DAY 14 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island


First, a Kenning from a suggestion by Dominic Berry of Animal Writes

THE CLOCK STRUCK FIVE

Town Hall
The clock struck five
When it was quarter to
That was just one of its faces
Of four


And a limerick for Mad Kane’s humour blog

GUILELESS & SWEET

A girl who seemed guileless and sweet
Wrote a note on a boat in the Fleet
‘Dear Captain…’ she penned
‘Our romance must end
First we meet, then you cheat… you’re dead meat…!’


And a bit of fun with words – It’s an Acrostic, reading down the page from the first letter of each line and reading back up the page from the last letter of each line. Also each line is an anagram of the title.

FOURTEENTH POST

For the soup tent
on the turf ; poets.

(U.S. font there…
>>>>>>>>>>>>>P.T.O)

Re the fount stop;
ton-up for test, eh?

Enter ‘FOOT’; push ‘T’
…er, ‘F.T.’ to shut/open…
No… put fresh tote,
‘the post fortune’,
hot fortune pest!

Post, Teeth ‘n’ four
others… sent to P.F.U.
Spent to fret U… ho!
Thus tenet proof…!

DAY 13 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island


SIX AND TWO THREES

Father; Slav
Mother; Anglo-Saxon
Making me
Mixed race
Technically
An Ethnic Minority
But only by default
So some might say
In my case
You could say
It’s a stand-alone status
Without official
Recognition
No visible
Distinguishing features
No support group
No discussion forum
I look and sound the same
As all the rest of us
Caucasians

Because my history
And recent history
Occurred the way they did
I have no history
Only fading memories
Of faded traditions
And soon to be forgotten
Customs and culture

If, like me, you’ve spent
A life away from home
In a land that’s not your own
While your father’s homeland
Remains a foreign place
To him as well as you
Then so the search begins
For a place to call home

And all the while
You do your best
To fit in
Between the sniggers
And nervous smiles
The distrust
Uncertainty
Suspicions
Snide comments

“He’s not one of us…
At least not one of them…”

“What’s your name… er… mate?”

“Ski-bin-ski…Spelt as said”

“That’s a mouthful innit?”

“I suppose… I never thought…
What do you call yourself?”

“E-ther-ing-ton… with a ‘th’…”

“Oh yeah… that’s…
So much easier…
To say… and to spell…”

And so it goes on
You get used to it
…I suppose

DAY 12 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island

Brenda at Beyond the Bozone set us a wordle using the following words: ash, gloomy, hovels, corrugated, cobwebs, dandelion, scrambling, hum, laugh, feeble, crucial, words


THE FACE OF CONCERN

Are we supposed to give up
On everything we hold dear
Just because it’s Ash Wednesday?
Just because we feel gloomy?

Because we live in hovels
With corrugated tin roofs?
Rooms full of dust and cobwebs
Yards, where dandelions grow?

Make the most of what we’ve got
Or spend our entire lifetime
Scrambling to avoid the hum
Of a deprived neighbourhood?

You can choose to listen, or
Laugh at my feeble attempt
At crucial words of wisdom
Either way, the choice is yours


And here's a link to a 40 line sentence (38 actually), I wrote last year.

DAY 11 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island

EARLY DOORS

Pete the Parky’s already in
And he’s well on form tonight
He’s not a real Parky though
Is he…?

In fact he’s never been
Any kind of Greenkeeper
Council or otherwise
Has he…?

It’s just that P-word thingy
Sounds good tagged on to his name
Conversation piece nickname
As Peter likes to call it
Doesn’t he…?

And he just loves telling folk
He meets for the very first time
All about the adventures
In local parks and gardens
He’s had…!

And what an important service
He and his fellow Parkys
Or Greenkeepers, provide
For the local community
Innit…?

DAY 10 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island

QUITE THE OPPOSITE

If I asked myself

“Did you remember

To buy cheese today?”

In all likelihood,

I’d probably say

“Quite the opposite”

But that’s not because

It’s like I’d forget

To buy cheese today

No, nothing like that

“What am I thinking?”

I’d probably ask

Then maybe I’d say

“So you remembered?”

So I’d qualify

‘Quite the opposite’

My response would be

“No, no… I FORGOT…

Forgot to SELL… CHALK

…You know… YESTERDAY...

DAY 9 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island


THE BEDSITTER

What’s in the fridge then?
Cup-a-soup, already made
As luck would have it
Yesterday, the day before
Microwave, highest setting

Four or five minutes
Old stuff edible again
Nuke it; only way
It’s not worth taking chances
Especially on Friday night

Oh great… wholemeal bread!
What’s wrong with Mothers Pride White
Bit hard round the crust
Pack left open in the fridge?
…Can’t wait till Sunday at Mum’s

DAY 8 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Big Tent Poetry

This week’s prompt(s)

We are into April, National Poetry Month,
and some of you are madly writing-a-poem-a-day.
And some of you are saying, “Um, no.”
To keep all our circus-goers happy and well-fed
on cotton candy (inspiration) and peanuts (prompts),
here is a list of seven prompts:

1. Write about a broken window.
2. Write about something that no longer exists.
3. Write a poem with lungs in it.
4. Write a poem as though you are a fish.
5. Write a letter poem to someone in a war zone or a revolution.
6. Write a poem that starts, “I am sorry about _____.”
7. Write a poem that starts, “Legend says ______.”

