Uplifting page-turners for modern readers
Last year I took the NaPoWriMo challenge to write a new poem every day in the month of April. I enjoyed it so much I decided to do it again this year. Unfortunately I chose 1st April to go away for a few days without my computer so this is a belated start. To make up for my tardiness I will aim to post two poems a day until I’ve made up the gap. If you want to check out NaPoWriMo and other would be poets, here’s the link
So far in 2014, my most productive month was April when I took part in my first ever NaPoWriMo . It was pretty hard going for me to knock out thirty new poems in as many days on top of my day job but it was worth it. I follow one or two prodigious writers/poets who leave me constantly amazed by the quantity and quality of work they manage to put out there on a daily basis. What can I say, I am very jealous.
As to my NaPoWriMo effort, I was particularly pleased with some of the poems and I’ve since gone back and polished them up a bit. There were also some real stinkers in there that no amount of Mr Sheen was ever going to improve so I doubt I’ll revisit them in a hurry. As the saying goes – no matter how hard you try, you can’t polish a turd.
Overall though it was a really good exercise and one which I’ll repeat next year. But before that I have another difficult decision to make which is NaNoWriMo – should I or shouldn’t I? For the uninitiated among you that is National Novel Writing Month which begins in November.
Now if NaPoWriMo was a marathon, NaNoWriMo would be the equivalent of an Iron Man event for me . For NaPoWriMo , I might be able to slap a few lines of pretentious crap together and call it a Haiku but for NaNoWriMo that’s 50,000 words of pretentious crap in one month! Now that is hard, although thankfully quantity of words is apparently what’s important here rather than the need for producing anything half decent- the theory being, I suppose, that you’ve got another eleven months before the next one and plenty of time to polish that particular pile of poo. It’s still hard going though and I know if I sign up for it, I will absolutely want to meet the target do or die. I can’t help it, I hate failure- I’m just made that way.
What to do, what to do. I have just over a month to decide. Advice from the outside world gratefully received…
Hello out there. I had myself a little mini break after NaPoWriMo so this is my first poem since it finished. It’s called The Bright Kid
The Bright Kid
She loved school as a kid.
Always the clever one she never
had to try too hard to be good at it.
At fourteen she got tired, or lazy,
or something and being interested
became too difficult. Continue reading “The Bright Kid”
NaPoWriMo Day 30. The end is finally here just as I was getting into my stride. Thirty days and thirty poems, I never thought I would do it but somehow I’ve managed to pull it off without going into complete meltdown although I am ready for a bit of a break to give myself the space to do a few other things.
NaPoWriMo’s Day 30 prompt is to write a goodbye poem so as it’s the last one for this year I thought I’d give it a try. This is a sort of a goodbye poem and it’s called These are the things.
These are the things
These are the things I wanted to say to you
before you left me to sit alone on this big,
old couch where we’d spend our evenings
and where your favourite cushion sits
permanently dented by your rear end. Continue reading “These are the things”
NaPoWriMo Day 29. Penultimate day, can’t give up now – there is an end in sight. Today’s poem is called Listen
Listen
Listen
There are ghosts scratching at the door,
bleeding through the walls
and rising through the floorboards.
Weary bodies press against the window.
Cold air streams through the keyhole
wrapping itself around you.
Icy lips rest against your ear and whisper
Catch life,
Catch it while you can:
Soon it will be gone.
NaPoWriMo Day 28. Only two more days to go to the end of this year’s NaPoWriMo event. Today’s poem is called The Rules of the Game.
The Rules of the Game
Two children playing in the street,
the boy teases the girl until she gives chase.
He runs into a neighbour’s garden,
flowers parting under reckless feet. Continue reading “The Rules of the Game”
NaPoWriMo Day 27. Is it really Day 27 already? What will I do with my evenings after Wednesday? Anyway today’s poem is called Second Chance.
Second Chance
Holding her grandchild for the first time
she thinks to herself this is a second chance.
Maybe this time, I will do things better.
Maybe this time, I won’t worry that she’s not sleeping. Continue reading “Second Chance”
NaPoWriMo Day 26. Today’s poem is called Let me sit by the canal side.
I am quite fond of a nice canal walk & we have many canals in Birmingham as a result of our industrial heritage. I thought I’d make it extra difficult for myself by writing in rhyming couplets which I have to say is one of the hardest pieces of writing I’ve ever done. Hopefully the result is not too disastrous
Let me sit by the canal side
Let me sit by the canal side
where I can watch the barges glide
through deep and narrow waterways
cut by men in bygone days. Continue reading “Let me sit by the canal side”
NaPoWriMo Day 25. Today’s poem is a very short one because it is a Haiku poem, inspired by the comedian Frank Skinner who I went to see last night.
Frank read out several of his Haiku poems to the audience & it made me think about having a go at one, although I decided not to go with Frank’s theme which was to end every one of his poems with the line “like a Transformer.” It was funny at the time.
A Love Quickie
I lost my heart in
San Francisco but found it
in a park in Maine.
And here’s the Birmingham version
I lost my heart in
Cradley Heath but found it by
a Dudley canal.
NaPoWriMo Day 24 and today’s poem is called This is how we bond.
This is how we bond.
The first time we meet
I notice your lips and eyes
crease into a smile,
your shoulders are loose,
your palms open and Continue reading “This is how we bond”
