Poetry Forum

Hello Kris,

Just here to say well done and thanks for attempting to keep this place going. I know I haven’t been active here for years but I drop in occasionally to see what’s happening. I’m still fond of the old place and there’s a part of me which finds it peculiarly comforting that it’s still here.

Whatever happens with the Prole Art Threat, Kris, cheers for what you’ve done.

(p.s. I’m guessing you’re still a curmudgeonly bleeder filled with that good-old Gen-X cynicism, and that you’re uncomfortable with even the slightest bit of sentimentality but, y’know, there it is).

All the best me old mate,
nash

I know from experience that sentimentality isn't his favorite thing.

Maybe if you had kept coming here, Nash, we'd be talking about the future of the forum instead of its demise. Where have you been posting?

I've never posted on any other forum, Caleb. The reason I haven't been here is because I no longer write. I occasionally write just for myself, but not the sort of thing that requires workshopping, I have no interest in submitting anything to the journals.

Oh, that's too bad -- well, not if that's the way you want it. Poetry is both communication and art. Communication requires someone to communicate with, and art wants to be appreciated by others. I guess for you, poetry is more like writing in a diary.

I have other creative outlets, Caleb. I'm a self-employed craftsman; for me, writing poetry was always a sideline. If you need to make a living out of what you're creating then poetry really isn't the way to go!

Whatever happens with the Prole Art Threat, Kris, cheers for what you’ve done.

Thanks JCN, appreciated, and a pleasure to see you here once again. Hope all is well in the book binding world - business is thriving and you're showing a profit and all that?

I've had a bitch of a year, glad to see the end of it. Onwards and upwards!

Cheers me old pal.

Cheers Kris,

Like most small businesses, it's been a bit of a struggle post Covid, so we've diversified to stave off the dreaded "getting a proper job". I've dug out the old wood-carving tools and Sam's dug out her loom and spinning wheel and... weirdly, we also seem to have become dealers in antique ephemera. So, it's all gone a bit of a cross-between The Good Life and Lovejoy here and I'm not complaining about that... 'every cloud' and whatnot.

Really sorry to hear that you've had a shit year, what's been happening? Anything you want to talk about? Whether you do or not, let's hope next year is kinder.

Stay strong, mon frère,
nash

Gnasher, delighted to see that you drop in from time to time. I have been doing that too, a bit more frequently just lately, although I've probably had a furlough of a few weeks now. Which I intend to break.

So Earthworks (I think it is) is still going? Good to know.

Cheers

David

Hello David! Yep, 23 years in and still going!

Funny how there's still a pull towards this place. Other than for business I don't really do the internet much anymore but popping back here has reminded me how much fun it used to be. I wonder if the Badcoes are lurking in the wings too. I bet they are.

I dipped into 'Always' earlier today, after thinking about this place, it really is a beautiful thing. You're still writing, obviously, how could you not?

Really good to talk to you again my friend,
nash

Perhaps you could post some of your wood craft work in the art section Nash?

https://www.proleartthreat.co.uk/forum/ ... m.php?f=28

nash wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 04, 2023 8:51 pm

Hello David! Yep, 23 years in and still going!

Funny how there's still a pull towards this place. Other than for business I don't really do the internet much anymore but popping back here has reminded me how much fun it used to be. I wonder if the Badcoes are lurking in the wings too. I bet they are.

I dipped into 'Always' earlier today, after thinking about this place, it really is a beautiful thing. You're still writing, obviously, how could you not?

Really good to talk to you again my friend,
nash

And you, J. Thanks for the kind words about 'Always'. I nipped over to your site for a look - those are beautiful things you are creating.

Have a great Christmas and a splendiferous new year, on all fronts.

CalebPerry wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 12, 2023 7:18 pm

As much as I admire John's ability as a poet, I feel that he has sucked some of the air out of the forum by posting a poem a day. I sometimes wonder whether I might get more critiques if he were posting less, although I understand it probably doesn't work that way. Let me balance that out by adding that John joining the forum revitalized it to some extent. What's needed is balance.

This is an interesting point. I have often thought that John does himself a disservice by posting a poem a day. You need to understand the market, John. The law of supply and demand. If you were posting a poem every three days, say - still a far more generous allowance than that bad old repressive Eratosphere - I think you'd experience an uptick in responses. Per poem, at least.

Otherwise we're in Dame Edna / Melvyn Bragg territory - "Don't write any more for the minute, Melvyn, or we'll never catch up."

Your poems deserve more attention than they're currently getting, John.

However, having said that, I may be completely wrong, and you don't experience an uptick. But I hope you do.

Hi David,

Supply and demand indeed! yes, i have been busy posting a poem a day for some time now, though i do have a rule that a current poem needs twenty views and a comment before I post anything else. Not much of a rule, I admit, but it means I don't leave things without comment, which would be a pure vanity exercise. My goal is of course to improve the quality of what I post, and that happens reasonably often - you, for instance, have more than once offered good advice, as have many others, Phil and Caleb to start with.

Generally what I do is work through an entire manuscript ,and since I have twenty-eight of them (or thirty-one, if you count those in progress), I do have supply in quantity. Also, being retired, i have time on my hands, which would perhaps be better spent in grooming other great apes, eating berries and so forth, but I devote inordinate amounts of time to poetry and so I share. Interestingly, in conversation I do not hog the mic as one might suspect!

OK, nuff said. My hope is that others will post more, but I agree, I could usefully cut back, for the benefit not only of PAT, but of my own work. Let some air in the room. Thanks for making me think, as you so often do, David.

Cheers,
John

jisbell00 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 07, 2023 7:52 am

OK, nuff said. My hope is that others will post more, but I agree, I could usefully cut back, for the benefit not only of PAT, but of my own work. Let some air in the room. Thanks for making me think, as you so often do, David.

Hi John. Thanks for approaching my presumptuous remarks so generously. I am still a well-wisher. I wish it for all.

Cheers

David