Sun 16th Aug 2020 02:07
no, not a joke.
In America, this is what they are proposing.
Defund the Police is the new buzz phrase...
cut police budgets,
add more social workers and counselors.
Comment is about M.C. Newberry (poet profile)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Thanks Elizabeth, Abdul and Stephen for the likes, and Philipos and martin for the much appreciated comments. What a compliment to be even reminded of an Auden poem! This was written for my mother, when she died. I was astonished at how much I missed her, not being exactly a youngster when it happened. She was very good company, and apart from being my mother, I liked her as a person. Thanks again, Jennifer
Comment is about Loss (blog)
Original item by Jennifer Malden
<Deleted User> (18980)
Sat 15th Aug 2020 20:05
I had to look it up Ray...a very distressing condition!
Comment is about NEUROFIBROMATOSIS (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Good to see you posting here again, Peter. You have a unique style which deserves and demands more than one reading. There is a mood of serene acceptance in this one, is what I divine. "The mist that forms each day and wraps itself as lace around us" is a phrase to savour.
Comment is about MOVING OUT AND MOVING ON (blog)
Original item by Peter Taylor
BM - Hi-yo...it's the Lawn Ranger! ?
Comment is about STIR AND THE POT (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Shifa, Jordyn, and Paul. Thank you for the likes. ?
Comment is about Yet We Hold On (blog)
Original item by Shehariah
The theme is timeless and its presentation worthy of the material.
An excellent addition to poetry that serves to remind us of the
many effects of war, not least on those involved at the sharp end
and their lives thereafter.
P.S. I can imagine the late Liam Clancy singing this!
Comment is about The Bayonet In The Shed [REPOST with audio] (blog)
Original item by Ian Whiteley
DK - you jest...I hope. But the way things are going, nothing would
surprise me.?
Comment is about the Social Justice Care Division (blog)
Original item by d.knape
Sat 15th Aug 2020 18:00
Beautiful Owl print,
did you do that?
Comment is about branwell kent (poet profile)
Original item by branwell kent
Hi Keith
Some very important lessons in this one about being a strong person of integrity with self belief and respect for others.
Fabulous Poetry
Jon
Comment is about Be Yourself (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
Hi Keith
This is fabulous. It speaks to me of the hidden purpose deep in the mind of the writer, yet to come to the forefront, and the process of getting to grips with imagination to bring it alive on the page.
Great stuff
Jon
Comment is about A Portrait (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
Hi Keith
This sounds like an amazing place, full of atmosphere, filled with style and the thrill of self expression
Beautifully written
Jon
Comment is about A Smoky Cafe (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
Grateful thanks to you chaps for your comments. You're right, Paul, it is treasure when you find something like these letters. I'd never really known my grandmother as a child, and so when I read them, it was like hearing her voice for the first time. Phil, I tried writing a novel about all this, but didn't get very far. All I have is a handful of poems - so far - although one did get an honourable mention in a Wilfred Owen Association competition, something I'm proud of, on dad's behalf, and all those other prisoners, too. ('Learning by Heart' is the first of my sample poems on my Profile, if you care to look). Graham, my father once said that they talked about this in the camps, the privations, illnesses and sheer hunger that they suffered, and they reckoned it would take about five years off their life expectancy, for those who survived. My father suffered regular bouts of malaria for 10 years after he came back.
Comment is about Liberation, 1945 (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
For years when I was very young I had a school friend who lived in the next street who was often seen out with his grandfather. I envied him as I had never known my own. It was only many years later, recalling the boy to my mother that she told me that the man was actually his father who had been incarcerated in a Japanese POW camp.
This brought that memory back in stark detail Greg. Powerful memories. Thank you
Comment is about Liberation, 1945 (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Anil Sharma
Sat 15th Aug 2020 15:06
No dark cloud can prevent the sun from shining Ms. Saini. U are going to rise and shine soon. ?
Comment is about SINGING THE BLUES (blog)
Original item by MANISHA SAINI
Stephen thank you for your observations about the sea and the like too.
Comment is about Tide waits for no one (blog)
Original item by Abdul Ahmad
Anil Sharma
Sat 15th Aug 2020 15:01
Amazing work Ms. saini. can realte a lot.
Comment is about WHO TOOK MY MOON? (blog)
Original item by MANISHA SAINI
Yes, the sea: silent, oblivious yet all knowing.
Comment is about Tide waits for no one (blog)
Original item by Abdul Ahmad
Shifa,
Another excellent poem.
Thank you
Keith
Comment is about Aren't We? (blog)
Original item by Shifa Maqba
<Deleted User> (18980)
Sat 15th Aug 2020 11:12
You're a sexist pig Simon! Join the club.
Comment is about Chevaux de Freeze (blog)
Original item by simon lucan
Philipos
Sat 15th Aug 2020 09:29
Brings the war years back in abundance - the horror of our captured troops - astonishing news lurking in our attics.
I bet it was weepy time all round during your visit.
Poignant this - as poignant as it can get.
Some things never heal - even for descendants on the home front.
Greg, you know you have a best seller waiting to be written don't you.
Blessings. P
Comment is about Liberation, 1945 (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Thank you for the like Brian.
Only the ones that have an equity card live in Coronation Street.?
Comment is about Meerkats (blog)
Original item by julie callaghan
Philipos
Sat 15th Aug 2020 09:18
The unravelling of layers. Nice one Shifa - enjoyed. P. ?
Comment is about Aren't We? (blog)
Original item by Shifa Maqba
Indeed we hold the power to set our mind to do whatever we wish Shifa.
Another pearler.
Comment is about Aren't We? (blog)
Original item by Shifa Maqba
I meant to say, Ian, that this is a fine poem, moving in its understatement. You, myself and Martin should form a poetry band of brothers, the sons of Far East veterans.
Comment is about The Bayonet In The Shed [REPOST with audio] (blog)
Original item by Ian Whiteley
Posted to mark the 75th anniversary of VJ Day today ... a found poem based on a cache of letters written by my grandmother to my father after she learned he was alive in 1945. She had had no word of him since 1942 and the fall of Singapore. I found these letters while clearing out my mother's flat in 2012. The picture is of the cemetery at Kanchanaburi in Thailand, of the graves of Allied prisoners who died while working on the 'death railway'. We visited it in 2008.
Comment is about Liberation, 1945 (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
<Deleted User> (18980)
Sat 15th Aug 2020 08:16
In the desert Julie? I thought they lived in Corrie.
Comment is about Meerkats (blog)
Original item by julie callaghan
Very well described Ian . My father was perhaps fortunate in that he was given a sten gun when he went to war which was apparently put in the ships armoury until they got to India and then put in the armoury in the base they manned. One of his brothers was less fortunate and saw a lot of his comrades blown to pieces on a bridge in Burma by the Japanese. I believe he still had nightmares on occasions about it for many years afterwards.
Nice one Ian
Comment is about The Bayonet In The Shed [REPOST with audio] (blog)
Original item by Ian Whiteley
Beautifully and eloquently put Jennifer on a difficult subject for some who have never experienced it.
Comment is about Loss (blog)
Original item by Jennifer Malden
Very cleverly written Lola. Love it
Comment is about A One Night stand with the Royal Knight of Darkness (blog)
Original item by Mama Lola
Although not being obese I have struggled with my weight during lockdown. Not least because of the fact I love food. So I totally understand.
Great poem Ray
Comment is about PRESSING MATTERS (blog)
Original item by ray pool
<Deleted User> (18980)
Fri 14th Aug 2020 22:26
John many apologies . I really don't know how I managed to juxtapose your name . please forgive me
Blessings
Martin
Comment is about Rainbows of the night (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Many thanks for the likes Tom, Jordyn, Shifa, Stephen and Abdul.
I was certainly captivated by Yeats gentle and tender style years ago Paul and I.m flattered by any comparison. I do tend to feel quite comfortable in that mode!
Jennifer, thanks as always for your support. So good that you like my stuff.
Ray
Comment is about ILLICIT VISIT (blog)
Original item by ray pool
My father was handed a gun when he arrived in Singapore but didn't have a chance to use it ... not that he would have wanted to. Came out the other side after three and half years as a prisoner. Can't imagine what your father went through, Ian. There is a second-world war poet, Alun Lewis, who died out there in 'mysterious circumstances'. Well, not so mysterious really, when you look into it.
Comment is about The Bayonet In The Shed [REPOST with audio] (blog)
Original item by Ian Whiteley
Thank you M.C., Martin, and Neressa. ?
I recently watched the documentary "Marianne & Leonard" where I heard a quote that resonated with me, "Poets are elusive creatures who are married to their muse." It makes sense why we are often walled off from deeper relationships. The muse is an addict's high, lovers' lane, heaven and hell, the demanding relationship that gives as much as it takes.
https://youtu.be/Ze7pu4rvmrw
Comment is about Two in the Morning (blog)
Original item by Vautaw
Thank you Mark O, Martin, Shifa, Nereeta, Binte, Eric.
Martin, I am John! ?
“Words are things. You must be careful, careful about calling people out of their names, using racial pejoratives and sexual pejoratives and all that ignorance. Don’t do that. Some day we’ll be able to measure the power of words. I think they are things. They get on the walls. They get in your wallpaper. They get in your rugs, in your upholstery, and your clothes, and finally in to you.”
― Maya Angelou
Comment is about Rainbows of the night (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Philipos
Fri 14th Aug 2020 18:56
Wreathe yourself in the better memories - rather than the mundane ones everybody has - one day a starling will stop and wink at you - and you will know immediately it is the message you have been waiting to receive.
Your poem reminds me of one of my favorite ones by Auden - 'What life is this if full of care - we have no time to stand and stare'
I enjoyed reading about your sojourn in Memory Lane - these are special memories to be fondly treasured and are unique to us.
? P.
Comment is about Loss (blog)
Original item by Jennifer Malden
thanks once again for the kind comments and the thoughtful presentation of alternative viewpoints ?
Ian
Comment is about Otherness (blog)
Original item by Ian Whiteley
thanks for the kind comments and likes - glad you enjoyed it ?
Comment is about Dog Day (blog)
Original item by Ian Whiteley
Stephen and Martin,
Thank you for your comments. Most kind.
Keith
Comment is about Be Yourself (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
<Deleted User> (19980)
Fri 14th Aug 2020 14:40
I love your last stanza. Very heartfelt piece?
Comment is about Two in the Morning (blog)
Original item by Vautaw
MANISHA SAINI
Sun 16th Aug 2020 04:04
May be the mistaken moon. hehe
What was your reason, by the way?
Comment is about WHO TOOK MY MOON? (blog)
Original item by MANISHA SAINI