Ideas unresolved are a great source of possibility and leave us in turmoil as the poem suggests. Quite a tricky project Juan - so many avenues to explore....

Ray

Comment is about The ... (blog)

Original item by Juan Pablo Lynch

Folky fun great read live Jeff - I should love to hear this to a ukulele tune !! I like the self deprecating feel of it, rather reminds me of the Bonzo Dog doo dah band stuff.

Ray

Comment is about What Do Yer Say? (blog)

Original item by Jeff

A worthy sentiment and one which we should all reflect on - it feels sometimes like the invaded standing in front of a tank in defiance to face all this invasion. Is there a compromise, that is the problem - what is the balance? As with all great questions it is just another tug of war between opposing forces.

Ray

Comment is about Global Warning (blog)

Original item by Chakraj

"But I know it’s you.
Hearts like ours know."
This right here. Unbelievable. What a beautiful piece of literature.
Tristan

Comment is about Snowy Night in the Early Spring (blog)

Original item by Randall Eckstein

Your words are kind, Ray. You have no idea how much these praises mean to someone just starting to fall in love with poetry.
Tristan

Comment is about War and the Universe (blog)

Original item by Tristan Ayran

A succinct idea that spreads into the subconscious mind and swells into images - a sense of primeval rightness for me. Please more in this vein!

Ray

Comment is about War and the Universe (blog)

Original item by Tristan Ayran

A wonderful poem.

Comment is about 'She wants to feel 日本 (Japan)' by Randall Eckstein is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Thank you so much :)

Comment is about Human (blog)

Original item by Emilie Jupiter

Thanks guys...& I got the "trumps" joke too!..hahahaha...Jeff...

Comment is about What Do Yer Say? (blog)

Original item by Jeff

Congratulations Randall,
your writing has the practiced ease that suits the subject very well, I should have seen Raj's comment first, and been sipping tea while drinking this in.
Dom.

Comment is about 'She wants to feel 日本 (Japan)' by Randall Eckstein is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Well done Randall. Truly deserved.
The imagery in the poem transported me to the orient without effort. Quite a meditative journey. Loved it.

I sip warm black tea as I write this.

Chakraj

Comment is about 'She wants to feel 日本 (Japan)' by Randall Eckstein is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Well said Raj. Too often we're sold the myths about the benefits of developments (e.g. HS2, supermarkets, etc) that come at such a high cost in terms of the countryside, nature and people's lives. Your poem reminds us of what is important to many of us, thanks for sharing it. Cheers, Paul

Comment is about Global Warning (blog)

Original item by Chakraj

Now there's a thought.......! Thanks Suki for reading this and your kind comment.

Comment is about if only...... (blog)

Original item by Paul Waring

enjoyed the humour in this Jeff...you've definately come up trumps with this one! Paul

Comment is about What Do Yer Say? (blog)

Original item by Jeff

Thanks both.

Jeff I quite agree. The key word is 'unnatural'.

Colin now that I look at it Big Yellow Taxi does ring a become to mind. It was a classic.
Still, let's keep sending out messages to the powers that be as thick skinned as they are.

Raj

Comment is about Global Warning (blog)

Original item by Chakraj

any poem that includes a fanny fart gets a thumbs up from me ? that's what I say

Comment is about What Do Yer Say? (blog)

Original item by Jeff

they paved paradise...put up a parking lot

shades of Big Yellow Taxi turning into a rant against our current times - HS2, Hinkley, fracking etc - we can do without them all but the powers that guide us cannot accept a road without profits and the environment and our health ultimately suffers. To a point we should make do and mend, make what we have more efficient rather than continually build new and let the old infrastructures slip into dereliction. It's how societies and businesses fail.

just leave me the birds and the bees....pleeeeease!

nice one Chakraj.

Comment is about Global Warning (blog)

Original item by Chakraj

Hi Raj. Like this piece but would you consider changing " blue prints of disaster" to " blue prints of unnatural disaster" ...just my opinion.....Jeff....

Comment is about Global Warning (blog)

Original item by Chakraj

David's comments summed it up better than I could. I read it through a few times yesterday, and again this morning. This also really flows so well..Thanks elP

Comment is about furlough (blog)

Original item by nunya

Fair enough Paul, but think of this: if you cracked the code; never made a mistake, etcetera, you wouldn't have written this poem for us to enjoy!!

Comment is about if only...... (blog)

Original item by Paul Waring

A very warm and meaningful poem. It hits a very comfortable point between an inside joke and a well-known meme-- what I mean is it's at once approachable, and unique.

Comment is about (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 (blog)

Original item by Rafael

Honestly one of the most relateable pieces I've ever read.

Comment is about Human (blog)

Original item by Emilie Jupiter

Thank you for the comments on my pieces. Looking forward to reading yours!

Comment is about Juan Pablo Lynch (poet profile)

Original item by Juan Pablo Lynch

Thanks Cynthia, and for your welcome to WOL. I really appreciate it (especially from this distance!)

I have a folio of eclectic and unpublished work dating back twenty years and more; it's taken me ages to get round to sharing some of them.

Your positive response, and others, give me encouragement to submit more, and to make the most of what WOL offers - on both sides of the world.

Chris Hubbard
Perth, WA.

Comment is about A Book of Hours (blog)

Original item by Chris Hubbard

I like how this one ended! So subjective! It's as if you're letting the readers decide how it ends and what story it told.

Comment is about The ... (blog)

Original item by Juan Pablo Lynch

Hey, David..

You know, as I wrote this, somewhere between the first and second question, I got this picture of a sphere turning within and at odds with another sphere. I had a hard time expressing it in words, but I couldn't have summed it up any more concisely if I tried. You're right on the nose, my friend, in discerning a most important facet of what I was trying to convey.

Good to hear from you,

elP

ps
I really like the phrase, "drudgery of hope".

Comment is about furlough (blog)

Original item by nunya

Thanks, MC. I was trying to replicate the deadpan tone of the narrator in Noggin the Nog.

Comment is about TALE FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks so much gents for all your comments, very much appreciated.

Jeff, thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it and glad you're back, I've missed seeing you on here this past week!

Col, thanks as ever for your interesting comments. Hope the scampi, chips 'n' peas were tasty and also that your son had fun in the den last night!

Graham, thanks for the lovely succinct summary of this piece which, yes, is definately about regret but expressed in a slightly tongue in cheek fashion. Hope it worked!

Paul

Comment is about if only...... (blog)

Original item by Paul Waring

Hey collin! Those are nice words, thank you so much. Im glad you liked it. And yes, I should not have put the "-the mad balladist" at the end, youre right. Its just that I have my poems elsewhere in the internet under the name the mad balladist.

Again, thank you. As a beginner poet, words like these keep me wanting to write more.

tristan

Comment is about Album of the Sea (blog)

Original item by Tristan Ayran

Thanks, Ray.
I sent an email to the said Festival's director setting out
my feelings about their decision but have had no reply.
As with freedom, if we set no value on our own traditions
and heritage, how can we then complain when they are trampled underfoot and lost?

Comment is about IGNORANCE IN ACTION (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

The innocent and the incontinent perhaps. These well-crafted lines conjured up half-forgotten memories
of those old subterranean gents' lavatories, with their cavernous gleaming tiled dimensions and the impressive
brown timbered rows of cubicles opposite the shiny
sinks and mirrors and the automated flushing of the ever busy urinals.
WM's remark about "cottagers" brings back a midnight
memory of seeking relief from my car while waiting on a
witness under protection to return from a tryst with his
lady love. I descended a winding set of stairs to a
gents' toilet nearby only to find its poorly lit interior as packed as a central London station foyer at rush hour!
A News of the World reporter would have been slower
to make his excuses and leave than I was to empty my
bladder that time, with the possible headlines bouncing
around in my brain as I ascended rapidly with another even greater sort of relief to road level again.

Comment is about URINARY PACT (blog)

Original item by ray pool

THanks folks for all your comments.

elP: I liked your story, a clincher !

Emer: Glad you saw the funny side ....

Suki: likewise, thanks.

Paul: Some plaudits there! I just improvise often with what comes in my head from past experience. Glad it appealed.

Jeff: Cheers, glad you like it.

David: A health warning, very wise. So many closed for that very reason. Couldn't beat them for atmosphere.

Colin: Flattery will get you everywhere . This one was down to earth alright even below that!

Thanks again all. Ray

Comment is about URINARY PACT (blog)

Original item by ray pool

I enjoyed the "doom and gloom" timbre of this vocal
rendition and its wide-ranging message that short cuts to
anything or anywhere are usually destined to either
disappoint or fail. The rhyming of heartache and partake
went down well.

Comment is about TALE FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Hey, Suki,

It seems to me that, for all our advancement as a race, we've only come up with better ways to die. I mean, if our intelligence were measured by the sheer magnitude of complication we generate through selfishness and short-sightedness, we would be pretty fucking smart. I think a lot of people are a little too impressed with themselves. It really shows, too. I know this is way off subject, but while I'm here...it seems to me that people really don't want to know the truth about how the world works. How else does anybody inhabit a 3,000 square foot home that contains not a single book other than "The Little Mermaid" and a copy of fucking "People" magazine? People eat bullshit and spout bullshit because it makes them feel good.

