love the lines 'dont call me selfish
when you took bread from my hand'
brilliant. Cerys Matthews once wrote, 'you sold the honey to the poor' and everytime i sing along I change it to 'you sold the honey to the bees' some man will try to sell you your original thought...
i would sell money to the poor...but not really. I offered a guy begging some food once and he threw it on the ground complaining he just wanted cash...i suppose poverty is more than the lack of cash.
thanks for this poem x

Comment is about the death (blog)

Original item by Beulah

I liked this a lot, Rachel, especially the final line, which sums up the poem; and the juxtaposition of aunties, handbags, and hankies! Greg

Comment is about First Communion Day (blog)

Original item by Rachel McGladdery

The strength and beauty of these lines must resonate with so many people, Cynthia. Clear-eyed and loving; writing them must have helped you say farewell. Greg

Comment is about The Colour of Death Is Gold (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

This is a beautiful poem, Dave. Clearing out stuff can be very hard. The layers of creosote are strata of family history. Greg

Comment is about Dad's shed (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

Thank you -- again! I meant to say, after you mentioned about the road accident themed restaurant piece that, yeay, I am a vegetarian. On the pip of being vegan. And, digressing wildly again, I am delighted you really like my whale mini-song. I've begun creating heaps of them, little audio moments that might be songs or something remotely musical. But they are a pretty new departure for me, more a leap into the dark/noise. I hear them in my head, get a bit obsessed with them, record them (messing with my voice). I really can't tell you how encouraging it is that you like them so much. But how sad to have a dead whale on the beach -- I couldn't have helped carry its bones (too squeamish/weepy and my own bones are going somewhat awry and seem skittish about carrying me around, so I'm considering creating an ex-skeleton or bamboo body scaffolding). I'd have been blubbering my eyes out (oh no, what a terrible pun). It seems right that the local museum should preserve some of it, but mightily suspect that people would take lumps of its bones home as garden features. I also sponsored/adopted a whale called 'Sod'. Yes, it was really called, 'Sod.' I thought, yes, I have been thought of in similar terms by some people, so I shall stand up and be counted as a friend of 'Sod.'

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hello! How lovely of you to comment on my oddments. Thank you so very much. Not sure how they emerge or why or from where, but they do. And 'pique freans' and pique-a-knees, and Little Bo-Pique, pique and mix, piquenic are all dancinf to the muzak of time. 'Pique' is hurt pride, dented vanity, a moment of sharp ego-puncture. "Pique' is misused a lot at the moment, usually by being lumped into the phrase 'It piqued my interest/my interest was piqued.' And my quick brown decaffeinated urban fox jumped out of my daydreams. Hey -- your poems are incredibly vibrant and wowser. You seem to be able to flit from joyous comedy/tongue-in-cheekiness to pastoral melancholy. What a range! They're flipping fab.

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hi Dave, thanks for posting this gentle sad poem. Even though the shed may be gone, every time you smell creosote you'll be back in there. It hasn't really gone anywhere. xxxx

Comment is about Dad's shed (blog)

Original item by Dave Bradley

Hi Cynthia

My father died of pancreatic cancer. This well-crafted, sensitive, heart-wrenching poem has therefore really connected with me. I've just posted a poem of my own relating to my father's death. I hadn't intended posting it, but it feels like the right response to your own - one way of saying I have some idea of how you and your family felt (and feel) and what you went through.

Best wishes

Comment is about The Colour of Death Is Gold (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

I have difficulty commenting on this, but I will, it is a very beautifull poem, gently crafted, and anybody who has lost someone close to them with cancer, will resonate most sypathetically to the spiritually uplifting words contained herein.TC XX

Comment is about The Colour of Death Is Gold (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Ta for your comment on 'Your smile' - I've never performed this poem so I might try it shouting v. loud indeed as you suggest

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

What can I say? It's all, and I mean all, in the poem. Very beautiful and all about love.

Comment is about The Colour of Death Is Gold (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Thank you for posting this very special poem, Cynthia. My mother also died from pancreatic cancer, although the specialist (sic) misdiagnosed her, saying she had osteoporosis and was 'malingering' in hospital. The correct diagnosis came 5 days before she died and from a junior doctor. I wasn't close to her (as you so obviously were to your mother), she didn't want me to be. Her death, though, was terrible. I was alone at her bedside when she passed, and knew she had wanted someone else by her side instead. Then I began to smell lavender -- very distinctly -- out in the deserted street as I walked, or in a bookshop, or as I stood at the window. Odd places. Her favourite scent.

Comment is about The Colour of Death Is Gold (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Hello Winston
I just read your comments on my Houghton Main poem, Thankyou very much. I did work at Houghton Main for a short period, but not underground and after the incident. The Manager when I was there was a right character called Tony Griffin - then the whole industry seemed to teem with larger-than-life characters.
Perhaps there's another poem in there somewhere!
The explosion (and a lighter fictional piece about the visit of Prince Charles) are the subjects of a book by Barry Hines (author of Kes) The BBC screened them in the seventies. They're both very good in their respective ways.;
Anyway, many thanks again.

Comment is about Winston Plowes (poet profile)

Original item by Winston Plowes

i like it...reminds me of all those beltaine parties and jumping accross fires tied with a rag...i cant remember their names now but then the spell only lasts for a year...thank god its spring again and i can tie me to a new love ill have forgot by the end of winter.thanks for this first spring reminder of the fertilities of this seasons shagging xx

Comment is about Burnt Sacrifice (blog)

after all the fuss about moving this it makes a good photo

Comment is about Howcroft, Bolton February 2010 (photo)

A lovely, heartfelt poem Cynthia. In my opinion, beautifully written. Well done.

Comment is about The Colour of Death Is Gold (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Cynthia, i really do mean this when i say that you have touched my heart with this. I thought it heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. To see such unconditional love and respect in your words for ( your? ) mother and to feel as ( you? ) did. Absoulutely fantastic! x

Comment is about The Colour of Death Is Gold (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

I wrote this some time ago, long before 'daffodils' and 'cancer' became almost synonymous. I know it's long, but it may resonate with someone. There are many kinds of narcissus types; this one was strongly perfumed.

Comment is about The Colour of Death Is Gold (blog)

Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Hi Ann
Following your suggestion, Fiona has put up another six photos in 'Picture this'. These new ones are much better I feel and give us more to work with
Here's the link...
http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=8985

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

oo i like this but tell em your going to wear white every night just to pull all those perverts in search of a virgin...only an idiot would wear it twice. great poem. thanks for your comments on 'so poor the martyr of love' also.

Comment is about First Communion Day (blog)

Original item by Rachel McGladdery

Hi Rachel,
I think this is definitely worth carrying on with, it's so reminiscent of my own holy communion, it brought lots of memories back.The snippets of ideas/ information work really well for me, the poem works as if it's the child looking back on her experiences, she can only remember bits of what happened rather than a coherent narrative of the day! Great stuff!

Comment is about First Communion Day (blog)

Original item by Rachel McGladdery

Thanks Steve,
it's part of a much longer piece which deals with some of the religious stuff and a child's response to that but it's at the endless roll of toilet paper stage at the minute. I posted this to see if it was worth carrying on with....thanks to your comment, I bloomin well will....just need to get my headache cured and my editing head on!
Thanks again.
xxx

Comment is about First Communion Day (blog)

Original item by Rachel McGladdery

I think it's very nice as a poem. It's weird to introduce Catholic kids to a concept as mind-blowing as Holy Common as young as is customary, but hey-ho, it sure gives a young life a sense of occasion, and your poem, even as a work-in-progress, evokes that. I'd like you develop it a bit to express some of the mystery of the day.

Comment is about First Communion Day (blog)

Original item by Rachel McGladdery

Oooh, i just love the ending Ann.
Light and fun piece this one.
The rhymes help to keep it light.
Janet.x

Comment is about Dave and the Mermaid (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Hello
thanks for reading my poems..BlueBerry is an old one but a favorite,
Donna

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Fantastic winner Isobel. Have a restful month off.
xxx

Comment is about Write Out Loud Outstanding Poetry for February (blog)

Original item by Isobel

A well deserved win Isobel.
Congratulations. :-)

Janet.x

Comment is about Write Out Loud Outstanding Poetry for February (blog)

Original item by Isobel

why thank you boys xx

Comment is about Rachel Bond at the Howcroft, Bolton December 2009 (photo)

i agree with Tommy you have a sense of the past in all of your writing and your style fits the recognition of all those old books(the reason i like it so much)...but seeing as you would literally have to write the words 'this poem is about the sea' and id like it...i wouldnt let it go to your head ;)

Comment is about View Of Stale Harbour. (blog)

Original item by Kealan Coady

i like this too kealan...its snapshot imagery conveys a scene like a 3 dimensional postcard so simply described with words that usher the feel of the place and of time. lets all go the beach!

Comment is about Beach. (blog)

Original item by Kealan Coady

my epitaph will be a 3 story temple full of installation art where you can relive being me....past scenes of memory and piles of old clothes, records and books...itll take you 36 years to complete and your only allowed in if you sign your life over in blood to never return to the graveyard. I thought my critics might like it...

Comment is about Death to Slow Music (blog)

Hi John... Just about to go to bed and your poem popped up on my screen. Great that you posted an audio as your voice and delivery are well suited to the subject and the recitation of this grim incident. Your poem captures this sad episode in our industrial history as 1st hand. I took the trouble of reading more at - http://www.freewebs.com/yorkshiremain/houghtonmainexplosion.htm
Great posting, keep well. Win

Comment is about Houghton Main Colliery Disaster 1975 (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Oh, wow! Thank you so much! What a wonderful photo -- absolutely magnificent! My pics are (sadly) all from a box of photos I bought from a bric-a-brac shop. It felt so very sad they'd been put up for sale. I'm adopted, and I thought I'd adopt the lot of them as a kind of thrilling, am-dram, faded family.

Comment is about family history - for hatta (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Thank you! Your laughter lit my day.
Heck, just read your pieces -- your poetry is emotionally potent and very powerful indeed! Congratulations on the slams.

Comment is about Raymond Antrobus (poet profile)

Original item by Raymond Antrobus

Hi Ann

thanks for taking the time to read and make comment

steve x

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Best of luck with it. Unfortunately I'll be installing in a washing machine.

Comment is about New Gig (blog)

Original item by Alain English

I have seen things on Ebay like stuffed squirrels riding motorbikes and wearing superman teeshirts, but I resisted those!
It is an old tradition, to have tableau of stuffed creatures sitting round having tea etc.. But I do love my raven. I will post a photo of him on here someday!

Comment is about Rachel McGladdery (poet profile)

Original item by Rachel McGladdery

Dave
Thanks for the comment on Our Gert.
There seem to be so few of us who practice rhythm and rhyme. I'm not dogmatic about it (although it is my preference), so refreshing to see your stuff. Keep posting.

Comment is about Dave Dunn (poet profile)

Original item by Dave Dunn

Never wish you were somebody else! Thank you for an honest and affecting poem Raymond.

Comment is about Sixteen Wishes (blog)

Original item by Raymond Antrobus

Look forward to some more wonderful poetry when the month is up! Bye for now.xxxxxxxx

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

A month will fly by for you Ann - it will drag dreadfully for me. I have tried to do this quietly before but it didn't work. If I do it publicly I might stick to it - I'd look a bit of an arse if I snook back on in a week's time! I think I will end up living in a tidier house and will hopefully write more poetry - we'll see...
I don't think you are arrogant for wanting to leave your poetry as is BTW. It is always a difficult balance - once you open yourself up for crit - it can become a total free for all and you wonder just where the original poem went to. There is a thread for people to post work that they want crit on - no-one seems to use it though.
Take care and continue having fun!
Isobel x

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Yup! I tried to give up for one week. After nearly 6 days I sneaked back! We'll miss you. lots of love af xxxxx

Comment is about Isobel (poet profile)

Original item by Isobel

Thanks Ann - it is probably one of the hardest things I'll ever do - it is a total addiction!

Comment is about Write Out Loud Outstanding Poetry for February (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Well done Isobel! Hope you enjoy your month away from the rag bag (or are we merely a hotchpotch?) lots of love anniepoo xx PS you deserve the award! Both your poems were great!

Comment is about Write Out Loud Outstanding Poetry for February (blog)

Original item by Isobel

Thanks for your comment on Wall of death.

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

Thanks for your comment on Wall of death. I've been writing a few of these, short and ambivalent (I was going to say cheerful, but there seems to be a lot of death in them) pieces about the fair grounds of the 50s as I remember them (vaguely).
The 'variety' element of the fair was very much on the way out and I caught the fag end of it.

Comment is about J F Keane (poet profile)

Original item by J F Keane

Hi Ann, thanks for your comment on 'Mona without Lisa.' :-)

I see where you are coming from when you say the last stanza isn't perhaps necessary. I was messing around with an idea when i wrote it and as Andy says, it is multi-layered.
Too many layers to actually describe as i see them and others might see something completely different so on this occasion, i'm sorry but i'll have to leave you guessing or wondering what it is about.
The title in itself is suggestive ie; what if? Would the painting have been any different if it had simply been called Mona? How many times was it stuck in a corner before being worked on again? and if it had included more detail or colour would it still have become a masterpiece? Did it start out as a sketch or even a poem before before becoming a painting?

So many questions and yet who really knows the answer and what becomes of it. Maybe the artists themselves were flabbergasted in that just one of a million drawings would become so famous and yet to them it had so many faults and might only have been done on a whim and painted in a day or less. :-)

None of this really explains my poem and i doubt for a second it will become a masterpiece but the last stanza has to stay for all the reasons above.Not all readers of poetry are academics or write poetry, just as not all appreciators of art can paint but we all have imagination :-)


Janet.x

Comment is about Ann Foxglove (poet profile)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

sorry Hatta, just had to show you some of me rellies!

Comment is about family history - for hatta (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

What a can of worms I have opened! Does EVERBODY have a carpet fitters' story?

Comment is about the carpet fitters broke my pot (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove

A carpet fitter once stole a pound off me. We had warm air central heating at the time and the pound was lodged in one of the floor vents - quite visibly. I hadn't fathomed out how to open it up.
When he had gone, I noticed that the pound had also gone. It wasn't the money so much as the principal. I think someone should write a poem about lousy carpet fitters.
'I'm not a carpet fitter
I'm a carpet fitter's son
And I'll filch more than a penny
When the carpet fitting's done.'

I agonised over whether to go for filch or spend...

I wasn't so sure about this poem when I first read it Ann - but I've now warmed to it. It shows humanity in all its frailty and has caused me to smile.

Comment is about the carpet fitters broke my pot (blog)

Original item by Ann Foxglove