Yes. Blake is a Prophet of Protest (one of his many facets) against institutional inhumanity, which is part of the reason I love & identify with him. Thus his criticism of regal England during the incipient Industrial Revolution:

HOLY THURSDAY
by William Blake

Is this a holy thing to see
In a rich and fruitful land, --
Babes reduced to misery,
Fed with cold and usurous hand?

Is that trembling cry a song?
Can it be a song of joy?
And so many children poor?
It is a land of poverty!

And their son does never shine,
And their fields are bleak and bare,
And their ways are filled with thorns:
It is eternal winter there.

For where'er the sun does shine,
And where'er the rain does fall,
Babes should never hunger there,
Nor poverty the mind appall.

Awesome, Daedal. Yeats is my other favorite besides Blake. These dudes are DEEP. :o)

This is downright plagiarism! The toddlers have stolen my rules!!! :o)

Very touching. The poor guy does need a lobotomy. LOL. No autographs? I have cash.... :o)

Rightly so.

Pattricia is a real artist. Incredibly good.

The honour is ours. :o)

(notice British spelling. lol)

You stick to your guns, which I like.

Besides, your judgment of who should judge is impeccable. LOL

Yes but we'd have to screen for sneaky double-voters. lol.

You're right on harley! I thus appoint you the official vote-gatherer and point-counter. LOL (I like that idea about a points system) :o)

I'd like to see the following people on it (in no particular order of merit):

1. harley
2. Aragon KM
3. danoschek
4. bumble
5. CurrentRiver KM
6. emattie1943
7. GrassHopperSD

All of these people seem highly-qualified to judge poetry and are also frequent contributors to the Poetry DB. Some have expressed a dislike for pitting poems against each other and their arguments are strong and well-respected. But surely they still like some poems better than others and I think they are highly-qualified. This seems like a great starting list anyway.

I'd post this on the Poetry Challenge DB but a lot of you have yet to come aboard (Hint!) :o)

LOL!!! Great harley! Right inside the child's mind we go. I'm still laughing at the last line, hit my funny bone. lol. :o)

These lyrics are poetry. What's more, first class stuff! Thanks for sharing, David. This poem is applicable to modern existence in so many ways.

P.S. The post below was, uh, a feeble attempt at humor. Wretched I know. Surely there must be a hole around here somewhere I can hide in.

Time for a little lesson in philosophy. In order of importance, men do poetry:

1. To get laid.
2. Because it is not feasable or physically possible to get laid 24/7.
3. As a substitute for getting laid while waiting to get laid.

Thus poetry, which brings such an essential joy & happiness to all, will endure just so long as women give in. You see both your high calling & your duty, fair Ladies! :o)

Thank you Wanda. Your daughter's poems are like you: the Best. :o)

...is open for Business!

Just a reminder to apply for membership for all who wish. Aragon KM is our worthy Big Boss and we're excited about the possibilities. Just go to the fellowship and follow the directions. You want in, you got it! Message me (or Aragon) with any questions. :o)

lol. :o)

POETRY IS COMPETITION
by yours truly

Poetry is competition! brutal War & holy Mission
'Gainst the Evil opposition that around our Fortress lies
Armed with pen we force the Battle, poised upon the Charger's saddle
Swords & pikes & shields we rattle! to the Stars we lift our cries
Till the Vault of Heaven answers, till we conquer Tears & Sighs

Bow not beneath this dreadful Fate! why turn the cheek? why bar the Gate?
Why cower in this mortal State and die with false Tranquility?
If we must fall, let's fall like Men! and curse the gods for letting in
This wretched Death, this Timeless Sin, which robs us of our Dignity
To arms, I say, against this Doom which presses Irrevocably

So cry for Joy against all Odds, and scream in Rage against the gods
For Love! for Strength! for Victory! for blessed Immortality
For Life so Sacred, yes I say! and Death's a bitter Price to pay
For giving sport to gods at Play who gaze with Scorn on Me & Thee
They gaze with Malice & with Spite on mighty Souls who would be Free

Oh yes. Love the way he paints the horrifying picture with even darker, unguessed-at horrors to come....

THE SECOND COMING
by William Butler Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of i{Spiritus Mundi}
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at laSt,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Let's do it, Aragon! Brilliant idea if ever there was one. Poetry Challenge it is. I'd be pleased if you'd consider making yourself Big Boss in the new club, which I hope to see appearing shortly. If not you, then perhaps harley or one of our other fine contributors. At any rate some of them can be club managers! I'm greatly looking forward to this & together we can get this thing rolling. :o)

It's true
Why you??
As if on cue!
I knew
Those damn little plants were overdue

Thanks Aragon! Can we find a better word than 'contest'?

If we do this I'll count on both your help and a terrific submission from you. :o)

Point well taken. :o)

If all feel that way I'll toss it quick. lol

What do y'all think? This is my Brainstorm (I'm kinda dumb.lol).

These could be original works from BK members, with a popular vote to decide the top placers and winner, etc. We'd need a structure around it, like deadlines for submission, where to submit, when to vote, where the accumulated poems should be posted (and how, in what format) so that they can be seen, read, compared, in some way convenient for poetry-loving voters. Maybe later we could have theme-based contests.

This is only an IDEA. G-man (that's me) has more throw-away ideas than good ones. And his organizational skills are perfectly pathetic. If it's to fly I need help. If it's bad it will flounder anyway. But it seems like fun to me and an opportunity for some of our more talented members to shine. A nice way to keep the flames stoked. Could be the best poet among us has never yet dared to put pen to paper. I remember reading about a great painter who never picked up a brush until she was eighty....

Feedback is hoped for. Positive or negative will do. Just don't leave me Stranded! lol (Gulp) :o)

Of course you may. I thought surely I would be slapped. lol. :o)

I will need help on this. Aragon are you interested? harley? danoschek? Wanda? Must run now but will get back.

And deservedly so.

I KISSED A GIRL
by yours truly (spur-of-moment)

I kissed a girl, she slapped my face
And turned away from my embrace
I shunned a girl, she kissed my face
And broke my back with her embrace

I loved a girl, she spited me
As I reached out she turned to flee
I despised her; she came to me
And worshipped Love on bended knee

I wrote a girl and met disdain
She gloated o'er my love-sick pain
I fed her crumbs, I sent her rain
She prayed her Love was not in vain

I asked a girl to be my bride
Which did not phase her haughty pride
I asked a girl to be my whore
And now have bolts on every door!

As I said: Blake is KING! :o)

THE SICK ROSE
by William Blake

O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

A thousand times better than anything I ever wrote in college. Or since. LOL Very good! :o)

Told you Wanda was the best. :o)

You must mean this! (none better) :o)

THE VAMPIRE
by Rudyard Kipling

A fool there was and he made his prayer
(Even as you and I!)
To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair
(We called her the woman who did not care),
But the fool he called her his lady fair
(Even as you and I!)

Oh the years we waste and the tears we waste
And the work of our head and hand,
Belong to the woman who did not know
(And now we know that she never could know)
And did not understand.

A fool there was and his goods he spent
(Even as you and I!)
Honor and faith and a sure intent
But a fool must follow his natural bent
(And it wasn't the least what the lady meant),
(Even as you and I!)

Oh the toil we lost and the spoil we lost
And the excellent things we planned,
Belong to the woman who didn't know why
(And now we know she never knew why)
And did not understand.

The fool we stripped to his foolish hide
(Even as you and I!)
Which she might have seen when she threw him aside --
(But it isn't on record the lady tried)
So some of him lived but the most of him died --
(Even as you and I!)

And it isn't the shame and it isn't the blame
That stings like a white hot brand.
It's coming to know that she never knew why
(Seeing at last she could never know why)
And never could understand.

Best rhyme ever written (open to argument, of course). I used to have it memorized but brain-muscles haven't been exercised of late. Thanks! :o)

These are your originals, Daniel? Very impressive. :o)

Now THAT is awesome! (Rumi's "I am a sculptor")

Unpack your books. We need poems and I personally need Poe! lol :o)

That's high praise, harley. Poe is not only Master Poet but a Checkers lover! lol (really). TY :o)

Astonishingly good. Wow! :o)

...this 'thing', scribbled impulsively this morning in the wee hours and posted hastily on an inappropriate DB, nevertheless served as the catalyst (through Fencer's good grace) which precipitated our new creative outlet here. Which means perhaps it was worth something after all. lol

I heartily encourage the posting of original works, whether from the rank novice, the polished professional or the non-serious amateur. Who knows what posterity will say! Let's have fun.

STRANDED
by yours truly

Stranded in this Universe
Could be better, but how worse?
Why did mother give me nurse?
Such a curse, such a curse

Stranded on this desert Earth
Wretched, foul, untimely birth!
Where’s the laughter, where’s the mirth?
Worthless sham, for what it’s worth

Stranded in this withered Land
Damn the rainbow, damn the Hand
That first helped this bleak soul to stand
First undone and then un-manned

Stranded on this strangled Shore
Neptune gloats, then shrieks for more
How I abhor, o how abhor
This sunken world with no back-door

Stranded in this barren Home
Read the transcript, scan the tome!
Wherein the shameless gods do roam
And spit their drool like febrile foam

Stranded in this hell of Hells
Curse the split-tongued wedding-bells!
Curse the rivers, curse the dells
And bless the caverns, bless the wells

Stranded in this darkling Space
Where to find a human face
In this ill-begotten Race?
Full of mischief, void of grace

Stranded on this wasted Waste
Made in haste, yes made in haste!
How I pine for just a taste
Of something sacred, someone chaste

Stranded in this tortured Mind
Hoping, ‘gainst all hope, to find
Just one cloud that’s silver-lined
Just one touch not cruel but kind

Stranded in this woeful Fate
Unquenched hunger is my Mate
Sick of smiles that come too late
Sick of ‘kindness’ laced with hate

Stranded in this lifeless Life
I raise the blade, I clutch the knife
For all’s against me, all is strife
And Pain’s my sister, Death my wife

Stranded on this gulf Alone
It chills the marrow in the bone
How can God in truth atone
For every slight and every groan?


P.S. I'm not ALWAYS this dark! (gulp)

P.P.S. Oh yes, discerning critics welcome too! (but I beg of you, have mercy....) :o)

Awesome. I didn't know. :o)

Is this yours Aragon? I love the whole Middle-Earth scenario. Terrific poem!

Here's a personal request, which any and all are free to ignore: I'm sure folks would love to know who the author is when the poems are posted, if available. Especially original works! But...I reiterate...each must choose. :o)

Thanks to Fencer we have an instant success here. Not only does he generously create the DB but he then presents work of sterling quality. Not only Fencer but harley and danoschek have masterful early entries. This is awesome. Thanks one and all! :o)

Yes but your brilliance shines through. Great to see your posts!

The board is here
So have no fear
I see no ghost
So make a post!

:o)

P.S. Excuse this pathetic attempt to break the ice. LOL