The last two lines
But do we still wish to live in a solitary moratorium
coveting our feverous hearts in a slate stone mirth?

we and our shows there was no final yield and your love stays very much alive not dead and blown away as your poetry tries to show but dramatically fails to convince.

Comment is about Immortal Soliloquy (blog)

Original item by Katy Megan

Harry does have a good point and of course positive/negative commenting on any particular poem will draw out the colours of both sides.

I also agree that when the subject matter is deviated from, the main point of the exercise is somewhat lost.

The prime point of POTW is to showcase good work and good poets.

Whether commenters agree will of course be eternally open to debate.

Comment is about 'Airways, Breathing, Circulation' by Peter Knaggs is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

It seems to me that Ken is quite clearly giving his opinion, who else's could he give? If as has been said we all know that the appreciation of art is subjective then why reinforce that by directing ken on giving his entitled opinion?
Maybe some people would do well to become a little more robust.
People must be permitted to give their opinion without fear of being cut off at the tongue by school mistress type corrections.
Unfortunately much of the lively part of this discussion has veered away from the work, which is a shame to my mind.
If people are not permitted to pen their true feelings politely and honestly regarding all work posted, how much of a true representation is being presented. One might question the merit of having a POTW section if only praise is permitted to be bestowed upon the piece, maybe some involved in its selection are being over protective, we couldn't know that as the reading audience is not clear on who selects the POTW, maybe it could be considered to name the selector, and present the piece as their chosen poem of the week, to be honest I think that might be a better type of presentation for those selecting and those submitting and reading. It would certainly be more transparent a process. Of course that said, it is merely my opinion, no more no less.
We may not be pugilists, but I think most on here are adults.

Comment is about 'Airways, Breathing, Circulation' by Peter Knaggs is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Ken - "...it had no great shakes as a literary work" - in your opinion. We all know that appreciation of any art is subjective, so let's bear that in mind rather than making definite statements.

Also, "Read it and get your own back" is not particularly helpful, or appropriate. We are poets, not pugilists.

Thanks everyone for a lively discussion! The very nature of this kind of poetry does stir strong emotion, so in that respect, it's done its job very well.

Comment is about 'Airways, Breathing, Circulation' by Peter Knaggs is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

have to agree with previous comments. great short piece and open to several interpretations. super.

Comment is about prod and projection (blog)

Original item by nunya

You write and convey very, very well.

Thank you

Lynn x

Comment is about Live On - Awake Till Death (blog)

Original item by Noetic-fret!

Enjoyed reading and making my own interpretation. Especially like the middle verse.

Lynn

Comment is about prod and projection (blog)

Original item by nunya

Thanks for reading, observing and commenting Mr M. Much appreciated.

Lynn x

Comment is about Thick Nib (blog)

Mr LCTB! Of course, and I saved any decent docks. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Lynn x

Comment is about Cigarette Burns (blog)

Thanks, Lynn. I think the nub of the Out campaign harks back to our past and is that the EU has held us back; without it Great Britain can be Great again.
We can't.

Comment is about SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GO? (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Hi Peter. Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers, but you didn't really expect a one hundred per cent accolade on the quality of the piece? I was simply pointing out in my appraisal that drained of it's emotion it had no great shakes as a literary work.

As for a better alternative. Mine of course?

Read it and get your own back

Ken

Comment is about 'Airways, Breathing, Circulation' by Peter Knaggs is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Good one, John!

I couldn't agree more with your last comment that we know what IN looks like, but not what OUT looks like.

To MC though, I would just like to add that if there is an out vote, I hope he gets proved right! :-)

Comment is about SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GO? (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thank you Jemima and LCPTB.

Apologies for delay - been away in our caravan...

Yes, homelessness up while Social security is dismantled, couldn't agree more!

Or as I posted 4 years ago:

Shocking backhanders in politics
Such bare faced effrontery,
Petty criminals are in prisons
While big crooks run the country.

Comment is about Haiku: Justice (blog)

Original item by Lynn Dye

Peter, anyone who can get "verisimilitude" into a sentence is certainly worthy of merit!! Brilliant (I'm just off to look it up).

Well done, as your week in the limelight is drawing to a close, keep up the work.


Graham

Comment is about 'Airways, Breathing, Circulation' by Peter Knaggs is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Brilliant, Mike, I enjoyed this.

Comment is about Live On - Awake Till Death (blog)

Original item by Noetic-fret!

