M.C with so many news reports you don't know which one to believe!
Comment is about Sizzling to Blistering (blog)
Original item by Nigel Astell
Newsflash coming in Ruth half price tickets to Rhodes
burn baby burn❤
Comment is about Sizzling to Blistering (blog)
Original item by Nigel Astell
Kevin one pilot refused to fly
passengers stayed on board the plane
all ready to spend time
on this island of fire.
Comment is about Sizzling to Blistering (blog)
Original item by Nigel Astell
Powerful and intriguing. I love the open ended style of your writing, Clare. It leaves gaps for the reader to explore.
Comment is about Did You See Her? (blog)
Original item by Clare
It's like a lover one keeps going back to, in spite of the pain you know she's going to cause.
Love this one Tom.
Comment is about I Tried To Give You Up (blog)
Original item by Tom
Wow! A very sound judgement, well worth taking on board. Thank you
Comment is about Black Shades of Melancholy (blog)
Original item by Rick Varden
You will note that my polite comments addressed to two
contributors including yourself have been cancelled on "Unhappy
Landings". Sorry about that.
Comment is about Telboy (poet profile)
Original item by Telboy
There are also reports that some were started by human hand.
That way lies madness!!
Comment is about Sizzling to Blistering (blog)
Original item by Nigel Astell
It is said, with justification, that happiness (contentment) comes
from within. The dark side is the melancholy that can exist with
it. But life, like nature, has its sun and rain and the secret is
to be able to accept both for what they are worth and not let
either dominate existence.
Comment is about Black Shades of Melancholy (blog)
Original item by Rick Varden
This is an unusual one, Ray. I’ve read it several times. It brought to mind Song of the Battery Hen by Edwin Brock if I remember correctly. I especially like the last two lines of the first stanza. Tony
Comment is about BIG BAD FOX (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Thanks everyone. How lovely to see some familiar faces on here.
Comment is about Her Habitat (2011) (blog)
Original item by Charlie Sparkinson
You should do an alternative news show Nigel where you report all the latest stories in your unique poetic style!
Comment is about Sizzling to Blistering (blog)
Original item by Nigel Astell
It was a lover and his lass,
did make the bed springs creak so;
of uisge baugh let’s raise a glass,
to Jimmy and that girl called Flo,
who furiously their mattress trashed,
that spring time, ho ho ho ho.
they went so fast they now have passed.
those lovers busted all the springs so,
hey ding a ding, ding, hey ding a ding, ding!
Apologies Ruth, possibly something to do with what I drank last night!
😊
Comment is about Raising Spirits (blog)
Original item by Ruth O'Reilly
Creaking bed
Trampoline springs
Dream lover
Ghost calling
Who cares!❤
Comment is about Raising Spirits (blog)
Original item by Ruth O'Reilly
You were quick off the mark, Greg! Just heard on telly that it was the Beano's 85th so I posted the poem. It was originally in 'Work Horses' so is well over 10 years old. I'm like Led Zep I don't do 'new' any more just keep repackaging the classics!
Comment is about Greg Freeman (poet profile)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Pure poetry; a cataclysm described in two words.
Fruitcake mistake.
Comment is about Unhappy landings (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Any poem that mentions the Beano and Dandy, let alone the Bash Street Kids, is all right in my book!
Comment is about A Wet Break (blog)
Original item by David Cooke
Always happy to widen your poetry education, Telboy.
Comment is about Unhappy landings (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
I didn't know that The Morning Star was in the habit of publishing poetry, though as a Communist mouthpiece I suspect it was the content that attracted them rather than the poetic structure, skillful as it is.
Anyway, I'm more Morningstar than Morning Star.
Comment is about Unhappy landings (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
M.C. and Ray, thank you both for your very kind words. Unusually for me, the poem was written quickly, two short sittings if I remember correctly. What is and what might have been can sometimes hinge on very arbitrary decisions, decisions that may have lifelong ramifications. Another thought: the lives we might have led are as irretrievable as the lives we do lead, which become the past on the instant. I can’t be the person I was last week or even a minute ago because that person is gone for ever, lost in time. If that makes sense! Tony
Comment is about OUR OTHER LIVES (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
This comment has been removed by a moderator.
Comment is about Unhappy landings (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
A mystical concept with a melancholy that resonates with our
thoughts and regrets about what is and what might have been.
A lot of care has gone into this construction and it shows. Well
done, that man!
Comment is about OUR OTHER LIVES (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
I agree with all the above Tony, could not find one weak point as it consumed me with its power to persuade. Such a skill is hard to find in my opinion and the variety you employ says so much about the scope of thinking.
Ray
Comment is about OUR OTHER LIVES (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
I noticed that the BBC Homepage had nothing about Ukraine on it today! It is becoming death by a thousand cuts! He must be stopped sooner than later.
Comment is about Minefield (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Thank you for your very kind comments, Greg. I wanted the poem to be very autumnal and slightly late 19th century, with a bit of Edwardian thrown in for good measure. Tony
Comment is about OUR OTHER LIVES (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
Hi Stephen, so pleased you like the poem. I have always been fascinated by the idea of the lives we might have led had we turned left instead of right. A very personal poem. Tony
Comment is about OUR OTHER LIVES (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
Another wonderful poem, Tony. Every line crafted with such care. What might have been, but for whom? Them or us?
Comment is about OUR OTHER LIVES (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
A quiet opening that lures you further in to a poem of utter desolation, all the more effective for being understated. Keeping our attention on the issue that really matters, while some of us still bicker over Brexit. Thank you, Steve.
Comment is about Minefield (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Deeply profound poem, Tony, with such a mournful, melancholy air. A tour de force. I've just looked up Frost's 'The Road Not Taken', and realised how different your development of his theme is. Bravo.
Comment is about OUR OTHER LIVES (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
I agree with Clare, Chris. This brings us face to face with the depths of love and our soul.
Comment is about Twixt Pen and Eye (blog)
Original item by Chris Armstrong
I think this poem still stands up well, Greg. I had more or less forgotten about Farage until this bank account business came up. For me, he taps the worst instincts in people and offers absolutely nothing.
Comment is about Unhappy landings (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Telboy, it's hard to bang your own drum, and I would find it difficult to take you by the hand and lead you through the poem, to persuade you there is some craft there. Maybe try reading it aloud, if you can bear to?! Not all poetry has to rhyme, although I think you already know that. There can be a rhythm and 'music' to a poem, words that sound similar, and I would argue for that in this case. I agree with you that Farage had a huge influence on us leaving the EU, and this is a 'what if?' kind of poem, ie what if he had not survived his light aircraft crash on election day in 2010? Would we still be in the EU now after all? I should also say that this poem was previously published in The Morning Star, although I would not submit to them now, owing to their stance on Ukraine. PS by coincidence, today I am wearing my RNLI socks.
Comment is about Unhappy landings (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Thanks, MC. I used the word Moorside purely because it had the right accentual stress. Although there is a notorious Moorside in Dewsbury. And thanks for the Like, Kishore.
Comment is about DON'T TWITCH ASIDE THE CURTAIN (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Certainly, there's a reminder here of the gist of Kipling's
poem about the smugglers and its advice to the young girl about not watching "the gentlemen" go by. The activities described
here are hardly new and I can cite the Broadwater Farm estate
and the murder of PC Keith Blakelock as one lamentable
example. And how long ago was that - when the local black
MP boasted how the police had been given a good hiding?
Comment is about DON'T TWITCH ASIDE THE CURTAIN (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Thanks for the likes. My long life has seen a list of household names reading the news on BBC TV - Robet Dougall, Richard
Baker, Moira Anderson, not forgetting that graceful lady who
delighted us with her dancing on a Morecambe & Wise Christmas
Show and who is still to be found employing her talents on our screens today. Mr Alagiah was a worthy addition to their ranks!
Comment is about GOODBYE GEORGE ALAGIAH (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Whatever we may think of Nigel Farage we must surely recognise the huge influence he had on the Brexit vote, again not to everybody's liking. Without his contribution we would still be in the EU.
As to this poem, a while ago I was 'accused' by the author of submitting a piece of prose broken up into lines with a bit of political snobbery thrown in for good measure and told it was not a poem. How is this any different?
Comment is about Unhappy landings (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
I would respect giving credit where it's due. Farage performed
a signal duty by bringing to attention the socio-economic
posturings of the big banks, something I imagine hasn't been
considered before by many of us. Or would you prefer your
own attitudes be grounds for cancelling any bank account held
by you and others of differing opinions? As for the question of
immigration, his views about its effect - both immediate and likely - are a matter of public record. Considering the
government's inability to house and care for its own people,
let alone the uncontrolled numbers and their "baggage"
across the spectrum of the human condition, those views
are entirely relevant to life in the UK today. Closing down
opinions is not unrelated to closing down bank accounts.
We must all be on our guard for the risk that poses to
freedom of speech and the vital wider control of our lives.
Comment is about Unhappy landings (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
I really enjoyed this one Charlie. Great writing.
Comment is about Her Habitat (2011) (blog)
Original item by Charlie Sparkinson
Whatever is it in one's childhood that makes one an admirer of Enoch Powell, who makies racist comments with references to Hitler?
Comment is about Unhappy landings (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Since Farage is in the news again, here's my poem about him from my 'Marples Must Go!' collection (2021)
Comment is about Unhappy landings (blog)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Really like this poem, Charlie, not least because it displays a pleasure in the sound of words. Full of wonderful imagery. I also like the flexibility of your rhyme scheme. Great read. Tony
Comment is about Her Habitat (2011) (blog)
Original item by Charlie Sparkinson
They’re a set of bastards, Uilleam.
Until you need them.
Thankyou, Stephen. You will have recognized the shoulders of Kipling I stood on to write this update.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pELNBp6DBh8
Comment is about DON'T TWITCH ASIDE THE CURTAIN (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Long time no see Charlie!
Comment is about Her Habitat (2011) (blog)
Original item by Charlie Sparkinson
...he has performed an important service...
indeed he has MC....a timely warning of the dangers of demagoguery in action.
Comment is about Rent-a-Gob (blog)
A very well-crafted poem, Charlie.
Comment is about Her Habitat (2011) (blog)
Original item by Charlie Sparkinson
Thanks Charlie.
I have serious concerns about the vast amount of money we spend on poisonous chemicals used around our home in the name of "cleanliness", and about its effects on the environment.
Comment is about Her Habitat (2011) (blog)
Original item by Charlie Sparkinson
Too close to the truth John.
The keepers of "His Majesty's Peace" are no longer servants of an increasingly vulnerable public, but of the ideologues and oligarchs who can shout loudest.
Should a cocky teen lad whistle at a pretty girl in the street, he will be eagerly pounced upon by a squad of half a dozen patrolling plastic plods for the crime of "wolf whistling", or whatever it's called these days...(yes they've been filmed admitting that).
Yet should my home be ransacked by burglars, not a cat in hell's chance that I will recieve anything approaching "justice".
Comment is about DON'T TWITCH ASIDE THE CURTAIN (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
You have a point, Keith. There's a lot of fact-free and airhead reporting around. That's why proper journalism, by informed people doing real research, needs to be supported (and paid for).
Comment is about The Media (blog)
Original item by keith jeffries
Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh
Thu 27th Jul 2023 07:35
Thank you John.
What a voice, and spirit.
"...never exclusive, never
The small-minded De Valera nationalism."
Something which we all might do well to admire.
After all's said and done, are we not each and everyone of us, something "-ish", rather than that precisely described on some pigeon-holeing label?
Comment is about Sinéad O'Connor (blog)
Original item by John E Marks