Also posted to Writers Island


JOHN DOE

Just like me he used to smoke
Hand rolled reefers; cigarettes
That’s what they tell me at least

So I set about my task
Tobacco at the ready
Tissue-thin rolling paper
Sprinkle, roll, lick, seal and light

Fill both lungs full of toxins³
Exhale to his memory
Friend of a friend of a friend

The death of a chain-smoker
Who survived Afghanistan⁵
Only to fall to Cancer
At the age of twenty nine

Legend says he’s a hero⁷
History thinks otherwise
Local history at least

Our man – let’s call him John Doe
Is a year passed-on today
Played his part for his country
In a scene from Hell On Earth

Back to civilisation
Where the Peace On Earth Brigade
Play a war-game of their own

Hiding behind their morals
Those without, sin; cast their stones
Music to rabble’s ears, who
Love the sound of window pain¹

…Stones and glasshouse residents

Hero saves another day
Takes his wife into his arms

She’s beside herself, poor soul
And flapping about the house
Like a fish out of water⁴

Justice – what’s all that about?
Whatever became of it?
The justice heroes deserve…?

Alas it no longer exists²
…If it ever did at all

I am sorry about that⁶

DAY 7 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island

SUPER

Only takes a minute
Innit?
A smile
A nod and a wink
Don’t you think?
And sworn enemies
Are reborn best friends
Time mends
The deepest rift
Attitudes shift
And happy days
Replace the haze
And hopes are raised
Remember yesterday’s
Childish game?
I claimed my dad
Was bigger than yours
But of course
Yours was bigger than mine
That’s fine
But mine drives a Batmobile
And he can see
Through solid steel
For real!
And he flies the open skies
With an ‘S’ on his chest
He’s the best!
But me
I’m no Superman
Maybe
Desperate Dan
Less than a hero
On a scale from zero
To ten
Me, a hero?
Think again!

DAY 6 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island

PALINDROMIC ACROSTIC AMERICAN SANDWICH STYLE NAISAIKU

Dentally tortureD
Excruciating toothacheE

Thursday afternoon, I saw the local dentist for an appointmentT
About ten minutes late and I was overcome by the aromA
Rushing around the surgery like a madman, gasping for fresh aiR

THURSDAY APPOINTMENT

Reclining into the dentist’s chair, I fell into a deep slumbeR
Agony followed as he injected my lower gum areA
That’s definitely the last time I’ll see that particular dentisT

Excruciating toothacheE
Dentally tortureD

Not exactly pwoemwrds, but fun with words anyway

Tomorrable – Not possible today, but next day, sure.

Lardsm – Fat bloke

Bootyful – Fat woman

Secondomery – as practiced by:

Secondomerists – following the principles of:

Secondomerism – A political movement supported by corrupt M.P’s

DAY 5 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island
and Mad Kane's Humor Blog

4 5’s 4 5 - (Four fives for five)

A fellow was fit to be tied
Then hung with fresh herbs to be dried
It suffices to say
He’s still hanging today
But he’ll soon be chopped up to be fried

A fellow was fit to be tied
As he walked past the hangman he sighed
“Spare a life would you, mate?
For the usual rate…”
A request which the hangman denied

A fellow was fit to be tied
To a bride who had recently died
“If only she’d cared”
The sad groom declared
“It takes pride to reside by her side”

A fellow was fit to be tied
To an ambulance fifteen feet wide
Then dragged through a field
Until he was healed
Of what illness he could not decide

DAY 4 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island

WORD VERIFICATION:

TaRDist

What’s a Tardist?

What’s it got?

What’s a what?

What’s a Tardist?

Not a ‘what’
No it’s not
It’s a ‘who’
As in Time Lord Doctor Who

Who’s a Tardist?
You say Doctor Who is a Tardist?

Doctor Who is only The only Tardist
Pilot of a Time Machine
No less
Tell me you can see what I mean

Oh yes

To drive a TARDIS
Is not the hardest task to face
Regardless of Time and Space
In any case
They’re mere dimensions
Inventions created by Man
Doctor Who is no big fan
Because Who really is the man

So what’s a Time Lord?

Who’s a Time Lord
Who’s a ‘who’ who should be adored
And his TARDIS Temple should be toured
On journeys through Relative Dimensions
Extensions we positively activate
While we celebrate the times he’s saved
The day, the age
Wave upon wave
Of Daleks invading Earth
It was worth the Time Lord’s time
Time after time
The Doctor’s worth every dime
Who’s sublime?

Doctor Who, that’s Who

Who‘s Doctor Who?

You know who
You know Doctor Who
Who’s the Tardist

DAY 3 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island

ON YOUR DAY

Always in my thoughts

Miles away, years departed

Happy Mother’s Day

DAY 2 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island
and Big Tent Poetry

SECONDS

Floor level base
Place name; City Row
Income generation;
Class act skin gear fiddle
Time around World War year
'Lieutenant' in command

Sight person sitting
Interview, rate chance
String thoughts
Form opinion
Best guess
Helping hand
Coming home to none

DAY 1 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

For NAPOWRIMO 2011 Day 1
Posted to Writers Island
and Big Tent Poetry

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

It's starting
Just beginning
When will it finish?
Where will it end?

From start to finish
From beginning to end
It's starting to finish
Beginning to end

HAPPINESS

For We Write Poems - The Pursuit of Happiness
And posted to Monday Poetry Train Revisited


STARTER'S ORDERS

You'll always be at least one step behind
Don't ever let it out of your sight
You'll never get ahead of it
So aim to catch up with it
And if, and when, you do
Grab it with both hands.

With all your heart
Cherish it...

Own it...

On your marks...

Get set...

Go...!