My absolute favourite part...
(Great photo too!)

'Now and then
I want to whisk us away
To somewhere
Neither of us
Have ever, ever been
And keep driving until
We reach the edge of the world
And look at
The sun and the moon
Kissing like perfect lovers
And compare them to us.

But other times
I just want things to stay
The way they are.'

Comment is about Now and then (blog)

Original item by Andy N

Love the idea behind this, Dave.

Words to live by...
'Childlike, innocent, fresh, simple, always ending in laughter'
'love the one you're with, fall on each other in joy.' : )

Comment is about Pillow Fights (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

Sounds upbeat and fun - Enjoy!

Comment is about Retirement (blog)

Original item by Lynn Dye

The human body - in its male and female form - is glorious. It can be, and often is, as horny as hell and just simply beautiful (the eye of the beholder considered, of course).

But let's not forget two things - the hideously anti-male sexism which holds that it is now morally OK to ogle the naked male body but that it is somehow cheap, nasty, and dirty to ogle the female one. Bollox, tits, and other naughty words etc (honestly, how provinical!).

Also, we should not, as poets, ignore two very important negatives: (1) narcissism is(paradoxically) very unnatractive, and(2)the widespread contemporary belief in human autonomy (which underpins narcissim) is ultimately ... EVIL.

As poets we should look beyond the obvious.

Comment is about Calendar boys: Write Out Loud at the naked launch (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

This is delightful Andy. Great that you're in a situation where these kind of words and feelings flow.

Comment is about Now and then (blog)

Original item by Andy N

Thanks for your comments on "Everybody's Gone Serfin'". Glad you enjoyed it.

Comment is about Dave Carr (poet profile)

Original item by Dave Carr

Hello MC. I take your point about the Cornish having the lengthiest claim to the mantle but even they are primarily of immigrant Celtic stock. I can't imagine there's a single person alive whose DNA goes back purely to the Beaker Man who looked out over the English Channel and said "OK. So where's the footpath gone?".

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Thank you Stella, I'm still not fitting everything in, how ever DID I find the time? :)

Thanks M.C. Glad to see that you haven't regretted retirement either, I SO know I won't!

Stef, just as if I could ever do such a thing as throw a brick, ha ha, and as for Benji's treats - YUCK!!! Lol, thank you for comment, appreciated. Love, Lynn

Comment is about Retirement (blog)

Original item by Lynn Dye

Enjoyed this Stella. It manages to be vivid without saying too much and restricting the reader's imagination.

Comment is about Indian Kings (blog)

this has to be your best yet ;p

Comment is about (blog)

thanks editor for putting all these pics in one album...my upload would not allow x

Comment is about Hara (winner) and Elaine (guest poet) (photo)

i cant go watch my nephews rugby team again!

so very true tho, all those men scrumming up, flankers and hookers...ooer missus x

Comment is about THE UNCERTAIN NARCISSIST (blog)

Original item by Gareth Writer-Davies

Delightful poem, Andy, enjoyed. x

Comment is about Now and then (blog)

Original item by Andy N

Ha - my profile picture hasn't changed - it must be your blackberry - maybe it couldn't handle so many pixels... oh dear, time for a diet LOL x

Comment is about Gareth Writer-Davies (poet profile)

Original item by Gareth Writer-Davies

Well you had to grab what you could when you could get it in our house. I seem to remember a certain person helping himself to a big chunk of my birthday cake, a day before my birthday!

Comment is about Domestic Science (blog)

Original item by Isobel

I seem to remember your apple crumble was acceptable, if I could get any of it, .... but hey ! You were the archytypal fridge bandit anyway lol xx

Comment is about Domestic Science (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Lol, thanks for forgiving me, Stef! I was only trying to explain M.C.'s comment. Ha ha. xx

Comment is about What is more important? (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

I,ll forgive
you for saying that Lynn
HAHA!

S&P.XX

Comment is about What is more important? (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

I like the poem, Larisa. I would always choose health first too.
By the way, I think M.C. was saying that women are more accomodating and forgiving, by saying men are less so... if you see what I mean. ;)
Hope you are well, Larisa,
Love, Lynn xx

Comment is about What is more important? (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Get that bus-pass working now Lynn.We both loved this poem-hic!haha! no brick throwing through the bakery window when you might have had too much-and no pinching Benji,s bed-bone if you wake up feeling peckish!well done Lynn-keep them coming.lots of love to you and the family including four legged members of!Tricia and Stefan.xx

Comment is about Retirement (blog)

Original item by Lynn Dye

hmm two of your favourtie pastimes then?..

Loved the way you set the scene Ray..form trains then whoooosh! I also enjoyed these kids are brainwashed too..nice work. :)

Comment is about Pour Tous Les Jours (blog)

M.C. Newberry! But... why are you so sure that men are less accommodating and forgiving than women?

Comment is about What is more important? (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

And we had the cast of pulp fiction in the far corner too...

Comment is about Roger and Co, cast of snatch, Hoylake 2011 (photo)

The word "friend" is very flexible...from the
very close to the casual. I'll plead guilty to witnessing the change from friend to foe but men are less accommodating and forgiving than women.

Comment is about What is more important? (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

You sound the type who will never fear "having
nothing to do"! I applaud that. The clock is
now YOUR servant and freedom comes in many, often unexpected guises. I can still remember
the elation mixed with a little surprise it had
finally come to pass. But I've not regretted
retirement for one moment. And, I'll bet, neither will you.

Comment is about Retirement (blog)

Original item by Lynn Dye

Thanks for your help re pic Isobel, though sadly your profile pic that I glimpsed on my Blackberry, whilst digesting your advice seems to have gone : (
Now I will never know whether yours or Winston's is the best!

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

Thanks for that Isobel and also Winston for getting back to me-problem did resolve itself, but now back to old picture-hmmm. Time will tell.

Comment is about Gareth Writer-Davies (poet profile)

Original item by Gareth Writer-Davies

ps.

if I were choosing,
the first stop has to be health-
without that-nothing else follows.xx

Comment is about What is more important? (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Hi Larisa.

Others sometimes mistake
a show of what they think is weakness-
when to the person displaying such
it actually is a show of strength.

'Turn the other cheek'comes to mind.

Like the poem very much.
cheers.
S&P.xx

Comment is about What is more important? (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Full marks from me :-) Hope you're well, Andy!

Comment is about Now and then (blog)

Original item by Andy N

Very atmospheric, really liked the mystical feel and Celtic dimension with this poem. TC

Comment is about The Beguiling of Merlin (blog)

Original item by Emlyn

Thanks Cynthia! Your comment about smiles really made me laugh. Our photographs were a little rushed on the night - if we'd only had a more time...

I just love the old style comedians like Dame Edna Everage and Dick Emmery - now they did wry twist of lip with mock abash really well!

Comment is about Calendar boys: Write Out Loud at the naked launch (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Ah..ahah..yes if only!

Wouldn't your ideas be lovely Dave?..my wise mum said never take your narks to bed with you..I do try to remember this wisdom..most of the time.

Feathers for weapons,
Hit but don't hurt,

Really like this..super poem.

Comment is about Pillow Fights (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

ahhh yes..not being ruled by the clock is a wonderful thing..but as you say..wondering how you had the time to work ha!

Comment is about Retirement (blog)

Original item by Lynn Dye

Superb fun, and a masterful control of a lengthy poem which might have gone too silly. What? No 'strumpet'! (Actually, I inserted it for 'crumpet', just for a new twist.)

Comment is about There's an App (blog)

Original item by Dave Carr

Enjoyed this, Ann, good fun. xx

Comment is about Space Junk (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

This is great.
I too enjoyed that book by John O'Farrell. He has another covering modern history too.
Dave

Comment is about Everybody's Gone Serfin' (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Just watch out for those little green men! :)

Comment is about Dave Carr (poet profile)

Original item by Dave Carr

Thanks for your brief and positive comment on There's an App.
Enjoyed Space Junk - I think I still have a piece of Skylab in the garage.
Dave

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Thanks for comment on There's an App.
Dave

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

Thanks for comment on There's an App.
Hope the Poet's Corner thing went well.
Dave

Comment is about Elaine (poet profile)

Original item by Elaine

John,
Thanks for comment on There's an app.
What's an app? - don't give me that.
I bet you are using the flat cap app for Yorkshire folks.
Nice to meet up with you at the Tudor.
Dave

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Great review, Isobel. I, too, would have enjoyed the night. 'Nakedness' has many interpretations, and being without clothes is the least of them. Your funny little smile in the photo is marvellous, half-abashed with a wry twist of lip.

Comment is about Calendar boys: Write Out Loud at the naked launch (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

This is lovely Dave - really lovely. The joys of married life eh? It kinda makes me glad to sleep alone - though I realise that you aren't necessarily referencing your own marriage - thanks for the link.

As well as liking the message, I like the way you have expressed yourself, the air of whistfulness about lost youthful innocence.

I love the play on words in the middle and that brilliant ending. x

Comment is about Pillow Fights (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

Why does it only hint to wisdom?
I have striven to that.
It's a fact!
And....if it reminds you of some lines
written in a childhood autograph by a teacher,
I would better be a preacher.
And...would never let my friend become a foe.
It's my law!

Comment is about What is more important? (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

A poignant irony worth thinking about:At the time of the 1920's "Troubles" when theAnglo-Irish War was in progress, Irish leaderArthur Griffith observed that a country that gave up control of its currency deserved to lose its freedom. Consider Ireland's TWOEuro referendums...the second basically imposed upon it from the European Union via its own supine politicians...and remember the words of Arthur Griffith. Is it any wonder that Gerry Adams holds the view that they didn'tspend 500 years struggling to be free of the British only to be ruled from Brussels and Frankfurt. And let's be blunt, those who hold the purse strings, hold power. Monarchs down through history have known that basic truth. The U.K. stood firm with its pound and I bet the Irish wish they had done likewise. Isn't history supposed to teach us something?

Comment is about Roy Harper and the politics of poetry (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Well...to my mind a mispent afternoon or three are what gives life it's worth (and also what gives interest)

did I tell you of the time..... :o)

Sadly now I would need a nap... :-/

Comment is about Tommy Carroll (poet profile)

Original item by Tommy Carroll

Hello J.C. - I will backtrack slightly on the
historical conception of "Englishness" now that
I see that Athelstan is given credit for being
the first king of what is accepted as the first
"unified" Kingdom (in the mid-10th century).
I take your point about the paradox of the German(ic|) and French connections. They say
though that William the Conk was of Viking
origins...they seemed to be inveterate Euro -immigrants: with axes to overcome objections!
But the Cornish would probably lay claim to
being the "originals". Judging by their
antipathy towards their Devon neighbours,
they still feel that way! But "English" is
an official ethnicity now so we have as much
right to shout "racism" as anyone else -
backed up by a thousand years of well documented in-fighting and in-breeding. As for
so-called "xenophobia" - ask the Cornish about the Devonians...and the Yorkies about those Lancastrians (etc. etc.) I smile whenever
recent immigrants complain about how they are
treated. They would be wise to study our history for the explanation.

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Win I checked Oxford dictionaries online it Says plural one L, I tried a different pair of specs? It is one l' Soz, hands up I'm wrong, I was trying to help! lilies it's so small the writing in the dictionary!

SOZ! for doubting you, I'm after your job! HaHa xx

Comment is about Winston Plowes (poet profile)

Original item by Winston Plowes

Larisa - your poem reminds me of some lines
written in a childhood autograph book by a teacher:
Never let a friend your secrets know,
For if your friend becomes your foe,
Around the world your secrets go!
In other words, it is sometimes wise to keep something for yourself! Your poem hints at
that wisdom.

Comment is about What is more important? (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska