“Shall I Sit Out This Dance”? can be found in my collection of poetry, “My Old Clock I Wind”, which is available (in paperback and ebook) from Moyhill Publishing (moyhill.com/clock). It can also be found in the Amazon Kindle store and is available (in braille) from the Royal National Institute of Blind People.
I agree with much of this post and, in particular with the following statement:
“We fail to find comfort in genuine human connection now, seeking instead to find a virtual connection. Real life communication has changed to “DM’s” and
“tweets”. I am not saying these are bad, but rather understand that a balance must be made and if you find yourself clinging to each like, hoping to reach
a certain number, it may be time to reflect”.A week or so ago, I received a comment consisting of a link to a new WordPress user’s blog. Simply that, (no other comment), nor did the blogger “like” my post. Needless to say I did not approve their comment. I did, however email them explaining that I realised that they were new to WordPress, wished them well but pointed out that their behaviour was “rude” and highly likely to result in others spamming their comments and not exploring their blog. I heard nothing back.
While I understand Kyle’s point about promoting positive messages on one’s blog, this is not applicable to all websites. To take an obvious example, writers will produce content that raises uncomfortable issues, some of which will offend some of their readers. Writers need to be true to themselves and produce their best work which will not appeal to everyone and which may (on occasion) cause offence.
Kevin
We live in an age of connectedness but none of us is really “connected”.
Social media has brought us closer together, letting us communicate with those we normally would not be able to speak with. Through bringing together the globe, we are able to find our niche and communicate with those who share our similar interests.
However, why do we find ourselves seeking for validation off others? Why do we base our worth of “likes”? Is that what we have settled for, a virtual currency that we define our sense of worth off of?
We fail to find comfort in genuine human connection now, seeking instead to find a virtual connection. Real life communication has changed to “DM’s” and “tweets”. I am not saying these are bad, but rather understand that a balance must be made and if you find yourself clinging to each like, hoping to reach a certain…
View original post 535 more words
Can the poet avoid the Sword of Damocles
Suspended above his head
By the thinnest thread?
His pleas
To those who he has offended
That he is merely speaking the truth
Will not prevent
The descent
Of sword from roof.
The poet’s curse
Is to write verse
That will
Sometimes chill
His readers to the heart.
They will traduce
Him for his art,
But the sword of truth
He must brandish high
Else he will die
We had a tie for Barista favorite for February 19th’s Promote Yourself Monday at Go Dog Go Cafe. It is our honor to publish this piece from Nicholas Gagnier of Free Verse Revolution.
Good morning, sir! If I might
have a word,
some advice?
Smile more.
Live healthy.
If you have something
to whisper, it’s probably worth
bellowing once or twice.
Spelling
makes a difference,
doesn’t it?
It’s pronounced anxiety, not
angst I-T, and it’s not
viably addressed.
Good morning, ma’am, is that
coffee on your
flowered dress?
You may want to
invest in bleach, before it seeps
into your reputation. Trust me,
I know.
Morning,
fellow citizens!
Be happy,
mathematically
positive, because waiting
for daybreak is
too obvious,
and we’re a happy
bunch of goddamned cynics.
Complacency expected, poison
at my table that passes
for family breakfast, despite
sitting by myself.
Good morning America,
whatcha so scared of?
View original post 72 more words
A generous offer from Margaux to review indie books.
Hey Everyone!
I recently started a new section on my website for reviewing indie books. I hope you check out my article about indie books. Also, if you are an self-published author, I would love to hear from you! I want to read and review your work and promote it to my followers (all 30K of them!).
Email me if you’re interested! author.mbkeen@gmail.com
Indie authors are the hidden gems of the literary world. Here’s why you should read their work: www.mbkeen.com/read-indie-books/
View original post 127 more words
Housman is, as those of you who follow this blog will know, one of my favourite poets. As Interesting Literature points out, Colin Dexter’s final Inspector Morse novel is entitled “The Remorseful Day”. Indeed Morse quotes lines from the poem close to the end of the novel. I am, incidentally also a fan of Dexter’s Inspector Morse novels.
On Housman’s great ‘remorseful day’ poem
The poet and classical scholar A. E. Housman (1859-1936) is best-known for his 1896 volume A Shropshire Lad, one of only two volumes of poetry he published during his lifetime. But Housman wrote a number of other wonderful poems which he decided not to publish. ‘How Clear, How Lovely Bright’, written in the 1880s while Housman was living in London and working at the Patent Office after failing his degree in Classics at Oxford, was one of a number of poems which Housman preserved but didn’t publish. When he died in 1936, his brother Laurence selected the best of these poems and published them as More Poems.
How clear, how lovely bright,
How beautiful to sight
Those beams of morning play;
How heaven laughs out with glee
Where, like a bird set free,
Up from the eastern sea
Soars the delightful day.
View original post 393 more words
Several days ago, I did something which I have never done before.
I closed comments on this post, https://newauthoronline.com/2018/02/15/should-only-black-teachers-teach-black-children-about-slavery/.
I welcome comments on newauthoronline.com and did not take the above action lightly. My reasons for closing comments are as follows:
1. The post had attracted many comments (the majority of which emanated from one individual. I had, I believe engaged with the commenter extensively and answered their comments. We disagreed (which is absolutely fine), however I felt that the conversation was going around in ever decreasing circles and, it being obvious that we where engaged in a dialogue of the deaf I determined to close the post to comments.
2. My blog is, overwhelmingly concerned with my poetry. In contrast, the above post pertains to politics. Now I read history and politics at University College Swansea and remain fascinated by political issues. However it became apparent to me that continuing to engage in dialogue was distracting me from my writing. I always try to answer comments fully and a detailed comment deserves a substantive response – but not at the expense of my writing.
Will I write about matters of controversy in the future or confine myself purely to writing poetry? I will not shy away from tackling controversial issues here, however the main purpose of this site is to share my work and (hopefully) in the course of so doing to sell a few books. I will not allow other topics (however interesting) to distract me from my goal of composing poetry.
Kevin
Read the call for submissions on the Emma Press website and SUBMIT YOUR POEMS!
I’m really excited to be working with the amazing Emma Press, whose themed and illustrated anthologies are such things of beauty, as well as dry-witted fellow apocalyptician (that’s a mixture between apocalypse and magician and I’m not sure it works) Tom Sastry on this anthology. We want your poems about the future, whatever kind of future that might be: dystopian, utopian, one where we’re at the mercy of our robot overlords. Or what’s happening next week, or what to do with your life. Or a combination of any / many of these things.
You’ve got until April 1st to make your submission and I’m really looking forward to reading all the poems we receive, and even more to creating an anthology of them.
K Morris - Poet 