Everyday Poetry

Day 30: " In his poem, “ Angels ,” Russell Edson speaks of spiritual warrior-messenger-guardians as if they were a type of endangered animal. Today, try writing your own poem that discusses a real or mythical being with the same sort of musing yet dispassionate tone." I've just had a conversation with my daughter about the demons that haunt you during intentional weight loss. We've both spent years trying to rid ourselves of negative self- talk,  but they still creep in when you least expect it.   It's a bit of a negative way to end this year's NaPoWriMo but it does provide a bookend on the same theme as it started - dieting!  Diet Demons They lurk in patient exile Biding their time to weedle in At the first signs of self doubt. Sneers peer over your shoulder As you step on the scales, Whispering fear in your ear. Each cinch of your belt Innocently questions the buckle:   Will the prong reach its usual hole? Greet your reflection with a smile And they will ...

Day 29: " In “ After Turning the Clocks Back ,” Jennifer Moxley links present with past, using a few well-placed details to invoke both a sense of the daily “now” and a nostalgic sense of the speaker’s long-ago life. In your poem today, similarly compare your everyday present life with your past self, using specific details to conjure aspects of your past and present in the reader’s mind." Only one more day to go! This is a great prompt, despite feeling daunted by Moxley's masterful poem. What to write about? I've vowed to stop banging on about mobility issues, so perhaps I'll revisit the differences between my two marriages, twenty years in.  Twenty Years In Hot coffee and unhurried time  Spent talking through our lives Are your gifts to me those mornings You're not off to chase the glory Of the biggest catch.  I remember a time Of early nights and early mornings A refuge from all-night, bare-all sessions, Where we picked over what was going wrong, Tried to p...

Day 28: " Victoria Chang’s poem, “ The Lovers ,” is short and somewhat shocking, bringing us quickly from a near-hallucinatory descriptive statement to a strange sort of question, before ending on the very direct statement of a “truth.” Six lines, three sentences, and to top it off, a title that I think works for the poem but is only obliquely related to its text. Today, try writing a poem that follows the same beats: three sentences, six lines: statement, question, conclusion." I went to see a consultant about my arthritic knee yesterday and was basically told to come back after I'd had the hip replacement I'm waiting for. I was expecting this but was holding onto the possibility of having a steroid injection to relieve the pain until then,  but was told it was out of the question before I even asked.   Disappointment  Air is knocked from lungs Poised ready to request relief.  Is there nothing to do but wait, See how things turn out? Hope lies discarded; A chif...

Day 27: " Start by reading Robert Fillman’s poem, “ There should always be two .” Now, write your own poem in which all the verses contain the same number of lines (whether couplets, triplets, quatrains, etc.) and in which you give the reader instructions of some kind." I feel like it's time to return to writing about my family, specifically my three grandchildren. I've rewritten the final stanza several times, sometimes losing the sense of an instruction, sometimes with it featuring more prominently,  but I'm relatively happy with its final form.  Three's a Crowd There's the one grabbing me as I walk in the door, Proudly showing me their latest creation,  Roping me in to cooking crumble for lunch.  There's the one shouting a greeting from the other room, Too busy accumulating crystals or brain rot To see me face to face until called to eat.  There's the one sleeping upstairs, snoozing off a late night,  Who emerges at the table sleepy eyed and gro...

Day 26: " The Latin phrase  ars poetica  means “the art of poetry.” It’s been a tradition going all the way back to  Horace  for poets to write poems that lay out – whether explicitly or obliquely – some statement about why the poet writes, or what they think poetry is. Here’s  a very recent example , and another that I had to  study in school . Today, we challenge you to write your own  ars poetica , giving the reader some insight into what keeps you writing poetry, or what you think poetry should do." I've written quite a few on this theme already,  but there's always room for one more. This one developed into a kind of spoken word rap after the first two lines found their own rhythm and rhyme.  Ars Poetica It' s a  testing of the water  too deep for conversation, A wider way of sharing a solitary observation; It's a different way of talking, a means of communication, A revisiting of meaning, a more detailed clarification; It's a ...

Day 25: " write your own poem in which you use at least three metaphors for a single thing, include an exclamation, ruminate on the definition of a word, and come back in the closing line to the image or idea with which you opened the poem." Crikey! That's a long list of things to include...  I've just had a WhatsApp exchange with my daughter, in which we used lots of photos, emoji and gifs to basically say we love each other, through thick and thin.  Queen Our love is elastic, stretching across the gap Between where you stand t aking hesitant selfies To where I'm looking for the light in your sunshaded eyes .  You caveat each exchange with a head-in-hands monkey,  Laughing emoji, apologetic humility, As if you aren't a queen, s tanding there i n your jeans and t shirt!   Cast off your definition of ideal beauty, Know it is a shackle, a tool designed to make us fail; We have no need to apologise for the space we inhabit. My penguin gushes tears as it claps ...