A whole way of life in four lines. Well done Stu.

Comment is about hokey cokey (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

What I hate is the `guilt by association` shit spread over all of us by headline grabbing producers and cameramen all
seeking out and recording all the very worst cases.

They exist, but they are far from the norm...(the norm is really a bit borin`)

Comment is about DIPSO FATSO BINGO ASBO TESCO (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Cynthia,
I was struck by the importance of differential line indentation and typographical change (including one line of emboldening) in this internal, self questioning debate with yourself.

As I was `going over` the idea of reception theory just now and particularly it`s relation to the way so much modern poetry read like significanc...ed excerpts from the novel style of literature it was of partiular interest.

I mean the way we automatically accept the question and answers of two characters as singular conversation with one self...and the help that the shape and density of
what is on the page help us to do this. (In a way we sort of `vocalise` the poem by giving it a material texture). I think the experience of novel reading helps us to recognise when this is being done.

The core of the thing is - to me - about freedom...and the
crucial word that is missing is that ``much mentioned` word choice.

Freedom means freedom to choose, and - I think - the poem has sussed out that choice can involve chains.

If I`m wrong just ignore me...but for Pete`s sake don`t bury the bloody thing :)

Comment is about The Velvet Conversation (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Hi M.C.
Merely wanted to thank you for taking the time to read and comment on 'Dave's Last Stand'
I've just moved up to Scotland, which perhaps influenced the poem, which is, as noted in the title, Part 7 of what started out (3 years or so ago) as a single piece that developed into a trilogy, and so it goes.
None of the content is necessarily my belief, but just the way I see the Bastards at work in my world.

If you should ever be so bored, the first 6 parts of the trilogy appear in my profile

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Thank you that is the beef!

Comment is about Think before you ink! (blog)

Original item by Alem Hailu G/Kristos

Your knowledge of the KKK does you credit, and it is a tricky idea to put a poem to it - but it was as brief as I could make it with impact, I hope. Thanks for the reference to the film - I will check that. I did see a pretty poor documentary recently on one family in the KKK and they tried to play the whole anti black thing down!

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Hi Ray, l have read your post re Vertices lll and am considering a suitable reply. :-)

Comment is about ray pool (poet profile)

Original item by ray pool

Good shooting Tommy! Ledger

Comment is about Lactose intolerant (blog)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Nice one Stu. A neat and succinct piece. I love the title as well.

Comment is about qwerty (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

A good point. Never commit to something impossible to
remove or change - with the exception of love!

Comment is about Think before you ink! (blog)

Original item by Alem Hailu G/Kristos

The origins of the KKK are based in post-Civil War America
when the defeated South faced turmoil and depredations
from lawless mobs including carpetbaggers and their
like, and the fear of the recently emancipated slaves whose
legions found liberty but not food and a future, and were
beyond the control of despised & disregarded "authority".
The Griffith film classic "Birth of a Nation" gives an
uncomfortable (to modern eyes) portrayal of the KKK.
The later manifestations of this organisation became a
byword for hate and brutality...like others (IRA?) who used
their "cause" to inflict unimaginable suffering and misery
on others they saw as a threat.

Comment is about KU KLUX KLAN (blog)

Original item by ray pool

thanks for the comments on 'a day in the life ' Martin - and, yes, it's pencilled in to add to the rants :-) - sorry for delay in replying - been in catch up mode for a month!

Comment is about Martin Elder (poet profile)

Original item by Martin Elder

thanks for the comments on 'a day in the life ' MC - sorry for delay in replying - been in catch up mode for a month!

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

thanks for the comments on 'a day in the life ' Aly - sorry for delay in replying - been in catch up mode for a month!

Comment is about Aly Hatcher (poet profile)

Original item by Aly Hatcher

thanks for the comments on 'a day in the life Laura' - sorry for delay in replying - been in catch up mode for a month!

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

We're all already in tune
(no I'm not being absurd!)
With our quite beautifully shared
Love of written and voiced word....

Comment is about Dorinda MacDowell (poet profile)

Original item by Dorinda MacDowell

Thanks Steven, must admit it was accidental, something to do with the dots between the words joining everything up and confusing WOL's software. I was actually trying to justify the text but I quite like this way too.

Comment is about ...come.venture.out... (blog)

Rather like this. I like the one long line-ness of it.

Comment is about ...come.venture.out... (blog)

sav babycake

Comment is about My Love (blog)

my savy

Comment is about My Savy (blog)

gay.

Comment is about (blog)

Aren't you so cute, for me?

Comment is about You & I (blog)

Hello Starfish,
Not seen you on here for a while. You going to start posting again?
Thanks for commenting on this. Happy to have tickled your fancy.

