This is brilliant Tim.
I will be giggling for hours. I know someone who has booked a few of these holidays and it sounds like the same travel company... just love it when he returns and tell us all about them. I will have a perma-smile next time he does.

Comment is about C-R-A-P World Holidays (blog)

Original item by Tim Ellis

Very good poem, in its diction, sound, superb imagery and tone.

Is the layout supposed to depict a taut rope dropping straight down the cliff face, and the irregular, related lines the swinging out and in over the cliff irregularities? I have no clue. Would love to know.

Comment is about serenity (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

I'll be pedantic and say that milk swirling in a cup of coffee follows non-linear rules ("chaos theory"), so although it forms patterns, what those patterns will be is neither predetermined nor foreseeable. But it's a good poem and I think it captures well the sense of foreboding that everybody feels as the country prepares for another war.

Comment is about It’s A Funny Thing (blog)

Original item by Tom Harding

In respect of 'Facepest' a friend shared/re-posted your poem 'This will be a re-run' before I saw it here. I have to say it is a most appropriate piece of work which tugged at my heartstings and oozed nostalgia. It then left me with that big personal fight with social conciousness. Superb!

Would love to hear you perform this. Nice one.

Comment is about this will be a re-run (blog)

Original item by steve pottinger

Kaboom! Get in.
Great work Martin. Takes me back to using my big sisters old 'Dansette'... in the days when she would come back and then read my 'horoscope' before getting me grounded by my parents for using it.
Scritch the scratch... sometimes I was that man.

Comment is about Drop the needle (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

This is an extraordinary exercise in physical descriptive writing from a single set spot. The typical collage of activity and personalities in a lobby anywhere. And it gains another dimension of 'mind awareness' in the verse 'He watches -' that extends the obviously visible to the mentally unseen, both spacial and rational. The 'watcher' is still a person with great mental faculties. Perhaps I'm introducing a complexity that's not even there.

But I think the poem is really good.

Comment is about FINAL SCENE (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Thanks Steve. I'd set myself a target of writing 50 sonnets about birds in 2001, one every week as a light, whimsical celebration of nature. Then 9/11 happened, and the whole tone of the book changed...

Comment is about This bird (blog)

Original item by Tim Ellis

Steve. Thank you very much for your very kind comment on 'Croc.....' There is nothing like a good 'rant' and that was nothing like one! (Note to self... must get more angry sometimes).

In respect of 'Facepest' a friend shared/re-posted your poem 'This will be a re-run' before I saw it here. I have to say it is a most appropriate piece of work which tugged at my heartstings and oozed nostalgia. It then left me with that big personal fight with social conciousness. Superb!

Comment is about steve pottinger (poet profile)

Original item by steve pottinger

Carol, haven't seen you in ages, like years! Welcome back. Is this poem a repost perhaps? If it is, good for you, because it's using a great subject, and is well-constructed in metre and rhyme.

There is considerable evidence, apparently, that Rosa Parks was a vital part of a major 'plan' and not quite the impulsive 'weary reactionary' popular culture has been led to believe. Either way, she was a very brave woman and a forceful part of 'black liberation'. And she deserves POETRY.

Sorry, if I'm repeating myself.

Comment is about Rosa Parks (blog)

Original item by Carol Falaki

Martin, you have 'come alive' with sound and great imagery to support your ideas. I really enjoyed this. Superb title.

So sorry I missed Sale Waterside in November - a 'big birthday' conflict in the family. I might have arrived, and lasted about an hour - I was that whacked. I judged it better not to go,and seem to be rude. So - we Sale Watersiders have a major problem, don't we? No head honcho! Not good news at all.

Comment is about Drop the needle (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

I always love the winding path of your thought, and its inevitable philosophic depth.

Because this is 'page', take a second and change a typo to 'its golden reel' so that nothing interferes with your impressive imagery.

Comment is about It’s A Funny Thing (blog)

Original item by Tom Harding

What is the point of living if you can't be just plain silly sometimes. Rhetorical question; no answers required. I've had such fun with this - an amazing amount of effort. It's kind of topical this week with the 'intense' media coverage of obesity and the contradictory labelling of packaged goods etc.

Comment is about Cherry Jam (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Thanks Colin. Quite a bit of freedom for description in this format. The twist of fate !

regards Ray

Comment is about FINAL SCENE (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Good poem Ian. A pity the MPs aren't going to listen today.

Comment is about Perhaps... (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Thanks, Martin. :-)

Comment is about this will be a re-run (blog)

Original item by steve pottinger

terrific piece of writing Ray - the detail of the moment and the inevitable moving on. Time is indeed sadly passing us all into oblivion.

Comment is about FINAL SCENE (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Great poem expressing your thoughts and emotions.
You took me on a ride to vinyl city.

Comment is about Drop the needle (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Love this poem!

Comment is about Rosa Parks (blog)

Original item by Carol Falaki

So much wonderful performance poetry can be found in hundreds of events across the country, as can be observed by the WriteOutLoud Gig Guide, which is by no means definitive.
Although the tens of thousands seems a gift horse not to look in the mouth and eschew, it is a shame to award so much to one organisation to the exclusion of all others and their adherents.
London's The Poetry Library has an extensive archive and other libraries up and down the country, including many universities also house such material, and let us not forget the many scores of small press poetry magazines, ezines, pamphlets, etc..
This is a job for Superfan... poetry-wise.

Comment is about Lottery Fund awards grant for spoken word and performance poetry archive (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

this is onomatoperfect, a word i have just created for this poem. all the more pleasurable as i read it moments after booting up my old ferguson turntable and pumping out some prokofiev.

Comment is about Drop the needle (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

This has all the pleasure of a mechanical act with the magic of sound - the demise of a wonderful ritual mercifully brought back to life more recently !
The metre perfectly brings to mind the spinning disc.

Very nice Martin.

Comment is about Drop the needle (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Thanks Martin for your comment on Final Scene. Appreciate it. Ray

Comment is about Martin Elder (poet profile)

Original item by Martin Elder

Yep this just speaks of another less than well thought out plan. Nice one Tommy

Comment is about Bombs away (but what do I care?) (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

I like the memories in this one Steve together with the excellent rhythm you have built up with the flow of words.

Comment is about this will be a re-run (blog)

Original item by steve pottinger

I love the line'feed the fire with our burdens' Nice one smash

Comment is about By the Hearth (blog)

Original item by Smash Lee

I love the skeletal wisp of scurvy grass. Fab Stu

Comment is about serenity (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Nice one Ian. I would definitely like to hear this one live. I can hear the rant already.

Comment is about Perhaps... (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

This really is like the final act in a play. captivating stuff

Comment is about FINAL SCENE (blog)

Original item by ray pool

I look forward to reading your stuff, Stu. This petite offering is a thrill - small like the object it lovingly describes and hence all in proportion. A great format too. Leering moonlight is an added bonus.

Ray.

Comment is about serenity (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

I do like a good rant! Excellent.

Comment is about CROC OF SHIT (blog)

Original item by Daniel Dwyran

I really like this poem, Tim. Must have read it three or four times today, and each time I find something new. Cracking.

Comment is about This bird (blog)

Original item by Tim Ellis

David - I often try to avoid using 'I' because it stands out at the start of a line especially when not using capital letters, which I often don't do either. Just personal preferences at the end of the day. I always think about the way a poem looks on the page. It would be interesting to see this one stripped down a bit - as you say, kick out a few words. I often do that too after a first draft - see how much can be lost - leave just the important words. Sometimes it works and other times I think I end up adding more. I am always happy to go back and change my work - add or take away words - move things around a little. Some people hate to do this but I like to look after my poems and let them grow with time - evolve and adapt - take on new meanings. The whole first person thing got me thinking about my own poems on here and having checked them out I noticed quite a few 'I's. So maybe I'm contradicting myself, who knows! Good luck!

Comment is about This is the modern world ... (blog)

Original item by David Addington

Haha. Thanks Julian. Welcome home.

Comment is about Don't Mention the Children: Michael Rosen, Smokestack (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Thanks Dave.

Comment is about Don't Mention the Children: Michael Rosen, Smokestack (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

"No Heavy Petting"? That sounds ahead of its time when
the world thought everything began with "The Swinging
Sixties".
I'm reminded of that great yesteryear songline -
"You can't go to jail for what you're thinking..."!

Comment is about THE WOOLLY TRUNKS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Hi SP - I think it was the mention of things being
flogged off and bought up by distant (opportunist?)
emerging economies and the concept that the "family
silver" is being sold off for whatever purpose that caused
the flag-waving for what can't, in fact, be bought in the
long term of future generations.

Comment is about comrade osborne and the little red book (blog)

Original item by steve pottinger

Thanks for the comments Martin.

Comment is about Bluff amongst the olives (For Ted Hughes and J.R.Hartley) (blog)

Original item by David Addington

Thanks for the great comments lads Yes I particularly love that line too. Them words of "finger fucking your smartphone" have been with me all year and I was just looking for a place to use them. I tried a song lyric first, but a poem is better. Yes, the title is influenced by the Jam a lot, as I really like Weller's wit and attack on the system back in the 70's. It's a sort of homage to that song and then a continuation of how life has become so shallow. Writing in some way is observation and that is what this is. It's a first draft though as I think I could kick out some words - less is more and perhaps remove the 'I' from it too. I have tried to avoid using first person in my poems, but at times it just feels natural and a lot of new poetry am checking out by others, do tend to lean towards autobiographical. I suppose culturally it is a spin off of the 'me' and 'want it now' culture we now live in.

Comment is about This is the modern world ... (blog)

Original item by David Addington

Thank you for your wonderful comments

Comment is about AN ODE TO MY GRANDDAD... (blog)

Original item by Manasa Krishnan

"Families WILL be killed!" Prime minister Cameron just released

Comment is about Bombs away (but what do I care?) (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

To me this speaks of the helplessness that we all feel in this present situation. Well put Tommy.

Comment is about Bombs away (but what do I care?) (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Another poem from my pamphlet "Speak The Unspeakable", although I first published it in my first collection "Birds of the World in Colour". Written in 2001 or early 2002 it's an expression of anger when Britain and the US invaded Afghanistan and it first dawned on me how the world's reliance on fossil fuels is driving conflict and destroying not only nature, but the lives of some of the world's poorest people.

Speak The Unspeakable is now on the final day of a free promotion on Kindle. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Speak-Unspeakable-words-overheating-world-ebook/dp/B017QBUL7M/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1448973394&sr=1-1&keywords=speak+the+unspeakable

Comment is about This bird (blog)

Original item by Tim Ellis

Thanks Mark. Any diversion is a relief from the dullness.
I don't think pelicans are viewed with much fondness at the best of times (huge at the front) and waddling about in despair.

Blimey, David. I think the unshaven version is worth investigating any month. Seasons and reasons -another poem perhaps! RAy

Comment is about NOVEMBER DAYS (blog)

Original item by ray pool

A sort of automaton existence David in a way. To destroy historical artefacts is a negation of art in a sense, reminding one of the Nazi book burning . Art invites people in, and any cult of idealogy cannot tolerate outsiders I suppose.
Ray

Comment is about WHAT WOULD WE DO IF THE POEMS RAN OUT (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Thanks for your comment, MC. Stirring stuff. I'm not sure it addresses any of the points in the poem, though. Are you sure you posted it in the right place?

Comment is about comrade osborne and the little red book (blog)

Original item by steve pottinger

yep - love it or loath it there's no escape!

I'm with Graham - that whole line is ace.

This is the modern world...The Jam 1977 ?

Comment is about This is the modern world ... (blog)

Original item by David Addington

I suspect as a 1952 Baby Boomer that I probably just avoided rationing. I certainly didn't manage to avoid the knitted woolly trunks.
I was always intrigued by the signs at Bulwell Lido which, among a range of "dont's", read "No Heavy Petting". The chance would have been a fine thing!

Comment is about THE WOOLLY TRUNKS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

What a compelling review, Frances. Michael Rosen going on a facist hunt. We're not scared.

Comment is about Don't Mention the Children: Michael Rosen, Smokestack (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

There's one thing the world can't take from this island
nation: it's enviable (and envied) creative/inventive
genius and its huge "merchant venturer" experience
gained by intrepid souls setting out to trade that genius
to the world in other days and establishing the
reputation of the country as somewhere worth doing
business with. Sure, certain industries have been
taken over by emerging lands with labour costs we can't
match so we have to change and vary our skills to keep
up with a changing marketplace. Any chancellor and his
team need to "keep up with that essential keeping up".
Ask the world of film here in the UK how it has become
so profitable...and it's a fair bet a sensible govt. policy
of support/taxation has been a primary cause of its global success. And there are others. Adaptability is
the secret of success.
"Always look on the bright side of life..."

Comment is about comrade osborne and the little red book (blog)

Original item by steve pottinger

I think of November like an interlude from the cinemas of
my youth - near silence & lights dim until the main feature
(read: "winter" in this case) was due to arrive.
A seagull eating a dead rat reminds me of the report
here in central London of a pelican swallowing a live pigeon
in St James' Park. Nature isn't all David Attenborough and
comforting "Save the (fill in your choice)" charities!

Comment is about NOVEMBER DAYS (blog)

Original item by ray pool