Religious Views

Is religion to be included in the wedding ceremony or do the marrying couple want a more secular approach? This factor alone will play a large part in the style of vows you choose to use.

All in Agreement

Does your partner want to write their own vows as well? You both must be agreement as to the process that will be involved. Maybe your future wife prefers the more traditional approach. Talk also with the official who will be leading the service and ask for his or her advice. Then discuss various possibilities and ideas with your family and friends.

Work Together

If you have agreed to spend the rest of your lives together then this part should be easy. Discuss thoroughly what you want included and the general pattern of the special moment. Talk about the past, about when you first met, fell in love and proposed. Grooms, recollect what made you ask for her hand in marriage and how nervous or excited you were. Brides, do the same but how you felt to be on the receiving end of his proposal.

Spend time alone together writing poetry, reading creative writing books, listening to music whilst all the time contemplating using any little snippets of inspiration you get from such sources as material to build into your vows.

When you’re in the right mood, talk to one another about your feelings, your love and your future dreams. You’ll find many treasures that you share by doing this which would be ideal to use on the special day.

Finally decide on the number of lines you will create or a general time frame. This will prevent one partner speaking for ten minutes and the other for only ten seconds, which would cause much embarrassment.

Write and Practice

Once you have all the main points you want to include, then start writing the vows individually. Prepare to spend a lot of time on this and do not be afraid to rip pages up and toss them away if they are not to your liking. The vows in any type of wedding ceremony are the most important aspect of the whole day for you are making promises to your spouse in front of everyone, thereby solidifying your union as a married couple. You need to make them perfect.

Once you have the final scripts, then practice in front of a mirror. Stand upright and annunciate clearly and with confidence. Repeat over and over again until you have fully memorised your vows and can say them without slipping up or pulling faces. By saying them out loud you will also discover whether anything needs changing.

By following these steps you will enter into the special day with a renewed sense of conviction and self-assurance about the choices you have made and what the future holds. You will also make your spouse’s day more memorable.

Alternatively you can hire a professional writer to create a unique and very personalised set of wedding vows that you will remember for the rest of your lives. I can do this for you for a very reasonable fee. Contact Me.

It happens to be my birthday today (3rd October) and so in light of this I’ve decided to make this week’s poetry prompt theme ‘Birthdays‘.

Take this subject in any way you wish. Perhaps the birthday of your child was recent or is upcoming, what preparations did you arrange? What was your last birthday like and does it bring forth positive or negative feelings? Maybe old grandpa Joe liked to smoke his pipe whilst reading the newspaper whilst all around were celebrating his birthday. I know I celebrate my cat’s birthday, what about you?

Perhaps you might be a fan of any of the below who share a birthday today and can weave their names and birthdays into your poem or perhaps more suitably, a Limerick or two.

Chubby Checker - famous for the dance song ‘The Twist’.
Erik Bruhn - ballet dancer and teacher.
Gore Vidal - author, playwright, social critic and Liberal.
James Herriot - Yorkshire author of “All Creatures Great and Small”.
Gwen Stefani - Rock singer.

When you have completed the poem, post the direct link in the ‘auto-links’ box below and also make a comment in the comment’s section. Before or following this, take time over the coming week to visit other entries from fellow poets and add a friendly comment or two regarding what you felt about their poem. This last part is vital if we are all to gain value from this exercise.

Remember, this is not a competition. If you need any help or advice, then either contact me or pose a question in the comments section and I’m sure someone will be available to give you a hand.

The German licence-collecting agency, GEZ, threatened legal action if he did not promptly pay the fee of €17 (£14). The nation notorious for its red tape did not relent when the headmaster of the primary school bearing Schiller’s name in Weigsdorf-Köblitz in Saxony, to which the bill was sent, had relayed the simple fact that “the addressee is no longer in a position to listen to the radio or watch television”.

GEZ replied that unless Herr Schiller could prove he was not in possession of a television set or radio, then the bill had to be paid.

Michael Binder, the headmaster, finally settled the confusion. He said: “I told the GEZ that Herr Schiller has not been with us for quite some time, and included his curriculum vitae with my letter.”

A spokesman for the agency later apologised saying “We have to deal with such a huge amount of data, that something like this can happen, and the name Friedrich Schiller is not so unusual that it stood out as strange. We will now alter his status in our computer system.”

Friedrich Schiller is famous for his poem ‘Ode to Joy‘ which was later adapted by Ludwig van Beethoven into the fourth and final movement of his Ninth Symphony. It is now also the anthem of the European Union.

Next week some of Bin Laden’s poetry will be published in the academic publication, ‘Language and Communications Journal‘. Professor Flagg Miller of the University of California, an Arabic studies academic discovered the recitings on tapes found in the terrorist mastermind’s Afghanistan compound after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Millar said the recordings were passed around from person to person rather like pop songs are passed amongst teenagers. The professor’s analysis of the tapes shows Saudi-born Bin Laden to be a skilled poet who weaves mystical references as well as jihadist imagery into his verse, reciting centuries old verses alongside more current mujahideen-era work.

“[The readings] were sometimes given to large audiences when he was recruiting for jihad in Afghanistan… and other times they were delivered at weddings, or to smaller audiences, possibly in private homes,”

Many scholars have protested the upcoming publication fearing that the work has only become of interest due to the notoriety of its author and gives him an unfair forum. However Millar disagrees and believes Bin Laden to be a talented wordsmith with his own unique and distinctive style.

“They also show his evolution from a relatively unpolished Muslim reformer, orator and jihad recruiter to his current persona, in which he attempts to position himself as an important intellectual and political voice on international affairs.”

If alive, Bin Laden would almost certainly still be writing poetry, which is central to the oral traditions of his tribal culture.

“Poetry is part of the oral tradition in the Arab world, which Bin Laden uses to tap into the cultural orientation, the history and the ethics of Islam,” Millar said.

The dozen tapes are currently being refined and digitised at Yale University in the United States and public access is expected to be granted by 2010.

The leaves on the trees are changing colour. The rich green we’ve been so used to during the height of Summer is now starting to fade into a variety of browns, reds and yellows. Most of us can also feel the slight drop in temperature and the darker evenings as Summer closes the door. Autumn, or ‘Fall’, has arrived.

This week’s poetry prompt, the 8th in the series, is therefore ‘Copper Trees’. Make what you will of the cue, whether that be descriptions of your local forest or the feeling of metal-like sadness that seeps though every vein in your body with the onset of the darker and colder months. Focus on the colours of the leaves, the images they portray or the memories they welcome back to the present. Perhaps you are a Lord of the Rings fan and imagine the trees as walking beings. What do they say? What does copper sound like when struck? The possibilities are endless.

When you have completed the poem, post the direct link in the ‘auto-links’ box below and also make a comment in the comment’s section. Before or following this, take time over the coming week to visit other entries from fellow poets and add a friendly comment or two regarding what you felt about their poem. This last part is vital if we are all to gain value from this exercise.

Remember, this is not a competition. If you need any help or advice, then either contact me or pose a question in the comments section and I’m sure someone will be available to give you a hand.

The Weekly Poetry Prompts are back after a two week break! I wish to thank all of those who gave their kind support over the last 14 days. It means a lot to me.

This week’s prompt will be based on the terrible incidents that have been occurring in the Caribbean and the southern United States recently. Over 100 people have been killed and many 1000s more left homeless in Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba. New Orleans was thankfully spared from a repeat of the devastating Katrina in 2005.

‘The Hurricane‘ is the 7th Poetry Prompt. There are various ways you can take this including descriptions of famous hurricanes past and present to the tempests of the mind or body. Life can be whisked away in an instance, livelihoods destroyed and landscapes changed forever. What does it possibly feel like to be caught in the storm? What did you feel when you saw the pictures from Mississippi and Louisiana on the television screen? Sometimes, life throws inner turmoil our way which we have to deal with in our own personal ways. How do you deal with anxiety attacks or the rushing pains of arthritis or back pain? Relate these to the weather phenomenon and create a poem that will convey the confusion and energy of a hurricane.

When you have completed the poem, post the direct link in the ‘auto-links’ box below and also make a comment in the comment’s section. Before or following this, take time over the coming week to visit other entries from fellow poets and add a friendly comment or two regarding what you felt about their poem. This last part is vital if we are all to gain value from this exercise.

Next Thursday evening I will create a round-up of my personal favourite pieces but remember, this is not a competition. If you need any help or advice, then either contact me or pose a question in the comments section and I’m sure someone will be available to give you a hand.

Inevitable Chance is a beautiful questioning sonnet reflecting on the possibilities of chance romance and meetings. Will love be found in the formality of an office encounter, on a friend’s sofa or in the gigantic world of cyberspace?

Mad Kane writes a limerick in celebration of her 29th Wedding Anniversary to her husband Mark. A romantic encounter on the Long Island Railroad.

Lissa’s poem conveys the magic of instant attraction amongst the crowds but one that is bound to be lost in the hustle and bustle of the rush hour.

Rio provides an exquisite haiku about the wait to bump shoulders.

Sascha Cooper has written a marvellous epic poem on the chance meeting between a beautiful barmaid and a mysterious stranger. Well worth a visit and the chance to make an acquaintance with her new blog.

Finally, Bev describes a day on a station platform amongst the crowds of strangers. A brief encounter and names are exchanged.

I would like to thank all poets who submitted their work to this week’s poetry prompt. The comments section will remain open and you can add further links at any stage. Next week’s prompt will begin tomorrow at 6pm London time. If you enjoyed your stay here and will continue to take part each week, then please spread the word about this weekly interactive poetry event. It will benefit not only myself but all of us.

Rio captures the excitement of the crowds lining the route of the Olympic marathon. The applause and cheers are contrasted with the calm pose of the runner.

French poet Tiniak alludes to the strenuous actions of the Games in an interesting poem that mixes romance with sport which can be found in the comment section here.

In Tiel Aisha Ansari’s poem ‘Winners and Losers‘ the highs and lows of the Olympic Dream are expressed in this creatively structured Villanelle. There is also a criticism of how Politics is never far from the spirit of the Games.

Bev’s short but succinct poem highlights the hard work and pressure put on young gymnasts. Whilst not mentioning China in particular, it is extremely apt for the latest accusations of under-age athletes participating from the host country.

David explores the differences between the free world and China and how this impacts on the lives of the Olympians in this fascinating poem.

Finally Ben Barden writes a humorous Olympic limerick which is printed below.

There once was a swimmer called Mike,
Who tried to do lengths on his bike,
He broke the right pedal,
But got the gold medal,
Next time he’ll be back with a trike.

I would like to thank all poets who submitted their work to this week’s poetry prompt. The comments section will remain open and you can add further links at any stage. Next week’s prompt will begin tomorrow at 6pm London time. If you enjoyed your stay here and will continue to take part each week, then please spread the word about this weekly interactive poetry event. It will benefit not only myself but all of us.