Comment is about THE VERGER AND THE MAGISTRATE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks for making me laugh. You look like an extra in Harry Potter.

Comment is about THE VERGER AND THE MAGISTRATE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

What a fitting tribute to a lovely lady.

Comment is about Cilla (blog)

Original item by hugh

thanks guys.

david - not far off at all. pursuit of wealth, worshipping of false idols, destruction of nature, the self harm of fitting in, the escapism. all themes ive tried to touch on after watching the lego movie, which is about all that. im not joking either, its actually a really clever story.

cynthia - i am glad you find it thought provoking, thats what i hoped. asian history is indeed fascinating. i used to love origami and kirigami, very relaxing.

Comment is about kirigami (blog)

Original item by Stuart Buck

This is great. the angry side of your writing reminds me a lot of john darnielle's lyrics for the mountain goats, specifically the songs on tallahassee. he has the same rage and hatred but he (like you) filter it through the mundanities of relationships and the little details of life. if you only listen to one song (assuming you dont know him, which you may) listen to oceanographers choice. its the breakdown of a relationship in 3 minutes and the lyrics are brilliant.

Comment is about motel (8/23/2015) (blog)

Original item by Zach Dafoe

locked inside your dark castle dungeon
even when saying you are happy
inside poetry you desperately seek the key
and the lover who holds it.

Comment is about Epitaph (blog)

Original item by Katy Megan

Hi Dorinda

We shall have to find out who has the first Aid Box just in case someone does a dead boring poem and we need some smelling salts!

Glad you are o .k and we are all just glad you are in good health and can come each time!

The theme for next time is jazz so a few musical lines and we shall get in tune!

Comment is about Dorinda MacDowell (poet profile)

Original item by Dorinda MacDowell

Hi Dorinda

We shall have to find out who has the first Aid Box just in case someone does a dead boring poem and we need some smelling salts!

Glad you are o .k and we are all just glad you are in good health and can come each time!

The theme for next time is jazz so a few musical lines and we shall get in tune!

Comment is about Dorinda MacDowell (poet profile)

Original item by Dorinda MacDowell

I can sympathise with anyone of whatever sex who feels
trapped by a body image they cannot identify with or -
worse - actively hate under social pressures. Reports of
young girls suffering - sometimes drastically and dangerously so - from anorexia, represent extreme examples...worrying indeed.
The climactic progression of this blog works well enough
and we are spared a tragic conclusion (which I half- expected).
I was taken back to the male body types I learnt about
when using weights as a teenager: ectomorph, endomorph & mesomorph. These governed possibilities of body-change and development and were the basis
for individual progress.
I had that advantage of knowledge and advice to
keep the mental attitude on the level and knew my
own limitations to my advantage. Sadly, it may be
that many of the opposite sex are affected by false goals and advice, or LACK thereof, at a similar
vulnerable age.

Comment is about A Fat Little Girl (blog)

Harry - I wasn't aware of the very high percentage of the
parliamentary graduates you mention. Certainly not in
the interest of a diverse background of humanity in the
seat of government (courtesy, of course, of the EU).

Comment is about Corbyn and and the death of Marx? (blog)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

Continuing the enjoyment of being taken on a trip - with
an ear tuned to the gossip - of a hot lethargic sort in
which time loses its grip and fades before the enduring
appeal of a tale well told and the promise of more to come.

Comment is about Paxos (end) (blog)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

m.c.
Years ago, when I was a right wing member of the Liverpool Trades Council and Labour Party executive I was a delegate to the Lancashire branch with Eric Heffer and Eddie Loyden, Both to become M. Ps later. neither they nor most of the the other Labour M.P.s had a university education.

89% of the 2015 parliamentary intake are graduates.

Seems a bit top heavy for me.

I like all that left wing rhetoric because it seems a bit more (sorry about this folks) Christian than all that Tory stuff.

Comment is about Corbyn and and the death of Marx? (blog)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

An Interesting prosaic-style progressive account of what is really a tale of the beginning of, and battle against a psychological situation.

The sense of it is clear and well put in relatively short temporal terms.

The form of it made me wonder if the developing sense could be aided by the volume of text in each section grew
larger and larger (with the individual words relating to obesity emboldened (or `giantised`)...until the partly
recovering final section, when that final sentence could
be made `hugely` threatening?

Typographical form is not the absolute essence of poetry but I feel that - in a poem like this - it could be a very useful (and modern) help.

(or is it me just going off again about shape?)

Good, clear affective account.

Comment is about A Fat Little Girl (blog)

One old adage that never loses its meaning is: The road to
hell is paved with good intentions. This includes politics and crosses party lines. The inhabitants of Parliament
come from the general population and can be as varied as
Dennis Skinner & George Osborne. The worst trait found
is when party comes before country and political dogma
before people's welfare. These days, perhaps it is more
accurate to vary Lincoln's famous words by putting
"satisfy" in place of "fool" when addressing the question
of people - all or some of the time.
The original post from Harry reminded me of the lines in
numerous Western films of my youth: "I don't like it...it's
too quiet".

Comment is about Corbyn and and the death of Marx? (blog)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

Hiya Stu - sorry for the delay, busy weekend! Thank you so much :)

I think it's amazing that you've pulled all that out of the pieces. Isn't interpretation a wonderful thing?

It doesn't seem wrong to say 'well done' at all - you know why? Because although you may see me as an 'established poet', each new poem is in no way guaranteed to work, or be any good at all. I approach each one with nervous anticipation. I never really know if they'll be any good until I reach a certain point with them, the internal tickle that says 'oh yehhh, now that feels good'. Until that point it's still a thousand lines of shit :D

Nice one on the gig!! Get you eh - singing!

Comment is about Stuart Buck (poet profile)

Original item by Stuart Buck

Hiya Stu - sorry for the delay, busy weekend! Thank you so much :)

I think it's amazing that you've pulled all that out of the pieces. Isn't interpretation a wonderful thing?

It doesn't seem wrong to say 'well done' at all - you know why? Because although you may see me as an 'established poet', each new poem is in no way guaranteed to work, or be any good at all. I approach each one with nervous anticipation. I never really know if they'll be any good until I reach a certain point with them, the internal tickle that says 'oh yehhh, now that feels good'. Until that point it's still a thousand lines of shit :D

Nice one on the gig!! Get you eh - singing!

Comment is about Tableau 4: The Melting of the Ice (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Ha - now you REALLY got it Steve! I ALMOST used the actual words 'crescendo' and 'diminuendo' but they seemed ultimately too clumsy and obvious, so I tried to build it a different way and it pleases me like you wouldn't believe that it worked, that you felt it.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment - your opinion means an awful lot to me, as I think you're a brilliant writer.

Comment is about Tableau 3: Tempest (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Cheers Steve :)

Comment is about Tableau 2: Night of Years (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Hi Steve

Yeh, you got it. Thank you for reading and your kind words.

Comment is about Tableau 1: Return of the Snow Queen (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

It was your observation on the deadly silence that sent my pencil into the direction of '...And Along Came Jeremy' Harry.

I doubt very much if many of the folk who're throwing themselves behind Jeremy Corbyn have read Marx, nor even would they. But their reasons for supporting Jeremy Corbyn come from the same gut feeling that inspired Marx-looking around and seeing the injustices.

One other point: 'Corbyn' and 'Milliband' in the same paragraph????

Ledger

Comment is about Corbyn and and the death of Marx? (blog)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

whoa, everybody,
What I was trying to say is: If the Corbyn style of socialism - even when used to give a left slant to middle-ground politics - now spells electoral death for the party. (which is what Millibands recent failure seems to prove) What becomes of all the old marxist-style rhetoric ?

I mean, `òne for all and all for one` always rang much truer than `every man for himself (and the divil take the hindermost)

What was worrying me was the deadly silence.

Comment is about Corbyn and and the death of Marx? (blog)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

an interesting point of view...or should that be view point? Tommy :-)

Comment is about A Fat Little Girl (blog)

those are the kindest words I've read all week - thanks John - but I don't do performance.

perhaps I could hand it over to you? I reckon you could do it justice.

Comment is about carried aloft (blog)

M.C.
A belated thank you for your encouraging words about the Paxos thing. It encouraged me to get the end of it down tonight (this is just to give you the chance to deny having anything to do with it) thanks again.

And I made it just before the football!

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Thanks for looking in on the Black Cap man Cynthia, best wishes, Steve

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Thanks for looking in Cynthia. I take your point, maybe he's not always there, I did use a small dose of 'poetic license' though!
Thanks,
Steve

Comment is about The Man with the Black Cap (blog)

Original item by Steve Higgins

This is a quietly visceral piece on the death of a loved one.
Measured, great phrases "terror re-configures strength"..
The first verse captures pain in its detachment.
Makes me feel sadness.
Steve Smith

Comment is about Tableau 1: Return of the Snow Queen (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor

I really like this -you have modulated it like a crescendo and diminuendo in a piece of music -I love the image in"history....is ignored/ in a room too small /for the enormity of now"
Steve Smith

Comment is about Tableau 3: Tempest (blog)

Original item by Laura Taylor