Thanks so much Andy, Stephen and Messages for the comments.
And yes, Stephen, opening the laptop and working your thesaurus definitely counts as exercise I say!
Thanks also Hugh, Aisha, Stephen, et al for the likes.
Comment is about Lovers (blog)
Original item by Tom
Thank you for the wonderful compliment, Holden! I actually have a part two of this poem that I will post some time this week.
Thanks again for reading!!
Comment is about Swallow Me (blog)
Original item by Endigo Michaels
Thanks for your reading, comments and likes MC and Stephen.
For clarification purposes, the arms trade today is conducted primarily for reasons of greed, influence and power. Whereas there once was a case and need for development in regard of our own defence and security, we seem way beyond that now. The entities which drove that development were not solely owned by private industry.
The problem we have today is of economies and specifically niche industries being driven by their seeming necessity for perpetual war, a topic which has been written about extensively in recent decades...and which Orwell highlighted/predicted in his day and its likely expanse into the age we live in now.
When I first was posted to Aldershot elements of the RAF/RAE were still in situ at Farnborough Airfield. It's gleaming history of defence and development retaining a small footprint on the landscape, there is no such footprint now.
Many are aware of that fine history not all have forgotten it...it is very much with that history in mind that I am repulsed by what goes on there now..
David
PS: For interest:
https://www.aerosociety.com/media/13822/paper-2020-03-rood-rae-100.pdf
Comment is about An Airshow Progressive (blog)
Original item by David RL Moore
Family health is an issue. There are reasons to possess firearms.
Comment is about Gunman (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
I would suggest rolling tires down a hillside! That is always a fun time!
Comment is about Boredom (blog)
Original item by Stuart Vanner
Sun 21st Jul 2024 23:36
A truly powerful poem, Enidgo! I especially loved the penultimate stanza🌷
Comment is about Swallow Me (blog)
Original item by Endigo Michaels
And being a miserable old git, Graham. Don't forget that.
Comment is about TEETHING TROUBLES (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
I love (sorry for the pun) the idea of love as an entity that finds another mate if rebuffed or is abandoned. I hadn’t thought of it that way. I’d assumed it more organic
Comment is about Erosion. (blog)
Original item by Clare
My mother had had all her teeth removed by the age of 21. At the age of 72 now I wish I had. It's why I rarely smile 😐
Comment is about TEETHING TROUBLES (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
They were butchers in those days, MC. I can understand the attraction of having the lot out under gas and never troubling the dentist again.
Comment is about TEETHING TROUBLES (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
My primary questions - and there should always be questions in
such an event - refer to the number of shots fired and WHY
audience members were targeted IF Crooks' aim (literally) as a
"lone gunman" was to kill Trump? Logic alone points to the
suspicion that there is more to this than meets the eye, not least
the abject absence of basic protective measures which should
have been operational. Those with experience in work
involving "protection duty" are already querying this pre-emptive
failing in a specific controllable environment, and I can see why. Let's
hear more about essential evidence
relating to audio source(s) of fire, bullet trajectory etc. and located spent bullets.
And let's pay attention to stuff like
Fentanyl that plagues American life and
criminal behaviour.
Comment is about Gunman (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
In other days, Farnborough Air Show was a shop window for
the once great British aeronautics industry and saw the unveiling
of aircraft that were benchmarks of progress in their day. We can
tend to forget that the world was in competition in the industry
and it was fierce, leading the way to what became known as
"The Space Race" and all that it meant to this world, in peace
or war.
Comment is about An Airshow Progressive (blog)
Original item by David RL Moore
The moral: Seek And Ye Shall Find.
Boredom needs an inquisitive mind! 😉
Comment is about Boredom (blog)
Original item by Stuart Vanner
Recalling my mother's generation, it seems that feet and teeth
were the primary concerns affecting daily lives - a sort of pre-NHS foot and mouth scenario. We are lucky indeed today to
enjoy (?) the advances made in dental surgery. I am quite happy
to pay for private care in lieu of any foreign holiday, still able to
recall my 1950s childhood when the dental drill was a darn
sight slower and a rubber mask would be slapped on my face
to add a claustrophobic hissy nightmare trip to temporary
unconsciousness.
Comment is about TEETHING TROUBLES (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Sun 21st Jul 2024 14:57
I hope that tears could bridge the gap between us so that I could spend night beside you.❤️
Comment is about Krati (poet profile)
Original item by Krati
Sun 21st Jul 2024 14:55
Sometimes it's so important to flow and let your wings settle for once❤️⭐
Comment is about Krati (poet profile)
Original item by Krati
Superbly written, David. I have been to Farnborough, so I see exactly what you mean.
Comment is about An Airshow Progressive (blog)
Original item by David RL Moore
I love the wordplay used in this piece. Thank you for sharing!
Comment is about Rust (blog)
Original item by Sherri
Thank you very much for your most generous comment, Clare. It means a lot to me!😇
Comment is about Isn't Always Cute (blog)
Original item by Manish
Something positively Orwellian in the final two stanza, a very powerful image and sentiment.
Words can march like an Army.
I would be careful to qualify that words alone cannot overcome tyranny, words are the active ingredient for change...in that respect they march forward.
Excellent painting in my irrelevant opinion.
David
Comment is about Louder Than Bombs (blog)
Original item by Rob Cohen
Thank you for reading my poems, Holden. It's appreciated.
Comment is about RAWTENSTALL LETDOWN (blog)
Original item by Martin Peacock
I listened to the interview on Ruth O'Reilly's Sunday Radio Show.
All fm 96-9 3pm -5pm😃
Andy N & Polly Anna Rose talked about their debut album Ocean in a bottle😁
Recorded and mixed in Manchester, Huddersfield, and various dream states across the Northwest of England😎
Comment is about On The Right Track (blog)
Original item by Nigel Astell
Thanks for your likes
Holden
Manish
Sailendra
Stephen G
Hugh
Aisha
Auracle
and
Ruth.
Comment is about On The Right Track (blog)
Original item by Nigel Astell
It’s been a while since I logged in here and I am so glad I did. It would be an enormous shame had I missed such a stunning poem!
Comment is about Isn't Always Cute (blog)
Original item by Manish
Thank you for the most recent likes.
David
Comment is about The Uncertain Journey (blog)
Original item by David RL Moore
So true Mike,
Many years ago and we were house hunting (job relocation) and were given the keys to view a vacant possession house in Rugby.
My wife refused to go past the doorstep (strange for her).
The walls have ears as they say! Well written as usual. G
Comment is about Barren (blog)
Original item by Mike Bartram
Fri 19th Jul 2024 21:37
Thank you, Jennifer, for such an encouraging comment, I'm truly grateful! 😊
Comment is about Ageless... (blog)
Original item by Holden Moncrieff
Beautifully written, and agree with Tim about the first line in particular. You never disappoint!
Comment is about Ageless... (blog)
Original item by Holden Moncrieff
Fri 19th Jul 2024 15:38
Thank you, Stephen, it means a lot that you enjoyed the poem! 😊
Comment is about Ageless... (blog)
Original item by Holden Moncrieff
Each lie told
When truth prevails
The mask is
No longer there.😎
Comment is about Haters aren't lovers (blog)
Original item by Sunshine
Thanks for the likes and comments folks, much appreciated.
David.
Comment is about The Uncertain Journey (blog)
Original item by David RL Moore
Thanks, Graham and Greg. This sorry episode, which led to the death of a member of the audience, is another manifestation of US gun culture. It is tragically ironic that this happened at a meeting of the party which espouses virtually unlimited gun ownership.
The old mantra 'guns don't kill, people do', ignores the fact that it's useful for such people to have one handy.
Thanks again for your comments.
Comment is about Gunman (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
A fine poem, Holden. Perhaps it will always be thus.......
Comment is about Ageless... (blog)
Original item by Holden Moncrieff
It is still the wild west, Graham. That's their mindset, that's the problem. Preserving the wild west is what Maga is all about.
Comment is about Gunman (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
How awful that this perpetual violent merry-go-round of shootings is castigated by seemingly everyone, but Americans still cling on to their 'right to bear arms' as if it is still the wild west!! They have to change!! Especially carrying in public
Comment is about Gunman (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Lived in London for 2 years long ago, and found the history fascinating. You could almost see and sense all those who had made it what it is. Great poem and very evocative.
Comment is about The Uncertain Journey (blog)
Original item by David RL Moore
Thanks to Aisha and John for the likes!
Comment is about Only Best Before (blog)
Original item by Jennifer Malden
We have to fight for tolerance, JD, against all the prejudices you have listed.
A good poem which is bound to stir up some demons. But the message is dead right.
Comment is about New World Sonnet (blog)
Original item by JD Russell
I reckon that 'ladies of extra classes' have got it right, Larisa!
Comment is about Perfume «A La Larissa» (blog)
Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska
A real treat of a poem, Tom. I have never thought of my laptop as a 'linguistic bench press', but why not?
Incredibly perceptive and fun to read.
Comment is about Lovers (blog)
Original item by Tom
Thanks David for this thoughtful and kind response - “I love a place that hated me” - that really got me. You have certainly seen a side of Portrush that I haven’t. The ghosts of The Troubles are always there though. I remember upstairs in the Harbour Bar the night before I got married being asked: “are ye working over here?” “No, I’m getting married” “Aye, but are ye working over here??” Short hair and an English accent could easily have landed me in trouble. I also remember when the bomb went off in the centre of Coleraine - November 1992, mercifully nobody was hurt - my wife and our first child were over in Portrush. And I vividly remember Omagh - we had just got back after shopping that morning in Coleraine to hear the awful news. My wife’s uncle (who married us) was a minister in Belfast - he also did a weekly Radio Ulster programme and his broadcast the following day was deeply moving. Thanks again David.
Comment is about The Ballad of the Harbour Bar (blog)
Original item by R A Porter
I enjoyed this "journey" through the metropolis, knowing much
of the territory featured via my adult life's work. Great cities
tend to be a multiplication of various eras and their passing
custodians' assorted aims and ambitions adding and removing
as they lived their lives; much of what they achieved destined
to be a footnote in the history of that city....most often almost
literally.
Comment is about The Uncertain Journey (blog)
Original item by David RL Moore
Thanks Aisha,
David.
Comment is about Summer headlines long ago (blog)
Original item by David RL Moore
Well I like this one RA,
I am familiar with the fine establishments of Portrush. Your poem captures their warmth and comforting refusal to succumb to the washed out pastel blues often seen in provincial towns.
That said my friends and I back in the day would not have been collectively welcome in such places.
We would indulge ourselves in fishing trips from the harbour, almost always cutting them short to retire to establishments that dispensed The Bushmills and creamy pints. With our desingnated driver eventually driving us back to our grim and pointless barracks where we would piss on our own doorsteps.
I'm so glad that place has progressed and is still progressing, although at some point those who refuse to come along will have to be considered, and rightly so as within any democratic process.
All my bollox aside, it's a grand piece of writing.
David
PS, A friend of mine had his car dismantled in Portrush back in the day, lovely stuff...three people walked away unscathed....amazing. Thank fek this is more or less over, for now.
https://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=136401
Taken from that fine publication known as An Phoblacht...with some fine misreporting for the sake of propaganda.
Please delete my links if you find them inappropriate to your wonderful poem. Your work opened this up for me, is that not what creative writing is all about? My links are songs of hope, sometimes it's all we have.
My boy was born in Derry City, I love the place...I love a place that hated me.
Comment is about The Ballad of the Harbour Bar (blog)
Original item by R A Porter
A fine canvas of words here Laura.
I like the undertone of religiosity that neither wholly suggests bitterness or conformity, maybe a simple acceptance of how things are.
I aspire to your final stanza but often feel my flame diminishing.
David
Comment is about Protection Magic (blog)
Original item by Laura Bray
Marvellous - you’ve nailed it Tom!! One to read, relish and read again. Lots of layers of love in there…
Comment is about Lovers (blog)
Original item by Tom
Thank you Graham, Hélène and Kim! Really glad you enjoyed and Kim, high praise indeed. Very encouraging.
Thanks also to Tom, Jordyn, Holden, K. Lynn and Tim for the likes and for stopping by to read this one.
Very much written with Write Out Loud writers in mind...
Comment is about Lovers (blog)
Original item by Tom
Hélène
Mon 22nd Jul 2024 15:33
Awesome writing Enidgo! Many can relate to that green sofa/swallow me sentiment. Looking forward to part 2.
Comment is about Swallow Me (blog)
Original item by Endigo Michaels