A fab poem, Greg. Glad you reposted it. Evocative of a time I remember well, my own university days in the years of the cat. 😀👍
Comment is about The road north (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
A story told with great passion and sincerity, Keith. It must have taken courage to write this poem. Well done you! 👍
Comment is about A Second Chance (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
Modern life, Ruth! Sad funny... I really like it!
Comment is about He's an insta lover (blog)
Original item by Ruth O'Reilly
AND THEY DID IT!!! 😆
Comment is about The passion & the pride (blog)
Original item by Stephen W Atkinson
You capture the scenes we all watch on TV perfectly, Stephen. I particularly liked 'odd little race'. The whole thing is utterly bizarre, isn't it?
Comment is about Tanks (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Fantastic poem, Stephen. Great imagination in the construction! Desperate topic but you continue to shine a light upon it and I'm glad you do.
Comment is about Blockbuster (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
"The strongest men are the most alone." Ibsen, quoted by CB and JAJ.
Comment is about CB (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
So from what immigrant stock do you derive, MC? Mine is Dutch. The queen’s is German. It’s not so bad once you get used to the idea that you have immigrant blood in you.
Comment is about WHEN WE WERE A KINDER NATION (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Hooray England ‘s dreams have come true,Predicted to win by Hugh😃
Comment is about Girl power at Wembley and advice for Liz Truss (blog)
Original item by hugh
2-1 for England just a few mins left
Comment is about Girl power at Wembley and advice for Liz Truss (blog)
Original item by hugh
Oh no 1-1
Comment is about Girl power at Wembley and advice for Liz Truss (blog)
Original item by hugh
IC - Aguably our greatest monarch, Queen Elizabeth the First (Good Queen Bess) took action to limit immigration which she
declared to be in the interest of the well-being of her nation.
Certainly, over subsequent centuries, there have been numbers
from varied origins who have been granted the privilege (and
it IS a privilege) to seek a home here for various reasons, often
due to persecution. You quote a number of them yourself.
It seems that your current theme can be accused of "simplistic
altruism" when, hot on the heels of those from Afghanistan + all those - legal and illegal - from other lands inimical to our
religious and social values, comes the arrival of 100, 000
Ukrainians. Hardly justification for saying we are a less kind
people than before. Check with Good Queen Bess.
KJ - you dispute any earned right to live in this country.
Would that apply to those who fought
and died in its service so that what
they knew and valued could survive, those images surely indelibly marked in
their hearts and minds as they went off
to war. I am of WHOM I was born. As,
I'm sure they too will admit, so are the
most recent arrivals to these shores. People and origins are an interwoven
fabric that serves to guide their futures.
Comment is about WHEN WE WERE A KINDER NATION (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Did this guy ever get it right. CB is a personal hero of mine.
Thanks
Keith
Comment is about CB (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Thank you to: Frederick, Stephen A., Holden, Moonlight and Carol for your likes of this poem. Thank you also to Stephen G for your comment. The poem is I suppose a clear example of how subjective poetry can be which often confuses the reader. Thank you all for reading the poem.
Keith
Comment is about A Second Chance (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
Thanks Jennifer and Ana for the likes on this one.
NOW with audio & guitar.
Comment is about A Song of The Wind (blog)
Original item by Tom
Thanks Holden.
“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.” CB.
Comment is about CB (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Indeed Carol! Indeed! 🙌
Comment is about Life’s a broadway musical (blog)
Original item by Red Brick Keshner
Yes Carol, me too, but the killing and suffering in Ukraine continues as NATO refuses to commit troops because of Russian nuclear blackmail. And we know what the appeasement of Nazi Germany lead to in the 1930s. We should have called Putin's bluff in February and so saved thousands of Ukrainian lives.
Comment is about 6 and 9 August 1945 (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Thanks!
Comment is about Reading to Literature students in Chile. (blog)
Original item by Graham Buchan
This is so well expressed, Keith, and your sincerity and honesty comes across through the words.
Comment is about A Second Chance (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
A perfect description, Brenda. Every word beautifully chosen.
Comment is about Summer Rain (blog)
Original item by Brenda Wells
A timely poem, which could apply to so much current human activity. Thank you, John.
Comment is about Demolition (blog)
Original item by Jon Stainsby
Thank you, Frederick, Holden, and Carol
Comment is about Demolition (blog)
Original item by Jon Stainsby
Feeling good laughing a lot
daydreaming about the right ones
cancels the liars and the cheats
love finds you without asking.
Comment is about Experiences (blog)
Original item by Sunshine
<Deleted User> (33719)
Sun 31st Jul 2022 02:23
I sincerely hope the world never sees other days like this! Your poem expresses the terrible consequences of the nuclear bomb[s] where most people didn't have a chance. 😢
Comment is about 6 and 9 August 1945 (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
<Deleted User> (33719)
Sun 31st Jul 2022 02:20
We're funny creatures for sure! 😵
Comment is about Life’s a broadway musical (blog)
Original item by Red Brick Keshner
I tried watching the men in the Community Shield this afternoon. It was SO boring. (Bet it ends 5-4 now!)
