Always a welcome sound, the dawn chorus, David.

Comment is about Breaking News (blog)

Original item by David RL Moore

Thanks Rasa.
Isn't it true that the best friend is the one who'll warn you that you're wrong!

Comment is about What Drives Loyalty (blog)

Original item by Rasa Kabaila

"Everyone but me".

Parts of the media want to convince you that you are somehow inadequate, that you are somehow missing out; that unless you buy X Y or Z, you'll never be as happy as the grinning goons who perform moronic dances to sell us stuff we don't need😐.

Comment is about Black Fire (blog)

Original item by Ienne

Thanks for the likes 2 x Stephens and Holden.

David

Comment is about Breaking News (blog)

Original item by David RL Moore

Thankyou Larisa and Uilleam. And for the likes, Tom, Holden, Stephen A and Stephen G.

Comment is about DOING IT TWICE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thank you so much Holden and Uilleamum for your kind feedback.

Comment is about This Silent Landscape (blog)

Original item by Rick Varden

Lovely, Larisa. 'Light a lantern inside your soul'.

Comment is about Try To Laugh And Dry Your Tears (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Finely written in rhyming couplets, Stephen.

Comment is about Ye Old Shop Of Books (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

Thank you for all your kind and interesting comments, Stephen, Uilleam, Graham and David.
Like most people, I want the war to stop, but any settlement has to be on Ukraine's terms and in order for this to happen it requires support from the flawed, imperfect West to win. Of course, one man has the power to stop the war today, if he chose to.

Comment is about Meanwhile, in Ukraine (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

Thank you very much Uilleam, & Tom for taking time to comment.
And everyone for the Likes 😊🌷

Comment is about Ye Old Shop Of Books (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

A fascinating poem, Rick, very rich in imagery. I really loved the stanza😊

Comment is about This Silent Landscape (blog)

Original item by Rick Varden

Thank you, Uilleam, you are definitely not alone in that! 🌷

Comment is about Owl. (blog)

Original item by Holden Moncrieff

I can only agree with what you say, David,
"...the complexities of geo-politics in that region have been agitated by the west for its own percieved projected reward, whilst providing calculatedly measured support."

Comment is about Meanwhile, in Ukraine (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

Bullies will always be beaten, often by those sympathetic to the bullied, sometimes even by their own associates!

Comment is about Meanwhile, in Ukraine (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

Hi Stephen,

I enjoyed your poem.

Some might suggest that for years prior to the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, western Intelligence agencies (primarily of US origin) together with politically engineered multinational, yet seemingly independent think tanks have exploited the fragility of the relationship between Ukraine and Russia. Their purpose being to bleed the latter of its perceived authority and invite instability in the region.

Should US and western intentions prevail and The Ukraine regain any measure of sovereignty just what form might it take? One diluted by the mass influx of western corporate organisations, one overly influenced and manipulated by those who believe they deserve some kind of reward for having stood by Ukraine in its hour of need (which is arguably nonsense)

Whilst I condemn unwarranted Russian aggression and the indiscriminate nature of its murderous assault, the complexities of geo-politics in that region have been agitated by the west for its own percieved projected reward, whilst providing calculatedly measured support.

Russia fears the influence of western commerce and society on its borders. It also craves domination over its own people as it so often has (that is indeed part of its own recent history of repugnant and returning totalitarian rule)

Of course any reasonable person would wish Ukranian sovereignty to prevail. I would question what will be the cost of such independence for its people and their culture?

I unreservedly respect the questioning nature of your poem Stephen and concur with its hopeful tone. I truly hope the west supports a free, liberated Ukraine when it is victorious. I hope it does so for the sake of the Ukranian people and not solely its own profiteering agenda.

I am also motivated by a desire that the needless slaughter of Ukranians and Russians alike ceases as soon as possible.

I appreciate that this is a poetry site and not a political forum. However, poetry is to provoke and open channels of discussion, in that regard I make no apologies for indulging its true purpose.

We can only hope that Ukraines victory is their's alone and any hard won freedom is not subjected to the rabid exploitation of a nations assets, demonstrably the Modus Operandi of too often hidden powers behind western thrones.

David

Comment is about Meanwhile, in Ukraine (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

A classic Stephen 👍

Comment is about Ye Old Shop Of Books (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

Wise words hugh 😊

Comment is about Coping with grief (blog)

Original item by hugh

Robert Service-a good old Lancashire lad from Preston, hunted by the Nazis in France at Lancieux, for extracting the urine from Hitler through his poetry published in a newspaper.😊

Comment is about Trinity River Days (blog)

Original item by Mike McPeek

I like this poem so much, John! I just enjoyed reading it. You showed the highest level of love when a man kissed a woman's foot. And the last line: you clumsy cow. What could be better? Beautiful, just beautiful!

Comment is about DOING IT TWICE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks Holden.
I think I sometimes might be one of those

"All who have lost
Sight of terra firma,"

Comment is about Owl. (blog)

Original item by Holden Moncrieff

Thanks Stephen.
Petrichor, I love that smell, dry earth and rain. Old books that have been held by who knows!

Comment is about Ye Old Shop Of Books (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

But who am I entertaining?
Your alter ego?

Comment is about Switching Cameras (blog)

Original item by M Lane

Excellent advice as ever Hugh.
However, as for joining a library- many will be lucky to find one after about twenty years of austerity!

Comment is about Coping with grief (blog)

Original item by hugh

Personally I now think the title "Harken" could seem a little pretentious.

That said, I'm going to leave it as it fits my initial desire to suggest ancient ideas breaking through.

Thanks for the likes.

David

Comment is about Harken (blog)

Original item by David RL Moore

A bit like in New York or York? -so good they did it twice!😏

Comment is about DOING IT TWICE (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks all for your likes and comments.

Poets, journalists, authors, educators, whatever our status in the community, take our freedom of speech for granted at our peril.

In the Rwanda (so beloved of many UK politicians), poets and school teachers have been known to “disappear”, as evidenced by Amnesty International, and journalists are routinely murdered in the Middle East.

Here in the UK, journalists have recently been harrassed, arrested, spending a night in the slammer without access to legal aid, for the crime of asking “the wrong type of questions”.

It’s clear that despite the UK’s much vaunted “civilised values”, a hierarchy of racism exists whereby to (rightly) point an accusing finger at Putin’s Russia is officially approved of; whereas anyone speaking out against apartheid, genocide, and a routine disregard for international law in certain parts of the world is, shall we say, subtly “leaned on”.
….Orwell, anyone?

Comment is about Requiem (blog)

Original item by Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh

I've never been to the north Trevor, although my father in law did, he liked angling there.
I'm just watching a program about the river Suir, I'd love to do some walking there.

Comment is about Sands of Time (blog)

Original item by Trevor Alexander

Thanks Uilleam. Those particular squigglous roads lead through the Derryveagh mountains down to the coast in Sheephaven Bay in north west Donegal.😎

Comment is about Sands of Time (blog)

Original item by Trevor Alexander

Thanks for likes: Stephen W, Aisha & Tim 👍

Comment is about Old (blog)

Original item by Tom Doolan

To the following - thanks for the likes: TH, HM, AS, SWA, SG and Clive.

Comment is about WHEN YOU WALKED INTO MY LIFE - a lyric (blog)

Original item by M.C. Newberry

A stimulating little vignette bringing a nice breath of fresh air with it! Robert Service lives on.

Comment is about Trinity River Days (blog)

Original item by Mike McPeek

Cheers

Comment is about Feels like home (blog)

Original item by Robert C Gaulke

Thank you, Uilleam and Martin, for sharing that beautiful insight.

Comment is about Seeds of Joy and Sorrow (blog)

Original item by Keletso

Bless the volunteers!: litter pickers, RNLI, Mountain Rescue services....you name it! They put the grifters thieves and leeches in Gov't to shame. The UK would grind to a halt without them.💓

Comment is about This Silent Landscape (blog)

Original item by Rick Varden

Hangover throbbing
'neath my bonnet;
instead of blubbing,
p'rhaps write a sonnet?
no more a-clubbing,
au revoir, Dubonnet!

