shadows from the past just keep trying to pop up now and then!

Comment is about Nigel Astell (poet profile)

Original item by Nigel Astell

Bloodletting by pen never ends
her failure to obey, or comply to his game.

I can read again and again - - -

Comment is about The Quickening of Azreal (blog)

Original item by Katy Megan

Hi Chloe
Welcome to WOL! Thank you for your comment on my poem, much appreciated : )

Comment is about Chloe (poet profile)

Original item by Chloe

Hi Darren, your work inspired memories of those events. I was involved in the strike (as a supporter) and I believe your poem to be an honest account of events your Honor! I agree with John this has potential as a musical piece. Tommy

Comment is about Workers Unite (blog)

Original item by dazzer

cheers for the comment john. i know what you mean about it being a bit romanticized. i try to introduce it as a lad who isnt an expert, i just saw what was on the news and it looked 'wrong' and it stuck with me. i'll upload the audio as soon as i do it, it's pretty new.

Comment is about Workers Unite (blog)

Original item by dazzer

A bit romanticized, Dazza (I was there) but nonetheless an enjoyable poem which I'm sure would go great to music. Can you add an audio file?

Comment is about Workers Unite (blog)

Original item by dazzer

a 'skit' Harry - surely you realise this is no mere skit ;-) this is an ancient and forgotten language. There was much more but I cut it significantly - and I keep being tempted to go back and right further chapters. Oh My Crow - what have I done?????
Thanks for your kind comments again - always a pleasure for me to know I've piqued your interest
Ian

Comment is about Harry O`N eill (poet profile)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

thanks for your kind comments Rachel - I love Crows too - hence the name of my music recording project ;-) you don't suppose there could be some hidden message in that ancient text do you?...surely not....
Ian

Comment is about Rachel Bond (poet profile)

Original item by Rachel Bond

It would be more like 'Scumbag College' Cynthia (Young One's reference). I'm waiting for someone to identify the root language of 'Crow Tongue' it is based on a very specific form - but has been manipulated. Intrigue eh? Thanks so much for your kind comments again - I appreciate them greatly
Ian x

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

The "the" in line three is superfluous as is the "that" in line seven.

I like the idea of a morning mantra. The older I get the more I have to talk myself out of the bed in the mornings but I'm not quite sure Cynthia whether this one is for us or one you use yourself?

Good to se you posting more regularly too!

very best regards,

Graham

Comment is about Morning Mantra (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

What, exactly, has disappointed you? I've no idea. Have I been dozing?

Comment is about Tommy Carroll (poet profile)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Jackie is one of my favourite persons in the world. What a woman!.

Comment is about Heartwarming night as Jackie Hagan, Jo Bell, Hollie McNish win Saboteur awards (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Nice piece, Greg. An excellent way to raise the profile of poetry, of writing generally.

And encouraging those coming in on the ground floor. (Odd, that both occasions I've been to the venues were in cellars.)

Comment is about Heartwarming night as Jackie Hagan, Jo Bell, Hollie McNish win Saboteur awards (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

I'm afraid that in that part of the world, where most of this is going on, it was forever thus. While they keep coming unstopped they will keep coming.

Wars and conflicts are all about ideologies built on ignorance and called religion. Whichever way you dress it up, religion is a tribal thing and tribes have always fought one another.

In the developed world religion fights with words, still doing much damage but a battle nonetheless.

All religions are based on reward, a hereafter, where better conditions exist. Atheists don't buy it!

It reminds me of the old adage:

If the grass is greener in your neighbour's garden, don't invade it, ask him what he uses and sort out your own lawn.

Here endeth the lesson etc etc!

Comment is about BELIEF (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Apologies that I won't be at June WOL; it's our eldest grandson's 20th birthday, and we'll be celebrating with a meal that evening. Have a great meeting!
Love, Dorinda x

Comment is about June Meeting (blog)

Original item by Stockport WoL

In a world where the number of unbelievers is estimated to be about only sixteen per cent it is hilarious to observe
how our atheistic evolution-fixated West re-acts in horror
and misunderstanding when a few armed fanatical real believers in the East thoroughly upsets their parochial apple-cart...........

(and re-populate Europe with more and more refugees across the Mediterranean)...I mean, without going in and stopping them physically how do we stop it...(just let all those boatloads of `refugees` drown???)

At least we are beginning to get their message that belief is a doing word.

Comment is about BELIEF (blog)

Original item by ray pool

Ian,
Ignoring Meekings for a minute, This could be a skit on some of Ted Hughes` one note attempt to terrify the poor
old sons of soft hearted Albion.

Comment is about Dha Kro’z Ov Al-bi-an (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Hello MC,
I like the line "shuttered mind and open gob".
Having lit the blue touch paper I think you might have to stand well back!

Comment is about THE SOCIALIST SHIRKERS PARTY (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Travis,
My temptation to experiment by turning this into two couplets would have involved making it sound too pat.

Somehow - maybe because of that `cannot` and also that
`haven`t` - it sounds colloquially right...(as though it might fit into play in verse).

If this sounds daft its just my mind wondering.

Comment is about TITLE. (blog)

The language you used in this was truly beautiful, very good read

Comment is about The Quickening of Azreal (blog)

Original item by Katy Megan

Ah yes, and how the seasons have changed me!
Hope you are well Tommy, glad to see you are still on WOL : )

Comment is about Tommy Carroll (poet profile)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Almost 3 years to the day

Comment is about Katy Megan (poet profile)

Original item by Katy Megan

Well said Tony. I missed it earlier this morning. It reminds me of the (clever) skit by james@war of. Nickleback's ' I wanna be a rock star ' https://www.facebook.com/JamesatWarOfficial Tommy

Comment is about The Tory Highwayman (blog)

ROB JOHNSTON – MAESTRO AT THE GUITAR – WOOS WRITE ANGLE AUDIENCE

Rob Johnston, May's guitarist/singer/songwriter extraordinaire, creates a 'kind of orchestra' using a lume – that accompanies his playing – which produces a massive grand sound-scape - not that his music needs enrichment but he likes experimenting – bringing new sounds and surprising his audience. It's hard to know where he'll go next. His music is exhilarating, as he makes each note as important as the next. He is a maestro and holds his audience mesmerised.

His first song, 'The little Voice'...comes from voices in his head. 'Sometimes the voices are good and sometimes they're not, he admits, mischievously. He played an eco song saying 'Maybe we're not as important as we think we are as a species', adding - not a song that will please everyone. He beats his hands like a drum against the guitar. His music has classical range. This reader could listen to him forever and it's pretty obvious Rob could easily go that same distance!

Drawn to Irish jigs, Rob really brought out the flavour. His brother Paul then joined him. They both sang and played Rob's song, 'Picture Postcard Day';- how a big city can be amazing, but it also can bring alienation, isolation. - very lyrical...'.aeroplanes circling around the day'...Again, his lyrics come unexpected, making them exciting to follow. ...He then sang 'Chasing Cars', an Irish rock song, and the audience joined in. Then, from his vast repertoire, came jazz – a variety of sounds...lovely to listen to. Ethereal and emotional...'My heart is broken'...by both brothers. They are magic....if only we could have cut out the tunings...but 'that's what good guitarists must do – to get it perfect! The evening went on till almost 11 – everyone, transfixed by Rob's music.

The Open Mic brought Tony Dee, with a poem about his old mum, 'Holding Sylvia'. 'Her son now her mum again'. 'I think of her warm brow..before I kiss it cold once more'..Tony finds himself reflecting, 'we all live and we all die' – the poem, 'Privilege'. 'Uncut diamonds buried so deep, and snow men do die, and pets die and people die. The privilege and luck to love and be loved'. Richard Peirce followed with 'I'm not teaching on Tuesday eves so I can come to Write Angle. I've been made redundant'. Said humorously, the audience laughed with him – He, too, spoke of coming to terms with loss and life's meaning. 'Wabi Saki';- learning to live a modest life style in tune with nature. 'On the way back from the gym, I set down my bicycle on the beach..sparkle from the water hurts my eyes but draws me to its beauty'. Then, 'Orchard', about staying at a harvest farm in Turkey. 'You are pouring tea into tear drop glasses'. onto the Philippines – The poor. 'Landfall Takiliban Central Philippines 8th November 2013. 'Hold on to each other. Hold on tight.

