or 'who knows when, our final time?'

Comment is about last time (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

who knows when it's our final time?

lovley imagery

Comment is about last time (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Very funny John.
toilet humour indeed.
Should that be
"The rat will always be well hidden"
in the first verse
Best
Dave

Comment is about Rattus Lavatorius (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

I like this one Ann - 'smoulder up to death's dark curtain' is a good line and I like the idea of egyptian imagery.

I feel that last line could be changed to make it flow better - not sure how though.

Comment is about last time (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Ann,
I love the first line.
I need a beer.
Dave

Comment is about last time (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Wow! Could be expressing exactly what goes through me too, this. Really enjoying your work Amy - you have a definite talent!

Comment is about Just us (blog)

Original item by Amy McCawley

I think this is just fantastic. I'm 43 so I remember the bad old days of the 80s when I was refused a job working on board ships for the Navy, wasn't allowed to join the local pool team (despite kicking their arses on a regular basis), wasn't allowed into back rooms in working men's clubs, got warned off trucking and told that the male truckers would not talk to me or help with roping and sheeting, wasn't allowed even to be served with a pint of beer - two halves only. All because I was a woman. Getting asked at interviews if I intended to have a baby! All small things but I just kept running into stuff I couldn't do, purely because I had a female body. Crazy.

I get so angry when I hear young women reject outright the notion of feminism, as fed to them by the media. All 'oh well we've got everything now haven't we' - no, you haven't!

Sorry for such a long post but you've touched a nerve. Great poem - I love the poetic turns, love the play, love the power. Nice one :)

Comment is about Born to greatness. (blog)

Original item by Amy McCawley

A bit like my bedroom as well but with gollies substituted Ann thanks.

Please do put it on Stefan Thanks.

Comment is about THE ATTIC (blog)

Thanks Ann yes I see what you mean.

Comment is about PEOPLE (blog)

Big issues for me all this. I had never heard of feminism when my mum cried for being refused a mortgage, sitting with her calculations on, literally, the backs of envelopes. She was told she would have to ask my absent father to act as guarantor - didn't give women mortgages, you see.
And then when she worked in an engineering works - heavy labour - and the men got far more money for the same job, yet she had three children to support. And then... Oh don't get me started!

Comment is about Born to greatness. (blog)

Original item by Amy McCawley

Isobel, thank you for your comment on baby Jade. Yeah I have learned to live with it and poetry is very therapeautic indeed! xxx

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

This is packed quite tightly into a very small package... my type of poetry. There is no breathe allowed between movements and images... thus allowing for a sweep of powerful poetic assertions then allowing the rain to drift the memory into times gone now only misty recollections. Superb share.

Comment is about Memento (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Anne, this is a breathtaking poem! I loved witnessing the pigments move about and fuse then dry... very visual and very moving. If there were a fave tab on this site, this would be flagged as such. Thanks for sharing.

Comment is about watching paint (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

All the more powerful for its simplicity, sitting in an almost nursery rhyme form.

Comment is about Daddys girl (blog)

Original item by Kath Hewitt

'life is fragile and love is strong' - I'd agree with that. It sounds like you've had some tough experiences Paulyn. I hope you have managed to cope with it - poetry is always a help. x

Comment is about Baby Jade (blog)

Original item by Paulyn Lloyd

sorry cant make it. i really enjoyed the last Morton arms night, although next time i want the £20 to cover my tunnel expenses ;) Have a good night and say hello to nenna if he there. Our dance studio is possibly dancing at the 'festival of firsts' at Hoylake v.soon (depending on funding) I hope to see you there chris.
also i got tons of email from a mobile number advertising this...can you check that?

Comment is about Guest Poet Pete Crompton- £20 open mic prize- it could be you! (blog)

This reminds me of a song from ages ago called "Words" (by Tomtom Club I think.) I like the way it moves from hustle and bustle to a rather lonely ending, though the conclusion is hopeful. I might put "Chance of a visitor, now slim" as the third from last verse, I think it scans easier. Nice poem :)

Comment is about PEOPLE (blog)

Here, here! Superb sentiments Amy. is the word 'sufferage' deliberate or did you mean suffrage? I'd like to think the former.

