All comments (page 2360 of 2987)

Wed 19th Oct 2011 19:59

hi john can you please repost 'you cant ...over a vague man' it came up in a comments thread and id like to read it. hope you and yours are all fine x

Comment is about John Togher (poet profile)

Original item by John Togher

Wed 19th Oct 2011 19:55

dont worry a thing about it, you look fine x i genuinely can imagine the pain of having acne. i suffered enough over a few spots so i have an idea but just that. its something often overlooked as a serious problem/condition so im glad you wrote about it.

im going to look up john s poem :)

on second thoughts i realise that quite often a man from behind is sexier than any other way xx

Comment is about Skin Deep (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Wed 19th Oct 2011 19:39

Ha - I already know that you have a long standing relationship with Patrick Swayzee, Rachel...

It's a shame you missed John Togher's poem last Thursday, entitled 'You could never have a wet dream over a vague man...' - inspired by a comment made by a female acquaintance - it's probably a bit connected to our conversation!

You are probably right that people with oily skin age better - not all people with oily skin have horrendous acne though. Mine had/has a lot to do with a certain hormone intolerance. I still suffer from it in my 40s - though not as badly :)

Thanks for the feedback - I've had some fun thinking about it! x

Comment is about Skin Deep (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Larisa Rzhepishevska

Wed 19th Oct 2011 18:24

Hello, dear! Thank you so much for your comment on "A Prayer". If you have time, please, have a look at it again as I've made some changes for better rhyming. Your opinion is very important for me.
With warmest wishes,
Larisa

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Larisa Rzhepishevska

Wed 19th Oct 2011 18:07

It's really a beautiful poem from the start up to the end. I take this poem as a fantastic ability of SOME human beings to feel not only our Mother Earth, but the whole Universe. Great poem!
Liked the words: "cosmic strings that hold us together" and "sometimes we are someone else".
With warmest wishes,
Larisa

Comment is about Sometimes I Am Not Born (blog)

Original item by Kealan Coady

<Deleted User> (6895)

Wed 19th Oct 2011 17:29

mmm
the certainty of uncertainty.

like it a lot.

Comment is about The want (blog)

Wed 19th Oct 2011 17:03

yes your right, the poem does apply to everyone and is universal...just me going on a tangent there i can see how it would completely change the angle.

mm i like to think the feelings of attraction i have for ecertain people are exclusive to me and them and are all about a biochemical party going on...usually tho they have very definate good looks about them...

i dont think ive ever wanked over someone without a face :) it sounds interesting however. i have had fantasies that would include the person in them changing into all different people as it goes...i enjoyed that one. changing people with no concsious control...

sorry for turning your poem page into wank fantasy...actually i think that a compliment.

as for spots it has been said that the more you have as a teenager the better your skin and younger you look in later life :)

Comment is about Skin Deep (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Hazel

Wed 19th Oct 2011 16:33

Hi John Thanks for your comments on Symphony of the Elements. I did move the verses around quiet a few times.
Hazel

Comment is about John Coopey (poet profile)

Original item by John Coopey

Hazel

Wed 19th Oct 2011 16:30

Thank you Lynn for your comment on Symphony of the Elements.
Hazelx

Comment is about Lynn Dye (poet profile)

Original item by Lynn Dye

Wed 19th Oct 2011 15:56

Perhaps I didn't phrase myself well. I meant that a poem referencing Jewish experiences would have become a poem about racial discrimination not an anti-semitic poem. I wanted to write a poem about disfigurement that could apply to anyone, regardless of race or colour.

Yes - to fancy someone you have to find them attractive - though not necessarily beautiful:-)

Does someone need a good personality to be wanked over? Of course not - in fact they don't always need a face...

Comment is about Skin Deep (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Shirley Smothers

Wed 19th Oct 2011 15:56

Hi Lynn.
Thanks for the comments on my poem, "We Used to Make Love". This is actually a made up poem. The only thing we do fight about it sex.
Him: "Honey I want to have sex."
Me: Again, didn't we do that just last week."
LOL

Comment is about Lynn Dye (poet profile)

Original item by Lynn Dye

Shirley Smothers

Wed 19th Oct 2011 15:51

M.C. Thanks for your comments on my poem "We Used to Make Love".
This is actually a made up poem. The only thing we do fight about is sex.
Him: "Honey I want to have sex."
Me: "Again, didn't we do that just last week?"
LOL

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

Original item by M.C. Newberry

Shirley Smothers

Wed 19th Oct 2011 15:48

This is actually a made up poem.
The only thing my husband and I do fight about is sex.
Him: "Honey I want to have sex."
Me: "Again, didn't we do that just last week?"
LOL

Comment is about We Used to Make Love (blog)

Original item by Shirley Smothers

M.C. Newberry

Wed 19th Oct 2011 15:44

Reaching out - that is what writing from the heart is about. And this does just that.
The rhyming might not be exact but the feeling
IS. We hear you!

Comment is about A PRAYER (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Wed 19th Oct 2011 15:43

i wouldnt have thought that a poem referencing jewish peoples experience of the holocoast anti - semitic although i understand your point and would require a lot of careful research to get it right. I am studying this era at uni so everything i read now has some reference :)

i think men have their own standards to live up to, being a sports hero or somehow loaded...i have a thing for slight abnormalities and certainly scars but im still fussy about what type. some scarring can only show the extent of pain and sometimes i feel it shudder through me if i see it on somebody else. its a recognition and empathy but at the same time the person has no choice to present it.

i grateful not to have been physically different from others but even being popular and pretty didnt stop ultimate feelings of isolation and differentness, depression despair and lonliness. sometimes i think its just there in the genes.

i think youre right, theres a poem in all of us on this theme.

Thanks for this one x

p.s somebody posted this on facebook:

looks arent everything, but you cant w*nk over a personality.

i have to admit to a level of agreement with this one...although looks are nothing without personality.

Comment is about Skin Deep (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Wed 19th Oct 2011 14:10

Thanks for your comments Steve, Lynn, Rachel.

Rachel,I think if I’d referenced Jews, the poem would have gone down the track of racial/cultural discrimination. My experience was of a world where I was outside the norm, not where I was an outcast or a victim. I’m not really making any high brow statements against magazines or the superficiality of society, though of course that doesn't help. Unfortunately I think that we are all programmed to love beauty and to see it in certain set parameters. Disfigurement can be hard to look at without embarrassment. You have to try hard not to look at the boil on the end of the nose, not to look at whatever it is that is outside of the accepted. There are obviously degrees of pain involved in coping with such conditions. I guess acne would be the mild end of the scale and burning/scarring/deformity the other. Any problem is much harder to cope with in youth though. As you get older, you realise that beauty isn’t everything and that personality and charisma can take you a lot further – they don’t wrinkle either :)

I suppose the purpose of the poem was just to explore those feelings and emotions; to understand that people can be psychologically changed by the way they look.

I think you are right to say that the problem is harder for women Rachel - at least we beat ourselves up more about it. Horrific to think what women have done to themselves over the centuries to enhance their beauty also. I'm thinking of all that binding of feet in China and those hideous corsets they were forced to wear in this country. There are probably a million poems you could write about this subject from a million angles...

Comment is about Skin Deep (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Wed 19th Oct 2011 14:00

the drunks the wicked the perverts and the scum...everywhere, all the time, in hiding and disguise. its a basic task to put a drink down and with great difficulty leave it there...we seek out these sordid places and smile with tired eyes that accept the welcome of a world with no standards.
selflessness wont keep you in a job.

Comment is about Employment (blog)

John Coopey

Wed 19th Oct 2011 13:38

Enjoyable, Hazel. I looked for a rhythm but kept losing it - perhaps it was your intention.
Also, reminiscent of Dylan's "Chimes of Freedom".

Comment is about SYMPHONY of the ELEMENTS (blog)

Wed 19th Oct 2011 13:22

Enjoyed this, Hazel, nice idea combining weather with music.

Comment is about SYMPHONY of the ELEMENTS (blog)

Wed 19th Oct 2011 13:19

think this insightful into the gut feelings of young people suffering to come to terms with changing bodies and ideas of beauty.

with reference to dave comments, for a moment i thought id missed an allusion to WW2 but realise Dave was referring to scarring of pilots. I would have been blown away had this poem referenced the treatment of Jews or fascist ideas of beauty and i suppose now it does as dave has provided a link.