Comment is about Sonnet No 333 (blog)

Original item by Andy Millican

Thanks for the multiple likes on this one.

David

Comment is about Tragic Bus (blog)

Original item by David RL Moore

Capitalism and consumerism - two sides of the same coin. It is - pardon the pun - a toss-up which is worse, though i personally see no difference. Consumerism creates the desire; capitalism feeds (off) it. And round it goes.

Comment is about Connected (blog)

Original item by Eduardo

Thank you Mike. "Labour MP's may well have blood on their hands"
....they already have, in their complete disregard for Human Rights law both at home and abroad.

Welcome to the other cheek of the same derrière which has been dumping profusely on the UK population via Thatcher, B.Lair, Johnson, et al. and now Starver for the past 20 years. The UK electorate fell for a pack of lies, slander and libel..surprise surprise, here we are!

Comment is about The Cheer (blog)

Original item by Mike Bartram

As Celine says, in that wonderful film, 'Before Sunrise' (i'm paraphrasing here), "if there were a God, he'd exist in the space between us". I'm an atheist, but i love the idea that the divine - whatever it is - arises from our attempts to connect with one another. Again, as Celine goes on to say, the magic must lie in that attempt.

Comment is about Seeds of Joy and Sorrow (blog)

Original item by Keletso

Thanks Mike.
Maybe he was an angel in disguise, encouraging you to practice hospitality!

Comment is about Trinity River Days (blog)

Original item by Mike McPeek

Thanks Keletso.
We can chose to plant the seeds of happiness; whether or not they will be allowed to flourish is not always in our gift, but we can try.

Comment is about Seeds of Joy and Sorrow (blog)

Original item by Keletso

Thank you Stephen, for your poem and for your efforts in promoting peace.
Unfortunately, there's billions of $s and £s to be made from provoking / promoting (manufacturing consent for war) for the benefit of the arms trade.
It's reckoned that about 40% of ALL financial fraud and corruption in "business" directly involves the Arms Trade, so don't let's look too closely at what's going on in our own back yards eh!

Comment is about Meanwhile, in Ukraine (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

Thanks Eduardo.
I see so much truth in your poem.
"faces merge with cold screens," and "In the vastness of the digital desert".

I daily see people, mostly the younger generation (which for me is anyone under 40 😉) with their noses to mobile phone screens, including mums with babies in prams, crossing busy roads, seemingly unaware of the dangers surrounding them.

When I read articles about walking or running in the great outdoors, which extoll the mental and physical health benefits of being close to nature, they invariably include adverts urging us to buy the latest fashion in "earbuds" and tracking devices of various kinds, with which to cut ourselves off from our surrounding environment...all in the name of selling us stuff..

As for the idiots I see on You Tube, negotiating extremely dangerous mountain terrain while balancing a pair of folded up walking poles in one hand, and a selfie camera in the other....don't get me started.

Comment is about Connected (blog)

Original item by Eduardo

Like Graham says, Stephen, it could be an anthem- one of many you have brilliantly written in support of Ukraine & ultimately, the freedom of us all. You are a true poet Mr Gospage! 👏

Comment is about Meanwhile, in Ukraine (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

Thank you, Tim. Glad you liked it!
And for the 🌷Tom, Stephen, Manish, Adam, Holden & Cryptid 🌷

Comment is about The Hanging Tree (blog)

Original item by Stephen W Atkinson

Thank you very much, Graham, for your very kind comments. We have to believe that Ukraine will win, otherwise tyranny and dictatorship will prevail, which is unthinkable. If the courage and resilience of the people was the only factor, it would be no contest, but they need our support.

Comment is about Meanwhile, in Ukraine (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

A lovely poem, Larisa. Love the rhyming and the rhythm.

Comment is about The Autumn And The Rain (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

We certainly hope these words will ring loud and clear Stephen. Reading this through a second time it began to sound like an anthem! Well done my friend. G

Comment is about Meanwhile, in Ukraine (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

Thank you, Martin. A fine description of the milk of human kindness.

Comment is about Oblivious (blog)

Original item by Martin Elder

Thanks, Hugh

Comment is about Claustrophobia (blog)

Original item by Jon63