I could go on, but I won't. As far as I'm concerned, everyone should have to put in a couple of years of service. It doesn't have to be the military but everyone should know what it's like to be in the service of his fellow man and to be a part of something bigger than himself. That way, we all have a stake in the decisions made by the powers that be, and we're all put on a level playing field, at least for a time.

Everyone needs to feel that they're still a part of humanity, especially when the going gets so rough that you can't even be sure where you'll sleep next. It must've been a very fulfilling job, if not so hard to see people in such pressing need.

Thanks for speaking up, Suki.

elP

Comment is about strand (blog)

Original item by nunya

Thanks! I'm trying to stretch my skills. I love photography so I'm going thru my favorite photos and putting words to my photos. Love word play

Comment is about THE BENCH (blog)

Original item by lynn hahn

Regret, perfectly penned.

Comment is about if only...... (blog)

Original item by Paul Waring

if only....

I often wonder - if we've all been reincarnated x many times why is it we have no recollection of our past lives? Seems such a con so I don't believe in it. But then again I don't believe in anything else either as all the eithers are cons too. IMO.

which brings me round to your 3rd line and the idea of doing bits of our lives again - there's stuff I'd do again and stuff I didn't do because I chickened out that deserves another shot but I don't think - given another chance - I'd work out what anything was all about other than that which I now know - which is next to nowt!

excuse me but I have scampi, chips 'n' peas to cook.

Comment is about if only...... (blog)

Original item by Paul Waring

I almost passed this by but am glad I clicked the link and read to the end as you have composed some lovely lines to make your Album of the Sea. However, for me, THE MAD BALLADIST last line is not needed. I think it would be rather lovely to leave the poem open ended:

and though the title of the music eludes me,
I do know who composed it.

Good stuff Tristan. I look forward to reading some more of your work. All the best, Colin.

Comment is about Album of the Sea (blog)

Original item by Tristan Ayran

superb Ray. I've been catching snatches of comments throughout the day but saved reading the poem until such a time as I had, well, some time. I'm glad I did as this is a real gem and Paul has summed up your writing perfectly by saying you have a 'unique gift of depicting British life warts-and-all'. I hope you never run out of subject matter - I'm sure you won't.

Comment is about URINARY PACT (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Song from my heart too......really enjoyed & rings true......Jeff

Comment is about if only...... (blog)

Original item by Paul Waring

Welcome to WOL. I look forward to reading more of your work. But I'm short on time today. Catch up with you again soon.

Terrific bio. I really want to absorb 'Celtic Memory'.

Comment is about Chris Hubbard (poet profile)

Original item by Chris Hubbard

yes stay but put Michelle in charge maybe?

interesting take Chakraj. Up to the midway point I was thinking this could be about any of us armchair politicians who feel we have all the answers and could run the world given half the chance.

Now if I was in charge.....

Comment is about Senior executive seeks suitable position (blog)

Original item by Chakraj

There is much to think about in this. The structure and imagery is very engaging.

Comment is about A Book of Hours (blog)

Original item by Chris Hubbard

I'm not completely sure what to make of this - how much I like it - which is a good response to a poem - curiosity. It feels original and different - peridot auras and fennel sprouts being two images not often combined in a poem. Nice one.

Comment is about (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 (blog)

Original item by Rafael

'Daintiness' was never my forte. Nor 'delicate'. The shoe just didn't fit. And still doesn't.

Is the final stanza really necessary. I'm of two minds. Graham would call it 'explaining' again.

Comment is about Laugh Control Button (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Nothing like a girl to get the mind wandering & this is simply wonderful to read...pop it in a Valentines card next month mate!...Jeff...

Comment is about (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 (blog)

Original item by Rafael

Thank you very much, Graham!

Your words mean a lot to my 25 yr old wandering mind lol


Sometimes I feel like I shouldn't bide my time dreaming and writing... but man, reading your kind words really does cheer me up!!

Thank you!!

Comment is about (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 (blog)

Original item by Rafael

Words like this from someone your age (judging by your photo) cannot fail to make a mark.
To be young and in love is the most precious, sometimes fleeting condition that you will ever know. Write about it as much as you can! Before you get too old, write, write!

Comment is about (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 (blog)

Original item by Rafael

Hi everyone!

This is a poem that I wrote about a girl I like. She has gorgeous red hair, tiny freckles and she's beautiful : )

I myself have light brown skin with jet-black hair, so I decided to write this poem based off the fact that we both have a deep contrast between each other's appearance.

When we're seen in public together, it feels like we attract the attention of everyone around us. As if they all know, straight-out-the-bat, that we both like each other haha

Anyways, this is basically just a love letter lol
Thanks for reading!

Comment is about (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 (blog)

Original item by Rafael

Hahahahah......brilliant! Jeff

Comment is about URINARY PACT (blog)

Original item by ray pool