La Tomatina

La-Tomatina-festival-2

NaPoWriMo Day 13. Today’s poem is called La Tomatina which is an annual festival held in the Valencian town of Buñol and here is a picture of La Tomatina

La Tomatina

A single shot fired

to start us off.

We, being newcomers,

were timid at first;

cautious in our targets.Continue reading “La Tomatina”

Boy with Pearl Earring

NaPoWriMo Day 12 and it’s Saturday so I’ve started early before going out for a long walk to get some fresh air and hopefully more inspiration. Today’s poem is called Boy with Pearl Earring.

Boy with Pearl Earring

For three mornings now

you’ve passed us by

tight leather jacket;

hair perfectly set;

scarf meticulously wrappedContinue reading “Boy with Pearl Earring”

Here Come the Hens

NaPoWriMo Day 11 and today’s poem is called Here Come the Hens

Here Come the Hens

Here come the hens,

here come the hens.

High heels clack, clack, clacking

in time to the rhythm of suitcases

stuffed with slogan t-shirts and pink tutusContinue reading “Here Come the Hens”

I appear to have drunk a little too much

NaPoWriMo Day 10 and I’m a bit of a roll. Surely this has cured my writers block? Today’s poem is again stream of consciousness: it seemed the right way to go with this one.

I appear to have drunk a little too much

I am an empty husk harvested too

early the night is still fresh but I am

spent there are faces across the table that look

familiar their mouths open and close too fast for

me to catch the blah blahs that effortlessly rollContinue reading “I appear to have drunk a little too much”

Food Bank

NaPoWriMo Day 9. Today’s poem has a more serious tone which is probably a bit more relevant to British readers but hopefully readers from the wider world we see where I’m coming from. If you’re not from the UK you may not know that food banks are a relatively new phenomenon here but one that many people have come to rely heavily on just to get themselves and their families through the week without going hungry.

Food Bank

Today there are banks that do good.

Today there are people

who save lives daily through

simple acts of kindness.

Hand to mouth,

to handouts.Continue reading “Food Bank”

Big Hair / Seventies Dude

NaPoWriMo Day 8 and the latest poem is slightly more surreal and stream of consciousness.

Big Hair/ Seventies Dude

To my surprise this morning I wake up and find

I’ve turned into a seventies dude with

big hair wide flares and a skinny jacket with giant lapels I

pull on my platform shoes and take a walk outside

there’s a beautiful LA sun shining down on me andContinue reading “Big Hair / Seventies Dude”

We Are She

NaPoWriMo Day 7. Here’s another poem prompted by the NoPoWriMo site but inspired by a poet I had never heard of before, the late Gwendolyn Brooks. Here’s Gwendolyn’s poem, it’s called We Real Cool

We real cool. We

Left school. We

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We

Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We

Die soon.

Here’s my poem, it’s called We Are She.

We Are She

We wage war. We

Want more. We

Break glass. We

Hold fast. We

Stand proud. We

Shout loud. We

Stay tight. We

Show might. We

Are strong. We

Wait long. We

Are She and

She is We.

 

 

 

 

Buddhas in the Park

Day 6 of NaPoWriMo and here’s the next poem.

I got this idea from the NaPoWriMo website. It suggested writing a poem with the last word of each line being a word from another poem. One of the suggested poems to use as the original was a poem called Watermelons by Charles Simic.  Here is is

Watermelons by -Charles Simic

Green Buddhas
On the fruit stand.
We eat the smile
And spit out the teeth.

And here is my effort

 Buddhas in the Park

On the green

sit baby Buddhas

short and fat on

their mother’s milk. The

fathers, smiling down at the fruitContinue reading “Buddhas in the Park”

Shit

Day 4 and the next instalment of NaPoWrimo. This is for everyone who wakes up to the reality that they’ve been sold down the line one way or another. There’s a lot of it about lately.

Shit

Sold on the false economy of your promises

I believed you were true.

Hooked on the desire for honesty

I told myself that you were the one

The one

The one who…

Then a heavy dose of reality

Showed me, too late,

It’s all just a series of fairy tales.

Same shit

Different face