Newcomer and first time at a poetry open mic, - but you wouldn't know it - Brendan O'Connor, (actor) did 'Good Night God and Teddy too; 'His feet are tucked. His arms are folded. He's fought the dragon and saved the land. He thinks of the morning and what to do. Then, 'Charlatans', 'Will you come and join the circle'. 'Lady Jane has visions of Satan'. Interesting poems, 'taken from the box at the bottom of the closet'. (We hope he comes back again) .Barry Smith's 'Jumping Jack'., jumps forward a generation to save the local hospital.' Then, 'The dancing figure emerges from the mist',- a medieval mystic. A nun walled up with food passed through an opening.. then a poem inspired by audi maserati. 'The Bargain'. She offered him an almond in exchange for his silver bike. 'Where will your almond take me that my bike won't go'. You can suck, lick, crunch it...or stay with it on the treadmill for life..

JeanAnne Naumcyzk, announcing her friends showed up to heckle her, read, 'Old, I'm not old. Learned to wear those killer heels...I'm a working housewife, mother and a grandma all in one..' you'll find me still beating on those drums' . Then, 'The Mist of Time' about dementia, sadness. We said we'd be together and together we would stay. There is no recognition. In my eyes you're fading. You no longer know me but still together, side by side'..

audi maserati announced he wasn't going to play the ukulele, then read some lovely poetic works, 'Meditations on an Imaginary Mountain'. He'd just spent his 60th birthday in Cornwall. 'The Overture'. I climbed so high I was almost running out of mountain. 'Learning to know 'this is' and not needing to know 'how'. Then, when he lived in a caravan overlooking the beach. '...empty and suddenly, 'it is high summer and all roads lead to the beach. Mr and Mrs everyday are strong and beautiful. 'all the people, kids, shapes, figures, charcoal, holes dug in sand, kites flown, noses stuck in books, photographs are taken, the lost child is found, the kites things to a trickle...and the dreamers ...everything ends to the sound of beating waves'.

And, poets who accidentally slip in famous names to make themselves important. 'Day': 'I was reading Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, a billion elegant fish and me'' It's been a strange day a long day, remembering when things just simply happened...with Ginsberg, Woodie Guthrie, Stravinsky, Kafka, Kerouac, Christina Rosetti, It's been a strange day, a day for looking at things in a different way..Walt Whitman, building a woman out of sand. TS Elliot, Philip Larkin Dostoevsky, Bertold Brecht, Kurt Weil, No wonder Audi's always a favourite!

Richard Hawtree then did a poem about a stone in County Cork. Reference to the Emergins from Galicea. 'Catching Breath' about you, nothing luminous intrudes. As his foot touched soil, he recited the first poem. The Amergins considered themselves the true kings of Ancient Ireland.' Very interesting poem, well done. John Gleadall, another newcomer, (writes Rock Musicals) rocked the room with his jazz guitar and strong voice. He performed two love songs. 'Tiger Eyes' and one of a girl he knew who ended their love affair And went to California, leaving him, 'The Thank You Letter'. A powerful and praised performer. (from the audience reaction).

It was good seeing Michael Usuwana, busy performing all over the country. He spoke, in his inimitable way, – about 'A Secret admirer' … a coward...who wants to approach his love, but hasn't got the courage. Caroline Blackburn performed two poems. The first, a love poem, then 'Circus'. I am a joker wearing two masks....'. She's theatrical and a good performer. Leah did 'Possimist' (optimist and pessimist), Big Cities & Orange Lipstick. A really good evening that went on way past its bedtime and probably could have gone on longer!

A lucky winner walked away with two free three-course meals at the Half Moon, Sheet and the evening came to an end with positive comments galore!

Review is about Petersfield Write Angle Poetry and Music + OPEN MI on 19 May 2015 (event)

Love it. The kind of stuff you'd find in Granta

Comment is about Come off it Icarus Baby. (blog)

Original item by Corr Lens

Thanks Corr for reading and actually liking my work ! I meant to thank you earlier, but new manager, female, insecure and rather mannish. Hates me ;) Numbers are what I work with, menopausal women scare me more :0
Love your work, you have a down to earth quality about you and don't seem to pat yourself too much. Nor whine incessantly. Nor whinny

Comment is about Corr Lens (poet profile)

Original item by Corr Lens

Thanks Corr !

Comment is about I can (blog)

using my noodle, love language like this. silly but real

Comment is about I can (blog)

Hi Steve, thanks so much for commenting on Song for Imar, I really appreciate it x

Comment is about stephen smith (poet profile)

Original item by stephen smith

Hi Cynthia, thanks for reading and commenting on End of Innocence x

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Hey Laura, thanks for reading and commenting on Song for Imar, love the idea of the 'perfume of the survivor'.

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Hi Nat, I like the last You with a dash very much, leaves it open x

Comment is about You - (blog)

Wow, Preeti, this is so 'gutsy' is the only word I can think of to describe it, so good x

Comment is about Breathe (blog)

Again, great images, and love the last line - so agree 'Hope is an opiate' x

Comment is about karaoke (05/29/2015) (blog)

Original item by Zach Dafoe

Thanks for commenting on Song For Imar, I appreciate it x

Comment is about Zach Dafoe (poet profile)

Original item by Zach Dafoe

Sunday the 24th of May saw an appreciative audience lap up the works of Brummy Steve Pottinger. I've seen many guest poets performing over the years, all good in their individual respect, but to me "Pottinger is the person" And I'm sure after Sunday's performance, will have (besides me) influenced the rearrangement of favourites lists, in the minds of those lucky enough to be in attendance.

Haven't got the vocabulary for the superlatives he deserves. So I'll just say. If he's in town "get on down"

Ken Eaton-Dykes.

Review is about Write Out Loud - Middleton on 24 May 2015 (event)

I've just given: total is now £2,035.

Would be good if you joined me.

Comment is about ‘There’s no real reason why poetry should have such a small readership’: Write Out Loud interviews Paul McMenemy about his planned poetry bookshop (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Hegley's ok, very ok.

Comment is about Camels, guillemots - and a singalong that almost made John Hegley smile (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

I thought you had gone asleep John or so the picture seems to show but as we all know it is not allowed in the downstairs room when the snoring artists are vacant.

Comment is about Stockport Write Out Loud 2, May 2015.jpg (photo)

Original item by Stockport WoL

nice one Ken, I enjoyed reading. You forgot to mention the damage that neonicotinoid insecticides are having on global bee populations. Without bees we will have a lot less than just expensive honey as they pollinate a large percentage of our crops. Lots of petitions on the web at the moment if anyone is interested. x

Comment is about Bees & honey=lots of money (blog)

Hi Cynthia. Thank you for your comments on OATS. YES. In response to your query, the change in tempo was deliberate.

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Wow. Haven't we all been there! Haven't we all known the ghost of a special unattainable romance of the past. I think my first one was at an infant's school in Liverpool when even then I felt strangely drawn to our class mistress and her legs. I must have good taste though, as I sometimes spotted the male teachers doing the same thing.

Comment is about Choice...Realisation...Consequence. (blog)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

Downsized to a mighty atom eh. self truncification the short cut to confidence.

Comment is about Choice...Realisation...Consequence. (blog)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

A re-post,
Re-titled, heavily truncated, and revised.

Comment is about Choice...Realisation...Consequence. (blog)

Original item by Harry O`N eill

I agree with every comment.Well done Greg! x

Comment is about Murder mile (blog)

Original item by Greg Freeman

sadly,an all too common occurrence these days.Powerful stuff Patricia.x

Comment is about To serve and neglect (blog)

interesting thanks. i love crows.

Comment is about Dha Kro’z Ov Al-bi-an (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley

Thanks you Cynthia. I am a musician so have ridden the roller coaster - this is a bit analytical and has had all the romance sucked out of it!

Comment is about MUSIC - HOW IT WORKS (blog)

Original item by ray pool

I meant the diction, you know, the play on 'fucked up' (which maybe you didn't intend - but - oh well - I have only the words to go on, not the background.)

Comment is about TITLE. (blog)

Dialect is so hard to write. You never cease to amaze me with the scope and talent of your work. Ever considered Oxford! :)

Comment is about Dha Kro’z Ov Al-bi-an (blog)

Original item by Ian Whiteley