<p><span style="font-size: medium;">While we were in the USA in May Sam my daughter's blind dog had to be put to sleep, I have just received this poem from her:</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_HcW1R2xVTKA/SoRbCU4YhqI/AAAAAAAAARg/h7IDIhYxESg/s512/Sam%20Jan%2009.jpg" border="0" width="384" height="512" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning /> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas /> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables /> <w:SnapToGridInCell /> <w:WrapTextWithPunct /> <w:UseAsianBreakRules /> <w:DontGrowAutofit /> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]> <span class="mceItemObject" classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui> </span> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Georgia; panose-1:2 4 5 2 5 4 5 2 3 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; font-family: Georgia;">Sam Was My Good Boy</span></strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Sam was my first dog. He was such a good boy.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Good? Maybe not&mdash;at least not at his first home in Troy.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">The words &ldquo;come&rdquo; and &ldquo;no&rdquo; and the electric fence meant nothing to him.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">And he was a lab, yet he couldn&rsquo;t fetch, retrieve, or even swim.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Sam was my first dog. Okay, maybe he was &ldquo;kind of&rdquo; good.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Chasing deer in their new home, he and Moo would escape through the wood</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">They&rsquo;d come home with deer parts, possums and the occasional mouse<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">And traipse their big dirty paws throughout the whole house.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Sam was my first dog. But he really was good.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">He never fought for food, chewed up shoes, or rolled in mud.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">When the new rescue dog, Jack, tried to eat his food and bite his nose--he didn&rsquo;t mind.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">When Jack was sick, it was always Sam who would lie with him&mdash;he was SO kind.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Sam was my first dog. And, YES, he was a good boy.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">From the day we chose each other, he brought me so much joy.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Even when he went blind and had to live in the dark,</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">He still took himself for walks and played, and, boy, did he still love to bark.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">Sam was my first dog. He was good and I love him still</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">He holds a place in my heart that no one will ever fill.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">That&rsquo;s a phrase I haven&rsquo;t used for longer than I can remember.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The event I attended yesterday was a new venture for me. Bob, the non-poet, went to a short performance poetry session at Thornaby Central Library.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The Journeys project &ndash; My Place or yours? is a community based storytelling group which has been working in the West End Library at Benwell in Newcastle, Thornaby Library and the North of England Mining Institute at Newcastle.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The group shared poems and songs inspired by the people and places of Thornaby and the West End of Newcastle. The performance was introduced by Richard Bliss, the Project Manager; he also played the violin.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Nick Ruston on the keyboards started the proceedings with a lively piece &lsquo;A Little Place on the River Tees.&rsquo; Most of the session was given over to a poetry performance by Mike Edwards who was the poet in residence at Thornaby Library as part of the Journeys project. Some of his poems had been made into light boxes which will remain in the library for people to read. These included &lsquo;Why do you use the library?&rsquo; and &lsquo;Cutting the tape.&rsquo; [Thornaby Library has been refurbished recently.]</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">It was Mike&rsquo;s performance of &lsquo;Stamp&rsquo; that the small audience seemed to like most. An old man bemoans the use of lasers and bar codes and misses the sound of the library date stamp. Sound effects of a stamp in use were provided by Richard Bliss. You may read &lsquo;Stamp&rsquo; at </span><a href="http://www.myplaceoryours.org.uk/author/Mike-Edwards"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">www.myplaceoryours.org.uk/author/Mike-Edwards</span></a><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">A book has been left in the library for the public to add to an epic poem for Thornaby started off by Mike. It will be interesting to see how successful this becomes.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The catchy song about the journey on the A19 from Newcastle to Thornaby and a repeat, with all the group contributing of &lsquo;Why do you use the library?&rsquo; ended the performance; this included the lines &lsquo;What&rsquo;s your favourite book?/Facebook.&rsquo;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The project is going on to look at mining in the West End of Newcastle from Bobby Shafto to the Montagu Pit Disaster.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Supporting organisations include Apples and Snakes the performance poetry organisation. </span></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><span style="font-size: medium;">The Review section of The Times on Saturday carried a poetry special which included:</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;"> &bull; An interview with Ruth Padel and the &lsquo;worst mistake of her life&rsquo; which led to her position as Professor of Poetry at Oxford only lasting nine days. </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;">&bull; Carol Ann Duffy on poems for Haiti and her poem War Photographer.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;">&bull; An interview with Christopher Read on his Costa Book of the Year award including one of the poems in his collection. </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;">&bull; Andrew Motion on poems for Valentine&rsquo;s Day.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;"> All these can be found by following the links at: </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/poetry/article7006640.ece "><span style="font-size: medium;">http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/poetry/article7006640.ece </span></a></p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;">You can chose a poem to be sent to your &lsquo;Valentine&rsquo;s&rsquo; mobile phone. The Valentine link lists the poems available and who read the message. There are plenty of well known poems to choose from &ndash; even I had heard of most of those available. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: medium;">The Review is the only part of The Times in broadsheet format. The centre-fold contained 16 short love poems some of which are included in Motion&rsquo;s poems for Valentine&rsquo;s Day. Unfortunately I haven&rsquo;t found a link to access these online.</span></p>

<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning /> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas /> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables /> <w:SnapToGridInCell /> <w:WrapTextWithPunct /> <w:UseAsianBreakRules /> <w:DontGrowAutofit /> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Normally I put the flyers from the weekend papers straight in the recycling box. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Today a flyer for &ldquo;The poetry event of the year!&rdquo; didn&rsquo;t suffer the same fate. It must have been because it was headed, &ldquo;Did I Mention Free Wine?&rdquo; </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Lower down it was suggested that you could &ldquo;Enjoy FREE wine throughout the night!&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Felix Dennis is celebrating the publication of his new book, Tales from The Woods, on a nationwide tour in September and October.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>If you wish to partake of fine red wine and listen to poetry you can find the details on <a href="http://www.felixdennis.com/">www.felixdennis.com</a>.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;">Even a non-poet like me chuckled reading and listening to Felix Dennis&rsquo;s take on Nursery Rhymes for Modern Times.</span></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>