Wednesday 1 April 2015

Day 1: Beginning


'April is the loveliest month, breeding poems out of the dead land, mixing inspiration with desire, stirring bright roots with spring rain.' ~ Me, via T.S. Eliot

Yes, from here on in April is The Wonderland not The Wasteland. Apologies again T.S.Eliot - but I will never agree with your your depiction of April!

Today, I'm not going to do any of the NaPoWriMo site prompts. I just feel like I want to go with the flow of what's been tingling on my fingertips and nerve endings all day: the rush and verve and simultaneously, hesitant nervousness, of the beginning of a month full of poetry. The spontaneous overflow of what I've been feeling today - the joys of spring meeting the joys of poetry resisting the old lingering winter/writer's block hesitation.

So here goes:


Beginning

First day fanfare: fervor and flighty
inspiration unfurls, petals galore. 
Fine-tuned posies thrown at April's feet.
Odes and declarations of staggering
spring-infused sprite, lyrical bouquets 
of unharnessed delight. April means alive,
means poetry, means spring.

Many more cop-outs, stage-fright
stunned gaping minds, pens wary
in hands, winter-wounded hearts timid.  
Fallow fields needing to be reborn,
push and shove and bud bursting.
April means raw rebirth; means 
harsh daylight, hibernation over. 

Several times I wonder 
which I am. 

Poetry answers: fizzes in fingers,
dissolves doubt in effervescent pools.
Sunlight spins. Ideas glide. Gold wins.
April preens; the whole month ahead 
a meadow of blooming flowers 
fragrant with rhyme. 

2 comments:

  1. Love the TS Eliot quote, first of all! That poem is one of my all time favourites although I always had a problem with that line about April being the cruellest month when it is so springing and blooming and lovely! But I suppose the hope is the cruel thing - it's a border-month, isn't it, betwixt and between: one moment the skies are blue and the shoots are green and the next it's grey again, and sheeting with rain.

    Anyhow, TS Eliot aside, I really liked your first poem of NaPoWriMo 2015 - the repeated ffff sound in the first stanza was lovely, and the italics were perfectly placed (I have to stop myself from using italics all the time because I over-use them, I just think they're so effective when they're used well, which they are here).

    You pretty much wove in everything that comes to mind when I think of Spring - flowers, fields, rebirth, bouquets etc - and it just feels so natural and lovely and light, in a beautiful reflection of the poem's subject. I also like how you made poetry the twin of the month in the last stanza, both April and the poetry world are these lovely blooming things that make the world a bit prettier to be in.

    Looking forward to reading more!!! :-)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Cheryl :)

      Oh I do so love April! And it feels pretty perfect that NaPo takes place within its blooming borders :) Inspiration and spring are one and the same I feel :)

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