As poignant as this poem is it has nothing to do with Uxbridge or the Tories (or even Brexit as I suspect that will be the next parallel to be drawn.)
Most people in the UK are principled when it suits them and not when it doesn't.
Stephen you write some great stuff including this piece, but please leave the Tory bashing to the usual suspects.
Comment is about Uxbridge (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
That's certainly what the Tories are banking on, Steve. Why they are becoming distinctly un-green. It's what their focus groups tell them ...
Comment is about Uxbridge (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Great song!!
Comment is about Just another tom petty reference (blog)
Original item by Jordyn Elizabeth
Tremendous, Tom. We are all so glad you didn't!
Comment is about I Tried To Give You Up (blog)
Original item by Tom
I used to work in Uxbridge but it never seemed that 'nice' to me. What you have written is pretty accurate for a lot of different places in the UK Stephen and the 'me first' attitude transcends political stripe in my experience.
These three recent by-elections show us one thing. When it's safe to do so, we tend to say 'ya boo sucks' to one party or another and then think a bit harder when the real decisions get made.
That young lad Keir someone or other who won up north is great publicity for Sir Starmer though, fair play. Son of Keir headlines coming up no doubt!!
Comment is about Uxbridge (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Thank you for all your lovely comments here! Cheers
Comment is about What’s in a name? (blog)
Original item by Rick Varden
Thank you for all your lovely comments here! Cheers
Comment is about What’s in a name? (blog)
Original item by Rick Varden
Very nice mashed up on toast Hugh.
And thank goodness for the titanic success which is Brexit- just imagine having to eat straight bananas!😊
Comment is about The power of the banana (blog)
Original item by hugh
A couple of bananas devoured at breakfast.😛
Comment is about The power of the banana (blog)
Original item by hugh
A wonderful read. Thank you, Rick.
Comment is about What’s in a name? (blog)
Original item by Rick Varden
Nice one, John. The last verse reminded me of John Major (at least in Steve Bell cartoons). Oh yes, Oh yes!
Comment is about The Unmentionables (In Rubaiyat Format!) (blog)
Original item by John Gilbert Ellis
Thanks to Hugh, Clare and Tom. Short names for large talents.
“Tell all the truth but tell it slant.”
Emily Dickenson
Comment is about Sketches in a minor key (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Glad you like the poem, Ray. I wanted to create a sense of menace. It was the ‘blind pig’ comment by Hopper’s wife that gave me the idea for the poem. A sense of loneliness verging on desperation often pervades Hopper’s paintings. Tony
Comment is about A BLIND PIG* (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
A remarkable eckphrastic poem Tony. It lies so well on the page and tells a story of motive, time suspended (almost a Ray Bradbury feel), and keeps us wondering. The blind pig aspect reminds me of when the government used nondescript buildings as fronts for security purposes some of which can still be revisited. An ace piece of intrigue.
Ray
Comment is about A BLIND PIG* (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
Thanks for the likes
And Russel, thanks for the comment, glad you like the poem.
There maybe a next part in the future, let's see 😃
Comment is about Two souls (blog)
Original item by Voice of the Soul
Clever words Robert! Just love Nation of Crustaceans!
Well done. G. 👍
Comment is about Shellfish Culture (blog)
Original item by Robert C Gaulke
What's in a name?
I'm very much not into celebrity, having my youth with the Beatles, teenage rock and Punk I know what I like and that's enough, some artists make great recordings and then real stinkers, as I don't follow artists just the tunes I fast forward the stinkers.
A good read thank you
Comment is about What’s in a name? (blog)
Original item by Rick Varden
Love this, I desire to know what happens next but I'm happy not to know. great reading
Comment is about Two souls (blog)
Original item by Voice of the Soul
It really is a pile of shite, MC. I’ve tried to match the quality of the programme with the quality of my poem.
Comment is about NAKED ATTRACTION Part 2 (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
I'm uncertain whether ongoing emphasis on differences of race
and claims of "inequality" serve to promote progress in ease of integration in society. How long should this be expected to
exist if unity and acceptance are the desired aims? Or will this
still be around in the lives of our children and their children's
children? Talented poets and "careers"? With rare exceptions,
these are arguably incompatible in today's world, with its
emphasis on the "fad and fashion" in creative endeavours.
Fine poets of the past - household names - self-published
or even refused a publisher's royalties (A.E. Houseman was among the latter). Find your audience as best you can and
let your creative ability find its level in its realisation and
the personal satisfaction it provides. Look at the work seen
on WOL to find talent across the spectrum of poetical
creativity that contributes without high-flying expectations
or hope of financial reward, let alone a "career" in poetry.
Comment is about Overcoming racial inequity - 'incubating' poets of colour (article)
Thanks Reggie's Ghost - nice to know I can surprise with my efforts!
Appreciation is due to the contributors of the "likes". JGE/Helene/
RG and SA.
Comment is about SCOLD (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Typical JC - topical and fun. I was surprised to read the admission by Giles Brandreth that he watched the programme.
But it has a certain "fascination", not least in the readiness
of its participants to reveal all for the edification/education
of the nation. Is it a bare-faced attempt to gain that legendary
fifteen minutes of fame, I ask? I admit to being somewhat
selective in my TV channel hopping and unless those involved
are especially physically appealing, I don't stop there. By and
large the human body has a limited shelf-life of attraction and
that can restrict the interest! Call me sexist or whatever, but
there it is.
Comment is about NAKED ATTRACTION Part 2 (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
An entertaining musical "hop" that brings some memories. I
can see the early Tiny Tim, slightly pot bellied, smooth of face
and clutching a ukelele! I was never into Heavy Metal or the
Punk era (ugh...that spitting!), but take my consolation from
being around as a teenager when Rockn'Roll was at its peak
and each week the Hit Parade seemed endlessly full of good songs across musical genres, whether it be from groups like The Coasters or solo singers like Brenda Lee, Little Richard or Jerry Lee Lewis belting out their hits. Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On indeed!!😎
Comment is about What’s in a name? (blog)
Original item by Rick Varden
Lucky he didn’t try posting it on WOL; he’d have soon been cancelled by the moderators.
Comment is about Definitely not Auden! Archives reveal why some leading names were ruled out for poet laureate (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Brilliant format, very well written and so entertaining. Kecks or manly knickers is my preference😁
Comment is about The Unmentionables (In Rubaiyat Format!) (blog)
Original item by John Gilbert Ellis
Holden. You have always been a great supporter of my poetry but just recently you stopped liking them and I wad worried I had strayed from the kind of writing you liked, it is good to see you back, I hope you have been well
Comment is about Take hold of life (blog)
Original item by JD Russell
Y fronts? Well Y not!
Comment is about The Unmentionables (In Rubaiyat Format!) (blog)
Original item by John Gilbert Ellis
Thank you, Graham. That's most kind of you. Thinking about it, I do prefer to write when it is light or I am in the open air. Perhaps the imagination flies a little further.
Yes, from my limited experience, situations like this are all too real. It is the powerlessness and vulnerability of the refugees (and many other marginalised people) which always strikes me.
And thanks to Tom, Kevin, Hugh, Manish and K Lynn.
Comment is about Trouble (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Thank you Keith. "The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Comment is about Heart-worn highways (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Thanks Tom. As you know, your opinion means so much to me. "I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people: that each should stand guard over the solitude of the other."
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
Comment is about Sketches in a minor key (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Fantastic John, I love this one. This part in particular was so pleasing:
"hidden in the wood-smoke
burning our throats on a lost
once-upon-a-time damp autumn eve"
Comment is about Sketches in a minor key (blog)
Original item by John E Marks
Thanks Keith and Stephen, I'm so pleased it connected with you. I was worried it was a bit full on or on the nose, having compressed a whole mess of emotions into the story but glad you took the hope from it.
Thanks also to Tom, Stephen and Holden for the likes and for reading. I've now added audio.
Comment is about Snow Day (blog)
Original item by Tom
I like it! Dark & intriguing...a bit like me... Actually, nothing like me, but I like it! 🌈
Comment is about The Monster They Made (blog)
Original item by Taylor Roberts-Dasilva
Very good MC. For me one of your better pieces.
Comment is about SCOLD (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Helene and Stephen G. - thanks for the positive comments.
And for the "likes", appreciation is due to Helene, Stephen A.,
Stephen G., Tom D., and John C.
Comment is about FANCY FREE (blog)
Original item by M.C. Newberry
Stimulating stuff that sets the imagination racing. How much
are we influenced, not always for the best, by others including
family as we navigate our way through this life? How easy it
might be to become something alien to the "good intent" of
those others. This poem raises a number of points about our existence and how we manage and cope with it.
Comment is about The Monster They Made (blog)
Original item by Taylor Roberts-Dasilva
A pal of yesteryear had me chuckling when he referred to these
items as "Gripper Knickers".
Comment is about The Unmentionables (In Rubaiyat Format!) (blog)
Original item by John Gilbert Ellis
Had a go: https://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=130637
Comment is about Naughty Nonet (blog)
Original item by JD Russell
Hi Ray, I remember an old B movie called The Incredible Shrinking Man. He got smaller and smaller, fighting a spider at one point. It ended quite philosophically with him becoming a mere speck in the cosmos. It always fascinated me. Tony
Comment is about A DOLL'S HOUSE (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
Disturbingly dark Stephen. I always think our imaginations are far murkier than how things usually turn out but probably not in this case. I can never write happily in the darkness. I think it's a primeval awareness.
Well done as always, I love the way your writing is maturing month by month. Lucky man!
G
Comment is about Trouble (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Thanks, Stephen. I appreciate your comment very much.
Thanks for the likes. 😁
Comment is about I Loved. (blog)
Original item by Clare
Just seen this Tony. A very curiously constructed almost puzzle like offering I feel, and one that leaves a feeling of involvement yet isolation too. Reaching in one can examine the core of the message . There is a sort of contained yearning about it and a very clever arrangement to the lines. Strangely, I was penning a poem the other day and used the endless mirror aspect myself, as in the West End side of an Edwardian shop front I photographed myself in an endless selfie! I'll watch out for more examples of your art.
Regards Ray
Comment is about A DOLL'S HOUSE (blog)
Original item by Tony Hill
A poem of hope and redemption, Tom. I really enjoyed it.
Comment is about Snow Day (blog)
Original item by Tom
Thank you, Greg. Yes, such events are all around us and don't get much coverage.
And thanks to Nigel, Stephen, Hélène and Holden for the likes.
Comment is about Trouble (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Thank you, John. Keep flickering😆
And thank you for the likes Tom, Stephen, Helene, Manish & Sailendra! 🌈🌷
Comment is about The Flickering Of A Candle (blog)
Original item by Stephen W Atkinson
Tom,
a remarkable poem which embodies anguish, despair and a resurrection through creativity. Your honesty comes through loud and clear. I think many readers will be able to relate to this in part or whole. Thank you for a well scripted and meaningful poem.
Keith
Comment is about Snow Day (blog)
Original item by Tom
Thankful for your Like, Stephen.
Comment is about DOUBLY THANKFUL (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
I really enjoy the sketches as well as the poetry, Tom. I am trying to learn to draw and your sketches give me ideas on how to do this.
Comment is about 05.01 am (blog)
Original item by Tom Harding
kJ Walker
Sat 22nd Jul 2023 08:30
A two up two down? Luxury.
There were 7 of us living in a cardboard box.
Joking aside, keeping warm on a tight budget is a harsh reality. I can well remember fighting for a place near the fire in a frozen cold house.
Comment is about Burley Road (blog)
Original item by John Botterill