Paul Connolly

Something to stay the fear & trembling but without a leap across absurdity to faith

Peace

A patch of untroubled ground

Dona nobis pacem

But others wouldn’t be at peace or safe. Eremite existence would be a lie. Innocent cries would shake it

These questions have no answers. But we must pose them

A great concert. I heard it on the radio. Mahler 2, I think, with which he’d also opened Symphony Hall in 1991

YouTube video by BayerischeStaatsoper Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet a-minor, op. 132, 3rd Movement

Change? Alas…

Even if a vision encompasses the world & its contradictions, the dynamics of power & power’s current addiction to hate & chaos engender a sense of futility. The process of creation absorbs. But is it indulgence? Or a search? If change is off limits, will something else suffice?

Peace

Mahler 5. I remember who I was when I first heard it. I wanted to change the world. With art. My goal sat alongside an appreciation of the world’s complexity. Which hasn’t gone. But now the world reaches into our lives. Horribly. Whatever our reach back, perhaps with art, we’ll struggle to change it

😂🙏😂😂😂x♾️

🙏 Pleasure Daniel - and thanks for signing and sending it…
And of course writing it!
Looking forward to reading your book

YouTube video by Soundtrack Suites Mahler - Symphony No. 5, Rondo, Finale (Mvmt 5)

Another day dominated by the brainless racist shits who occupy the UK’s commanding heights.

And so something to lift the spirits. Something higher. Something better…

(Solti’s drive doesn’t always work with Mahler. Here it does…)

YouTube video by Soundtrack Suites Mahler - Symphony No. 5, Rondo, Finale (Mvmt 5)

Another day dominated by the brainless racist shits who occupy the UK’s commanding heights.

And so something to lift the spirits. Something higher. Something better…

(Solti’s drive doesn’t always work with Mahler. Here it does…)

YouTube video by Sky Sports Retro "I will love it!" - Kevin Keegan's infamous rant

Yes! I always thought of him as a sort of Candide with added flashes of temper. He was a source of joy really. His Newcastle’s 4-3 defeat to my beloved LFC remains one of the great games of the modern era.

And he gave us this…

I think you can catch a whiff of it just by looking at the picture…

Scunthorpe, Liverpool, Hamburg and Newcastle legend Kevin Keegan at a book signing in London. He sports a light grey tee shirt and dark slacks. He is being photographed and points amiably at a man in office gear alongside him

‘Kevin Keegan is a bit short for this job.’ (5ft 8 as it happens…)

I took a photo from a distance & listened to his folderol. He’d ask people the same question:

KK: Who d’you support?
Man: QPR
KK: Oh aye. You’ve got that young lad…

A usefully impregnable insight. True of all men’s football clubs

V odd…
I wandered once into the Waterstones in Leadenhall Market, wondering why there was a queue out of the door, & was excited to see Kevin Keegan signing copies of his book. Special K, King Kev, a man wont, like Caesar, to speak of himself in the third person, saying when he left the England job:

YouTube video by QuirkyFilms Henry Cooper and Kevin Keegan - Faberge Brut 33 Deodorant (UK)

Quality advertising though…

#poetrycommunity #poetsonbluesky #writingcommunity #supportpoetry #supportyourfellowpoets #poetryislife

I have a poem that’s being published on Saturday Ju that I will associate with this excellent prompt since I think it fits the bill. Apologies that I can’t share it earlier

The front cover of New Famous Phrases by Daniel Hinds published by Broken Sleep Books. An array of brown shades in slanting lines and oval shapes, suggestions of De Stijl, neoplasticism, but not so regimented, softened with a more mysterious vanishing point, a touch of Kandinsky

My signed copy of New Famous Phrases by Daniel Hinds (Broken Sleep Books) has arrived. I’ve heard Daniel read his poems twice now & relished their vitality, original phrasing & imagery, & erudition. Looking forward to exploring them further @danielghinds.bsky.social @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social

Welcome | Broken Sleep Books A working-class indie publisher putting access to the arts at the forefront of what we do. Authors include J H Prynne, Gillian Clarke, Fiona Benson, Luke Kennard, Andre Bagoo, Andrew McMillan, Pádraig...

Here’s a link to the @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social website where you can find @danielghinds.bsky.social’s book and also preorder @roisinnineachtain.com’s forthcoming collection I, Bird. Please explore the site and share the link widely across the #PoetryCommunity 🙏

Welcome | Broken Sleep Books A working-class indie publisher putting access to the arts at the forefront of what we do. Authors include J H Prynne, Gillian Clarke, Fiona Benson, Luke Kennard, Andre Bagoo, Andrew McMillan, Pádraig...

Here’s a link to the @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social website where you can find @danielghinds.bsky.social’s book and also preorder @roisinnineachtain.com’s forthcoming collection I, Bird. Please explore the site and share the link widely across the #PoetryCommunity 🙏

A poem by Debbie Ross Taken By Surprise Swipe the dust, grab the laundry pile, shut the door to the kitchen pile up, smooth down the sofa thrown, check the mirror in the hall for signs of discomposure - You've got visitors at the door.

For this week’s #PromptCombo from poety maestro @hool415.bsky.social here’s my daft wee offering for #visitors

The front cover of New Famous Phrases by Daniel Hinds published by Broken Sleep Books. An array of brown shades in slanting lines and oval shapes, suggestions of De Stijl, neoplasticism, but not so regimented, softened with a more mysterious vanishing point, a touch of Kandinsky

My signed copy of New Famous Phrases by Daniel Hinds (Broken Sleep Books) has arrived. I’ve heard Daniel read his poems twice now & relished their vitality, original phrasing & imagery, & erudition. Looking forward to exploring them further @danielghinds.bsky.social @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social

When I survey the spectacle of British public life and contemplate my own failures, I am led to conclude that the thing that has held me back more than anything has been my lack of the requisite amount of stupidity

When I survey the spectacle of British public life and contemplate my own failures, I am led to conclude that the thing that has held me back more than anything has been my lack of the requisite amount of stupidity

Madness arrived as a welcome visitor. She brought gifts of manic merriment and wine, often spilling secrets, most of them were mine. One part benevolent, one part sinister yet her presence felt immaculate, divine, as Madness arrived, a welcome visitor bringing gifts of manic merriment and wine. On my heart, she neatly penned her signature. In her absence I shake, weep, and pine. The allure of her presence as if by design as Madness arrives, a welcome visitor. She brings gifts of manic merriment and wine often spilling secrets, most of them are mine.

I'm not sure it turned out how I initially meant it to. May revisit the "Madness as visitor" concept later on down the line without the form. But it was fun to attempt and embellish the #madrigal as it was. Enjoy 🤗

#promptcombo #visitor #5amwritersclub #6amwritersclub #poemaday #poem #poetry

You’re taking the Lapith

Congratulations Peter!

Thank you Tammy 🙏💙

BEING ROBERT JENRICK

On stage in Birmingham now!

The harrowing story of a dull white man who crawled up his own arse and saw his idea of heaven: a universe entirely populated with dull white men just like him

Exactly Dii. Imagine being so narrow and stupid as to give a toss…

Imagine it: the neurosurgery you’d need, how extensive, how invasive, to become as THICK as Robert Jenrick

Our Street Cleaner strangers with grabby sticks, hi vis vests, hoodies against May showers hauling open grey wheely bins either side of morning terraced streets answering mobiles connected to their workmates that work other streets five years ago only Tom with black metal cart festooned with pink baby dummies, at Christmas tinsel wound round the black handle greets stallholders by name and a smile.

Hi @hool415.bsky.social Julian. Here's my second for #promptcombo #visitors. Hope its the poem you remember: