This is a very fine poem Freda - a piece of history also.
I love the way you appeal to all the senses, as Greg remarks. I also love the way you give it to us through the innocence of a child's eye. The lights in the sky are beautiful but to the reader would represent something totally different. That is what strikes me most about this powerful poem. The innocence pitched against all that horror. I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it before. This needs putting in a war anthology. Not many people could write with this knowledge or experience.
Comment is about In the End (blog)
Original item by Freda Davis
Hi Harry. nice to see something lovely on these pages. Brightened my lunch break. thank you. Win
Comment is about BETTY IN A WINDY SUNSET (blog)
hi Winston, Thanks for the welcome! For more of my stuff, the really good stuff, go check out my homepage and follow the links from there.
Comment is about Bradford Middleton (poet profile)
Original item by Bradford Middleton
<Deleted User> (7075)
Wed 14th Dec 2011 12:38
Hi Bradford. A warm welcome to the pages of Write Out Loud. Winston
Comment is about Bradford Middleton (poet profile)
Original item by Bradford Middleton
Hahaaa!!! You've picked my 'party piece' song! :D I have sung that bugger EVERYWHERE from folk singarounds to round the fire at 7am at festies! :D
Nigel is THE funniest, sharpest lyricist ever - and I LOVE the sheer amount of musical and lyrical references he packs in :D
For shame, I won't be going on Saturday. Me chap's band are playing their crimbo gig in Llangollen so will be going to that instead, but it was a verrry close decision.
Comment is about Richie Muster (poet profile)
Original item by Richie Muster
Awww, gawdamn I'm going to miss them. I'm in Accrington - no car - and public transport is, well, a travesty. Tell you what - if you're going record it and one way or another, we'll bootleg the bugger.
'Who the fuckin' hell are Slipknot in relation to me getting out of bed?'
Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)
Original item by Laura Taylor
'In crawling masses flies were serried
Black on festering, putrid heads.' - not unlike 'Dulce et Decorum Est', perhaps THE greatest of war poems. Don't know the slant of the discussion you mentioned but here's my two pe'nnorth - politics and poetry are essential bedfellows. Being a pacifist [funny how the word 'fist' sneaks in there, eh?] I believe that words are sharper weapons than blades. Put the guns away and execrate 'em with language - the bastards deserve everthing we can fling at 'em.
Comment is about AN UNCOUTH CASE OF TIMING (blog)
Howdy Richie
Thanks for your note on Hasta. Aye, he is still out there, and lives within my own energy too. Knew him 30 years, miss him like mad. One life and that, eh?
And...don't know where you live chuck, but Half Man Half Biscuit are playing the Manchester Ritz this Saturday :) Nice venue - went to see Alabama 3 there the other week. Do you keep an eye on their website? (www.hmhb.co.uk) They update it with gig listings every now and again :) Nice to chat to a fellow fan! :D I've seen em bloody loads of times...even made my own Joy Division Oven Gloves to take to a gig once heh. *no shame*
Thanks again for commenting on She's Mine Tonight...written the day after the night before ;) And the club really did disappear.
Cheers fella
Comment is about Richie Muster (poet profile)
Original item by Richie Muster
Oh, 'enduring energy' - as a taoist/hopelessly confused reader of all things quantum mechanical I believe that energy cannot die but rather, be transformed into another kind. The mighty Bill Hicks RIP once said we're all just drops of condensed awareness distilled from the ocean of consciousness. S/he's still out there then.
Comment is about Hasta Mañana (blog)
Original item by Laura Taylor
Half Man Half Biscuit? '27yds of dental floss and she still won't give me a smile...' I'd crawl a mile over broken glass to see 'em live. Got everything they've done.'Bin men, thin men, lexicographers; fish yes, not so octopus...' There now, see what you've done?: you got me started...Re: 'We' - I love it; the bloodrush heartstomping pulsebeat fervour of passion unfettered. Yay!
Oh, and thanx for comments re: 'The Visitor'.
Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)
Original item by Laura Taylor
Yes, Freda. A magnificent piece form you this,
so many asides and childhood vividness. The rubber smell, the wooden car, the daisies, the war. loved it. Win x
Comment is about In the End (blog)
Original item by Freda Davis
This is one of the finest and most enjoyable poems I've come across on WOL in a long time, Freda. I love the way you focus on the light, and the stars - as well as the rubber smells!
Comment is about In the End (blog)
Original item by Freda Davis
Hi All. Anthony, very nice. Matt. Yes please keep posting your blogs, we'll keep an eye on them and keep reading and commenting on others blog posts too if you have time. Win
Comment is about Welcome, Matt! Write Out Loud's poet profile no. 1000 (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
"I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do". (HAL 9000)
Comment is about WOL favourite adapts Rabelais for Radio 4 (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Lovely poem, Harry, I enjoyed too.
Comment is about BETTY IN A WINDY SUNSET (blog)
Thanks for the comments Ray, I know what you mean and will take it on board, I try to write as I would imagine saying the words which is why I think sometimes it doesn't quite look as you would expect written down.
Also a hint is in the title but i'm not going to give it away quite yet.
Comment is about Extraction (blog)
Original item by Matt Tilke
Wow, thanks everyone.
It's an honour to be the member 1000, although I must point out that I am not a number, I am a free man. Sorry couldn't resist.
Hope you enjoy my writing, there will be plenty more to come.
Matt
Comment is about Welcome, Matt! Write Out Loud's poet profile no. 1000 (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Thanks for your comments. I'd not noticed the slight changes in the rhythm, Isobel.I do methodically edit and revise all my poems so I guess I lose sight of the original drift sometimes.
Comment is about Wave (blog)
Agree with Dave, I enjoyed this.
Comment is about Wave (blog)
Crumbs - only you could think like that Anthony!
Comment is about Welcome, Matt! Write Out Loud's poet profile no. 1000 (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Enjoyed the journey with you, good stuff.
Comment is about A CHRISTMAS DAY WALK IN DURLEY (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
This is a lovely and softly erotic vignette Lynn. :)
Regards,
A.E.
Comment is about Restless (blog)
Original item by Lynn Dye
As I live in the village that Simon comes from, Marsden, I can testify to the curious lure the Pennines have, and their potential for the creative, poetic imagination; though not sure the roads really fizzle out, as Marsden is on the old A62 which, far from petering, is still technically the main trunk road between the two great ports of Hull and Liverpool, linking those two with Manchester and Leeds. THE great cross-Pennine route before the awful M62 obliterated one of my favourite spots - waterfall and all. Or am I being too prosaic?
We are also, as the crow flies only around 18 miles from the scenery around Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd that inspired Ted Hughes.
Comment is about Click on this? WOL's links compendium (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
I wasn't suggesting for one moment that you chose your words at random Marianne. I was just questioning whether anyone could say for sure what your poem was about. As Winston has gone on to explain, the reader can formulate their own ideas.
I'm grateful for your explanation - though I still can't see how it ties into the words. I'm horribly old school. Meaning is all to me and then how that meaning is expressed. I also prefer to have the original meaning of the writer, rather than my own invention. I accept that we are all different though - it would be a boring old world if we weren't. You have a large and adoring fan club on here and I imagine many of my poems would leave you stone cold. Variety is all and that is how it should be:)
Comment is about Idea (blog)
Original item by Marianne Daniels
Hi M. Yes, good reply, I think you know that I never for a moment think that you choose words at ramdom.
As you say, this is your style. It is amazing. Stick with it.
Win x
Comment is about Idea (blog)
Original item by Marianne Daniels
This is lovely, Harry. Could well receive some votes.
Thank you for commenting on Father. Christmas.
Comment is about BETTY IN A WINDY SUNSET (blog)
Philipos
Tue 13th Dec 2011 17:06
You capture your love scene very well. Enjoyed.
Comment is about BETTY IN A WINDY SUNSET (blog)
<Deleted User> (6895)
Tue 13th Dec 2011 17:01
Harry!
you are going to cost us a fortune-
in Kleenex!
Beautiful!
Thank you.
P&S.xx
Comment is about BETTY IN A WINDY SUNSET (blog)
<Deleted User> (6895)
Tue 13th Dec 2011 16:59
Are we to take it
that you have evicted Colin then Lynn?
haha!
And yes we agree with Steve on the poem.
Well done!
cheers big ears.
P&S.xx
Comment is about Restless (blog)
Original item by Lynn Dye
Philipos
Tue 13th Dec 2011 16:53
Reminds me of 'Hills of the North Rejoice' somehow - something very rugged about winter in the north which you capture very well in your words. As Win' implies you give winter a sort of reverence. Cheers.
Comment is about Hymn of a Northern Clime (blog)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
Philipos
Tue 13th Dec 2011 16:49
A very moving poem Dave, with D-Day coming at almost the same time as Christmas and which juxtaposition somehow makes death even more intolerable. I thought your use of the count down days was quite clever.
Comment is about Father. Christmas (blog)
Original item by Dave Bradley
Philipos
Tue 13th Dec 2011 16:38
A from-the-heart poem of quality which I enjoyed reading. Cheers.
Comment is about A CHRISTMAS DAY WALK IN DURLEY (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Any poem which makes one want to re-read it twice slowly has to be a good one.
