanks Suki - that's pretty well expressed it! Rules were made to waived surely.

As a postscript - I had no agenda in mind, but just thought of the line as something different. Maybe its plagiarism, no idea.

Love to all youse.

Comment is about SHORT POEM (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Another worthwhile adaptation of a song from my own
youth...but with an unanswerable question to add to the
memory.
The inspiration from this even-handed source does not flag!
By the way, Rees-Mogg was on Thursday's Question Time
and got more texts - virtually all appreciating the measured tone and content of his answers - than the rest of the panel put together.
As for any song featuring the man himself - I have the Everly Brothers
"Bird Dog" going round in my mind!!
"Jacob gazes at Theresa - he's all Rees then ...praises when he sees her...
he's all Rees then...but when he praises Brexit..he's a Mogg then...saying time to exit - he's a Mogg then...
Jacob says it how it is - and gets
the rest in such a tizz - he's a Rees-Mogg then!. :-)
I look forward to hearing your LOL
skills brought to bear on J.R-M.

Comment is about 262 (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Aye Up Keith. Hope it went well with your publisher. Let me know when the book comes out, I'll definitely order at least one.
Cheers Kevin

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

Pity he didn't mention all the illegal sub-letting that was going on.

Comment is about 'A burnt matchbox in the sky': Ben Okri's angry poem about Grenfell Tower (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

so much that should NOT be owed by the MANY to the FEW-if you get my drift Suki.

Sadly we are all becoming technology magnets on the whole but that's not to say quite a lot of it has great advantages

be nice if we could upgrade our warring nature for the better though.

Rose ?

Comment is about The Cappuccino Captains' Buzz (blog)

Original item by Suki Spangles

Yes Ian I completely agree about Bluebells, we have seen them twice earlier this year both on chalk downs which we also love. Reading you poems-- (now I can admit to seeing them as Ruth earlier was not sure she should have shared) is very eye opening as i see a side of you perhaps I don't see in our occasional meetings.

I was interested because I have a book in me I am going to write one day.

I laughed a bout Come on Eileen - not really her indeed.

Comment is about Bluebells (blog)

Original item by IanQ

Long-winded and self-indulgent - a classic case of publishing something by someone famous regardless of literary merit. I gave up two thirds in when it basically turned into a list of news headlines and missing victims. Agree with Suki, there was better on WoL by far.

If anyone wants to read rather than listen here's the link:

https://www.ft.com/content/39022f72-5742-11e7-80b6-9bfa4c1f83d2

Comment is about 'A burnt matchbox in the sky': Ben Okri's angry poem about Grenfell Tower (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Thank you Cynthia.

Comment is about Paul Booth (poet profile)

Original item by Paul Booth

Yes, Cynthia, that's exactly it! My Nanna and Mum used to use them on the washing line each week. I think they were called 'dolly pegs' because they looked a bit like a human figure (with a bit of imagination!). But for many decades children would dress them up to make 'peg dolls', and play with them.

Comment is about The Dolly Peg (blog)

Original item by Paul Booth

And yet, even though I have been described as the world"s first post-rock poet, Nationwide won't extend my overdraft. Serves me right..pompous ass..

Comment is about Spotting Joy! Poet becomes the 'face' of Nationwide (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Better poems about Grenfell have been published on WoL. Not a bad poem, but nothing special either.

Suki

Comment is about 'A burnt matchbox in the sky': Ben Okri's angry poem about Grenfell Tower (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Hi Keith, I've missed you over the last week or two. but then you treated us to two for the price of one.
I particularly liked Winds of Freedom. to me it read like you were contemplating your own mortality, but as usual I probably got that bit wrong.
nice to see you back
Cheers Kevin

Comment is about keith jeffries (poet profile)

Original item by keith jeffries

I really love this piece Cynthia purely because it is so bizarre. There are some naked emotions there struggling to get out.

The subconscious is a weird and wonderful thing and seems to be at its best around that time. So lie back and enjoy it when it visits you next.

I believe some questions don't have answers.

Beautisul.
Raj

Comment is about The Question (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Suki, I will tell you openly that I had a fairly recent conversation with my father about drone strikes.

I posed to him a question on the reason why the US hadn't developed or begun to use technology that would spare "collateral casualties" when striking a particular target. The gist of his reply was that if war weren't ugly and awful, that we might begin to enjoy it.

His answer said so much to me of the very idea of drone strikes and the developing technology of war from a distance..I shudder at the thought.

We must never think, as a nation, that we will be forever removed from the wars that we wage. That would surely be folly.

elP

ps
This is a great example of the power of writing..the nudge is very much appreciated.

Comment is about The Cappuccino Captains' Buzz (blog)

Original item by Suki Spangles

Good heavens, it's Friday and I'm so glad to have the evening to kick back and enjoy...

Hi, Becky..thanks a great much. I've truly been enjoying your writing lately, also, and I hope to keep reading more from you.

And you, Stu..I hoped you would like the NCase video. I've almost adored her for years and wanted to pass that along to you.

Hey, Ray..I wouldn't think about it too much, fella..I know I didn't. And the bottle? I realize that it probably starts more conflicts than it ends.

Dear David, I don't want to contradict myself (as many of us are so predisposed to do) but alcohol does have medicinal properties. I use it to calm a generally unruly mind and for sleeplessness and its associated symptoms. Anyhow, never waste your effort cursing yourself for they'll always be someone to take up your slack where you come up short.

What's up, Mr. Spangles? This started as a piece dedicated to a heart worn too openly. So, that verse is my personal favorite even though the rest of the piece seemed to take another direction. I'm glad you picked up on it, dear sir.


Thanks to all for reading,

elP (that's me, Rachel)

Comment is about invictus (blog)

Original item by nunya

You may well be right, Harry. It is difficult to call whether the momentum towards Labour will sustain or whether this is as close as they will get.

Comment is about 262 (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Hi Rachel,

I especially enjoyed the scalpel-like:

when heart murmurs
slip into the realpolitik
of the over-publicized..

Too true..

Suki

Comment is about invictus (blog)

Original item by nunya

Hi Ray,

I suppose waiving rules can sometimes be a good thing depending on who's doing the waiving and why. We, the plebs, should probably do more of it..

Suki

Comment is about SHORT POEM (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Thankyou it means alot

Comment is about ? (blog)

Original item by Iswiti Basantani

Welcome back to WOL again.

I very much enjoy your poems above. You have a keen eye for the simple, and the writer's drive to explore complexities, innate qualities of a poet. I shall try to read your work as often as possible.

Comment is about Paul Booth (poet profile)

Original item by Paul Booth

Delightful little piece.

I'm just guessing - is this the UK name for an old-type clothes peg with the two fixed 'legs' that you just slide on to the folded cloth over the line? I never knew what they were called, ever.

If not, please tell me what it is.

Comment is about The Dolly Peg (blog)

Original item by Paul Booth

John,
My own guess is that another election (even now) would probably end up as - give a few seats swinging here and there - the status quo.

Looking forward to your Rees Mogg thing!

Comment is about 262 (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Open Mic in Marple

Nicola has managed to get the group involved in this event on Wednesday 16th August after 7pm at The Samuel Oldknow in Marple!

Anyone who wants to go contact by e-mail by Friday 7th July if possible - - -

a.barlow@matthewjamespublishing.com

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

Original item by Greg Freeman

lovely poem about a lovely place.Thank you Wendy.Jemima.

Comment is about Yorkshire Folk (blog)

Original item by Wendy Higson

Pithy and to the point in an age in which we seem to have
lost confidence in politicians and politicians have lost the
good will of their electorate - for the most part self-
inflicted via their own duplicitous conduct. Farage gets
stick from certain quarters but his commitment to a return
to the proper primacy of Parliament cannot be questioned.
And there are still some others who are worthy of our
depleted confidence and we can always hope they keep
the faith in pursuing that aim under attack from the "we're doomed" merchants who lack the spine of our ancestors.

Comment is about SHORT POEM (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Many thanks all for your warm and enlightening comments.
Suki, I have to own up , I used the glass in that short period before I discovered my nicer self. (Ants were the sufferers).

LCP I'm glad I passed muster. A constant tearing at the conscience with "pests" can leave a hole in the personal ozone layer.

Thanks Hazel. Nice wider context comment!

Cheers Cynthia. I like to drop the occasional philosophical idea in - I think it's valid to express experience as you often do in your work. Sometimes it chimes.

Stu,thanks for your valued view - always going for the juice in the centre. You old wordsmith you!

David, I like that you use obscenity, spot on. It is unlikely that humans will ever bother to create snails in the lab. The hiding of the snail was I think for a coolness to prevail and sense of decorum and a tiny tribute to an inconsequential life destroyed. To save suffering an instant death would be better! How much awareness may we attribute to any lesser creature? Survival is instinct and I instinctively tried to backtrack.
I'll get my coat.

Thank you Micheala, glad you spotted that!.

Comment is about SLOW DEATH ON A SLIDING SCALE (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Hazel, it would have to be the all-seeing eye tattoo! surely?

Comment is about Navel gazing (blog)

Original item by Hazel ettridge

EEE! by eck! this as we say in Rossendale Wendy is REET NICE!

aythankyor!

P&S xx

Comment is about Yorkshire Folk (blog)

Original item by Wendy Higson

Thank you both. Thinking about designing a tattoo for my belly button but am way too squeamish to carry it through.

Comment is about Navel gazing (blog)

Original item by Hazel ettridge

Who knows what lies beneath the surface of cognition - many creative artists have been to that place . Has it improved their output? Who can honestly say?
You make a nice flow with this, good one Michaela!

Ray

Comment is about Redundant Delight (blog)

Original item by Michaela Sheldon

lovely to hear a few words about God's country.
thanks for brightening my day
cheers Kevin

Comment is about Yorkshire Folk (blog)

Original item by Wendy Higson

Cheers Cynthia. 'She blows hot, she blows cold' does sound better actually. The dual approach of romantic and realistic seems to work well eh.

Raj

Comment is about She blows hot, blows cold (blog)

Original item by Chakraj