Day 4: Poetry Prompt

 

Today's prompt is to write a poem in the form of a poetry prompt! 

How to Write a Spring Poem

1. Write with the blue ink of the sky

2. Let your words be swallows, returned beneath soft stars

redolent with journey, home-coming, flight

3. Filter the sun into adjectives that spark when read

alchemical glee

4. Press the assonance of flowers onto the page

their blooming a rhyme to keep

5. Capture: 

 the iambic pentameter of daffodils, 

the personification of leaves, 

the onomatopoeia of birdsong

6. Create a metaphor out of light

7. Explain the meaning of 'green' in sensual delight

8. Inhale the sweetness 

of begin

Day 2: Unusual Words

Today's prompt was to choose one of the unusual words from @HaggardHawks on Twitter.

Vernality - the spring, a spring-like quality, the greenness and freshness of springtime

All winter, we wait for her.

Count the hours of darkness

on rosary beads of bones,

watch the sacrifice of green

the hold of mud and decay

the bland withering of light.

Feel our resolve falter

in every howling gale,

every rain-lashed dream.

So slowly, we sense her return.

The pitter-patter of snowdrop feet,

petals as white as the moon.

Elastic light of evening

taut and tenuous as a cobweb.

We spread flowers on doorsteps

entwine green in a cross

genuflect beneath a bare branch

to bade her welcome.

Hear her whisper in birdsong,

feel her sun in the yolk yellow

of gorse, crocus, daffodil trumpets.

Her soft tread in brighter dawns,

sunset blushes. The sweeping gospel

of green again: every leaf

a prayer answered, every bud

an eternal promise,

to set our hearts blooming.

Day 1: The Body

Yay, it's Napowrimo again! Bit of a late start for me this year, but I'm getting my poem in before midnight so it's still a win! 

Today's prompt was about the body. - The idea is to write your own prose poem that, whatever title you choose to give it, is a story about the body. The poem should contain an encounter between two people, some spoken language, and at least one crisp visual image. - 

I broke the rules a little (what's new!). Didn't plan to write about love when I first say the prompt, but what do you know, it was what came out. 

Love at First Sight

You speak

and red corpuscles swarm

like fish through my veins.

Here is the heightening, the bloodrush,

the flurry of feeling making itself known.

Stomach pummels itself, helter skelter

of nerves, dirge and dream.

Stars fall from your eyes

and the universe is reborn in a breath.

I know there will be pain. I know

there will come a time when the wounds we earn

will scar our better selves, but right now

the heart, like a battered prizefighter

rattles its cage

eager to be let loose.

Sun rises in my solar plexus

as it all begins. A tear, like a jewel,

glistens on your face. I wipe it away,

taste the salt of sorrow,

the sweetness of relief.

Swallow the sky

and answer.

Jellyfish Moon

As if lassoed 

by the moon's white thrall,

the moon jellies 

glow on the beach

pearlescent

in the summer dusk.

Glittering in death,

jewels of the sea,

little moons fallen

out of orbit.

Their otherness 

passing for ordinary,

their stranding 

an oblique metaphor,

summer footnote, 

on a sun-baked evening.

 

Nonchalant moon

frames a barren beach,

tide turning away

from their purple hearts

a bruise or star,

of brave journeys

taken, known only

by the ocean's depths.

Day 30: Directions

 

Today is the last day of Napo - already! 

The prompt is to write directions to a real or an imagined places. 

How to Find a Poem

Take a right at self-doubt,

keep going until you find

illumination.

Miles of maybe, but still.

Veer off the autoroute

of complacency

into the bumpy backroads

and detours of delight.

Watch the sun glitter on water,

the sky open its concave dreaming

mouth. Be on the lookout

for bewilderment.

Navigate past the inevitable

disenchantments on towards

an eclipse of sun

brimming on the horizon.

Wait for that silver strike of awe:

take note of it in your gut.

Turn your back on cynicism,

seek inspiration

in every moment, every corner,

examine the mundane minutiae

for epiphany. At the crossroads

of word and wonder

there you will find it;

on the golden crest of an evening,

the filament of a feeling.

Finally, look into the well

of your heart and write with its ink.

Bring it all forth to the light.

Day 29: Through a Window

 

Looking Out

Through my window

there are flowers, finally.

Luscious and lashings, lovelinesses to adore.

Sunlight shimmers, lingers

long enough to bloom any winter hardiness.

April has brought blossoms to my window

and I gather them as gifts, bask in their colours, benevolence.

Soften the harsh contours of the world with petals, whimsy,

knowledge that beauty is a balm, a salve,

an essential component of living

that makes everything better.

Day 28: Questions

Today's prompt is to write a poem composed of questions, and maybe answers. 

Pleasantries

How are you?

A simple question

loaded with landmines

and fault lines, potential

emotional confession.

Does anyone want

to know the truth?

Take time to hear the berth

of your being?

Care about it -

really?

Smile and lie.

One size fits all answer. 

'Yes, fine.' 

Brush it off. Hold in 

grandiose sigh.

'And you?'

Bat it back, reciprocate. 

Smother your answer

in an outpouring

of expected takes. 

The same applies

for you. 

A greeting, concealing,

instead of 

genuine meaning. 

'But how are you really?'

I ask with my eyes, 

I've caught you short,

the only thing for it

is to surmise. 

Day 27: Obscure Sorrows

Today's prompt is to have a look at The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, pick a word and write a poem from it. Some great words/sorrows to choose from, but, I had to go with what I'm feeling as of late, when my poetic muse is missing - ENNUI!

Ennui

'The worst thing that being an artist could do to you would be that it would make you slightly unhappy constantly.' - J.D. Salinger

Deflated, dejected

I stumble-stagger,

sleepwalk through days;

cloud-cover complete.

World gone flat,

like a drink that has lost

its effervescence. Stale,

weary, definitely unsweet.

This is what it feels like (or not)

on no poem days;

existential bleariness

a blank slate of 'mehs.'

Small things depressing,

infinite shades of grey,

pedantic bottom lines,

quotidian delays.

Inspiration buried

in cynicism's concrete.

A wildflower garden of ideas

slabbed like a grave.

Mercurial, melancholic,

like those French mime artists

with a teardrop

painted on their cheeks.

Nihilist, pessimist, (and all the rest).

I am in mourning

for my joie de vivre,

ennui got my tongue.

All the world is quiet.

All the din is within.

Give me my rainbow colours!

Epiphanies, exigencies!

My spring heart grieves;

I wear winter on my sleeve.

This fallow field of feeling

the artist must supersede.

Day 26: Parody

 Today's prompt was to write a snarky parody ha!

Coffee-Con

A frappe and not a latte?

What is this whipped malarkey!

What happened to real coffee?

Has everyone gone softy?

The Americanos, double espresso -

so many coffee shops and hey presto!

A concoction of fluffy drinks -

they've got nearly every pick -

except ah, the real thing

to make your tastebuds zing!

Coffee nowadays is just a prop

not an elixir that hits the spot,

a selfie declaration

of a new trend obsession.

Non-caf, de-caf, flavoured, iced -

I don't care, just make it nice!

Day 25: Occasion Poem

 

Today's prompt is to write an occasion poem. 

Summer

Bring out the bunting, barbecues, beach trips.

Deckchairs, sun loungers, parasols, bikinis.

Welcome back flowers, foliage and freckles.

Hello sun, fun and ice-cream sundaes,

pineapples, strawberries, passionfruit daiquiris.

The greening of gardens, the tanning of limbs.

Daisy-decked lawns and rose scented sentiments.

A thousand shades of yellow: buttercup, dandelion,

laburnum and camomile, honey haze of morning light.

The stage-show of sunsets: cerise, peach, flamingo pink.

Stars like fireflies in blue midnight skies.

Swallows, swifts and kaleidoscope butterflies.

Happiness like a bumblebee humming in nectar.