Comment is about Wave (blog)
December meeting Stockport Write Out Loud
To 2011 we say goodbye
In 2012 we say hello
to more collage poetry
Looking forward to something new
This one has sparked December mark two
Comment is about November II - Collage Poem Created by Stockport WoL (blog)
Original item by J F Keane
<Deleted User> (6895)
Tue 13th Dec 2011 16:00
Hello top guy-
re your FOAD-
a mans gotta say
what a mans gotta say-
angrily or otherwise.
and the 'otherwise'in your case
is fantastic! really cool!
and well worth plagiarizin-ha!
so no damning judgement
from us two old farts-
just you keep ROCKIN' ON!
Merry Syphillis'n'a Happy Gonorrhea!
Comment is about Richie Muster (poet profile)
Original item by Richie Muster
Bawdy and bonkers it is. But it did pass the time pleasantly while ironing and between you and Rabelais, there were a few nuggets worth scribbling down between the shirts -
"Life is not for the easily offended"
"mesmerised by the volume of oddity that has come to rest in a man"
"you can tell an idiot by the company he keeps and the thoughts he dismisses"
"friendship - what a ship of fools it can be".
I'm looking forward to the second half
Comment is about WOL favourite adapts Rabelais for Radio 4 (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Thank you for commenting.
I will let you take what you want from it, because it is coming from a fragile place that can be applied to what has been said.
I was presenting an idea more of acceptance, the stranger being me or you, outside the influence of others, and the fear of one not really being anything at all outside this in fact. Frightening. Thinking of the crutches we lean on - the power of an idol being as much as an anti depressant as an actual pill. I dunnoes, maybe this will encourage a backlash, maybe not.
I think this could be related to new love.
"Beyond imagination" - Thanks Win, thats quite a statement! I must say though for those that think I choose words at random, I really don't - it is carefully put together but I understand how irritaing it can be as I am a muddled sort! I fear I shall never make it as a writer this way but I don't know how else to do it!!
Blimey, look how confessional I have become? Excuse me while I just go disappear up a shisha pipe's bottom...
Comment is about Idea (blog)
Original item by Marianne Daniels
<Deleted User> (7075)
Tue 13th Dec 2011 14:51
Hi Michael, Welcome to WOL. Thx for sending your pic, as you can see I have uploaded it onto your profile. Winston
Comment is about Michael Arnold Williams (poet profile)
Original item by Michael Arnold Williams
No, no, Stella; I've just reread 'Grunkling...' and you're wrongwrongwrong: me like it veryyy much indeedy and for to shame it put me and me puny scratches...
Comment is about Grunkling Never Gets You Anywhere (blog)
'Lady'? Humph. What are you implying sir? If you weren't a 'revolutionary socialist' too [I prefer to label myself 'libertarian/Chomskyan communist', 'Groucho Marxist' or plain ol' 'anarchist' tho] and someone else who appears to revere the mighty Bill Hicks R.I.P. ['...anyone...DUMB ENOUGH...to want to be in the military should be allowed in...'] I'd...I'd...I'd...
...anyway, too little sleep and a hump of hate will do that [FOAD2] to ya...
Comment is about Tommy Carroll (poet profile)
Original item by Tommy Carroll
hey up
oh gosh foot-in-mouth time methinks; a late night and a loose gob aren't the best of bedfellows. I'm putting up a milder version and deleting this [FOAD2] dirty little buggerrrr...
Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
hey up
oh gosh foot-in-mouth time methinks; a late night and a loose gob aren't the best of bedfellows. I'm putting up a milder version and deleting this [FOAD2] dirty little buggerrrr...
Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)
Original item by John Coopey
Thoroughly enjoyed your spots at the Bards last night, John.
maybe I should re-phrase that....
Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)
Original item by John Coopey
Hello Val.
Best wishes to you too at Christmas.
Comment is about Valerie Cook (poet profile)
Original item by Valerie Cook
...and, of course, best wishes for Christmas.
Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Hello MC. Thanks for your thoughts on Haddlesey Bells. No, this isn't the one we did for the school. That's called "Together" and is in the process of being recorded by a local singer. I'll post that when it's ready.
I agree with you about the unnecessary repetition of the last chorus. (A little too much of a good thing, I think!) In fact Our Gert suggesed deleting the entire song!
Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
thanks for the comments jeff, much appreciated man
Comment is about Jeffarama! (poet profile)
Original item by Jeffarama!
Howdy and welcome - do you win a prize? I think we've got some hobnobs lying around somewhere...;D
Comment is about Welcome, Matt! Write Out Loud's poet profile no. 1000 (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Greg Freeman
Wed 14th Dec 2011 14:52
Agree with all the others, Harry. It sweeps you up. That Betty must be quite a girl.
Comment is about BETTY IN A WINDY SUNSET (blog)