Thanks Harry & John. More reason to protest now than there ever was in my opinion, Harry! The nearest I'll get to sharing a stage with the Stones, John!
Comment is about Following the Money (blog)
Original item by Tim Ellis
Good to see a form poem so elegantly constructed. The villanelle is not a favourite form of mine but I envy the skill with which you've graced this.
Comment is about Choices (blog)
Original item by Trevor Alexander
Excellent in performance, Tim. The vid showed that.
Incidentally my laptop positioned you vid alongside "Others you might like". It was the Rolling Stones's "Gimme Shelter". You're in good company.
Comment is about Following the Money (blog)
Original item by Tim Ellis
Tim,
this caught me as I`m off to Scarborough tomorrow.
Congratulations on a video done in the way(and right tone) that it should be.
I like the way how-in performance-the assonance works with endings to smooth the rhyme in stanza six.
Doesn`t everyone look happy at the end! (oh, for the days of `Maggie! Maggie! Maggie!...out! out! out!)
Comment is about Following the Money (blog)
Original item by Tim Ellis
You know my views already, MC. But I would be more persuaded to your argument if I could see that the French had lost national identity, or the Germans, or Italians etc. So why would we if we remained?
Comment is about LOCKED-IN SYNDROME (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Very courageous of you to post this, Emma. Powerful and painful and with strong technical structure. It really stays in the mind.
Comment is about On the suicide of Sally Brampton (blog)
Original item by Emma-Jane Stradling
Tom Soto
Sun 15th May 2016 19:56
I loved this one. I can definitely relate. I felt the ties of your bond increase and your pain increase with each passing word.
Comment is about My Son My Sun (blog)
Original item by mentalelf. Philk.
This was inspired by an anti-fracking protest I was on in Scarborough last month. I wrote it with a video in mind, which you can watch on https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tA1n6ThVMFM
Comment is about Following the Money (blog)
Original item by Tim Ellis
Tom Soto
Sun 15th May 2016 17:41
A Beautiful and elegant expression of heartbreak.
Comment is about Stay (blog)
Original item by Shonda Hurley Bell
I'm sure that those of a certain vintage will identify more
readily with these lines than others...especially in what
are called close knit communities.
How quick familiar things can go
How soon it changes all you know.
You look around for what you knew
And know to you they've said adieu.
Comment is about Mr BRAITHWAITE and Mr. KHAN (blog)
Original item by ray pool
These lines had me thinking about what happens to
either a man or the dog often in company when either
passes on? Here in London the pairing is often seen -
but it's all too easy to walk by dispensing a little cash but
perhaps little thought about their jointly dependent situation.
Comment is about The dog who died (blog)
Original item by Ronnie Leek 1
Money makes the world go round. The UK's position
as the 5th largest economy is not challenged.
Trade will always be a question of supplying what others
want to buy and buying what is wanted - hopefully with
a "plus" in the process. Our once great industries like
ship-building have been forced to face the burgeoning
third world with its vast work force and low wages
creating a competitive disparity that has proved very
damaging. The steel industry has also suffered for the
same reasons. Fortunately, UK motor manufacturing has
moved up through the gears - with foreign investment
and good faith showing the way. Conversely, our own
financial investment abroad - many billions in the USA
alone - works in our favour. Asset stripping and asset
adjustment - reflected via the world's stock exchanges
- are par for the course, dictated by changing circumstances. The UK possesses a film, music and
general entertainment industry that is world famous and
another huge contributor to the country's economy.
As for escaping the EU - which still refuses an audit of
its accounts - I recall the words of Franklin Delano
Roosevelt: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself".
Comment is about LOCKED-IN SYNDROME (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Helen - not quite sure what a winch is, but hope its something raunchy! Great memories of a Glaswegian mate of my Dad's when I was a kid - could never tell whether he was sober or not, but he was always loud and extremely funny. Also reminds me of 'The Big Yin' and the video tapes of his live shows. I always thought 'A Glesga Kiss' was a head butt, which I suppose that only reflects the class of Scot I have been acquainted with! Haha Have it.xx
Rob
Comment is about A Glesga Kiss (blog)
Original item by Helen
Thanks you lot for your cracking comments :) brought a little smile to my face :) x
Comment is about A Glesga Kiss (blog)
Original item by Helen
Just following up on OCD and your comments. Interesting and struck a chord that you touched to equal up - uncannily the same with me. My mum used to encourage to "touch wood" an old superstition. I carried this into various contingencies, and even in my fifties I still kept touching the gear stick in my car (sometimes unconsciously) ! All I can say is that it gave a sense of comfort in some way. Now we have a microphone of course to touch. We all need these touch sensors anyway. What a mess !!
Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)
Original item by Laura Taylor
Ray - shades of Dvorak's New World Symphony as the soundtrack to this one (how appropriately titled). Why you singled out Yorkshire I am not sure, unless it was for the pathos of those cobbled (and slated) streets. This piece is a subtle treatment of the headmaster's borderline fears of change - not necessarily racist, but in some way resentful all the same. That said, it has resonance with the feelings of many in this county and country. Enough said!
Rob
Comment is about Mr BRAITHWAITE and Mr. KHAN (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Thanks Dave. I feel exonerated as I trod on dangerous ground and wanted to express the unsettling nature of change in a self contained environment.
Grateful for your enlightened interpretation.
Ray
Comment is about Mr BRAITHWAITE and Mr. KHAN (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Just caught up with four weeks of American Life in Poetry. Beautiful selections and a great concept. Thanks.
Comment is about 'In the shadows where the milk-chocolate river unfolded ... we'd strip' (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Parachute, MC? I won't need one; I don't intend hanging about!
Comment is about I'M ABSEILING (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Thanks for the coverage, Greg. I wonder if I might be more successful to promise not to post my shite if people pledged enough?
And to the contributor whom I shall not name for fear of embarrassing them, that was extremely generous and I offer my thanks.
Comment is about He's abseiling: Write Out Loud's John Coopey taking the plunge from tower block (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
So busy translating I missed the rhyme scheme at first reading. Lovely, funny and warm. Thank you.
Comment is about A Glesga Kiss (blog)
Original item by Helen
I'm glad I caught this Ray on an infrequent visit to the blogs. Like it very much for a number of reasons. Very profound in an understated way. Thanks.
Comment is about Mr BRAITHWAITE and Mr. KHAN (blog)
Original item by ray pool
MC - your poem, as usual, is a very good rhyme.
However, if I read it and substitute the letters EU for Tories, it ceases to rhyme yet makes much more sense to me.
We are losing everything to the Tories. They are asset stripping and ruining this country. It has sod all to do with the EU, as far as I can see.
Comment is about LOCKED-IN SYNDROME (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
elPintor
Sat 14th May 2016 22:07
Hey, Lynn,
This idea is definitely central. It is almost as the question to move forth and confront conflict or await its approach, the decision made more complicated by an unclear picture of what the conflict may actually entail.
Thank you much for commenting. It's greatly appreciated.
elP
Comment is about shudder (blog)
Original item by nunya
Lynn Hamilton
Sat 14th May 2016 21:28
Thanks David and Ray for commenting.
Turbulent yes, I thoroughly understand the 'clunk click' as it was written, as though a force had come crashing through that little lads wall whilst he ate his cereal, believing he was protected, and yes it smacked right into his mum but it wasn't a car.
Brace!
Lynn x
Comment is about The Kiss (blog)
Lynn Hamilton
Sat 14th May 2016 21:19
Lynn Hamilton
Sat 14th May 2016 21:12
Evening E
The line 'if haste doesn't kill me, this hesitation will' stood out for me.
Lynn x
Comment is about shudder (blog)
Original item by nunya
"Is it a bird? Is it a plane?"
(If we ask, will he do it again?!)
Comment is about He's abseiling: Write Out Loud's John Coopey taking the plunge from tower block (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Thanks for the useful link. Do you get a parachute?!!
Comment is about I'M ABSEILING (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Sat 14th May 2016 19:58
hah! love itttt (my little joke thrown in) thanks Angelica.Jemima.
Comment is about Typo in the First Line (blog)
Original item by Angelica Fuse
This was a poem that came about after another early start at the office, surrounded by silence until the other sounds stir themselves: friends, colleagues, kettles etc.
It's a bit of a departure from my normal style of poetry in that it is inanimate in focus, but I hope that readers find something in it that they like.
Comment is about The Office Waits ... (blog)
Original item by Paul A M Palmer
elPintor
Sat 14th May 2016 10:06
Hey there, David,
Some things are definitely difficult to convey. Maybe more so when there exists reticence because of their unpleasantness.
Thanks for commenting..you're always welcome.
elP
Comment is about shudder (blog)
Original item by nunya
<Deleted User> (6895)
Fri 13th May 2016 23:54
For anyone wishing to pledge to this cause here is a JustGiving link.
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=JohnCoopey
Comment is about I'M ABSEILING (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
"Where there's no sense there's no feeling" as they say, Ray
Comment is about I'M ABSEILING (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Much easier to read than to perform, John. I've tried it off a cliff when the earth was new, but off a tower? no thanks. Good for you and yours!
Ray
Comment is about I'M ABSEILING (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Wonderful, and as a southerner I just about got the measure of it. God, this north south divide is a real curse, but then again long may it survive ! Ray
Comment is about A Glesga Kiss (blog)
Original item by Helen
I would have been tempted to use Sarah Tonin as a person, but I am a clever dick, Stu. This has all the hallmarks of a master of words, brilliantly and humorously presented and entertaining, tongue firmly in cheek.
Ray
Comment is about serotonin (blog)
Original item by Stuart Buck
Reassuring and philosophical in the nicest way, Trevor. The form has the hypnotic appeal of the Desiderata, and draws us in.
Satisfying . Ray
Comment is about Choices (blog)
Original item by Trevor Alexander
A glimpse into the turbulence - succinctly expressed Lynn. Lovely.
Ray
Comment is about The Kiss (blog)
Yes, indeed, MC, "abstaining" (I might yet - courage isn't my strong suit).
I'll look into the PayPal question. Thanks.
Comment is about I'M ABSEILING (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
I felt very Scottish reading this. Great work :)
Comment is about A Glesga Kiss (blog)
Original item by Helen
elPintor
Sun 15th May 2016 22:30
This bit has been sparking thought since you first posted it, and, I have to agree with MC. I mean, when a poor man loses his "friend in need", what does he have? And, what has a society, for all its wealth, lost, except for a potent reminder of its ineptitude in satisfying basic human needs?
Furthermore, just an aside, I see so many people who say they love dogs and then spend thousands on a pedigree from a puppy mill. That doesn't seem like compassion to me.
Thanks, Ronnie,
elPintor
Comment is about The dog who died (blog)
Original item by Ronnie Leek 1