Thanks a lot, Greg. You've made my day! Cheers.😊

Comment is about Don't, Mowgli (blog)

Original item by Manish

Yes, John! I am so happy now. The problem was resolved and I* am back. Thank you so much for commenting, Regards, Larisa

Comment is about I Am Out of Fashion (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Thank you for your comments gents,

this is an amalgam of events and thoughts. I can't escape that I feel in a constant state of numb shock and disbelief, occasionally an overwhelming sense of grief and waste. In the most intense moments I see this vision of stillness and calm and maybe nothingness.

I don't know what it is but understand that it isn't normal, what's normal? this is my normal.

I am still an atheist who steals from anything that helps me get by...refusing to succumb to irrationality or simple succour.

I would not wish a military funeral for myself, nor is this image of a traditional military funeral except for the non-defined flag...I can see how it might be imagined as such and have no issues with that.

It's interesting that you speak of detachment Ray, it is a mixture of emotions...in this moment I am connected to the ceremony and the passing of a life whilst being completely disconnected from everything else...I am almost inside the coffin with the subject.

I am very grateful for your comments and observations which are of help in understanding some of my own strange emotions and remoteness.

David

Comment is about Vigil (blog)

Original item by David RL Moore

Your comment shows to me that we are both believers in the power of poetic observation and that it can rise above the merely physical and baser instincts which horror inevitably arouses. Really of the same mind which is very gratifying!

Comment is about SUICIDE BOMBER (blog)

Original item by ray pool

This sounds very personal - a sort of suspension of disbelief or even a conversion - often your work displays a mixture of detachment and questioning but here I don't feel that. (My two pennyworth)!.

Comment is about Vigil (blog)

Original item by David RL Moore

A military funeral? Or at least a prominent figure.

The third stanza is standout for me.

I'm an unbeliever, but I do like the grandeur and general feel of cathedrals that make you speak in hushed tones.

Comment is about Vigil (blog)

Original item by David RL Moore

Great, Larisa. I think I used to date her in the picture!
Also delighted to see you got your WOL problems resolved and are back on here posting.

Comment is about I Am Out of Fashion (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Very timely and welcome piece, Greg, though Clare is always relevant with the countryside increasingly under threat. Like myself, my late father-in-law was a great admirer of John Clare. Being Northamptonshire born and bred, he was furious when boundary changes shifted Helpston into Cambridgeshire. Always felt he’d been robbed of part of his heritage.

Comment is about Celebrating nature, mourning lost landscape: England’s ‘awkward’ poet John Clare (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Thank you for the overnight likes,

David.

Comment is about Of what remains (blog)

Original item by David RL Moore

I live not far away from his cottage and in the past I have completed a presentation on social history from inside to the John Clare society. I have a collection of his works and his poems inspire me to write more of the natural world as I walk through the South Lincolnshire lanes and footpaths. Brilliant, brilliant man, much misunderstood

Comment is about Celebrating nature, mourning lost landscape: England’s ‘awkward’ poet John Clare (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

This poem is based on a great idea, Manish. I admire your vision.

Comment is about Don't, Mowgli (blog)

Original item by Manish

Thank you Hugh, Holden, Bethany & Hélène. Especial thanks to you Stephen.

On my First Son 1616
BY BEN JONSON
Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
My sin was too much hope of thee, lov'd boy.
Seven years tho' wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
O, could I lose all father now! For why
Will man lament the state he should envy?
To have so soon 'scap'd world's and flesh's rage,
And if no other misery, yet age?
Rest in soft peace, and, ask'd, say, "Here doth lie
Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry."
For whose sake henceforth all his vows be such,
As what he loves may never like too much.

Comment is about INFANT MORTALITY (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

I do, yes. I do.

Comment is about Souhardya Das (poet profile)

Original item by Souhardya Das

Will you leave the Viagra alone! PHWOAR!


Breathless Beth....😓

Comment is about Surrender (blog)

Original item by Aisha Suleman

Helene, you are right the universe and everything in it vibrates. It is quite magical and yet we do not acknowledge such a crucial but diminutive aspect of our lives.

Love this piece

G

Comment is about Beautifully Adorned (blog)

Original item by Hélène

Larisa,
Thank you for taking the time to read and like my poems, it truly means a lot to me. I really liked 'There is Nothing Without Love' and I can't wait to read more. I see that you've been a part of WOL for a really long time, I'll try and catch up on your previous posts now. Have a great day! Cheers!😊

Comment is about Larisa Rzhepishevska (poet profile)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

It was only when I moved to live in Oundle that I came across the poetry of Clare. It was interesting to read his poems as I sat looking out at the rolling countryside of one of Englands most beautiful counties. Northamptonshire is still a part of England which I feel drawn to as I am sure Clare found it to be his home.