The poem still very effectively captures that feeling of ugliness. I look back at my teenage photographs and i was flawless, but there was no convincing me then. Just what is ugliness? perfection seems to strip girls down to their bare bones and leave em bleeding.

great poem.

Comment is about Skin Deep (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Wed 19th Oct 2011 12:36

Powerful poem, Isobel, I think you have done a marvelous job on a sensitive theme. xx

Comment is about Skin Deep (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Wed 19th Oct 2011 12:19

Good luck, hope it's a big success xx

Comment is about A Means to an End book launch (Andy N and Jeff Dawson aka Jeffarama) (blog)

Original item by Andy N

Wed 19th Oct 2011 12:04

Heartbreaking little rhyme, says it all. x

Comment is about We Used to Make Love (blog)

Original item by Shirley Smothers

steve mellor

Tue 18th Oct 2011 21:47

Hi Dave
I finally took the plunge back in. The well had been very dry for a good while. When I finally decided to get back on WOL there were a lot of tech problems, now all sorted.
You know how grateful I am for your encouraging 'comment'.
Didn't I read that you're on holiday this week? If so, have a good time.
Where to go (that's good) other than Tudor? It would be nice to meet up
Steve

Comment is about Dave Bradley (poet profile)

Original item by Dave Bradley

Tue 18th Oct 2011 21:38

Thanks for comments everyone. I did expect some criticism of this. I really struggled to get a poetic flow - probably because I was telling a story - one based on real life experience - so it inclined towards prose and it's hard to make poetry from prose.

The penulimate verse is important because I met that woman and what I described happened. Many people thought she was rude and ignorant. She had been disfigured in a car accident but I could totally understand why she behaved in the way she did. It would have been a defence mechanism to protect herself from having to deal with other people's reactions to her. If you consider yourself to be disfigured, 'the rules of play' are that you avoid talking to someone whilst the sun is on you - you position yourself so their vision is impaired instead...

I suppose what I am saying is that who we are can often be shaped by how we look. I'm a lot less paranoid than I used to be and a lot more confident. Age has some benefits. In this poem the emotions and feelings took over for me - which is why I posted an imperfect piece. I'm happy if people got something out of it anyway. x

Comment is about Skin Deep (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Ray Miller

Tue 18th Oct 2011 21:13

Took me a while to understand the penultimate verse. Now that I do I think it's the least effective verse, mostly due to these lines

One day I meet a woman who shuns the world,

disliked by those who tried and failed,

she somehow chats to me,

forgetting rules of play

It's like you've got to put in something before the crux of the poem but didn't take as much care.The rest I enjoyed very much!

Comment is about Skin Deep (blog)

Original item by Isobel

<Deleted User> (7075)

Tue 18th Oct 2011 21:04

Hi there Anna Marie

This is a simple piece really but as a heartfelt dedication, its emotion cannot be ignored. Well done

Keep well.

Winston

Comment is about for you (blog)

Ray Miller

Tue 18th Oct 2011 20:51

Well, it's a rubbish poem (though I like the peep-holes verse) but there's a nice idea in there- that our world's populated by those who choose to leave the bodiless and boring world of eternity for an uncertain life and certain death.In short, Isobel, I'm crackers!

Comment is about Souls (blog)

Dave Bradley

Tue 18th Oct 2011 20:22

Wow! If there was still a poem of the month comp this would be on my short list.

It makes one wonder which of one's own small possessions might make someone in the future stop and ruminate. A standout poem

Comment is about Doubting Thomas Or Epiphany in Halifax Last Sunday (blog)

Original item by ant

Dave Bradley

Tue 18th Oct 2011 20:14

I agree with the others. It's maybe not technically your best ever, but is so powerful that, as Cynthia says, little details don't matter. Reading, years ago, the inside stories of WW2 pilots with facial burns was unforgettable for me and this brought it back. There are few physical occurrences in life more devastating than damage to the face yet it is so rarely written about. Well done!

Comment is about Skin Deep (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Cate Greenlees

Tue 18th Oct 2011 20:04

Powerful and hard hitting in its intensity of emotion.
Cate xx

Comment is about Skin Deep (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Cate Greenlees

Tue 18th Oct 2011 20:00

Too true! Our vocal majority got absolutely no where when they shut our local library down, and re located it to somewhere no one could get to.
Up the word revolution I say!!
Cate xx

Comment is about THE PROPERTY DEVELOPER (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

<Deleted User> (9796)

Tue 18th Oct 2011 19:16

Hello Ann, Wow....Fantacia.....and Towards America....I am so touched especially by Fantacia.....

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Ann Foxglove

Tue 18th Oct 2011 19:11

Just returning to say - I bet all the customers will miss your lovely cheery smile! You must have been an asset to that place! And . . . we expect loads more poems now! xx

Comment is about No More! (blog)

Original item by Lynn Dye

<Deleted User> (9796)

Tue 18th Oct 2011 19:04

Hi Lisa, beautiful and heart touching poem. you write from your heart to touch others.

Comment is about Lisa Milligan (poet profile)

Original item by Lisa Milligan

<Deleted User> (6895)

Tue 18th Oct 2011 18:06

you are more than welcome Lynn.

yes I,m sure it will be sad
leaving the company of your workmates eh.

no doubt you will pop in-
looking for a discount
for old times sake-haha!

our best to you.

Stef and Patricia.xxxx

Comment is about No More! (blog)

Original item by Lynn Dye

J. Otis Powell!

Tue 18th Oct 2011 17:51

Michael
The generosity of your dedication touched me unexpectedly. The sound of your poem resinates like so many words I've said and pontificated to deaf and unassuming ears. The question mark in your title evokes a moot inquiry for I am, we are so fooled by nationality.

"From Alabama to Nebraska the pain

Comes triple fold complete

With the mightiest of frowns upon

Every brother, every sisters face."

Indeed, Alabama is my home state.

Forgotten (because my body remembers too)
by J. Otis Powell!
Southeast USA
Above Florida
Sharing a border with Pensacola
Where the past lives on
In retrospective theme parks
Of course the past is still alive everywhere
Our world is full of museums
Memories gather into a congregation
While that southeast corner (of America)
Sorts details
In a Minnesota data base
Searching long lost files
Filing forgotten pain in order of degrees
Cover-ups
Misinformation
Misunderstandings
Santa Clause
The worth of Negroes
The color of God
And the price of a ticket to anywhere
Anywhere else
Colored water
Colored education
Obsolete
Lying history
Colored diet
Colored medicine
Colored religion
And corporal punishment
Like masa taught
History says the South lost the war
Our story
Says they’re still winning the peace
Years of confederate air conditioning
In the home of the Rebels
Walls of Confederate Flags
And Dixie played by marching bands
Sounds elongate in curious places down there
Names still have syllables where air ought to be
The past is alive everywhere however now it’s
Mostly manifesting in the right corner of my low back
Pulling me deep into recollections of an unbroken agony
A day became weeks and now too much has passed
Remnants of unequal
Unrequited revolution sit there pinching
Debilitating - stalling work on the enlightenment
Now
Not even Walter Croncrete brings news
Of the broken back of democracy

Peace after revolution
J. Otis

Comment is about American? (blog)

Original item by Noetic-fret!

<Deleted User> (6895)

Tue 18th Oct 2011 17:50

aw Lynn
supporting you gives us both great pleasure
and its the least we can do
for all the support you have given
for such a very long time now.

very grateful Lynn

Stef and Patricia.xx

ps-don,t come too close-
I have a raging virus..cough cough...splutter..splutter-ugh!

Comment is about Lynn Dye (poet profile)

Original item by Lynn Dye

Dave Carr

Tue 18th Oct 2011 17:38

Thanks for all these great messages. Really appreciated.
Dave

Comment is about Not a tit at all (blog)

Original item by Dave Carr

<Deleted User> (9593)

Tue 18th Oct 2011 17:36

Absolutely fantastic....and to see and hear you read it! Superlative! Perfection in rhyme and rhythm....fantastic ideas and images. Just loved the Tolkien reference and the journey round the world ending, so appropriately at Wigan. You can't read it too often!!

Comment is about Chlamydia (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Dave Carr

Tue 18th Oct 2011 17:33

Nice one.
Lucky you.
Now you can concentrate on writing.
Best wishes
Dave

Comment is about No More! (blog)

Original item by Lynn Dye