Hi cynthia
Thanks for your comments on a card from home, much appreciated. Look forward to seeing you again at Sale next month.

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Cynthia, thanks for your very generous comments on Calendars. And a happy Christmas to you!

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Cynthia
thanks for the comments - we do, as you know, wear masks in this poetry game. You may be interested in last years offering
http://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=40230
which is the mask and which the real Yorkshireman?
that would be telling ;-)

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Hi Cynthia

In that poem I'm trying to get inside the head of a bird - which I can't really do - but I suppose it's my poem and my rules and I have to use my imagination! Female pheasants don't have the bright colours of the male, so that makes them 'drab' in my book. Again, I may be wrong, but I suspect that pheasants don't fall in love like humans and that their sex is pretty functional. THough to befair, it probably also is for some humans.

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thanks for the kind comments on 'last orders' Cynthia - that poem is short but sweet - just like your good self ;-)

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Hi Cynthia Thanks for comments on the red kites. I'll have a think about your suggestions, although I wrote this quite a while back and don't know if I can face tinkering around with it. I did have a regular dream for ages that I could fly and really missed it when it stopped. I posted it here so that I could post it on anintersting FB page called Birds and Poetry.

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I agree with your further comment on 'Philae' Cynthia - if a scientist were to argue a distant comet denies the existence of God simply because it is a remnant of some 'big bang' my question would be 'who, or what, created the big bang' ;-)
that said - I am pretty agnostic - so I would only be playing devil's (who he) advocate ;-)

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thanks once again for your kind comments on 'Elephant's Graveyard' Cynthia - it was a deep topic generated by looking at Richard's amazing photo - I'm finding the exercise of looking beyond the obvious in his photo's very enlightening - would never have gone near the Ganesha myth otherwise - I like your assessment of me - it sort of resonates with my own life view of 'soul of a poet in the body of a brickie' ;-)cheers

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thanks so much for commenting on 'Philae' Cynthia - really pleased you liked it

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Re "So&so" The mildly infuriating 'So' at the start of a sentence. And then followed by the (almost) inevitable rising inflection. All of the BBC's radio #4&5&6 are being subject to a viral contagion of such annoyances.

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Thank you so much for your encouraging comments on Validation. Having now read some of your work, I appreciate them even more.

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I managed to lose your comment in my attempt to fiddle with changes to be made to my poem. Thank you once again. Truly, truly appreciated. And humbled

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No way Cynthia, I'm just pleased that you like the poems I post. The audience for such things is pretty limited so your words of encouragement are appreciated. This is another one that will be in my new book next year, so I post the poem and a picture on WOL that I can then link to my FB page. THIs one is a kind of mini Chekhov play.

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Thank you for your extremely kind comments and more importantly your words of encouragement and praise. I struggle: I always feel I could have done much better which borders on perfectionism. A wrong choice of word as I am nowhere near perfect and can never be!
Preeti

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Cynthia, thank you for taking the time to comment on the Koan.
Have you seriously never been out in moonlit rain?
You must surely have experienced a rain shower in sunlight, it's just the same thing but at night.
As for the koan, it is a wonderful way of thinking but writing less words.

thank you once again for commenting.

regards,

Graham

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Cynthia - about Graham's koan poem - one of the best-known examples of a koan is 'what is the sound of one hand clapping?'. It's meant to make the person think in different ways. In my last poem Jigsaw - that was going to be a koan initially, asking the question if a swing was a swing if you didn't see it swing.

It's good that you're puzzled - that's part of the point of them :)


Here's a link to an explanation of koans

http://www.karate.butsu.net/onzen/zenkoans_intro.html

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Hi Cynthia I'm glad you liked the poem. I had in mind rural communities in times of war who are always at the mercy of roaming bands of soldiers scavenging for supplies and whatever else they fancy. There are languages where those words have got mixed up and I've been learning Modern Greek which has different body language for 'yes' and 'know'. There are also villages in Greece and elsewhere that have evolved very sophisticated whistling languages. The one in Greece evolved at the time of the Ottoman invasion - not that the poem is specifically about Greece. It could be any time and any place.

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Hi Cynthia Your comment on the 'Burghers' is very encouraging. It's a poem from my new collection 'A Murmuration' scheduled for Autumn 2015. Watch this space! I am using the WOL site with its handy format of poem + picture to re-post poems from the forthcoming book onto my facebook page.

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CBT: re "is" reminds me of the following quote: "Philosophers have only interpreted the world, the point, however, "is" to change it." Karl Marx

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HI Cynthia As ever your words of encouragement are greatly appreciated. There's a novel by ALexander Cordell which is called 'The Song of the Earth'. I read it in my teens but can't remember a thing about it!

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.. yes Cynthia, it was me .. you wrote it in the comment box, how fleeting is fame ? .. if I'd known you were at the Waterside I'd've read some stuff .. you were trying to guess my ancestry .. it's Lancashire/Irish, Normandy, Viking, going backwards, I've got 'Dupuytren's contracture' on the left hand, so did my uncle. so I know the Viking bit's right !!!

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I enjoyed listening to your poems on Tuesday. Can you recommend any other poetry nights worth visiting?

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Hello Cynthia.. I enjoyed your 'to plumb the depths ' poem .. unfortunately most humans aren't self-analytical and just plumb the depths .. it only makes sense if you can be brought to tears by life - and stop.

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Hello Cynthia, thank you so much for your comment on Just the three of us, its greatly appreciated to have thoughts on my works as I'm always trying to improve, I will revise the last line as you said ;)
Thanks again and I hope you're well xx

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Thank you for your comments on 'Beyond Doubt' Cynthia. You are always generous with them. I have made some edits in accordance with your suggestions.
-Josh

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Hi Cynthia, thanks for commenting on my latest. 'Mistitled' is more directly examining the human trait of wanting to shed fame through self-destruction. It was actually written before Robin Williams (RIP) was still with us, a couple of months ago, but I agree that it can be linked directly to his own 'case'.

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Hiya
Thank you, as always for your comments
Twilbury Wist is just my pen name.
He's a fictional character in some stories that I've half written, a story teller's apprentice.

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Everything, I think: God, creation, first causes, cause and effect, infinite regression, Thomas Aquinas, Anselm and all those medieval philosphers with their 'proofs' for the existence of God. Not saying, that anyone else wouldn't be obsessed with all that stuff too, but I think I had a pretty theological education like James Joyce.

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Hi Cynthia I'm glad you liked the Nothing poem. A bit risky maybe and I wasn't at all sure about it, but it is about stuff that has always obsessed me. Must be my Catholic upbringing!

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Oh, and yes, I always do my homework ;)

And yes - about time that that family is now being treated as caring parents rather than abusers!!

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Hey Cynthia - thank you for all of your considered comments - always appreciated :)

Mmm, well, I'm wondering why so much is being made of the race/heritage/culture aspect, and nowhere near as much attention (if any) is being focussed on the fact that the Council had contracts with one or more taxi firms who were known to be involved. There were two formal police operations, Chard and Czar, in 2010 and 2011, and although taxi licences were revoked in some cases, these firms continued to be used by the Council. The taxi drivers were in constant contact with the children. Names were supposedly not taken, no one knew which driver would be collecting etc. Shaun Wright was head of Children's Services slap bang in the middle of the time period of the report. What does it tell us that he still refuses to resign or take any responsibility at all?

Read Section 8 of the report about the taxi stuff - in fact, read the whole thing. Eye-opening. Gut-wrenching.

Add all of that to the total incompetence, moral bankruptcy and, in my opinion, criminal behaviour of the South Yorkshire Police (architects of Battle of Orgreave and Hillsborough) and you end up with continuing trafficking of children for sex, their evidence destroyed, their complaints turned into 'No Crime', and thousands of lives and futures destroyed.

Did you know that a senior CID person claimed that a 12 year old girl had "100% consensual sex" with at least 5 men? This is a person employed to uphold the law, with the legal age of consent being 16. What they are saying is illegal. She CANNOT give consent under the law. Anything else is classed as rape.

Sorry for epic post - there's so much involved here, and I am utterly incensed and distressed by it.

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Thanks for liking my poem Cynthia. I think you and I are alike in how relationships can spark our poetry - I can remember the ones you wrote about you mother...

I'm not writing so much nowadays but love the feeling of being in touch with my poetry friends when I do! xx

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Hi Cynthia glad you like the Northern Soul poem!

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As always, thank you for your comments. They are very much appreciated. A philosopher? I don't think so - maybe more a hop scotch way of seeing the world ;-)

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Hi Cynthia, I have responded to your kind comments regarding 'Bottoms Up' on my poetry site. Many thanks. P.

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Hi Cynthia
You're absolutely right about 'look at me' it is about looking in a mirror. Thanks for your comments.
I really like your latest, 'blessed man' particularly in the first verse
'hail to the morning I'm not dead yet'.
It was good to chat on Tuesday. see you again next month.
Martin

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just posted the following on 'an angel bathes in tears' - added there so folk won't get confused as those last 4 lines have gone - posted here as a personal thanks for your kind and insightful feedback:
"you're right Cynthia - after much deliberation (I feel like I've thrown one of my flock to the wolves) I've dropped those last 4 lines - and coming back to this poem now, I agree that the ending is stronger without those lines - thanks for the insight"

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Hi Cynthia
Thank you very much for your encouragement on 'C' The Lanterns. I am glad you enjoyed it.
I would also like you to know that whilst reading through a back log of items in WOL I discovered your article on Performance Poetry.

http://writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=38987

Forewarned was indeed forearmed.
Wonderfully written article and superb checklist for anyone attending an event for the first time.
Having read your article and taking on board the very salient points, this week I made my first poetry reading, (albeit at a local folk club), and entered the 'Poems on a Beermat' competition. Thanks again.

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.. Hello Cynthia ... quite an analytical yet positive response in your comments .. I must ponder on't all awhile .. back in a mo !!

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thanks for the kind comments on 'an angel bathes...' Cynthia - now I'm in a quandary, I like those last 4 lines because that's exactly what I wanted to say - but I also trust your observation about trusting my reader - but do I - every one of them? I'm not sure I get the meaning across well enough without the 'dig' at the end....so - a dilemma

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Hello Cynthia .. yes I've probably been hidden in the mist, my footsteps occasionally audible, most likely just footprints I'll leave behind .. thanks for the comment on '27/7/14' .. I wrote or rather 'tapped' it into the keyboard quickly while looking at that postcard for sale on ebay .. the last resting place of all forgotten objects, probably went for 99p !! .. cheers.

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Hi Cynthia...thank you for your sweet comments...

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Hi Cynthia Glad you liked my Miles poem!

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Thank you Cynthia.

I'll cover my ignorance by saying I did it phonetically. Ha Ha.

Sadly, I've got to a stage in life when I briefly blank out completely and can't spell the easiest of words.

After eight and a half decades, one has to allow for the occasional lapse in concentration

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sorry to hear you were feeling a little under the weather Cynthia - I think it's the actual weather that's to blame - way too humid - I'm more a Viking than a Roman I'm afraid - hope our paths cross again soon

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hi Cynthia

apologies for the lateness in responding - i guess that is one of my hopes for the poem - though i feel that a change of title is needed as 'everything' is not good enough

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Thanks for your very complimentary comments on white feather Cynthia - it means a lot - good to see you last night, an enjoyable evening I thought :-)
cheers
Ian

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Hello Cynthia, thanks for pointing me towards 'flashback'. The last verse is a blinder. Because you omit punctuation the lines, or so it seems to me, can be read in different ways depending on where one places the emphasis. For instance, i read

...scribbling on ancient canvases
modernity...

as if you meant 'scribbling [modernity] on ancient canvases' which i don't think was your intention. It works either way though. It's a winner.

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Ta Cy for the look-see at the 'Astronomer...' and appraise it. Tommy

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Thank you for appreciating my poem.

Nelly x

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