Comment is about Celebrating nature, mourning lost landscape: England’s ‘awkward’ poet John Clare (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Beautiful!

Comment is about About Last Night (blog)

Original item by Mike McPeek

JM - the appearance of "extremism" in Islam is nothing new...or old!. History is there to teach us today. Let us learn from its
lessons.

Comment is about The Armenian Genocide 1915 - 1923 (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Thank you so much for liking my poem. Glad to see you. I hope you remember me. I haven't been here for a long time. I remember you used to comment on my poems.

Comment is about hugh (poet profile)

Original item by hugh

Thank you so much, Stephen! for the comment.

Comment is about There is Nothing Without Love (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Thanks Landi,

I wanted to write about the planet without us in it but I couldn't get my head around it. I wanted to write from an observers point of view but could not escape from the idea of having to be present in order to do so and how even that miniscule presence would have corrupted the subject.

Instead of that idea this one emerged.

Regarding the music/video I posted, I just like the song and thought the video was kind of relaxing. It has nothing to do with what I wrote, well not that I intended anyway.

Thanks for all the likes to those who sent them.

David.

Comment is about Of what remains (blog)

Original item by David RL Moore

Thanks a lot Graham and Stephen, I'm very glad that you both liked it. Means a lot to me.😊

Comment is about A Parched Plant (blog)

Original item by Manish

I think I've just had an hour of enlightenment, absorbing great words of wisdom from Dr. Gladys McGarey was a pleasure! Thanks to you, Hélène.😄

Comment is about Listening to a Woman of 103 Years of Age (blog)

Original item by Hélène

This is beautiful, Larisa. We don't realise how vital love is until it has gone.

Comment is about There is Nothing Without Love (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

That’s thinking, Telboy!

Comment is about HIGH AND MIGHTY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thank you all. The genocide in Turkey has never been acknowledged by the Turks. All the lands around Turkey were once part of Christendom and at the beginning of the C20 they retained tens of millions of Christians. However, militant Whabbi & Salafist Islam grew more intolerant, throughout the C20, and Christians were persecuted and subject to massacres. This particular persecution began in Turkey where in 1915 Christians made up 25% of the population and now, 2024, make up less than 0.0001%.

Comment is about The Armenian Genocide 1915 - 1923 (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Gorgeous, bittersweet poem, Lee.

Comment is about The Bird Feeder (blog)

Original item by Lee Campbell

John I could have saved those retail stores if they'd only asked me. Position them next to Greggs and Crispy Kreme Donuts.

Comment is about HIGH AND MIGHTY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks for the feedback 😃.

Comment is about Esoteric (blog)

Original item by Robert C Gaulke

"In the beginning, there was the word, and the word was..."

That's what comes to my mind. I'm sure it's familiar to you.

A creation story without the eventual evolution of the image of the creator becoming evident? It does seem a rather advanced idea being that the randomness of existentialism and the logical harmonies of physics have only arisen through much searching and crises of faith.

I'm afraid I shouldn't go further in my train of thought for I cannot retain any relevance to your writing as my brain is too full with many ideas in process. Though, I am rather enjoying the effects of the piece on my cognition )

My compliments, also, on the video you shared. My sophomore students and I are studying The Great Gatsby together--maybe I can show it to them and we can have some offhand discussion about "The Lost Generation".

Much enjoyed )

Comment is about Of what remains (blog)

Original item by David RL Moore

And all the women advertising funeral plans, incontinence pads, mobility scooters and health insurance are all tidy milfs, Stephen.

Comment is about HIGH AND MIGHTY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thanks RG,

I guess people are either one side or the other.

There are those who seem ambivalent though...like many issues I suppose some feel they don't affect or impact them in any way.

David

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTUsw349FvA

Comment is about Of what remains (blog)

Original item by David RL Moore

Another wonderful poem, Manish. True sadness with a devastating climax.

Comment is about A Parched Plant (blog)

Original item by Manish

This reads like a dream, John. I love the rhythm.

I see there is a site for a store in Melbourne, although the blokes all look like Daniel Craig.

Also, I 'm reminded of Clive James' description of Nigel Lawson's attire - 'for the fuller figure, and the even fuller pay packet'. (This was before he slimmed down).

Comment is about HIGH AND MIGHTY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thank you Graham, Manish and Bethany. It was depressing to see the fawning crowd (including, inexplicably, the French Ambassador) welcoming another six-year appropriation of power and swallowing his alternative universe.

And thanks to Nigel, Hugh, Holden, K Lynn and RA for liking this.

Comment is about The Old Smoothie (blog)

Original item by Stephen Gospage

We do seem to be split into two camps - those who knowingly waste the planet and those who do their best to save it.

Comment is about Of what remains (blog)

Original item by David RL Moore

Sunshine makes us happy. Glad you too like it's eternal warmth and glory.

Comment is about The power of the sun (blog)

Original item by hugh

Some interesting word usage here Manish, 'blithered'

I really do like the final two stanzas though. Precision is well delivered.

Comment is about A Parched Plant (blog)

Original item by Manish

Thanks for the comments, Reggie's and David,

Lately I've been using any moments of my work day I can spare to steal a little solitude from the noise. It isn't winning me any friends but it does give me a chance to catch up on my reading. And, more often than not, my choice of material leans to the more gravitous so generally keeps me silent in thought.

Anyhow, this is a reflection of both those ideas I gather from reading and their effects on me.

TMI?

..wishing all a good evening 💐

PS
Apparently, 'gravitous' is not a word. But it should be...

Comment is about beyond the pale (artefacts repurposed) (blog)

Original item by Landi Cruz

Lest we forget, John.
We tend to think of such atrocities as long gone or the preserve of 3rd World countries. But when a relatively modern and “civilised” European state like Yugoslavia sinks to ethnic cleaning it is a reminder to us all that liberal democracy is a fragile construct that needs constant defending.

Comment is about The Armenian Genocide 1915 - 1923 (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

Thanks for the Likes, MC, Stephen A, Stephen G, Larisa, Aisha, Holden, David, Auracle and 7eVen.

Comment is about TUM-TITTY-TUM (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Quite possibly,MC. And maybe Big Daddy too. But as a life-long lardarse I have no room to talk (pun intended!)
And thanks for the Likes, Nigel and Larisa.

Comment is about HIGH AND MIGHTY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

Thank you Stephen, Graham and Bethany for your generous comment, it means a lot to me.😊

Bethany, I'd like to thank you indeed for the same, your support means so much to me.🌻

Comment is about How? (blog)

Original item by Manish

History is surely a list of such horrendous aggressions - before
the searchlight of 24/7 global media - that saw widespread
suffering that never became more than a "local" occurrence,
suitably explained away within its convenient limits. I wonder,
for example about the depredations of Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun, and the multitudes that must have perished at their
hands in far off hidden bloodletting during rampages seeking
riches, power and land. Bringing us horrendously up to date,
consider a certain Pol Pot and his murderous policies. There.s
little that's new in human savagery and its effect on less
fortunate beings Stalin was a supreme exponent of this
type of behaviour while Hitler himself was around.

Comment is about The Armenian Genocide 1915 - 1923 (blog)

Original item by John E Marks

I recall a "High and Mighty" shop in nearby Edgware Road, W2.
It interested me in passing (which I usually did) because it catered
for the taller man (in my case 6'4") but I was happy to discover
I could just squeeze (no pun intended) into the extreme size
offered by certain other outlets more widely known. I give H&M
its due for its courage in overtly catering for the larger sizes in men's wear with no shrinking from derogatory comments from
the herd instinct. Remember the hit parade song "Big Man"?
I wonder if wrestler Giant Haystacks got his stuff there? 😏

Comment is about HIGH AND MIGHTY (blog)

Original item by John Coopey

I can't make up my mind whether this poem is brilliant or just a load of jumbled thoughts. I've given it the benefit of doubt and a like.

Comment is about beyond the pale (artefacts repurposed) (blog)

Original item by Landi Cruz

I am waiting for your comments, dear friends. LoL

Comment is about His Majesty Accidental Meeting (blog)

Original item by Larisa Rzhepishevska

Thanks for the like Holden, and to Bethany for the disappearing comment.

There appears to be some ghosts in the machine at the moment, adding and deleting at will.

David

Comment is about New Prora (blog)

Original item by David RL Moore

Blinkin eck Bethany I have an all int I? I press delete, a receive a string of gobbeldy-gook code, nothing is deleted, I forget about it and carry on. There's more if the buggers. Could be a metaphor for something or other? I dunno. John

Comment is about FORGET-ME-NOT (blog)

Original item by John E Marks