what a nicely drawn out metaphor. this stands as a fine piece of writing and would be good live methinks. i use to go clubbing a lot and saw these types all the time. i never partook myself as i was a) socially anxious and b) full of drugs. but i can relate to what you are saying.

Comment is about Night fishing (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

thanks ray! i guess i have plenty of reserve to pull on when it comes to my youth. but dont we all i suppose. its just something i find quite easily flows.
glad you enjoyed this one.

Comment is about 11 (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

I love the surgical approach to this poem with the almost sinister overtones.

Comment is about The Cucumber Plot (blog)

Original item by Anna Ghislena

I just love how this unfolds, with questions of how and why as I can only view your inner meaning with curiosity. So many choice lines that I can't name them all!

A real nightmare scenario yet with nostalgia built in. How do you do that?

Thanks by the way about Chalk Pit. Sometimes you can overdo description so I wanted to pull the eye in and leave it wanting more. cheers Ray

Comment is about 11 (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

This interesting poem reminds me of a strong silent type that may seem self contained, and the mirror keeps your secret. Would I be right, or is it not auto biographical Tommy? yours with respect.

Comment is about l stood and stared (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Hello Colin
Glad you like the Airblade. Next time you use one you'll be thinking, "Now do I need to wash my hands again?"

Comment is about THE DYSON AIRBLADE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

whenever I use a Dyson Airblade I always imagine withdrawing my hands and finding just the bones have been left. Must admit your option has crossed my mind too. I'm sure you could get one installed at home and enjoy to your heart's content. Thanks for making me laugh John. For me the poem is the last three lines:

“Am I missing a trick?”

I thought that the Dyson Airblade

Was put there for drying your prick.

Comment is about THE DYSON AIRBLADE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

It is me CBT

Comment is about l stood and stared (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Some lovely lines, Katy, full of fine imagery and internal assonance, to bring to life your thoughts. And they do 'breathe'.

Comment is about Benediction (blog)

Original item by Katy Megan

More tissues needed, Nigel
For a few stray tears
Because
Of your
Kind words.....

(trying to write 'Nigel-style:
Can't do it!!!
It's yours
And yours alone...!...)

D.

Comment is about Stockport WoL (group profile)

Original item by Stockport WoL

A compelling observation, well-considered and constructed. Perhaps it is enough to have the poem, and not the enlarged explanation. Anything remotely 'faith-fixated' will always stir reaction, which is not a bad thing, unless it takes you by surprise. Keep posting.

The other observations here are part of an on-going process of certain persons getting to know each other through their works and diverse comments. Other writers tend to have strong opinions, as you have yours.

Comment is about I can't help to ask (blog)

Original item by Alem Hailu G/Kristos

A very good one, Tommy. That is you in the photo, yes? Or a close relative? Penetrating eyes - aquiline nose - saucy moustache - got to be family.

Comment is about l stood and stared (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

a wedge of fossils pressed into service

in the great death moan of watery time

damn fine.

a snapshot of mere moments enhanced by verbosity unmatched!

hurrah.

Comment is about CHALK PIT (blog)

Original item by ray pool

I don't know what part of the downs you were thinking about Ray but you reminded me of times as a child playing in the chalk pits just north of Worthing and long climbs up to Chanctonbury Ring - the hard way not the easy track the adults used to take - piling into my friend's parent's VW Beetle, so many of us, no seat belts - swinging on the ropes hung from the trees and hiding under their overhanging roots. Gosh, thanks for bringing back those lovely memories Ray - poetry works for me when that happens.

Comment is about CHALK PIT (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Thank you, Huw. Though I do exaggerate the reality of my writings quite often, there is some truth behind them as well, at times. I do try to keep most of them as just insights for enlightenment or stories, But once in a while, I do have my moments where I write one a little more depressing.

