10,000! As many poetry events as holes in Blackburn, Lancashire.
A great article Greg, for a great Gig Guide editor. Hats off to you David, and a huge THANK YOU on behalf of all those who see the site as a part of the poetry infrastructure.
Comment is about Write Out Loud's Gig Guide notches up 10,000 events (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Well done Ian really enjoyed your night :)
Comment is about Ian Whiteley (poet profile)
Original item by Ian Whiteley
Or find a rich benefactor. Which lot is Vanessa Redgrave in with at the moment? If I was in the UK I'd probably get the Guardian. What does that cost now? I dunno. A decision on which price has no bearing.
Comment is about Morning Star (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Excellent poem Greg - the years roll back.
Many people have tales of an exam system labelling them as less able than they really are (compared to others). For that to be the case, there should be an equivalent number of people labelled as (comparatively) more able than they really are. I'll take the risk of owning up to that. I was always good at exams - the teacher told me if I didn't pass the 11 plus no one would. But I'm overqualified for my real level of ability. It may look good from the outside as bits of paper appear to smooth one's progress through life. But that can involve the stresses of various frying pans and fires, to which one would not have gained entry without the magic bits of paper.
It's a funny old world.
Comment is about The Eleven-Plus (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
An interesting premise...with love as its primary ambition and reason.
One thing I stand by:
Looking after number one enables a person to possess the attributes necessary for the care of others.
Comment is about Yourself (blog)
Original item by Steve Higgins
In my 70th year, I am still amazed - and prone to laugh - at those who, even in successful (or otherwise) maturity still use the haphazard achievements of childhood as some sort of indication of excellence in their lives. I know I didn't do well in the 11-plus but somehow fluked my way into the local "Grammar" where I spent my time in the lower levels of each grade with teachers who seemed more interested in chatting about everything other than the subject in question...with a very casual approach to getting us through exams. Fortunately, leaving before GCEs (as was) didn't affect my chosen work since it had its own exam/test format and that was enough for me!! And as I maintain - you never STOP learning if you have an enquiring mind.
Comment is about The Eleven-Plus (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
This stands "alone" among more expected posts and is all the more entertaining for it. A charming short ghost story with a satisfying resolution.
Comment is about So Very Alone (blog)
Original item by Shirley Smothers
When it comes to "last stands" - news or otherwise, I recall that a biographer of the ill-fated General George Armstrong Custer called his book "Son of The Morning Star".
Isobel - as for pies...you've already sent us "Harry
Ramsdens' fish and chips". Isn't that enough? :-)
Comment is about Morning Star (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Good points, John. And extraordinary to find any copies in Harrogate, of all places. But as poets we should support the Morning Star because of the tremendous backing it gives to poetry through Jody Porter's weekly Well Versed slot, which appears in the print version of the paper as well as online. Ahem ... I speak as one who has benefited from it (though not financially, of course!) http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/126632
And Steve Pottinger is their latest inclusion http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/135578
Comment is about Morning Star (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Happen we could drive down the price of pies also, if we started to export them South and produce them in bigger volume...
Food for thought - as is your poem :)
Comment is about Morning Star (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Wonderful poem Mark - I love the way so much can be deduced from the different names.
You just tell it like it is - and there is so much majesty in that simplicity.
Comment is about The Empowerer (blog)
Original item by Mark Mr T Thompson
Wow - I've got to make an appointment with one of mine this summer - I wonder what Lloyds has to offer?
Raunchy stuff Cynthia - luxuriant indeed - I enjoyed the read!
Comment is about Lunch with A Banker (blog)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
steve mellor
Fri 19th Jul 2013 09:03
And after enjoying this, it's going to make Asda a little bland
Wonderful
Comment is about Lunch with A Banker (blog)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
Yes - I can identify with this one too. I ended up border line and going to secondary modern. I didn't enjoy the feeling of failure - so very much enjoyed out performing all my grammar school peers at sixth form. In fact, statistically our secondary modern year out performed every other school at A level - so I wasn't the only mistake.
It was a dreadful system - if you were borderline it all depended on headmaster's opinion and in my case, that hung on how well he connected with the families. To think that one person could hold your future in their hands in that way?
The system was still going in Bucks when I lived there - and the stress that it caused You can't possibly judge a child's ability fully at the age of 10 and there was no flexibility built in for when they got it wrong.
Rant over - I enjoyed your poem - it's good to see it from a different perspective. I had some very inspiring English teachers at secondary modern - I don't think I would have enjoyed 'declension,conjugation, subjugation, suppression of self'
What a great string of words - they really sum it up.
Comment is about The Eleven-Plus (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Excellent. Recently watched Invictus which brought home again how difficult was the challenge this great man set himself and how well he met it.
Comment is about The Empowerer (blog)
Original item by Mark Mr T Thompson
I can relate to most of this too, Greg.
Latin, schoolMASTERS, the three-fold split at 11 (grammar, technical, secondary modern).
I made the grammar (the "A" stream where, like Wigan, I spent years hovering just above relegation).
The school got several kids to university each year including Oxbridge. Then it went into decline and was, for many years, bottom of the national league tables and was eventually closed.
It is my proud boast that I went to the worst school in England.
Comment is about The Eleven-Plus (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Enjoyed reading this. I wonder is it written from personal experience?
Best Wishes
Starfish
Comment is about The Eleven-Plus (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Thanks all and happy 95th birthday Madiba.
Comment is about The Empowerer (blog)
Original item by Mark Mr T Thompson
Loved it. I certainly found this an education. Thank you
Starfish
Comment is about The Empowerer (blog)
Original item by Mark Mr T Thompson
Enjoyed this very much. Agree with the sentiment and loved the rhyme.
Best Wishes
Starfish
Comment is about GRATITUDE (blog)
Original item by Ian Gant
Yes it is Freda. I am a drama teacher who works in secondary, including an after school project where I often had to man a door in and was struck by the metaphor of the gate keeper to school life in general. Glad it resonates for you.
Comment is about A Keeper's View (blog)
Original item by Mark Mr T Thompson
Ah...happy innocent (and frustrated) days!!).
I still have my own school photo - when I was
nine - at a school which, in retrospect, was
idyllic in scenarios of situation and time.
But it was later, at a Wiltshire grammar that
awareness and all its adolescent pain crept in.
I enjoyed the way these lines evoked memories
I had pushed to the back of a much older world-weary mind.
Comment is about The Eleven-Plus (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
At least, like the "Tour", it's a case of
once in a while (voting them in or out).
I'm a fan of the bike race and admit to a
partiality about its appeal.
Clearly, the worthy burghers of Yorkshire saw
something worth having...a certain je ne sais
pas, mon ami.
Love the resigned downbeat tone though and
have a sneaky sympathy with the views about
where the money goes.
Comment is about GRATITUDE (blog)
Original item by Ian Gant
Is this a teacher? I reminds me of my days as a primary teacher. The 'butterfiels and sparkling eyes, and the buzzers and bells.
There is a lot packed into this poem.
'So focused on the now, all change is imperceptible'. This is so true of class teaching. You get absorbed in the immediate task, and you look up and a year has flown by.
Comment is about A Keeper's View (blog)
Original item by Mark Mr T Thompson
Fantastic poem - so original, almost fairy-tale like too.
Comment is about My Dragon Husband (blog)
Original item by Freda Davis
Wonderful poem about a great man
Comment is about The Empowerer (blog)
Original item by Mark Mr T Thompson
As Background our Local Council ' North Yorkshire' bid for the Tour-De-France and got it.
In my samll area they are spending £1.6 million on the road as it runs to our market town but can only find £900 for capital works in my village. 'Yes' I am pissed off with the Politicians who say the TDF is good for the region especially when it starves or villages But Hey-Ho I voted them in.
Comment is about GRATITUDE (blog)
Original item by Ian Gant
this is fantastic Freda - who says women can't do praise poetry for men - it highlights your husbands fine qualities as well as what others may regard as 'just being a man' and makes him into something nearer legend than mortal - great stuff :-)
Comment is about My Dragon Husband (blog)
Original item by Freda Davis
fantastic stuff Mark - really evocative and also educates - your poetry is strong, defiant and proud - I love it :-)
Comment is about The Empowerer (blog)
Original item by Mark Mr T Thompson
Wonderfully affectionate portrait, Freda, but also acutely observed, as though your other half is a particularly exotic and fascinating creature. As I'm sure he is.
Comment is about My Dragon Husband (blog)
Original item by Freda Davis
I think you need to be able to empathise to 'get' certain types of poetry MC - to understand why people from different walks of life, with different experiences should write and think differently to you. Clearly some people are able to empathise better than others.
I am glad you have decided not to leave any further comments on Mark's poetry. I think you've made your feelings amply clear to everyone on many occasions.
Let's hope we can all now move on.
Isobel
Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
what a great programme on BBC2 tonight - just what the BBC should be spending money on - something that both entertained and educated. The extracts from the poem were superbly read and the support cast of Billy Bragg and John Cooper Clarke made some telling insights into the current protest scene.
Comment is about Maxine Peake, Shelley's The Masque of Anarchy, Manchester, 2013 (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
well deserved - along with Patrik Fitzgerald he was truly one of the leading lights in the punk poetry scene :-)
Comment is about 'Bard of Salford' John Cooper Clarke gets honorary degree (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Hi Cynthia,
I am glad you like My Dragon Husband. I put it on the blog years ago when I first joined WOL and someone picked it as poem of the month. I was dead chuffed at the time.
I think, for what its worth, that when we identify something that is hard to write about that is an indication that it is a topic that needs tackling. Things that are easy to say have probably been said before.
Peter is always surprised that people think the poem is a love poem. He thinks it is women who say so. I just tell him its subtle.
I would love to read what you produce if you tackle the subject yourself.
I like your comments on here. WOL commentators are a dying breed. Yesterday when I was on the site it said there was one member on. It was me.
Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
And very many people did Rachel. If you're around for the September Tudor, I'll make sure you get the prize - which I haven't bought yet!
Awww - I love the way you've remembered 52 Hertz - we've come full circle and it still makes me sad - here's hoping eh?
xx
Comment is about 52 Hertz Competition Results (blog)
Original item by Isobel
Many congratulations and thank you for all your hard work.
Comment is about Write Out Loud's Gig Guide notches up 10,000 events (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
At the request of the previous contributor to my profile and his instant deletion of my comment - I have discontinued any further attempts to maintain an online exchange of views about the content of his most recent poem - in particular, its closing line.
Readers may draw their own conclusions.
Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Thanks to anyone taking time to read or vote for my poem. I enjoyed the theme. Look forward to another. Bless 52...i hope that somehow some whale answers him xxx
Comment is about 52 Hertz Competition Results (blog)
Original item by Isobel
As I have never seen a ghost this theory takes me down yet another road of explanation to what a ghost is.
thanks
A lady I know went to her friends funeral then saw her across the road waiting for a bus.
Before the bus came she had disappeared perhaps this force of emotion was so strong she wanted to say a last goodbye to her friend.
Comment is about Stockport WoL (group profile)
Original item by Stockport WoL
Faint is the whisper
till softly it fades
like the rebirth name.
Comment is about Rebirth (blog)
Original item by Katy Megan
Haha,some great lines in this Isobel,love the descriptive stuff about the grroves in the dining table! Maybe the last stanza loses the pace a bit though? Still a fab perf piece!Also loved the rebellious socks floating 'footloose'! Thanks for recent comments on mine also.Much appreciated! x
Comment is about Wondering (blog)
Original item by Isobel
Many thanks for your recent comments harry :)
Comment is about Harry O`N eill (poet profile)
Original item by Harry O`N eill
I am always drawn to verse which immediately announces its rhythm.
Bravo, again, Ian.
And Happy Birthday.
Comment is about SCRAPS (blog)
Original item by Ian Gant
Very enjoyable and skilled in its construction.
Comment is about Sucess! (blog)
Original item by Christopher Dawson
I thought it seemed familiar, MC.
Another little gem. Stronger for its simplicity of sentiment and form.
Comment is about DOWN BY THE MEWSTONE - A SUMMER RE-POST (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Marvellous, luxuriant stuff, Cynthia. Easy to get a bit overheated reading this.
Comment is about Lunch with A Banker (blog)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
Hot and humid -what fun!
Some lines inspired by summer sun.
Comment is about Lunch with A Banker (blog)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
Freda, I don't recall 'My Dragon Husband' from before, but that would be my loss. It is splendid. Please post it on the blog again for new others to enjoy. I have great difficulty in writing about my husband, in fact, almost an impossibility. It is very strange. I've often thought about this inability - or reluctance - or fear.
Comment is about Freda Davis (poet profile)
Original item by Freda Davis
steve mellor
Wed 17th Jul 2013 07:59
Hi Star (if I can be informal)
Thanks for your very apposite comment. Just what I'd hoped for. Actually I'm more than chuffed with the number of positive comments. I was rather expecting a scholarly poet to explain in minute detail why our language works in the way I can't understand in my 'poem'
Comment is about Starfish (poet profile)
Original item by Starfish
Ian Whiteley
Fri 19th Jul 2013 18:47
great work guys and gals - WOL is the artery for online poetry and you all do a fine job in keeping that artery working effectively - thanks for all your efforts on our behalf
Comment is about Write Out Loud's Gig Guide notches up 10,000 events (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman