Commonword Blogs

Manchester

Fire stokers, bridge builders, ball jugglers,

Weavers, tunnellers, atom chasers,

guitar thrashers, cyber geeks, sausage sizzlers,

peaceniks, heretics, rebels, refugees,

carnivalists, miserablists,

swindlers, poisoners, punks, poets,

centurions, slave barons,

Divas, Destroyers,

Rocket scientists, revolutionaries

all live/d here.

And the winners of the Commonword Best Bloggers Competition 2011 are:

3rd place Melanie Duncan
2nd place Karla Ellis
1st place Vijay Medtia

Remember to leave comments on other users' blogs. It makes the blogspace more of a conversation than a postboard.

*You can check other users by name as well as 'recent posts'.

*Blogs & comments may be edited.

*Give constructive criticism and be thoughtful with your comments. Tailor your comment to the perceived experience of the writer – a new writer may not want or need huge detail and lots of editing suggestions.

Four lines is usually enough feedback.

Where Your Commonword Blogs Go

By Ed Kangai

Part1

We of the Honesty Party
Honestly haven't a clue
Besides, why would you expect a politician
To be clean, forthright, ethical
Get Real! do
Yes! We Stand For Principles
...'um...err-'a...o..our PR man will fill you in there
More BS like that we can honestly promise you
This, next, and every forthcoming year

Part2

We, Her Majesty's Government, are a pack of scoundrels
You'd anyway work that out soon enough
Talking straight clears the air at times
- I don't at this point speak off the cuff

Yeah; they voted us in fair and square

" Chanje Kunda & Cultureword present Speakfreely."

It was good after a long time away to step back and catch this event. The bar was crowded. I came late and missed a few poets (sorry to them!). The blend of musicians and poets was throwing up interesting performances. I sipped my orange juice and stayed. What did I think of the performances? Chanje was a charming, generous host, there were some superb poets doing their stuff, too many to mention. And there was something else...

*The blogspace is for placing your creative writing and inviting feedback on it. It is not for promoting your events, books, other artworks. Please use our facebook site for that.
*Remember to leave comments on other users' blogs. It makes the blogspace more of a conversation and less of a postboard.
*Check other users by name as well as 'recent posts'.
*One blog per week is good. Two is maximum.
*There is no upper limit to comments
*Blogs & comments may be edited.
* Bloggers should leave comments on others' work before blogging themselves.

Compound words, we use them all the time. They feel natural through usage and are being continuously coined. Seems to me though that we don’t get enough of them coined in fiction and poetry.

Anglo-Saxon poetry used compound words to avoid repetition of the same word. e.g. sea is referred to as ‘whale-road’, ‘swan-way’, ‘sail road’

Contemporary usage includes literally thousands of words, e.g. breakneck, paperclip, sandstorm, fingerprint, handbag

Blog Needs Comments

A quick reminder: bloggers should leave comments on others' work before blogging themselves. Blog once, comment twice, is a good rule of thumb.

Where Your Commonword Blogs Go

*Remember to leave comments on other users' blogs. It makes the blogspace more of a conversation than a postboard.
*Check other users by name as well as 'recent posts'.
*One blog per week is good. Two is maximum.
*There is no upper limit to comments
*Blogs & comments may be edited.

Thanks to all those poets who turned out to the Oldham Failsworth poetry event who made it such a warm and fun filled evening. (That front row of kids - they should be hired to heckle hosts right, they did it so well!)

It was the kind of event where the beginnings of great things can be felt. There was a mixture of experienced and new poets, and of polished material and new writing being tried out. I was particularly pleased with the asurance of the new poets - one of them had never taken to the stage before to read and he really did well.