Comment is about You can keep my Heart, just go. (blog)

Original item by Eric Berard

I followed you from my post to your site and reread a post and found the date 21 October 2009! ...and your original work has been deleted. Let me know where you have hidden it Nichola, I've been a long time searching... Tommy

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

Original item by Nicky Burrows

Thanks Mark for comments on The Miner....
Glad you liked the style - it's a challenge to keep to simple rhyme but hopefully it has an impact.

cheers. Ray

Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

thanks for comments Stu about The Miner... I enjoyed doing this one and researched the location for accuracy. You get a real feel of life in the raw in that part of the world, albeit now a surfer's and walkers world.
Glad you enjoyed it. Ray

Comment is about Stuart Buck (poet profile)

Original item by Stuart Buck

A joy to read - imagery piling up and going down below with time . powerful and riveting. Great use of imagination. Enviable from the e-pen of Stu.

Ray

Comment is about sherlock (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Cynthia,
Thanks for the spot...(fixed it)...and causing me to look at it again.

And realise that - in my anxiety to do it as a kind of blank verse sonnet - thing I`ve probably done the theme a diservice.

I was trying to get a male flesh-feel into a tempting thing but missed out the idea of betrayal.

when this cold-bug goes I might try it again (if I can) in a looser form.

Sorry for going on a bit...but you made me think...thanks.

Comment is about Resisting a beginning (blog)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

Thanks Cynthia. Good to talk with you M.C.

Comment is about How To Be A Denier (blog)

Original item by Tim Ellis

lovely intro jim, good to see you found your way here...this cyber tramping is easier on the pocket!! daz

Comment is about Tramping Artisan (poet profile)

Original item by Tramping Artisan

cheers guys and thank you - this was a quick splurge of a thought served with a soupcon of irony. !

Comment is about TREES (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Major topic, and brilliantly put, entertaining in its forceful message.

Comment is about How To Be A Denier (blog)

Original item by Tim Ellis

Thanks Tim. Looked up and commented on via your
profile page.
Cheers...

Comment is about How To Be A Denier (blog)

Original item by Tim Ellis

Hello Tim - many thanks for the reference to the Wikipedia/IPCC entry relating to climate change.
Prevention is always better than cure and I hope that
cross border efforts to reduce any deleterious effects
on the climate will contribute to the future health of
the precious environment - who wouldn't?
The IPCC is a "scientific intergovernmental body" (under
the auspices of the UN) and has worked towards being
less likely to be interfered with politically (as was noted
with the Bush Administration in the USA a while back).
That has to be a good thing.
I noted the uniformity of the usage - from its members
and contributors - of words "like "deforestation" for
example. My mention of the report that MORE trees
than ever were now to be found on Earth goes towards
negating the effects of an oft-stated cause of global
warming - hurrah! There is also the recommendation
(from 2010) that the IPCC modify itself with the caveat
that it did not do its own research but relied upon
reports from lists of researchers prepared by governments and participating organisations.
Ultimately tho', it makes total sense for the world to
understand the harmful downside of human activity
on our planet and limit it at every opportunity, but
there also has to be an acknowledgement of the part
solar activity plays in this scenario. That is no minor
"supporting" part but a leading role in producing a
healthy profitable run of "Life on Earth".

Comment is about Tim Ellis (poet profile)

Original item by Tim Ellis

A pleasure - and refreshing - to read a story in rhyme,
There are a couple of lines I would query but the overall
effect of an old style ballad is very enjoyable.

Comment is about A MINER'S RETURN HOME (blog)

Original item by ray pool

I quite agree M.C. There is in fact such an impartial body in existence - The IPCC was set up by by the UN in 1988 precisely to evaluate all the scientific evidence in the way you describe. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergovernmental_Panel_on_Climate_Change Their most recent schedule of fully evaluated findings is the one summarised in the link I posted in my previous reply. I do hope you will read it.

Comment is about How To Be A Denier (blog)

Original item by Tim Ellis

Tim - I appreciate the measured tone of your reply.
I have always taken the view that any important
subject deserves a rigorous and fearless examination -
especially one so well-known and widely promoted as
"climate change(global warming)". The problem is that
there have been strongly opposing views and the subject
has achieved something of a "religious status" whereby
it is heresy to question its existence/teaching. I spent a
working life in public service and know all too well of the
belief that if something is SAID to be often enough, then, ergo - it MUST be. I have no problem querying this
state of affairs and would love some impartial body far
removed from the subject to produce a time and evidence "schedule" of fully evaluated findings - right up to date - for public consideration and consumption.
For every David Attenborough, there seems to be a
David Bellamy and the confusion is palpable and in no
one's interest in a global world when there is even belief
that it is being "engineered" to prevent the development
of an increasingly powerful/resentful third world.
Cheers

Comment is about How To Be A Denier (blog)

Original item by Tim Ellis

Pure poetry-reading it I felt as if I was walking along behind that miner and witnessing the whole scenario: and if a poem can draw the reader in like that from the first verse and carry them through to the end it is, to me, pure poetry.

Comment is about A MINER'S RETURN HOME (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Thank you Greg Freeman and Ledger de la Bald. Thank you also M.C.Newberry - you're comments are welcome, and you are quite right to say this is an issue that has grounds for discussion. I have been trying to discuss it with anybody that would listen for about 30 years now! But what the world needs more urgently than discussion now is action! (See my previous blog entry) I guess I should be flattered that you have followed my instructions in this poem so diligently, but I recommend you acquaint yourself with the current science before you say any more. There is a good summary of the most recent IPCC report here http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/AR5_SYR_FINAL_SPM.pdf If you don't have time to read it all, the Met Office, the BBC and NASA all have good information on climate science which I can recommend.

Comment is about How To Be A Denier (blog)

Original item by Tim Ellis

Regardless of whether a certain commenter is under the impression that this poem may be aimed at him personally, or the issues that it raises, I'd just like to say what a pleasure it is to see such a well-crafted work on Write Out Loud, Tim. Roger McGough might appreciate the fact that it rhymes, too. And that's my last word on the subject!

Comment is about How To Be A Denier (blog)

Original item by Tim Ellis

A person with the luxury of waiting in bus queues and worrying about mobiles etc can be depressed but someone will say something- and it will be a lot more than "you can take no more".

Comment is about Every Mobile is on Silent (blog)

Original item by David R Mellor

I agree- great stuff! Like an old ballad.

Comment is about A MINER'S RETURN HOME (blog)

Original item by ray pool

brevity is this poems friend. saying so much in so few words is a gift!

Comment is about TREES (blog)

Original item by ray pool

great stuff ray! i'm getting hints of the sirens, fairport convention (again), wonderful atmosphere that reminds me of conan doyle (especially baskervilles), all sorts of wistful doom and gloom. great. i love it.

Comment is about A MINER'S RETURN HOME (blog)

Original item by ray pool

"Inconvenient facts" can be a two-way street and we need to accept that when expressing a point of view.
Consider the following - from the Sunday Telegraph back in 2007 on mankind's effect on the climate...especially
when it was reported that "the temperature rise at the
beginning of the 20th century (prior to 1940 when
human emissions of CO2 were relatively insignificant)
was as great - most graphs show greater - than the
temperature rise at the end of the century". The item
continues:
"No one any longer seriously doubts the link between
solar activity and temperature in earth's climate history.
During the post-war economic boom, while industrial
emissions of CO2 went up, the temperature went down
(hence the great global-cooling scare in the 1970s).
<N.B. WOL readers would need to be circa pensionable
age to recall that far back with any degree of understanding of the subject>.
Why? They say maybe the cooling was caused by SO2 (sulphur dioxide) produced by industry. Thanks to China
and the rest, SO2 levels are far, far higher now than they
were back then. Why isn't it perishing cold? Too many
journalists and scientists have built their careers on the
global warming alarm. Certain newspapers have staked
their reputation on it. The death of this theory will be
painful and ugly. But it will die. Because it is wrong,
wrong, wrong."
Strong stuff! Hence the sense in approaching such an
emotive subject with considered impartiality and
properly substantiated information across the spectrum
of "for" and "against" to be sure of achieving a BALANCE
of expense and effect in dealing with the situation.
Who would press for anything less with so much held
to be at risk?

Comment is about How To Be A Denier (blog)

Original item by Tim Ellis

thanks Cynthia for taking the time to comment and thought provoking . i can only write what comes to the mind or spirit

thanks again

Comment is about This is a Holy Death (blog)

Original item by David R Mellor

A true "busman's holiday", Ledge.
I was a little saddened that nouveau political correctness seemed to have afflicted the "battleships in the park" as the announcer no longer refers to the "Germans" but it's now just the "enemy". What stuff and nonsense; they shouldn't have shelled the town in the First World War.

Comment is about SCARBADOS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

I hear that the locals refer to their town as 'West Yorkshire By The Sea'.

Comment is about SCARBADOS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Well put Tim.

Comment is about How To Be A Denier (blog)

Original item by Tim Ellis

Hahaha, thank you very much :) I'm liking a lot of the other pieces on here as well, it's nice to see more people who write

Comment is about Be as water flows (blog)

Original item by Eric Berard

Bahahaha that would be a little bit different

Comment is about Giving light to those who need a brighter day. (blog)

Original item by Eric Berard

Hi MC
Thanks for taking the time to comment on Penalised.
I am an Englishman living in Scotland, and got (and still getting) tired of listening (local TV) to the moans. Apart from anything else, Oz scored 5 tries to 3, which I've always believed was what rugby was supposed to be about.

Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Hello Harry and Ledger.
I am a bit cruel to Scarborough where we spend a number of weekends every year.

Comment is about SCARBADOS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks for your comment Huw. My aim with this was to highlight man's vanity in trying to control nature for his own purposes chiefly, yet short of genetic engineering has not bettered the "divine plan" which was perfectly in place without his interference. Obviously a contentious issue.
I think it works on an ironic level and can't quite see how it doesn't all fit together!!

Incidentally, I followed up Tea cosy Pete and was very moved by the man and how he brought light into people's lives - it must have been nice to know him even in his reduced state. Its funny how lives can turn on a rejection..... Thanks again. Ray

Comment is about TREES (blog)

Original item by ray pool

This may be timed as a reply to my Samuel Pepys
extracts in my recent little poem. Certainly, there are
grounds for healthy "for and against" discussion.
The origins go back a long way to be sure. I recall a
French source attacking the promotion of CFCs as the
cause of damage to the ozone layer - and cited very
plausible backers in the commercial world for pushing
this policy for financial/development gains. The ozone
"hole" was as far away from human industrial activity
as was possible in this world - and no mention was made
of the high rate of volcanic activity thereabouts.
And the massive pollutant output from the 19th century
Industrial Revolution seems to have passed by without
blame or comment.
On the plus side, today we have more trees - the great
absorbers of pollution - than ever before (very recently
reported in a global survey...don't ask me how they
did that but science can be a wonderful thing!) - AND
it's been reported that the ice shelf is thicker than previously assessed. Who knows what to think?
So - basically, this is not a clear cut issue by any
means. Let us BE alert and confine pollution by all means
possible whilst acknowledging that the world is an ever
evolving reality employing devices far beyond our own
effects (and knowledge) over the long (very) term.
Being a fervent "believer" can be as misguided as
being a fervent "denier".

Comment is about How To Be A Denier (blog)

Original item by Tim Ellis

Now then John, we went to Scarborough yesterday and it was very nice. Except for the fact I had to take out a fucking mortgage to park the fucking car!

Comment is about SCARBADOS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Good one, Harry. It packs a lot of punch.

Stick another 'n' in 'beginning' (since it's right up-front.) Just a typo, I'm sure.

Comment is about Resisting a beginning (blog)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

John,
John, absolutely true!

(But - pssst - don`t tell Yvonne I said so)

Comment is about SCARBADOS (blog)

Original item by John Coopey