CAM BROWN WINS THE AUDIENCE WITH HIS FLIGHT OF SONG!
It was a musical night. Not to say there was no poetry but music was definitely the theme. The audience was geared for it but Cam was always a step ahead. His fingers move like lightning, his grey curly hair swings round his shining face, his eyes smiling, and you know what follows will be lyrics that catch you 'off-guard' and keep you listening till you're hysterical laughing! He plays to the audience, loves it and it shows! His songs were from the '50s, '60s and '70s. His influences, Paddy Roberts and Jake Thackeray.

Having read, 'They don't make characters like Paddy Roberts anymore - the civilised English gentleman type - his humour recalling a time when mischief could be made with the inclusion of a double entrendre, - a 'nod and a wink'.. (Paddy, called one of his albums, 'vulgar', then delivered a charming series of a more refined era of British humour!)' That, for me, aptly describes Cam's style. Risqué but gentle and too clever to be not taken lightly!

From the time Cam took to the stage, he had his audience well in grasp. My favourite, an American song, 'She Left me for Jesus', was a big hit. But then, so was 'The Ram of Derbyshire', 'Christopher Columbo' which got laughs galore. Cam went on with 'The Finding of Moses', 'Cowboy Poem', a contest between two cowboys who had to use 'Timbuck Too' in a poem – 'The Philosophers Song', 'Bedbug Song', (hysterical), Sister Josephine (well known tune), 'The Vicar and the Frog', 'Tights in White Satin', 'The Tattooed Lady', 'The Ballad of the Two Town Shoes', 'A 'Cautionary Tale', 'The Hole', and finally, 'Let's Do It'. He could have gone on and on. No one left their seats. They loved it and he did as well. Cam runs the Open Mic at Chelsea Arts Club, London. He has a collection of guitars and has been playing over 50 years (he must have started at age 5!) He is a star, in every sense of the word! A man who leaves his audience humming his songs long after they've left the room and maybe even looking up the songs and doing a bit of karaoke when they get home.

Meantime, the Open Mic had Richard Barnes on guitar singing about the lonely sailor, 'Ready for the Storm'. Then, 'Our Town', where things have changed – and the good things become memories to hold onto. Richard Hawtree read his poem, which was entered in the Limerick Poetry Trail and is on display in Archer's Clothing Store, Ellen St, in Limerick. 'April's Flame', about the welcoming of Spring. 'Let Spring sway in both your wintry hips and linger where the wind is strongest in the April air'.

Sondhild read 'Aegean', a very descriptive piece about living in Greece. Barry Smith did 'Antidote for Babylon', about the Tennyson Walk around the edge of the Isle of Wite. 'a walk, well worth taking!' He followed that with 'Airbourne', about a 'brush' with the eagle owl, 'who have been targeting bald headed men!' The audience laughed at Barry's shiney head. He followed with a tale about Yehudi Menuhin who owned the oldest concert Stradiverious which he lent to a man named Giles, who accidentally dropped it, and as it tumbled down the stairs, Yehudi just got another violin! Barry detailed the contrast between the Canterbury and Chichester Cathedrals, always with the eagle owl in view
Leslie Prior read, 'Getting Out of the Box'(of crisps – trying not to break any,) which she knew she had to do. To ensure it, she got the suntan and is keeping her scruffy hair, to remind of the 'good times' that are there ahead of her, after her 'careful' escape. Chris Sangster read an 'ode' to his new conservatory, 'Through the Roof', where you see sky, sun, rain, changing seasons. Then, on his 'baby guitar', aka ukelele, he did 'Sweet Dreams' describing how love makes the world go round. Jilly Funnell followed with her guitar and a lovely song, 'El Paso', based on rock country singer, Marty Robbins. She then sang 'Dublin Wife', the poor woman left at home as hubby goes round the poetry circuit but she finally gets on-line to do some research, only to type right into hubby's profile!

David Roberts did 'Shakespeare's Skull' which was stolen. Then, 'Black Swan', with bright red beak. Wild and dangerous - a free spirit. Finally, 'Never Trust a Naked Bus Driver'. Certainly tell your teenage daughters to never trust one! Murrough read from his book, 'The Moment You Know', a poem about 'It's out...the secret...but you'll still never be free'. Then, he told about the experimenting and curiosity of young children – all so exciting - but also irritating'. Paddy Brady and guitar, got up to sing 'I Loved the Ground She Walked Upon', written during the time of Joyce, but he knew she'd never have him'. Then, an Irish song, 'Maloney wants a drink'. Everyone sang along. Bruce Parry followed with some lilting Irish tunes on his hammer dulcimer. 'My Own House', (lovely) followed by 'A Walk in the Park'. Gwenith Trudy Griffith dedicated her life to collecting everything about Queen Victoria. Her one regret – not living in the V&A museum.

Liz Verlander won the audience with her clever poetry and excellent performance style. 'What would I say to my 20 year old self'. 'Eat chips'. Divorced 5 years ago, she read 'I have a crush'.'I have no right to have the crushes, when gone are the days of girly blushes, and I should be focusing on hot flushes!' (Please come back, Liz. You are a star!). Her poem, 'Upeck' about Charlie having nothing against pigeons, indeed he is tolerant of all religions..Charlie is a seagull and just feels all pigeons should go back to Trafalgar Square to be with their own kind. (oh yeah - Ukip, lend an ear).

All in all, a very good evening. People laughing all the way out the door, commenting that this was 'our best evening yet' (said so often but we still love to hear it). This was our first time in Townhouse and it's a perfect venue for our gigs so please try and come over and see for yourself! We're always getting new people, new talent but the comments stay the same. It's our ninth year but we're still bringing in new talent and a good audience!

Cam Brown's friends won the raffle for The Half Moon meal for two, so that means a trip back from Surrey to our part of town!

Review is about WRITE ANGLE POETRY & MUSIC +OPEN MIC on 19 Apr 2016 (event)

Might I say, I never linked the poem to Hillsborough. However I stand by the verisimilitude of the occasion and the poem. Fans did mill on the pitch and stretchers where loaded on to ambulances in a chaotic situation. I do not make the stretcher bearer out to be a hero or incompetent, that is an interpretation I leave to the reader. Of course, if I could write a poem that was so good it would bring a Liverpool fan back to life, then I would, but none of us can.
At the turn of the century I read a lot of poetry anthologies, purporting to commemorate important events of the century. Alas, Armitage, O'Brien and Patterson and their cronies not once broached, what I though was a significant event. So I wrote a poem for the working class people, to mark that this had happened (it could be Scotland or Bradford). This stuff isn't written lightly and it is authentic. Clearly there may well be a poem out there where a Liverpool fan who saved lives, or a life gets pissed off with an ambulance man. That poem is for someone else to write.

Comment is about 'Airways, Breathing, Circulation' by Peter Knaggs is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Really like this short piece elPintor!

(is that a typo in line 6 an/on etc?)

Keep posting! Well done.


Graham

Comment is about prod and projection (blog)

Original item by nunya

The very fact that this poem has been voted Poem of the Week is meritous in itself surely?

Comment is about 'Airways, Breathing, Circulation' by Peter Knaggs is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Fair enough Ken. What was your poem of the week?

Comment is about 'Airways, Breathing, Circulation' by Peter Knaggs is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

The voice in the poem is of an heroic ambulance man at Hillsborough.

Tommy points out the verdict of the enquiry was that the ambulance guys were not very heroic.

So, while it might be a lovely poem, and as a reader you get a fantastic sense of the writer in his mind's eye - the fella from the newsreel in his St John's outfit rushing toward terraces - this is not the visceral [nor the authentic] poem that the total vindication of the fans demands...

- wonderful eloquence none the less, celebrate voice, creativity, perspective...of Peter, thank you Peter for making me think.

Comment is about 'Airways, Breathing, Circulation' by Peter Knaggs is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

When you say that trade is less of a problem than it's likely effects, the problem for me, MC, is that we don't know those effects. I know what I'll get if we stay, I don't know what I'll get (and nor does anybody else) if we leave.

Comment is about SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GO? (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Buttoned Lips

Slipping out the back door
bedroom curtains open she looks
quick goodbye wave he leaves.

Concerned third party sees everything
as unsuspecting husband returns later
coming home for his tea.

Before long it is time
joining them with lips buttoned
while dropping off two grandchildren.

The theme for Monday night is - - - looking through other people's eyes.

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

Original item by Greg Freeman

Cool and untouchable - - - the advert reads.

Comment is about Wongel (blog)

Original item by Nicola Hulme

The aspect of "trade" seems a worry beyond its likely
effects. In the EU (just 1 of 28) we're subject to the
EU's controls. Outside the EU we could resume our seat
on the World Trade Organisation. The world awaits.
Ken - being a sad anti-social with conifers is surely
better than being a con artist set on acquiring the
possessions of a neighbour to gain benefit and control of all they have worked for and achieved over so many years.

