Thanks for coming along Greg and for the early morning review. Much appreciated. The after show discussion on Wednesday went really well and it was good that Dave and Kieran from PUSH Recovery Community were there.

Looking forward to seeing you for John Agard's Roll Over Atlantic at The Square Tower.

Comment is about Multimedia and the message: Zones of Avoidance brings home unavoidable truths (article)

Fucking good little poem Tommy.

Comment is about **** *** ******* (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Hi Ray - I like your interpretation although I have to confess the holiday purchase was imagined - I have no idea where the little perpetual desk calendar came from beyond the fact that it's been in the family for as long as I can remember - but it's one of those delightful ornaments that might well have been purchased on a whim in Brixham or Torquay or somewhere else.

My auntie in Australia once sent me table place mats for Christmas - pictures of Australian wild flowers printed in China on Polish linen and posted to England - how shit travels these days.

Comment is about perpetual desk calendar (blog)

What makes this so interesting for me Colin is the purchase being made on holiday, as if to mark the event and thereby somehow extra important. I think that alone means you have to honour it!
There used to be shell boxes, ashtrays with lighthouses; and most strange of all, when I worked in Blackpool, a miniature metal Blackpool Tower , underneath marked "made in China."

Comment is about perpetual desk calendar (blog)

meh

Comment is about perpetual desk calendar (blog)

this is wonderful. mixing nostalgia with repression and anger. a tough subject dealt with beautifully with subtlety and touches of humour. and i remember teasels sprayed silver as well. i use to put googly eyes on them and pretend they were hedgehogs. northern Christmases!

Comment is about Perspective (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Thank you for your comment on Nodding Bitch and you have given me some food for thought. Apologies for the late reply. Thanks again for reading.

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

More words of wisdom, more questions to ponder, from this
thoughtful stimulating source.
The medical profession is a source of huge relief and
comfort to countless sufferers from life's physical and
mental woes but it is certainly not perfect and needs to
keep an open mind towards change and other treatments
that passing time makes available. How gratifying that
reports of newly found treatments and variations on
previously discovered antidotes are being seen so often
these days. This is an exciting time in so many ways in
the approach to relieving pain and disease. There may
be justification in the attacks on perceived profiteering
by pharmaceutical companies but research and proven
useful outcomes do not come cheaply even in a global
world and sensible government oversight and control
would not go amiss.
The evasion by "authority" in offering proper financial and
social support to the victims of its policies is to be
deplored and corrected at every opportunity. It should
NOT be left to the charitable organisations to shoulder
this burden alone. Our taxes represent money available
to government to take this sort of action in support of
those who serve us in the face of danger and injury in theatres of conflict and disease.

Comment is about An Evolution of Attitude (blog)

Original item by Noetic-fret!

Many thanks Ray :) I really enjoyed writing it :)

Ooo yes, we will! Just got a great big log from another local park t'other night :D

Comment is about Perspective (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

New diseases invented around me...I like that line. Its true though. Enjoy it.

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

Original item by Jojomon

Hi Laura. I just delved into Perspective. Bowled over I was by the sheer beauty of imagery and the way you hammer in the emotion with the words. No way out, compelling. Now I am pleased that you like at least one of my efforts ! All the best in the darkling days to come with logs and fella. regards, Ray

Comment is about Perspective (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Thanks, Stu . Your observations are always perceptive and intelligent and you peel back the layers . This was a very direct reference to a dear friend and written in a genuine state of guilt. What more can you do ?

all the best with the submission by the way.

Comment is about Stuart Buck (poet profile)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Thanks, Stu . Your observations are always perceptive and intelligent and you peel back the layers . This was a very direct reference to a dear friend and written in a genuine state of guilt. What more can you do ?

all the best with the submission by the way.

Comment is about Stuart Buck (poet profile)

Original item by Stuart Buck

i like this. its remorseful and cynical and darkly humorous. good use of repetition and its a nice take on the usual 'all my friends are dying' shtick that a lot of people pull out.

Comment is about DON'T WE ALL (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Thank you Attila - I thought it was just me who hated the "teacup class" pretentious poets but I'm not alone. You've inspired me to revisit a stage somewhere near me ASAP and rant a wee bit. By the way, heard you read Never Too Late on Steve Lamacq's 6 Music show last week and it was lump-in-throat inducing.

Comment is about 'Poetry books will sell if people can relate to what you are writing': Attila the Stockbroker (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

strange fruit indeed. always holidays version for me, never simone (although she has her merits). i was going for an off colour nursery rhyme so clearly i succeeded in some way. also, it rhymes. its only two lines but still. thats good for me! thanks david, im glad you took so much from it!

Comment is about Orchard (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

hello. for some reason WOL isnt telling me when people comment on my poems. annoying. anyway, thanks for the comments. sins of thy father indeed. all seems so cyclical and unescapable.

Comment is about incarnartion (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

HI Martin, I'd like to say that you've sussed this subject out perfectly ! I'm afraid with the atmosphere of such bars I've always felt a bit vulnerable in and have to resort to bullshit to get by. Luckily as I've got older it doesn't matter so much!
Great poem.
Thank you for comments on On the open plain. Just a moment of time spreading out.

Comment is about Down the pub (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

very effective , and has an almost detached feel , quite disconcerting - perhaps like children's stories that are sometimes full of menace.

Comment is about Orchard (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Thanks for your comments Laura. You are right about the Typo Cheers.

Comment is about We (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Thanks for clearing that up Nigel. Are there any copies of your movie available.

Comment is about Martin Elder (poet profile)

Original item by Martin Elder

I love the way that this character is leaving it all behind and thinking about what's to come. Nice one

Comment is about ON THE OPEN PLAIN (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Nice poem Andy. I particularly like criss-crossing into brutal rhythms

Comment is about International Exiles (blog)

Original item by Andy N

crikey Stu, straight to the point this one. I think that is why I like it. it also appeals to my melancholic side.

Comment is about Orchard (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Not so much a haze of marijuana smoke, more clouds of steam, eh, chaps?

Comment is about Berrylands (blog)

Original item by Greg Freeman

just to say thanks for your liking of On the High Plains!

It was a dream in the sense that there is the hope of something dreamlike unable to be confirmed; but I twisted that line into a trap for the mind!!

regards Ray

Comment is about Jacqueline Phillips (poet profile)

Original item by Jacqueline Phillips

A harrowing poem but it does give me, in some ways, more faith in the human race when I read poetry such as this, as it speaks of the the empathy and sorrow so many people are feeling when they see those news reports about those oh so desperate people.

Comment is about International Exiles (blog)

Original item by Andy N

This poem, to me, reads as though it takes place in a dream despite the line which seems to say it is too real to be so. I have had some very realistic dreams though so perhaps that's just me. I enjoyed reading it, thanks.

Comment is about ON THE OPEN PLAIN (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Nigel beat me to it with this but the pictures are here. i put it on my blog here but forgot to post it here

http://onewriterandhispc.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/write-out-loud-stockport-enchantment.html

next theme is shadows isn't it?

Comment is about Stockport WoL (group profile)

Original item by Stockport WoL

Hi Greg. As you know I love railways; I lived in Surbiton for fifteen years. Berrylands was tucked away - if I'm right it had wooden platforms up in the air from the station entrance. I used to watch the namers at Weybridge further down the line. Got some B & W prints of the period I took with the old pentax. Blah blah, could go on all night. Ray

Comment is about Berrylands (blog)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Ian, lovely poem. Without going into the whys or wherefores of the political slurry it tells a compelling tale and stands upright as a defence of honest labour. The whole ethos of lives dedicated to the cause of Great Britain has been airbrushed by multinational corporations from skyscrapers.
May I suggest an alternative : "what once was present becomes THE past," to make the line scan?
humbly yours. Ray

Comment is about On The Slag Heap (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

my kinda poem Ray - thumbs up from this high plains drifter all the way.

Comment is about ON THE OPEN PLAIN (blog)

Original item by ray pool

I write a lot of things recently to be read or performed by people a great deal better than me. I'll give it a go and put it up.. Problay tinnite. Only if you do something similar. Deal?

Comment is about Stuart Buck (poet profile)

Original item by Stuart Buck

i really think it would benefit from live treatment. the first lines are perfect for a stutter, hiphophian delivery (i'll come to that in a minute!).

My home smells like sour and sweat,
post-partum regret
a quarter century flipped
for the malmanager's bet.

As insulting as this is, imagine eminem rapping this. it would work!?!?!?

hiphophian. meaning (imo) it has a 'flow' like the best hip hop. in that it stumbles nicely off the tongue. i have performed scott peterson to myself in the mirror to see how it sounded and it worked really well.

Comment is about Zach Dafoe (poet profile)

Original item by Zach Dafoe

I could tell you some Tommy as a village milkboy in my early teens!

Comment is about (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

The dedication of those "part-time pioneers" who ensured the survival of steam and the emergence of numerous
preserved lines across the country - crowned by the
superb accomplishment of the building from discarded
plans of "Tornado" - is one of the great success stories
in the UK's recent transport history. I was down in
Victoria SW1 a while ago - occupying a spot near the line
as the recreated Golden Arrow - flags flying - pulled out
of the station behind a Battle of Britain class loco. Great
stuff! Youtube has a wealth of videos that are clearly
made with real affection and devotion, and provide
wonderful reminders of how it used to be back in the day
when a Woodbine (a different weed!) was seen emitting its own cloud of smoke in the carriages.

Comment is about Berrylands (blog)

Original item by Greg Freeman

This piece puzzles me somewhat.
Without being rude this reminds me of one of those experimental ideas where a steam of consciousness listing is produced and then worked on to make a viable poem.
There are some incredibly vibrant words/statements here. I'd love to see these re-worked.

Well done by the way!

Comment is about vultures are good people with bad intentions (9/28/2015) (blog)

Original item by Zach Dafoe

Change - that great reminder that time passes and the
world spins on. Am I right when I recall this plant being
foreign-owned...Thai perhaps? In a global world, the
competition is growing and emerging nations with their
cheap eager labour forces will be the beneficiaries. But
"Team GB" has long been skilled at adapting - and GS's
reminder of how Corby has met change is one such
example. In the meantime, it is always the case that the
individual and those dependent on him/her will suffer,
certainly in the shorter term and they should be helped
to move on - with the money our government seems to
find readily enough to send abroad as "aid". Isn't it time
government set up a "Home Aid" programme to cover
such occurrences and their hardships for the local folk?

Comment is about On The Slag Heap (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Morning Greg, I saw this news item!
Are you sure you didn't drop a few dog ends down there many years ago and nature took hold?

Scots Brits and Jubilees, oh! they were indeed the days.

I wish you could have seen the look on my two eldest grandsons' faces when I took them to see "Bittern" the Gresley class that thundered through near here recently.

Pure magic, tear in the eye stuff for more reasons than one.

Comment is about Berrylands (blog)

Original item by Greg Freeman

I think this piece conjures up your desperation well. The repetition works really well.

Comment is about (blog)

Original item by Autumn Jones

As a father of four and now with seven grandchildren I can fully attest to the fact that your life will never be the same again.
Things as you describe are but one of the many miracles that one's children deliver along the road, make sure you capture them all. They are very fleeting!

Comment is about Flutter Kicks (blog)

Original item by Alycia Gonzales

This is really emotional stuff Ian and once again makes one think how politics, economics, fashion, technology, et al, all go towards the irreversible change that takes place everywhere.

I've never lived north of Leicester myself so do not understand the importance that these once great industries had for towns up there.

The nearest I got was living and working in Corby (little Scotland as it was known then) where steel ruled the roost.

Today it still thrives as a technology and communications hub.

Change is incessant, some good some bad!

Comment is about On The Slag Heap (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

I remember that review, Steven...it was complimentary compared to Don Watson's review of my first album 'Ranting At The Nation' in the NME in 1983. He said he'd rather gnaw through his own arm than listen to it again. :)
I use that one on loads of my publicity!

Comment is about 'Poetry books will sell if people can relate to what you are writing': Attila the Stockbroker (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

A bit of context here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34359775

Comment is about Berrylands (blog)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Visitors view this
Art Gallery showpiece.

Five star poetry
Enchantment the theme.

Displayed inside headquarters
Of Stockport W.O.L.

Comment is about Write Out Loud Stockport @ Stockport Art Gallery - Enchantment (blog)

Original item by Andy N

The Poetry of Enchantment

Poem number 11
In The Presence of Peace by Dorina Macdowell

Poem number 17
Redefining Our Past in Saffron by Grey Nicholls

Poem number 16
In The Garden of Enchantment by Nigel Astell

Poem number 15
Lighthouses in the Mist by Andy N

Poem number 12
Winter's Mourn by Martin Elder

All five poems were put on display in The Enchanted Gallery

I shall go down tomorrow and collect them and bring them to our next meeting.

Comment is about Stockport WoL (group profile)

Original item by Stockport WoL

I particularly liked the opening lines to this poem, they really dreally drew me in.

Comment is about vultures are good people with bad intentions (9/28/2015) (blog)

Original item by Zach Dafoe

Beautifully captured and powerful in a way that mummys understand. I loved reading this. Very nice.

Comment is about Flutter Kicks (blog)

Original item by Alycia Gonzales

gmorning stu,

if im honest, I don't perform anything live without having it right in front of me. I have had and always will have a really fleeting, darting sense of concentration and can't even memorize the simplest things. (especially things I've written myself) It's been a really frustrating hurdle for me.

should I recite that Scott Peterson entry? It's pretty easy to do from home, but every time I record I start to hate the sound of my own voice.

EDIT: hiphophian. I like it. What's it mean to you?

Comment is about Stuart Buck (poet profile)

Original item by Stuart Buck

I do regret giving Atilla a bad review of Scornflakes many years ago; I was much younger and far too hard & fast in my views. I think now I'd just not review something I don't really identify with. Although I loved and still love punk music for its energy, I probably love jazz more; and the same with poetry. I just love the weird experimental stuff more...

I never much identified with the tea-cups and railway enthusiasm of Betjemen either so we do have something in common. And John Cooper Clarke too; though again I think Linton Kwesi Johnson was much better, with or without the reggae.

Someone (I can't remember who) said that he had read to thousands at festivals, and I of course have only read at most to a few hundred and usually much less than a hundred. I've never found that level of fame even remotely inviting; which is one of the reasons I've never gone for it. Like Graham I prefer to be read than heard.

But there's enough room in the capacious world of poetry for all sorts, from ranters to rhymers to weird avant gardists like myself.

Comment is about 'Poetry books will sell if people can relate to what you are writing': Attila the Stockbroker (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman