Ah! One of them is my nom de guerre and the other is mine for legal purposes. That, or I got confused when I initially set up this account, some years ago now - I seem to recall it asking if I wanted a username and the resultant confusion arose somewhere along the way. Not that this clears up the fundamental riddle, of course: why 'Richie Muster'? That, of course, is a different question.

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are you Martin Peacock?
or Richie Muster?
what is the story here?

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I'm not sure I'm with the "right wing" or "left wing" view of poetry but I certainly suspect that the absence of rhymed poems indicates a worrying absence of the commitment to the discipline and command of the language that this type of writing requires to be done well. "Free" verse certainly has its appeal IF done well but it can often be a framework for sloppy, inaccurate and and unattractive use of the language.
As for competitions these days: like tends to follow like - and, as in other areas of creative endeavour, those who may lack the qualities I have described are very likely to go for the sort of stuff they themselves write. I remember the late famous script-writer Barry Took roundly criticising the BBC for its tendency to settle for the lowest common denominator (as he saw it) in such matters...noting again "like follows like". Quality is hard to define but we all know it when we see it, even if some prefer to ignore it for unscrupulous (professional/competitive?) reasons!
But - in time - the wheel turns.

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Hello RM,
Glad you liked my latest contribution to the cultural and literary encyclopaedia of sheds entitled, "Your First Hut is the Cheapest".

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LOL - everything you've said would be supported by very many people on WOL. You should check out the discussion thread on 'sentimentality', which wandered down that very same route.

There are the right wing extremists who believe that free verse isn't poetry, there are the left wing extremists who believe that ancient rules strangle the essence of poetry and there are the liberals, who believe that knowledge of rules is preferable, even if they aren't adhered to...

Those classifications are just me poking fun of course. There are probably plenty more you could think up. I've written a few poems in strictly metred format. I enjoyed them as an exercise but like to try my hand at free verse now. It's incredibly hard for me to do free verse though. My musical ear want it to flow - and it's a lot harder to write flowing poetry without rhyme - which leads me to abandoning lots of poems.

Rhyming poetry doesn't seem to win many poetry comps though, if you take a look around at what is flavour of the day... Not that that bothers me cos I don't enter them - it's just an indication of where contemporary poetry is going.

Best get off before I end up writing an essay :)

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Thanks Martin..I have made those little adjustments and now I think I am happy with it..

Moi melancholy? gerroff! Just a misery guts at times!

:)

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Bout a car innit?..For the Comp.. Inanimate Object lol..think if I had added furry dice in there it would have been easier to understand?..Pleased you enjoyed nevertheless :) x

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overandever I like that!.. :)

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thank you for the post Richie you have lit a fuse of a dozen interesting subjects- and as for radio- I have put mine in the cupboard (I usually listen to BBC radio 3-4-4x-5-6-and 7)and both radios usually on all day/night one up stairs one in kitchen- the house is now like a morgue and TV is only on for a spankingly good film.

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Hello MP
Glad you liked Out of Wine - a biographical pastiche of the impenetrable Mrs C.

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Morning chuck

Cheers for your note on Purple. Tbh, I slapped it out on the page and didn't spend anywhere near the amount of time on it as I would a more seriuz pome, hence the sloppy rhyming. I wrote it really cos I just wanted to perform it sometime, and intend on doing the first two lines in the second verse in a Cooper Clarke drawl :D

Haha - yep, nice bit of brown in the afternoon following by a nod int rocking chair eh? Sounds fab :D

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Treasonous? Hardly. A perfect world? Nope!
The Police Service is drawn from the people and there are numerous less public examples why this country is lucky in both - and occasionally some when that is abundantly clear. Utopia means "ideally perfect but impracticable". It cannot apply to every officer anymore than it can to humanity in the wider context, political or otherwise. There are those who condemn with fierce outrage less perfect souls who have obtained authority when they behave less than perfectly. Checks and balances exist to counteract that culpability. But did you know that the EU desire a police service IMMUNE from complaint for anything done in the course of its duty - or that this was voted against by the UK police service?
Milk the bile if you like but poetry isn't the best conduit for rational or fully informed thinking.

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'Ey up, old fruity.
Glad you liked In The Grotto. I believe it was one of Elvis's favourites too!

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Hi Martin- I do use bastardizations of Hunteresque quotes-or is that a tautology? yes I think it is- I have read much of his work and found his style infectious. Funny, I watched several of his interviews (with Australian media)the night before last!
ps Hunter quote sorted

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Howdy chuck

Ta very much for your note on The Process...I'm glad it's struck such a chord with everyone :)

Yeh, interesting thing that Artists Reward. Sometimes I find the only way I can put a 'remove' between reading the fucking thing 70 times and still being fresh enough to make important editing decisions is to leave it several days in between each edit. And of course a little wine and smoke helps with that too ;D

Ooo yeh, when it comes together - there's no buzz like it is there?! :D

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Thanks for your comment on The Three Hulats, Martin. A hulat, rather disappointingly, is a young owl.

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Thanks for you comment on 'Nuclear Cradle Song' There is an audio link at the top of it ( I hope) XX

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Brilliant! You got it! Prism in Shade works brilliantly as a title!! Thank you :D and yes, that's what I meant. Without the light, all the beauty is lost - it's potentially there, but you need the light to see it :)

Ta cocker!

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ello and sorry to have been so long in replying..my head is full of half lines that just won't join together lol...and yes I doodle of sorts..I work with wax and also do floristry..(I am a very, very mature student struggling with a diploma a present lol) I am sure the words will arrive eventually..

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Thanks for the lovely comment on The Newberry-Dye-bypass.
A wonderful bird is the pelican
His beak can hold more than his belly can.
He can hold in that beak
Enough food for a week,
but I do not know how the Hell'e can. XX

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Hiya RM..Thanks for the comments on my last two...and to be honest I am struggling like mad to write any decent stuff at all...It is like the want is there but the words fail me and it is a horrible feeling...sighs big time..

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Ta for y'note on Writing in Fire chuck, glad you enjoyed it. Will be working on performing it soon I hope but it needs a LOT of breath!

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Your little paper boat has just docked.
Expect its return a.s.a.p...

merci d'etre mon ami.xx

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Awww RM....I feel as if commenting in the way I did I have perhaps spoiled some of your time..Who am I to know anything much..but when I read that the said bloke had argued to push his point home (pardon the pun)..now that made my blood boil for yer see I believe many are greatly influenced by what others say as it takes a very strong character indeedy to ignore advice/crit if you respect the person it is coming from..me??..I have changed a write because of crit from others who I respect (meaning I respect their writing) and found that it changes out of all recognition as one of 'mine.?' Dya know what I mean here?..

Now to writing groups..I think you have hit the said nail on the head with a big hammer when you mention the peeps there should be properly interested in all forms of writing, that type of interest is genuine and I would think a lot of good could come out of a session like that...but to put doubts in anothers mind...to slash their work oh dear me..I have wondered that if something happened to me like that would I have the guts to get up and say 'sod you' and carry on as if nothing had been said. Of course there is constructive crit, but still it has to come from someone that you respect as a writer..well I think so.

I was surprised by your asking for comments on your write RM because, well because I just didn't 'see' you in my minds eys loosing any sleep over what that bloke said..and that is probably why the said multiple iiii's happened for if you enjoyed writing the piece, if you thought that it said something..then who the heck am I or anyone else to dis it?..He argued..he did not say or give any good advice..that, I am sure is not what a writers group is for..well I bloody hope not..

It is such a shame that you live too far away to enjoy an open mike night..I expect when you run them yourself they were wonderful evenings..and I guess that after a time they lost their appeal too..soooo where do we go eh?..when we are at the stage you speak of?..Many times I have wished to be in my first year of writing (been writing for about twelve years now) Even if most of it was trite trash..at least it was fresh and new to me and I was full of words and ideas..annnnd I didn't bash myself up if I couldn't get it 'just so.' Have I made any sense at all?..probably not..I do hope you shake that group up out of its rut and that it goes on a strength..good luck :)) x

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Now then, MP.
I hope life's picked up a bit for you.
Glad you liked "Dear Marge".

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Thanks for yer thoughts on "Talkin' Brown Ale Blues". I thought it was too acidic for me then (40 years ago); these days it would go through me like that Alien.

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Hello again - good advice whould always be
properly considered and I have given my poem
"TERRORIST" a new name: "THE DEVIL'S DISCIPLE",
which I think suits the theme without involving
"religion" as such.
Thanks.

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Good point about the title "TERRORIST". I also
understand the "freedom fighter" pitch but I
believe that can only gain any justification in
places where the democratic election process does not exist and tyranny rules...and then we
know the fanaticism that permeates the mindset
of those who believe they are justified
committing slaughter in the context of THEIR aims. Sadly, every great cause attracts
that sort - as we have seen across the Irish Sea, for example.

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Thanks Martin
re the naivety thingy
keep ones eye on your inbox!.
But above all-keep ROCKING!xx

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Much appreciate comments on Life In Couplets, duly noted and addressed. I don't recommend putting stuff up in the early hours of the morning if they have not been checked out during daylight, living, hours. Ta muchly, Nick.

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Muster! What ho!
I got the boys (JP and RP) round to do a retake of their original but they spent so long going to the toilet that I had to do the bloody thing myself.

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You know summat?...sometimes over-editing ruins the feel of the piece..and I think that is what I have done..so shoved it back to what it was with just a couple of tweaks and I am going to perfrom this tonight so keep yer fingers crossed lol..Ta for the wise words because I didnt want it to be two poems. :))

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Hi Richie, thanks for your kind comments on 'Excess Memories'.

While I did actually revisit this piece to 'tweak' it a couple of times since that original version was posted, it has remained untouched here, at least in part because I hadn't got around to re-recording the audio and Winston had been kind enough to select it as poem of the month a couple of years back.

I'm sure the metre is still not 100% - some would say I tend to be lazy on that front - unless I'm penning a sonnet perhaps. :) Best wishes, Dave

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Well RM thanks for that reply and lovely comment muchly appreciated..now a fession...made up yer see so all facts will be totally wrong tis bunkum..but drawn from a feeling of being out there..I was just tweaking it as you commented..Ray always has decent crit and he thought the language was slack and lost momentum so tried to tighten it up a bit..still I might finish after and grandmother will clean leaves..oh hell another decision I am not able to make lol...Hows you?.. :)

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..and a man can never have too many semi-colons.

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What ho, RM. "Lust for Life" is it? I'll tell the judge that.

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Thanks for your comments on Over by Christmas, much appreciated.

Cheers

Mike

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By the way, in the foto are you meditating or on the toilet (or, indeed, multi-tasking the two)?

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'Ey up, youth. Glad you liked "The Charge of the Light Brigade". You should look up Tennyson's original, although he suffers by comparison with me because it was all gas lamps in his day.

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Hi!

I have a changed me poem..and yup does read better and also had to change the below line coz that had cross in it too..so changed it to know and the message works better too!!...sooo big thanks for showing interest and being bovered to add suggestions..much obliged :)))

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Eh up chuck! Ta for y'note on me Walk to the Shops :) Thatto Heath is of course where I live - a strange name for a strange place, filled with even stranger people. I reckon we have the biggest percentage of in-bred physical deformities in the whole of the North West hehe. I'm not FROM there though, but I live there because, well, SOMEONE of quality has to ;D I do get drive-by-shouted at quite a lot though. The best was when I was wearing my rather lovely grey cord peaked cap...a car-load of lads drove past and shouted 'nice hat, dickhead', to which I replied 'yes, yes it is, thank you, I agree' - they can't even insult people well round our way.

For the record, I bloody hate Sylvia Plath, me - whining cow.

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Hi Martin.
This piece came from listening to female colleagues chin wagging about how confused things can get in relationships / dating etc. They all said that sometimes they don't know excactly what they want. So they just end up taking it for what it is. Then someone said OH JUST DO IT! and stop talking about it.

Cheers thanks for comments

Mike

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re slyvia plath. err i would never suggest one does NOT read something,but it gave me a headache ;)

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Hiya RM my p'nctuation' is rubbish I know..tighten it up?..sighs..

Did you join in facebook for grown ups?..linked in?..I am on it but dont go there very often..facefuck is best for me ha..that does not look right! snigger..

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Incidentally I don't think Nature is quite so gratuitous as to give humans (women) something which is designed purely for pleasure. I think the contractions a wellworked clematis produces are designed to give the taddies a bit of a chuck on in their journey.
(How revisionist is that? The purpose of the clitoris is to assist the sperm!)

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Glad you like my Clitoris, MC. My own fetish is doing it with the light on.

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Areet brutha!

Heh - you know, I only really like a couple of JCC's output. It did perform well though, Cause and Effect, done it twice now (most recently at me guest spot in Hoylake on Tuesday) mostly cos I still get so riled about its content!

Oh and yes, bang on with what was left out of the bible! Still and all, I think some of the prophets stuff and the gospel of Matthew are just incredible bits of writing. I found it really inspirational - had a bit of a run with religious-flavoured poems for a while there.

Ha - 'you're simply excusing your own continuing bad behaviour' - ain't THAT the truth. That comes out of the same bag as 'it's ALWAYS been like this/that' as a way of justifying extreme imbalances of all kinds of things. Society, in its total refusal to engage with me, taught me how to confront every single last fucking thing it throws at me.

You a William Blake fan at all? Now that guy was a star - absolute belief in his own opinions etc. Because he'd THOUGHT about it all and questioned it all.

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Haha - the former, sir ;) You'd have liked the tshirt I customised for my last performance, as it goes. You ever read my Cause and Effect poem?

You on Facefuck?

Actually, re the religion thang, I was brought up an atheist, no baptism etc, believed that firmly for years. Now, however, I have actually read the whole fucking bible believe it or not and hold a different view. What's in there is nowhere NEAR what the so-called 'Christians' would have you believe!! I changed my mind a lot but not enough room to do it justice here really - demands a proper debate. It's a comment, admittedly caustic, on all those eejits who take Revelations as a seriuz part of the bible. The bible is an astounding collection of writings and I think everyone should have a read, so you're not getting regurgitated shite for info.

Anyhoooo - no, I haven't performed it because a) so very few people would actually get it, and b) those who did would be divided equally between a lynch mob and buying me drinks ;)

Maybe I should perform it sometime...see what happens :)

Thanks chuck :)

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I appreciate the empathy expressed in your comment on my recent blog. Thank you. As for your own poem, I was "captured" from the first line - a sign of better things to come, usually, - and I wasn't disappointed.I thought the lines -
"In the last fitful fluttering of her fingers
And the resignation of her senses to eternity..." particularly impressive - as was the whole poem. I'm almost tempted to say "they don't write 'em like that any more".(Tiny caveat: couldn't "my own" <death> replace "mine" in the closing lines?) I took up my pen and copied it - and I can't say fairer than that to a fellow scribbler. It is clear your poem was written with the closest attention and care...a fitting tribute to your departed loved one...and one worthy of a place in any anthology.
MC

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Hello chuck - just read your updated grumpy-arsed profile :D

What does tend to happen on WOL - to EVERYONE on here - is that you get most of your comments in the first 48 hours of putting it up. I think this is because there are a certain amount of regular readers/posters/contributors, and they will be the people who see it and comment. You may get the odd delayed comment, but it happens to everyone.

Here's a big tip though - because your monthly entries 'stack up' in weblinks at the bottom of your most recent blog, I find it much better to just put one up at a time, and then leave it a week before putting another up. I've not read them yet, but I see already that you put up five yesterday. People will only see the last one you put up, and not everyone will be arsed enough to backtrack to the previous ones.

There y'are, don't say I never do owt for ya! ;p

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