Comment is about Girl power at Wembley and advice for Liz Truss (blog)
Original item by hugh
Again, strongly felt. Avoid the self criticism. You do your best, as most of us do, most of the time.
Comment is about Sunday, April 17, 2022 (blog)
Original item by K. Lynn
A call to arms, for sure. Well constructed. Sometimes it is a balance of harms.
Comment is about The Republic of Gilead Is Coming (blog)
Original item by K. Lynn
You’re so right, Kevin. And unless you can trace your genealogy back to when Britain lost its land bridge to Europe in Stone Age times, we’re ALL from immigrant stock.
Comment is about WHEN WE WERE A KINDER NATION (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Thanks so much for your generous comments Holden and Stephen. Your appreciation means a great deal to me. The poem uses some material from first hand accounts displayed at RAF Oulton Museum in Norfolk. True heroism!
Thanks too for the likes Julie, Frederick, KJ and Greg. 😀
Comment is about A Postcard From R.A.F. Oulton (blog)
Original item by John Botterill
Good point well made John.
Non of us have EARNED the right to live in this country... We live here by coincidence of birth.
To then deny that right to others who have made great sacrifices to get here is totally wrong.
Comment is about WHEN WE WERE A KINDER NATION (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
A rewrite for the Lionesses 🌈
Comment is about The passion & the pride (blog)
Original item by Stephen W Atkinson
Where was it? I think I can make a wild guess. Poor Fred.
Hilarious write.
Comment is about Wrong end !! (blog)
Original item by hugh
Yes Nigel, Basking in God's glory and mercy. Always.
Thnx Nigel. Your words complete my poetry.💕
Comment is about Tonight (blog)
Original item by Sunshine
I'm sure this is not the first occasion I've posted this poem here, but thought I would again because of the parallels between this summer and 1976 - not least because I and my then-girlfriend are contemplating moving north again! It was first published by Stairwell Press in an anthology titled simply York many moons ago, an anthology that was co-curated by John Coopey, I believe. It can also be found in my full collection Marples Must Go!, published last year and now available - at last - online from Waterstone's https://www.waterstones.com/book/marples-must-go/tony-earnshaw//9781913329501
Comment is about The road north (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
I’m sure Uganda’s Asians would have been thankful that you weren’t counting heads at the drawbridge in the 1960’s, MC. Likewise, Europe’s Jews in the 30’s and 40’s. Should we send back today’s Ukrainians because “we’ve got enough”?
To paraphrase JFK, did we ask what they could do for us or did we offer what we could do for them?
Yes, we were a kinder nation once.
Comment is about WHEN WE WERE A KINDER NATION (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
A wonderfully constructed, moving poem, John. We still owe such people so much.
Comment is about A Postcard From R.A.F. Oulton (blog)
Original item by John Botterill
Great to see it back Isobel. Always had a good time on the ones I've being to. Not sure yet if we can make it, Amanda (my wife)s younger sister is due to give birth i think the week before so it's a bit up in the air. I'll let you know nearer the time if we can make it.
Comment is about 'Don’t go down to the Railway Inn with anyone else but us!': Write Out Loud's poetry jam returns to Marsden jazz festival venue (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
I enjoyed this very much. I spent the best part of a year in Portsmouth in the 1970s and remember one crossroads in the dock area where you could almost touch four pubs - one on each corner - from the middle of the road.
Comment is about Ahoy there! BBC radio programme looks at the dialect poetry of 'island city' Portsmouth (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
As someone who often writes poems on trains, I found Jeremy Corbyn's approach to arts funding to be admirable.
Comment is about Labour leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn 'writes poetry on the train' (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Thank you for the nice comments, Carol, Russell and Ruth. Sadly for us all, it seems that this one will run and run.
And thanks to Nigel, Frederick, Holden, Brenda, Reggie's Ghost and K Lynn for liking this one.
Comment is about Blockbuster (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Well done, Graham! A good example of 'on a whim' that is a lesson to us all. Hope the readings go well. I'm sure they will.
Comment is about Reading to Literature students in Chile. (blog)
Original item by Graham Buchan
Sat 30th Jul 2022 03:31
A truly powerful poem, John, made all the more so by your skilful use of the first person! I found the penultimate stanza brilliantly poignant and profound! 🌷
Comment is about A Postcard From R.A.F. Oulton (blog)
Original item by John Botterill
Brilliantly pure and so intoxicating - this poem and love. Great writing.
Comment is about Love? (blog)
Original item by Clare
John Botterill
Mon 1st Aug 2022 08:13
Yes. 'Football's Coming Home' brought a tear to my eye! Bravo you lionesses! 😆
Comment is about Homecoming (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman