hi john - it started off as a general poem but sort of changed focus a little to talk about ours too. enjoyed the book too. good poem too nigel
Comment is about Stockport WoL (group profile)
Original item by Stockport WoL
There's no money in poetry, but there's no poetry in money, either
Robert Graves
Mind you, he did all right, and was perhaps saying that to put off the competition.
Frances' article is interesting to me in that I do wonder why so many amateur poets (by which I mean those of us, the great majority, who do not make their living from it) try to get published. I see it as a bit of a myth that 'you are not a poet if you are not published'. What does 'published' mean? Accepted in one of the abundant poetry mags? Any of them? Any at all?
I have heard so many people rail against live poetry, performance poetry, or whatever we should be calling this movement of people having the courage to share their work in public. The accusation is often that it allows anyone to get up and read their work, thus it does not discriminate between 'good' poetry and some alternative, presumably 'bad' poetry. now, if you were 'published'...
Well, let's take a closer look at this.
How do you set up a poetry mag, thus becoming an arbiter of poetic taste? Well, anyone can do it. You don't need poetry qualifications to do so. Just start your own magazine and get the desperate-to-be-published-poets sending their stuff in.
Of course, there are quality magazines and there are... well, you know what I mean. But if you are published in a magazine, you're a poet!
Nonsense, I say. It's the illusion of the emperor's novel raiment.
To stand up in public and share your work is a legitimate form of publication. So ner!
Comment is about Want to be published? Four painful facts and a morality tale (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
<Deleted User> (6895)
Sun 2nd Dec 2012 16:27
hints of Silverstein-wethinks!-neat!
Comment is about Half time Oranges. (blog)
<Deleted User> (6895)
Sun 2nd Dec 2012 16:24
<Deleted User> (6895)
Sun 2nd Dec 2012 16:22
Our sincere sympathies.
As long as the fists are left out of it
that is some consolation for you.xx
Comment is about (blog)
Even though our summer this year was wet, this takes me back to summers I remember as always being warm, the ones when you're a child. Loved it and the picture it conjured up in my mind. Great stuff!
Comment is about shrimping net city (blog)
Original item by Ann Foxglove
Lovely, simply lovely Ann! Children of a certain age should really like this - great for schools etc. The sonority/alliteration of this part was particularly well-turned:
"The sand is all tingly
Our hair is all tangly
In salty wet ringlets
It tickles our ears."
Makes me yearn for those bucket-and-spade days of long ago.
Regards,
A.E.
Comment is about shrimping net city (blog)
Original item by Ann Foxglove
good poem... my Russian heroine will always be Lilya Litvyak...
Comment is about Heroines? (blog)
Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska
thanx for posting ppl. its an old 1998 poem.
Comment is about HALT (blog)
Original item by NICK ARMBRISTER
Yes - this just confirms what many of us already know - there is very little money to be made out of poetry and a lot of competition out there.
Poetry allows people to get up there and perform though, is a way of having a voice and grabbing attention. On a stage it can give you that taste of success you may not have had in other areas of your life. It's when that success goes to the head that things go pear shaped - when we see ourselves as the next John Cooper Clarke or Carole Ann Duffy.
That's when poets stop posting their poetry on sites like this, stop sharing their vision of the world - unless someone is prepared to pay for it; and very few people are prepared to pay for that vision, unless they are included in the anthology...
Comment is about Want to be published? Four painful facts and a morality tale (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Now then, Izzy.
Hope you are well. Thanks for your comments on "White Rabbit". Cathy seems to have exposed my ignorance in the trouser department.
I had second thoughts about using the Jefferson Airplane tune as it is one of my favourites. It seems to have a musical structure which just climbs from one plane to the next. Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" is similar. Marvellous and uplifing - but you just want more verses!
Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)
Original item by Isobel
Hello Cathy,
Many thanks for your comments on "White Rabbit".
I did suspect that the photo I pinned wasn't a rabbit.
When I googled for images of a rabbit I got some things with sticky-out bits which I just couldn't work out where they'd fit. You'll have to excuse my ignorance in the trouser department.
But in the pursuit of literary integrity I'd be happy to be shown.
Comment is about Cathy Crabb (poet profile)
Original item by Cathy Crabb
Hello Mike,
Glad you liked "White Rabbit". If you know the original, as I do, I suspect you're giving your age away.
Comment is about Mike Hilton (poet profile)
Original item by Mike Hilton
Hello MC,
Thanks for your thoughts on "The Walrus and the Carpenter" and "White Rabbit". I seem to be giving Lewis Carroll a bit of a battering, which is, in fact, the very opposite of my respect for him.
Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Hello Dave,
Glad you liked "The Continuing Story of the Walrus and the Carpenter". I have on in the oven covering the nation's favourite poem, "If" which, no doubt, I'll post in due course.
Comment is about Dave Bradley (poet profile)
Original item by Dave Bradley
tony sheridan
Sat 1st Dec 2012 18:54
Hi Ann, I'm very glad you like the poems in my profile. I have just read yours and found them really interesting. Bye
Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)
Original item by Ann Foxglove
Deeply disturbing and yet the truth for so many.
To have a glimpse of the life that has been denied is the saddest thought in all this - and the irony of that vision being 'out on a ledge'.
I find poetry like this a difficult read - but it's what good poetry is about for me - it makes me feel - even if that feeling is distressing.
Comment is about The Bricklayer (blog)
Original item by Nick Coleman
Thank you for reading and commenting so well on my poem, Philip. Good punning/double meanings in Fishing for Fellas - made me smile!
Comment is about Phillip Kelly (poet profile)
Original item by Phillip Kelly
Who knows why we write or (compose) Poetry?
Is it for you, for them, for ones angst
or Me? (sigh)...
Only Goodness knows Dave my friend...
Why?
Nice one mate...
Bye
G
Comment is about Why? (blog)
Original item by Dave Bradley
But hope The Bricklayer doesn't come over as too much of a rant. Its for people who say that those who are only now coming out with the neglect and abuse suffered 30 year or more ago are grown adults and should shut up and get over it.
Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)
Original item by John Coopey
It sounds very tough out there, Frances. And in my experience, too, it is. I’d just like to mention two places in particular – one print, one web – where I’ve found a more welcoming response. South magazine is beautifully produced, with a lovely black and white cover showing a scenic spot in the south of England. They pick their poems “blind” – they don’t know who the poet is - so it’s no good trying to impress with a CV of previous hits in other mags. They published my first poem in any magazine a few years ago, and what a thrill that was; that first bit of encouragement can make a big difference. They also hold very convivial launch readings twice a year, in places like Dorchester, Chichester or Salisbury, to name but three. Of course, the web offers far more flexibility and chances of publication. The Screech Owl is one I’ve recently come across. In recent weeks it has published a fresh tranche of at least a dozen poems every week, each one appearing with remarkable artwork. There is also a print magazine version coming out in the new year. It’s true that even South is now making clear that it won’t accept poems that have previously appeared “in open access areas of the internet”. But I wonder if such rigorous rules will have to change in the future as the boundaries between print and web begin to blur.
http://www.southpoetry.org/
http://www.thescreechowl.com/submissions.html
Comment is about Want to be published? Four painful facts and a morality tale (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
A couple of typos here, but I don't want to have to repost all my links to it on facebook etc, so I'll just say: errata: Jeremy Salon hosts gigs, not gogs, and all poets who contribute to our planned anthology will retain their copyright, without a W!
Comment is about Pop Up Poetry's NEW BEGINNINGS (blog)
Original item by The 1000 monkeys
I love this Joy.
I don't normally like title-less poems, but I'll make an exception for this - it seems appropriate.
I love the imagery and I love the hard hitting nature of it and I love the flow. The poem gives me that tingle you feel when something just connects.
Comment is about (blog)
Original item by Joy
Wow, Nick.
Strong stuff, full of powerful images.
Comment is about The Bricklayer (blog)
Original item by Nick Coleman
But still- given me a great idea for bookends...and also...a vibrator that can mow lawns...
Comment is about White Rabbit (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Yep - I would imagine a rabbit might have ears ;)
That looks more like a mummified member to me - or some artefact you might find at the British Museum...
I see that feeling 'blue' makes for a very different kind of poetry from you, John. You're definitely not the average angst ridden bard :)
Comment is about White Rabbit (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Hi John, just had to say- I think you may need a trip to Ann Summers. That picture- tisn't a rabbit that. VERY different than that is a rabbit...the clue is in the name...
Comment is about White Rabbit (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Ow! My head hurts...And to reply to MH - Why are men given a sense of humour?