Comment is about SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GO? (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Tommy, i don't need to read any facts, i know what went on, i had three mates there, i've been a Liverpool fan for over 40 years and would be the first to cling to the throat of anybody who even attempted to point the finger at them. It's a good poem, a great poem, the site needs 'em.

Comment is about 'Airways, Breathing, Circulation' by Peter Knaggs is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Tommy, I'm sure the poet is not trying to belittle the efforts of fans or 'big up' those of ambulancemen on that terrible day. It's a poem that seems to be trying to capture some of the horror of the moment; it doesn't attempt to be a transcript of the Hillsborough inquest evidence. It doesn't specifically identify whether the emergency worker is a regular ambulanceman - maybe he is - or a St John's volunteer. For what it's worth, I found this on the internet http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/nine-heroes-day-hillsborough-disaster-11214743 in which the coroner paid tribute to the efforts of at least one St Johns volunteer. In its report the Echo says: "St John Ambulance volunteer Philip Saxton was the first person to go into the pens to respond to the emergency ... He cleared the airway of 67-year-old Gerard Baron through the mesh fencing and removed his false teeth ... After he finished his evidence, coroner Sir John Goldring said: “Thank you very much indeed, Mr Saxton. Nobody could have done more.” I take the poem to be an attempt to imagine what it was like to be there, and an attempt at empathy. Some will say it succeeds; others that it fails. For those that weren't there, it is certainly very hard to imagine what it was like.

Comment is about 'Airways, Breathing, Circulation' by Peter Knaggs is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Lovely poem 'sleepless ....' and thank you for welcoming me to WOL.

Comment is about Martin Elder (poet profile)

Original item by Martin Elder

Thank you for commenting and also for your advice. That is just the most recent one i have written but i have a folder full that i have gathered over the years! Abit nervous to put them on here though lol... :)

Comment is about Phillip Kelly (poet profile)

Original item by Phillip Kelly

"Last week’s proceedings at Warrington, the offspring of the Hillsborough Independent Panel of 2012 which found that Liverpool fans were in no way responsible for the carnage, were witnessed by some 200 people, numbered among the survivors, the grieving, and activists.

They witnessed coronial proceedings that found that spectators at the match had died of compression asphyxia, a situation compounded by a /CATASTROPHICALLY INADEQUATE RESPONSE from the SOUTH YORKSHIRE METROPOLITAN AMBULANCE SERVICE (my emphasis) and police personnel."


Hey Mike- check the facts. The Ambulance service came under strong criticism just days ago. I sometimes despair at the ignorance of the issues exposed by the recent findings by many members of the public. Ambulance staff stood and WATCHED as untrained Liverpool fans did their best to help.

" The ambulance service's initial response to the Hillsborough disaster was "woefully inadequate", a jury has heard.
Expert paramedic David Whitmore criticised how a senior ambulance officer failed to look into the pens where Liverpool fans were dying. "

Emergency services could have saved up to 58 of the Hillsborough victims if they had responded quicker, it has been revealed.

" ... the Hillsborough Independent Panel said that 41 of the Liverpool fans who lost their lives could have lived if the police and ambulance service response had been better. "

I can supply posters with a vast amount of verified criticisms of the Ambulance service.

Comment is about 'Airways, Breathing, Circulation' by Peter Knaggs is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

cheers for the great comments laura. i thought being a chef would dull me to my love of food but now im out of the kitchens i find my love has grown again. i cook fresh food every day for us, its a labour of love. on tuesday im booking the hotel for our stay in liverpool. dead excited!

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Helloooo :) and thank you for y'note on Mothering Sunday. You'd think once they're gone, you'd be done with it all, but it seems not. At least, not yet, anyway.

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

I really like this. The disjointedness - I recognise it. I can drive myself round the bend sometimes by simply not being able to just do one thing.

Comment is about attention deficit (blog)

Original item by nunya

Moil. Mmmm. Moil. Thanks for new word :D

Great last line - so clever.

Comment is about i am hopeless and you are hopeless and together we have hope (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Ooo this is great too! We once had a gull fly slap bang into our kitchen window, leaving behind a perfect waxy imprint of its whole body, with its head turned to the side. Didn't wash the windows for months after that.

Perfect: the whole room lifted an inch before rushing to the window.

Yes!

Comment is about the jackdaws... (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Love times a million.

I love to cook. For me, it's alchemy, therapy, and all the food I make has love as an ingredient. This is a perfect poem for me. I couldn't boil an egg when I left home at 18, but I taught myself, over long years, and it's a skill that I am very proud of. I wake up mulling over what is in my cupboards, what my body fancies (it will tell you what it wants to eat if you treat it well and listen to it), what else I may need to buy to make this thing that will make us feel so good.

Sorry for epic reply. Love this poem though :D

Comment is about arborio (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Dorinda, our computer is finally up and running again, after nearly a month. Not that I was capable of being on line. I had eye surgery the very next Tuesday after the Stockport event (emergency sort of) and the rest is almost a blur (no pun intended). I am fine, mending well, and amazed at the increased beauty of colour all around me, literally shocked at the shades of my wardrobe, and the brilliance of the pictures and artwork hanging on my walls. I won't have to buy new clothes or paint walls for ten years! My other eye is also scheduled in the near future, so I will have dual clear vision, cataract-free. Yippee!

Like your good self, I am blessed. I knew you were a kindred spirit.

I'm sure Martin will lug Stan's glove around to Sale this May. He's a really nice person, isn't he? And a good writer.

Comment is about Dorinda MacDowell (poet profile)

Original item by Dorinda MacDowell

id love to write a poem together with you......shared collaborative poetry

Comment is about Sian Bird (poet profile)

Original item by Sian Bird

i love this poem and relate to it......this how i felt as teenagerteenager.....love the rhythm and rhyme.....the. themes ...ideas.....emotions are effectively portrayed and conveyed....

constructive criticism....rewrite....edit these 2 lines because rhythm and effect lost a little:

"Nothing has to have happened so don't question me about it
Just know I don't want to be like this one bit"

Comment is about Sian Bird (poet profile)

Original item by Sian Bird

performing? not at the mo Matt,up to my sussies in all that goes with the damnation of diy.

Rose.

Comment is about We're off to Never never land - Paracetamol, cucumber sandwiches and the Lost rent boy (blog)

Original item by Matt

spiritually enlightening piece Jean.Lovely!

P&S.

Comment is about WHERE THE RIVER MEETS THE SEA (blog)

Original item by jean lucy thompson

beautifully descriptive...quite touching as well...once dusk has bruised the pink peach flesh of the day... love it!

Comment is about diner (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Quite often, whenever a poem with 'guts' appears on here people generally have little or nothing to say, so the last two comments don't surprise me. To call it 'an unremarkable commentary' is breathtakingly ignorant and then attacking the character for not saving lives is just bollocks. I despair on here sometimes.

Comment is about 'Airways, Breathing, Circulation' by Peter Knaggs is Poem of the Week (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Thanks for your comments, Ken.
What is refreshing is that the whole debate does not divide along the usual partisan lines.
Ironic that the song is one by The Clash.

Comment is about SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GO? (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Aw, cheers.
Do you perform or just write?

Comment is about We're off to Never never land - Paracetamol, cucumber sandwiches and the Lost rent boy (blog)

Original item by Matt

Thanks for reading and commenting. I do not purposely give short comments but if I feel you have seen the snapshot through the words what else can I say and ask for. Thank you x

Comment is about Cigarette Burns (blog)

Good stuff JC. I'm all for staying in if only for the political stability it brought.

Those for Brexit are to me like those sad antisocial neighbours who surround their properties with giant conifers.

Comment is about SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GO? (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

So can we say with certainty, MC, what the trade arrangement with Europe would be if we left?

Comment is about SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GO? (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

JC - Happy to discuss.
My idea of the future does not find itself at ease with
your own. We have a past to compare it with & I fear
"the hidden axe" when it comes to what is likely to occur
if any "Remain" vote wins and there's no going back about
anything that is precious to us.

Comment is about SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GO? (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Having experienced many elections in my eighty six years, I'm just grateful the human race is a little more civilized these days in the ways of exploitation. The basic principle of creatures eating one another for survival has not and never will change. It's just the way we go about it now.(in the nicest possible way) I throughout my life without exception have never noticed any significant change to the quality of life for the man in the street subsequent to a change of administration no matter the shade. For most
life is too short to notice any of the super, protracted improvements there might have been. "It's Gods fault"

Comment is about Universal Suffrage (blog)

Original item by terry ireland