Comment is about Born to greatness. (blog)

Original item by Amy McCawley

Extremely powerful Alanna, not least in its succinctness.

Comment is about Eleanor (blog)

Original item by Alanna Rice

Excellent! A sonnet! And with faithful structures too, complete with 9th line turn.
(I suspect you know what you're doing, C).
Really enjoyed the contemporary subject and sporting references within such a conventional form.
I must check more of your stuff.

Comment is about Sporting Success in spite of Rain (blog)

Original item by C Richard Miles

Hello Ann re Late Night Trains I travelled overnight on the Blue Train from Joburg to The Cape (1500k) a couple of times some years back and was astonished to see that we had armed guards on board who were quick to make their rifles obvious when we arrived at some of the outback stations. Small wonder Agatha Christie and other authors found trains so compelling to write about - they create an atmosphere all of their own. Thanks very much for commenting.

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

I'm the same as Winston, Sophia.. Really enjoyed the photograph too xx

Comment is about Sophia Dimmock (poet profile)

Original item by Sophia Dimmock

enjoyed this, Amy.. Defo want I would like to see performed live (would tangle me in knots trying to perform it however - lol) x

Comment is about Just us (blog)

Original item by Amy McCawley

have you blogged this before, kath or a verison of it as it does seem familar?

either way, that last line was upsetting, kath but powerful..

excellent stuff x

Comment is about Daddys girl (blog)

Original item by Kath Hewitt

thank you Annie dearest (the sand man)

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Sounds like my bedroom Hazel! Just substitute lead farm animals for the 007 car. Nice poem!

Comment is about THE ATTIC (blog)

Very funny Hazel.I did a poem on the same subject back in 2009-I shall put it on over the next few days and see what you think.Best regards to you-Stef.x

Comment is about THE ATTIC (blog)

Thank you for your kind comment, on my poem "MY Mother's Gentle Hands." I have added an audio version of this poem. I am horrible with computers, my husband had to convert this audio from WMA into mp3 format.

I especially like your poem "Women Like Stars".
I like poetry that shows the bond and strength of women.

Thanks
Shirley Smothers

Comment is about Amy McCawley (poet profile)

Original item by Amy McCawley

Well said! I'm enjoying your poems. :)

Comment is about Born to greatness. (blog)

Original item by Amy McCawley

Hi

Thank you for commenting on Daddys girl, much appreciated.

I liked Woman. I thought it was very good and very true to life. I also can really identify with the last line, I thought it was very well placed.

K x

Comment is about Paulyn Lloyd (poet profile)

Original item by Paulyn Lloyd

I did like this and i thought the lyrics were as Mike says, very true. I found myself thinking ' i know how that is'.

I did think the melody and music were very pink floyd, but i'm a huge fan of theirs so i didnt mind!

K x

Comment is about Winter Romance (blog)

Original item by Alan Morrison

Hi Cate,

Thank you for commenting on Daddys girl, much appreciated.

K x

Comment is about Cate (poet profile)

Original item by Cate

Hi Isobel

I believe the bastard is still alive albeit minus one eye. Apparently had a nasty accident with a bungee cord ( roof rack kind ) that left him with a cycloptic look!! Shouldn't really find it funny, but i really do lol

k x

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

Aw! Wish I could go - Arran is great! Hope you get someone.

Comment is about Isle of Arran Writing Retreat (blog)

Original item by Brink

Hi Alan,
Thank you for taking time to leave a comment re Daddys girl. As always, it is very much appreciated.

The essence of poetry.....i'm thinking you are very kind but far too generous!!

K x

Comment is about Alan Morrison (poet profile)

Original item by Alan Morrison

Hi Laura

Thank you for commenting again, appreciate it x

Comment is about Laura Taylor (poet profile)

Original item by Laura Taylor

Hey you,

thanks again x

Comment is about Andy N (poet profile)

Original item by Andy N

This is such a lovely piece Shirley. I felt how much you must miss your mother and I am going to give mine a big hug after reading this.

Comment is about My Mother's Gentle Hands (blog)

Original item by Shirley Smothers

Beautiful and very moving writing.

Comment is about from a distance (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

xxxx brave soul xxxx

Comment is about Daddys girl (blog)

Original item by Kath Hewitt

Hi Amy - welcome to WOL. I like your poem (the title is great) - Women Like Stars. Hope you enjoy WOL.

Comment is about Amy McCawley (poet profile)

Original item by Amy McCawley

I came out in goosebumps when I read this. Like Laura says completely heartbreaking,and like Isobel says I hope he died a nasty painful end. Theres something to be said for castration.
Cate xx

Comment is about Daddys girl (blog)

Original item by Kath Hewitt

I hope he's dead and that the death was long and painful.

Comment is about Daddys girl (blog)

Original item by Kath Hewitt

Hi Cynthia - many thanks for your lovely note on Ring of Roses, and I am very much looking forward to meeting you too :)

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

As I read your comment, Mike, I was moved to tears.

My initial response: There is nothing uncultured or vulgar about you. Nothing. You are a shining sun on the orb of an unfeeling world. We don't belong here, you and I. But we have been put here (and kept here, often against our wills) for a reason: To be a blinding mirror and to point the way to the parallel world which this one could have been, had it not been hijacked by a cloud of evil and deception.

You say "that is how I was conditioned". Let me tell you something, Mike: Pavlov's conditioned dogs suffered an accident in the laboratory. A burst water pipe flooded the lab and some dogs died, others were traumatised. But the truly interesting fact is that the remaining dogs lost their conditioning. In other words, we can be shocked out of our conditioning! It isn't written in granite! We can reinvent ourselves whenever we want to.

You have no need to be jealous of me. No one has any need to be jealous of anyone. Everyone has their own private hell to live - although it may not seem apparent to others. Why should anyone swap their version of hell for another? I guess the only reason could be to relieve the boredom ;-)

The "gift of verse", as you put it, isn't something which is "harnessed in one's younger years". It comes from somewhere else - somewhere au-delà - outside of ourselves; but so far outside that it really comes from deep inside us. (There's a circle there). So you do not need to regret that you didn't harness certain things in childhood. It was your later unique experiences which, in your case, opened you up to the self within and the prompting of the Muse. The timing may be different for each poet but the motion behind it is always the same: Being able to go beyond yourself and the world in order to to draw from the well of wordsome heartache and the much-needed architecture of unseen reality.

The real Mike is this:-

"A veteran
so much better than
he thinks himself
to be".

Your words "I am from the street" will be the title of my next poem.

I love you.

Alan

Comment is about Winter Romance (blog)

Original item by Alan Morrison

That should say impatient, but yes I have been an inpatient in case you're wondering.

I was butchered Alan.

rgds

Mike

Comment is about Winter Romance (blog)

Original item by Alan Morrison

Hi, this is a dark and mournful poem Alan, but one that I have to say, is a true poem. Its language tells me of a writer that has understood a great many things, and knows well, how to articulate what is bitterness. Bitterness that someone less cultured (like I), could only write about in profanity and vulgar tones. This is a great poem, and if ever I can pull myself away from the Bitterness I feel, I would perhaps learn a great deal from studying your thoughts and prose. I am from the street, and was brought up in ignorance and brutality, sometimes, often in fact, I sincerely wish I had the chance in my younger years, to have been able to harness the gift of verse that I try so forcefully to thrash out of me. Forcefully because that is how I was conditioned, and my eloquence, like many from the street, was lost a long time ago. I admire this work and others done by yourself, and in honesty, I am jealous too. Maybe if I could have been given the chance when I was younger, like many, I would not be sitting here in ignorance of how it is to truly write. I can read it well, and understand, but if I was to try to write like this, my inpatient hardened attitude would take over.

A pleasure and honour to read your work, and talent that someone like me could learn from.

Brilliant Alan.

Stay well.

Mike

Comment is about Winter Romance (blog)

Original item by Alan Morrison

Hi Cynthia many thanks for pointing out the careless typo in the poem about trains and 'scurry' now replaced with 'hurtle' so much better I think.

Comment is about Cynthia Buell Thomas (poet profile)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas