Day 19: Walking archive

My walking archive of knick knacks from around the house... as I don't really collect things from walks. 



Hoarder

A green aventurine Buddha
squats adventureless on the windowsill -
laughter lines gathering dust,
his smile, an enigma, still.

An opalescent pearl heart
catches light from a door.
A découpage decorated birdhouse
never to go outside.

A sundial paperweight on a shelf,
its gold wing slicing time
into shadow and light; a reminder
of all its wealth and wrath.

A glass jar of bleached shells,
bones of a beach walk from long ago.
A solar lightbulb with flowers 
suspended on the inside.

A family of shiny red Russian dolls
standing in descending order.
A dozen - or just under -
glass votive holders. 

Totems of happiness and/or luck.
Reminders to live, laugh, love
before it is all too late.
A museum of collectibles cataloguing 

flotsam and jetsam moments
from the tides of time gone by.

Day 18: Little Pleasures

Today's prompt was to write an ode to life's small pleasures.

This is an ode to the little pleasures in my Saturday. 



Saturday

Camellia blossoms in full bloom
candy pink neon hues;

Saturday coffee and papers
an hour hammocked in reading;

the swirl of milk in espresso
delicate smooth artful crema;

the cat asleep at the top of the stairs
sun-napping the landing;

birdsong chiming in the blue air
cherry blossoms everywhere;

nothing to do but loll
in the afternoon's golden embrace;

pizza for dinner with homemade pesto
and wine like honeyed light;

night a feasting of writing, reading; 
stars more noticeable than ever now. 

Day 17: Technology

Today's prompt was to write about piece of forgotten technology.



Walkman

the joy of music on the go
even if it jumped with every footfall 

a yellow brick that thrummed
in hand, with every button click -

the unbridled bebop of a beat
ricocheting through each heartbeat

the sadness of spaghetti tangled tape
and low battery pain

the click and load of pressing 'play'
world melting away;

all my favourites taped to stay
in rewind re-runs and fast-forward fury

(the mixtape, that personal artefact
of one's emotions at any given date)

in sync with life then - awkward and clunky
but always a solid comfort

Day 16: Praise

Today's prompt was to praise a person, place or thing we love. Tried several before settling on this. (I think I may have been influenced by Kenneth Koch here...!) And I've made up my own neologism - beautifulest. 


In Praise of Poetry

Poetry is wild honey collected at dawn. 
A blossom tree in a ghost estate. 
Metaphorical morphine, on a drip intake.
Sweet as sugar boiled to a syrup.
As dark as coffee, double ristretto espresso
to be exact. A shot of perpetual pick-me-up. 
As welcome as an unexpected green light.
As surprising as a red balloon
vying for sky in a grey city block. 
As startling as a tiger's stripes up close in a zoo. 
More intricately patterned than butterfly wings,
with more miniscule mechanisms than the insides of a clock. 
As translucent and otherworldly as a jellyfish floating by
in a dark cavernous sea. 
As iridescently coloured as a hummingbird in sunlight, 
a flicker of dazed delight. 
Truth, to the power of ten and multiplied by
a hundred thousand heartbeats. 
More beautiful than the most beautifulest day. 

Day 15: Music

Today's prompt was to write a poem inspired by and perhaps mimicking a favourite piece of music. This had me stumped for a while as I have so many favourite pieces of music...!

Moonlight Serenade - Glenn Miller

Moonlight Serenade

Night blooming jasmine

moonlight a silken caress

a brazen breeze

summer soft heat

lovers waltzing

 around a garden

the green furore

 of trees, hedges,flowers

chandelier moon

words spoken 

never too soon

round and round

everything lost found

big band ruby swell

hearts contract, relax

revelatory romance spells

grandiose confessions

bejewelled beautiful moon

gate swinging open

on a white rose garden
blooming, big, beautiful

in the heart

big brass band 
furore

hearts expanding

revelatory romance

late night blooming 
love

Day 14: Poets Influence

Today we had to write a poem incorporating something about the poets and poetry that has inspired us to write poetry.

I have too many of those to mention so decided to stick with this poem about the Billy Collins live poetry readings I have been watching lately. 
Find them on his Facebook or Instagram page. 



Still Life with Billy Collins

My new morning routine - 
coffee and poetry 
with Billy Collins 
via Facebook live, 
because Billy Collins is a poet
who will always make you smile. 

I watch him on my phone, 
propped up horizontally 
against the fruit bowl,
little moons of oranges alight
from the sunlight streaming in -
a kind of modern still life

as his words waft 
from his wood-panelled home study,
framed fish in the background
with their open-mouthed perpetual 
astonishment somewhat warranted
for his laconic, drifting drawl,

as he tells us ways of leaving our home 
reading from his suitably titled collection
'Sailing Alone Around the Room', talks about 
Wordsworth, Pepys, the poet in solitude;
his 'delinquent' trip to the post office;
how to keep track of the days
by breaking a salad bowl maybe;

and how he'd like to imagine
a person in an Easter bonnet
walking down Fifth Avenue 
at the weekend, oblivious 
to the news, wondering
where the hell the Easter Parade is.

He reminds me how poetry 
gives to all the curios of our lives 
free reign.
And even in the middle 
of a pandemic a reminder
that there are still things

to smile about, laugh about, get curious
about 

and that
it's still life, after all. 

Day 13: Apology

Today's prompt was to write a poem in which we are sorry, but not really, for something we stole. 



The Poet's Apologia

I have stolen ideas, too many to mention. 
Plucked from the air, the sky's blue telling
or what a tree whispers to the wind.   
Unpicked golden threads from ordinary days
to embroider my vision; moonlight fruit
from the garden of reading. 
Like a magpie, on the lookout for silver loot
and let its shine glint in my eye.
Lined my nest with the borrowed blue 
of robins eggs; hatchlings of thoughts 
cradled until they are mine.
A phrase, here, and there - caught in a net
and set to paper, transcribed treasure. 
And I have been a thief of time,
stealing minutes and hours 
whittling away at words, oblivious of when. 
I have stolen the sun from the sky
and placed it in your eyes, so when I look now
at my verse, the rhymes blind.

Day 12: Triolet

Today's prompt was to write a triolet. 

I'm being lazy today, but oh well...



April Lovesong

The cherry blossom in bloom
romancing the street.
Summer will be here soon,
the cherry blossom in bloom.
Humming its pink tune -
maybe there we will meet?
The cherry blossom in bloom
romancing the street.

Day 11: The Language of Flowers

Today's prompt was inspired by the Victorian language of flowers, which I am fascinated by!


Yellow Roses - Jealousy, betrayal

All summer long they bloomed,
the yellow roses in the garden,
and right into autumn too
hardy to all wind and rain.

A splash of honey sun until I knew
their ill-bearing connotations; 
jesters of brightness, a dozen
false suns mocking my bad luck. 

Who said friendliness lived here
in their garish petals? 
Canary loud reminder of the love
gone to spoil, the wound 

that festers still. Optimism snagged 
on reality's thorns, the bruise to bear. 
The yellow of Van Gogh's despair,
heart jaundiced by a wrong affair. 





Lily of the Valley - a return to happiness

It's where we always knew, but 
not really. Green fields of ordinary days.
Trees blooming, bettering the way. 
Where forward was not a notion, but a motion
under the blue sky invitations of May. 
Some day then maybe, in that benevolent month ahead - 
when these clouds will have scattered
and time again, is white, bright and blooming,
our teardrops shed will be blessings re-made. 
And we will walk through the days, those fairy flowers
tinkling beneath our feet, their bells of mirth 
ringing out - happiness returned, happiness again -

all the more sweet, all the more adored. 

Day 10: Hay(na)ku

Today's prompt was to write a haynaku, or a few of them...



Day
begins in 
a green rush

Sun
comes out
bright and warm

Afternoon 
stretches long
laze and lounge

Cat 
jumps up
purrs and preens

Time
ticks on
minutes then hours

Watch
news again
same thing worse

Sun
goes down
dull and cold

Cat 
slinks home
sleeps in ball

Dark
descends slow
lasts all night

Tomorrow
rise, repeat
future tense gone.