Reply: God knows...they need it!
Comment is about White Rabbit (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Thanks for the message - glad you're back!
Comment is about Hazel Connelly (poet profile)
Original item by Hazel Connelly
Hello Anne, thank you for your kind words and warm welcome.
Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)
Original item by Ann Foxglove
Hi Ann have been on the site a while but for some reason unknown to me my profile got deleted. So i had to rejoin.
Hazel
Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)
Original item by Ann Foxglove
Hi David - a warm welcome to WOL. I really like your poem about the heron - I like to write about birds too. Hope to read more of your work soon.
Comment is about David Coldwell (poet profile)
Original item by David Coldwell
Hi Carla - welcome to WOL. I like your poem. Hope to see more soon.
Comment is about Carla Tombacco (poet profile)
Original item by Carla Tombacco
Hi John - a very warm welcome to WOL. Hope it enjoy the site! :)
Comment is about John Lowndes (poet profile)
Original item by John Lowndes
Hi Hazel - welcome to WOL - hope you'll enjoy the site! :)
Comment is about Hazel Connelly (poet profile)
Original item by Hazel Connelly
Cheers Jeff. This is definitely a daft question but how do you add a blog? I can't see the option!
Comment is about John Lowndes (poet profile)
Original item by John Lowndes
Hi John, welcome to WOL!!! I'm sure you will enjoy the site, its helped me to write and achieve everything I have so far, see you're posting already, good stuff, post some blogs and you should get some comments about your work, all the best Jeff (ps I run the open mic nights for WOL 3rd sunday every month in Bolton if you fancy it!)
Comment is about John Lowndes (poet profile)
Original item by John Lowndes
<Deleted User> (6895)
Thu 29th Nov 2012 23:28
Yummy poem Noris
full of great ingredients.
Nice to see you blogging again.
All da best.xx
Comment is about It was written... (blog)
Original item by Noris Roberts
<Deleted User> (6895)
Thu 29th Nov 2012 23:09
All too familiar story
put into a cool cool poem
'never mind the scallops'
Sid and Nancy would have smiled at that line
-who knows? they might be doing so right now-
if Mr Cloven hoof allows them to.
Loved it Cathy-cheers dudess.xx
Comment is about Cheers (blog)
Original item by Cathy Crabb
<Deleted User> (6895)
Thu 29th Nov 2012 23:02
Haha!what a cracker!
Good laugh there Mikeyman.xx
Comment is about THE LAST CHRISTMAS (blog)
Original item by Mike Hilton
Philipos
Thu 29th Nov 2012 22:17
Harry, your piece reminded me of the moment in 'Shadowlands' when the young students are discussing the rosebud which when having bloomed suddenly lost all its mystery.
Just checked out some of your other work as well. Great style.
CHEERS.
Comment is about FOR LINDA ...Just turned fourteen....? (blog)
Thank you so much, my dear friend for the comment. It means so much for me. Love and warmest wishes, Larisa
Comment is about How Many Questions Our Life Arise? (blog)
Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska
Larisa,
Some good wise ones, tersly put.
Comment is about How Many Questions Our Life Arise? (blog)
Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska
John!
You`ve been rummagin` in drawers again
haven`t you?
Comment is about White Rabbit (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Witty, Johm, witty.
Particularly: `crustacean treat`...`tippy-toe escaping`...`predatory view`...`shellfish`
(obviously)...and - top of the pops - `sam and ella`
Like I said...witty man!
Comment is about The Continuing Story of The Walrus and The Carpenter (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Freda Davis
Sun 2nd Dec 2012 19:54
Being published in a magazine or a book with an ISBN number means you end up in the British Library so you are there for posterity I suppose. If the magazine or collection doesn't run to an ISBN number you might as well have printed it yourself. There is no one arbiter of taste in poetry. F.R.Leavis set himself up to say who were the famous poets of the first half of the 20th Century, and I believe he produced a poetry magazine. If you do set up a magazine you do get swamped by offerings and become blase after a short time, I think. My only experience of this was editing the university poetry mag. My experience of open mic has been much healthier. I do think reading work aloud allows people to get a feel for writing and I do think people improve in what they produce. I am sure my poems have been heard by far more people through poetry events. Thats what I write them for.
Comment is about Want to be published? Four painful facts and a morality tale (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman