River of Words: April 2023

Sunday, 30 April 2023

Thank you #NaPoWriMo

#NaPoWriMo Thank you for the fun and for the challenge!! I can't believe I've managed to write a poem every day and even got my blog River of Words up and running before it was all over! I was the last to do so apparently! 😅 Such a huge learning curve for me and never have I written so much poetry in such a short time even on workdays! I'm even quite pleased with a couple of them! Well done to everyone who wrote a poem a day for the whole month. It's been so inspiring to read such good poems. 🎉

#NaPoWriMo Day 30

A palinode poem, retracting a view expressed in an earlier poem.

Not the Crow

No! I am not the crow

I will not eat those worms

I prefer to lift them gently from the path

I will be a different bird

One with feathers of light and a quiet song of peace

I will sing my song from high treetops to the empty open air

Singing for the joy of singing

Flying over sunlit fields.

Saturday, 29 April 2023

#NaPoWriMo Day 29 I'm a Vegan Sausage Roll

#NaPoWriMo Day 29 A food poem.

Sausage Roll

I'm a Gregg's sausage roll, but vegan

Quorn centred, super tasty

cruel people call me joker,

a greasy interloper,

not fit to share a counter with a real pig

sausage roll.

My given name is Karen

I prefer that one to Kevin

but my friends just call me yummy

as they cram me in their mouths.

I know I am a trickster, but I do it

for the planet, just try me

pigs will praise you

as they worship me their saviour

I know they like to keep their meat inside

their pretty hides.

Friday, 28 April 2023

#NaPoWriMo Day 28 The Earth

#NaPoWriMo Day 28

An index poem. The Earth...

as seen from space, 27;

its distance from the sun, 34;

wondrous third planet, 43;

its incredible variety of flora and fauna, 52;

its delicate web of life, 53;

our history of abuse, 666;

our relationship with it, 80;

Gaia our mother, more fact than fiction, 42;

depletion of her minerals and animals, 94;

pollution and destruction since the industrial revolution, 97;

our role in global warming, 100;

our urgent need to protect it, 105;

the importance of rewilding, 106;

how we should care for it, 107;

its future prospects, 113;

our hope for it, 123.

Thursday, 27 April 2023

#NaPoWriMo Day 27 The Blackbird of Impermanence

#NaPoWriMo Day 27

I had to write a poem titled “The ________ of ________,” where the first blank is a very particular kind of plant or animal, and the second blank is an abstract noun.

The Blackbird of Impermanence

The blackbird sang

the day I wed -

A song of liquid light as

the smooth Summer river flowed like a

glistening shoal of marigolds.

I heard the same song

that night I thought I'd die -

Before dawn the blackbird answered my cries with lilting laughter.

My perfect child a bruised thing of beauty burst from my inside.

She mewed like a drowned kitten.

Our eyes met.

The bird came again

In a cold place when I felt my lonely ride was done

the notes trailed into darkness

the music was gone

you were just a plain black bird

eating worms.

As my seasons turn around

the blackbird watches with golden eye

A cloak of feathers can't ward of evil

Yet if I sit and breathe I hear his fluid song once more.

Wednesday, 26 April 2023

#NaPoWriMo Day 26 Your Mother Must Have Known

#NaPoWriMo Day 26

The prompt for today was to write a portrait poem that focuses on or plays with the meaning of the subject’s name. So here's mine...

Your mother must have known

When you were fresh out in this World

How great you'd one day be

So capable and strong.

When you were young at school

Your friends would pull your leg

You'd need to be the best

To live up to your name.

You did it your own way

You never compromised

You made them understand

You really are just ACE 💗

#NaPoWriMo Day 25 Mum's Garden (a love poem)

#NaPoWriMo Day 25

Today’s prompt was to write a love poem.

Mum's Garden (a love poem)

My mum's garden is a treasure

a bright kaleidoscope of flowers

she's the sweet Lily of the Valley

standing small and strong.

Welcoming with kindness all of us

who love her greatly

her family and her friends

so many little birds.

Beloved hedgehog

well fed squirrel (who may just love the birdseed)

Welcoming all (except the neighbour's cat).

Her hard won treasure

made from

cold winter working days,

aching back digging days

sore knee weeding days -

and

lots of cups of tea

from

frost nipped fingers,

summer skin burning

rain soaked clothing

seaside wind whipping -

drying

washing on the line.

Mum's garden shows her goodness

with the seasons' constant turning

soft petal perfume,

ripe tomatoes, apples, pears.

A pond decked for frogspawn

with yellow flower margins

and iris for the dragonflies

to practice slalom turns

Ivy for the birds' nests

a shelter for the hedgehog

hidden corners for great grand kids

who come play hide and seek.

This is my garden Love Poem

I love my mother dearly

and thank her for her love and care

that's made her garden grow.

#NaPoWriMo Day 24 River Boat

#NaPoWriMo Day 24 We were prompted to write a poem in the form of a review.

River Boat

Simple

and

compact

accommodation

allowing maximum minimisation.

Providing

a surprisingly

wonderful and cosy lifestyle on

the beautiful flowing River Thames.

Fairly close to all amenities

(distances vary

depending on moorings)

Physical capability and good walking shoes or wellies recommended.

A peaceful retreat from reality.

Those seeking therapy

for their minds

will especially appreciate

its attributes.

To watch the river flowing is especially conducive to letting things go.

As Bruce Lee said...

Be like water my friend.

Gives an

unsurpassed view of the river

from kitchen, bathroom and bedroom.

So close you can touch it.

Washing up will

never be the same again.

The swans will be your friends.

The rowers maybe not so.

Incredible opportunities

for

photographers, birdwatchers

and nature lovers alike.

Sunset and sunrise will astound and amaze.

Getting up will become worthwhile.

Environmentally friendly

and

cheap to run

with the added attraction of

solar panels for electricity

and a log burner for warmth.

Prepare to remove most or all clothing when the burner is on.

Providing many fun challenges

for the adventurous

especially in Winter

when

you're up shit creek without a paddle

when there's ice to smash.

Earplugs

total surrender

recommended for deep sleep

when the river is

in flood.

Not recommended

for those with

arachnophobia,

motion sickness or

a fear of water fowl

and camping toilets.

Also not recommended

for non-swimmers

in case of engine failure.

For practising Buddhists

it facilitates

the chopping of wood

and the carrying of water

both

before

and after

enlightenment.

Would be perfect

in the event of

flooding

a rise in sea levels.

Ten out of ten swans recommend it.

#NaPoWriMo Day 23 Sorting the Shed

#NaPoWriMo Day 23

Write a poem that has multiple numbered sections. Attempt to have each section be in dialogue with the others, like a song where a different person sings each verse, giving a different point of view.

Sorting the Shed

Whose junk is this

It's in the way

This really is no fun!

Oh what a mess

It's all your fault

My Sunday morning's done!

I'll sort it if you're nice to me

It really isn't hard

I'm so fed up

To have to help

A tyrant and retard!

Oh I can't bear the two of you!

I've heard it all before

just be polite and pull your weight

it isn't such a chore, and

you shouldn't use that language

it really isn't kind, you need to think

how others feel and

what you think they'd mind

I hear the songbirds singing

the grass is green and long

the flowers all are oh so quiet

I hear the river's song

Springtime is fresh and lovely

I'm in a sunshine mood

I'll help you all without a care

then give the swans some food

#NaPoWriMo Day 22 A Whining Fellow in the Night

#NaPoWriMo Day 22 We had to make up our own poem based on an Emily Dickinson poem that I've never read before. I based mine on "A Narrow Fellow in the Grass"

A Whining Fellow in the Night

A whining fellow in the night

Occasionally rides

You may have heard him

Did you not?

He smells you from afar.

You'll hear him fly

Around your ear

He's hardly ever seen

And then he bites

A juicy bit

Some part that's poking out.

He likes a boggy acre

A hot damp atmosphere

And when your body's naked

He sneaks up very near.

Sometimes at night you'll see him

Relaxing on your wall

You swipe your shoe

Not fast enough, he simply buzzes off.

I love the things of nature

The creatures that I meet

But this one I could murder

If only I was fleet.

#NaPoWriMo Day 21 Anxiety

#NaPoWriMo Day 21 I chose anxiety from a given list of abstract nouns. We had to include a made up word 😉

Anxiety

Nail chewed

Finger bitten

Jagged mind

Geyser feelings

Skin splitting

Pressure rise

Centrifugic

Brittle edges

Killer clowns

Nightmare mind probe

Paralysing

Inner howl

Overthinking

Shattered night time

Owl clock eyes

Splintered suck breath

Soporphobic

Sleep denied

#NaPoWriMo Day 20 Digging for Bones

#NaPoWriMo Day 20

We had to write what future archaeologists would make of us based on a particular object or place. Here's mine...

Digging for Bones

Our excavation began

the 105th anniversary of

Holy Moon's explosion.

My third mission from Mars.

We discovered traces of primitive buildings,

Artifacts ten metres down.

I'm a boneologist,

Bones are what fascinate.

We unearthed many species

unknown today.

A faded sign read 'Chester Zoo'.

What Earth must once have been

when such fabulous creatures existed,

A place of gaia-legends and nature-myths,

Nothing like our perfect home planet of Hybrid cyber-humans

and

Cockroaches.

#NaPoWriMo Day 19 The Dark

#NaPoWriMo Day 19

For the prompt today we were asked to cast our minds back to our own childhood and write a poem about something that scared us – or was used to scare us – and which still haunts us (if only a little bit) today.

So here's mine...

The DARK

you knew it scared me

you liked to hear my screams.

for when the lights had all gone out

mind

made

Monsters!

You sent me down to cellars

you led me into lofts

you shut the door

turned off the lights

and took your monster pill

You made that awful noise

the one you knew I hated

I screamed you laughed

you thought it fun

just an enormous silly joke

You never saw what I saw

when all the lights went out

you could not feel my panic

just thinking it a game

You wouldn't see what I saw

or feel the way I froze

you didn't know

the shadow beasts

foul creatures that appeared

So many grasping horrid things

the nasty and abhorrent things

the scratching and the biting things

that came from every side

You made me scream

I made you laugh

I thought the world of you

I always loved you Daddy

you just never really knew!

#NaPoWriMo Day 18 River ABC

#NaPoWriMo Day 18

Today we were challenged to write an abecedarian poem, a poem in which the word choice follows the letters/order of the alphabet. Anyway I did one...

A-ll around my little

B-oat

C-hange is clear to see

D-ucks dip downstream and

E-very creature wakes and seeks a mate

F-ish spawn with frenzy, wild

G-eese chase

H-erons hunt alone

I love the way of nature and I love my Springtime home

J-ust when the sun is going down

K-eep watching

L-earn to listen

M-osquitoes may not be your friends but

N-ight-time bats will eat them

O-wls spectate and oversee the

P-layful little otters, they

Q-uest for food and swim so fast to catch fish for their supper

R-ed kites fly high in bright sunrise

S-wans swim so serenely

T-he little mouse

U-pon the

V-ines

W-inks and squeeks words

that are

X-rated

Y???

She likes to say just what she thinks

and eats poems with

Z-est until she's really sated

#NaPoWriMo Day 17 My Apple Pie Life

#NaPoWriMo Day 17

Today’s challenge was to write a poem that contains the name of a specific variety of edible plant.

My Apple Pie Life

An apple a day keeps the doctor away?

That's what I heard.

One of five-a-day

to make you live

longer...

ever

lengthening

life

apples...

Once tiny tart crab apples

grew in my neighbour's garden

I remember pulling faces

climbing up old apple trees.

Sweet Cox's Orange Pippins

that scrummy eating apple

scrumped from a high walled orchard

by my daring sister Jan.

Halloween bob apples

Autumn Russet beauties

Discoveries of wonder

Granny Smith's, Braeburns and Spartans.

Bramley apple branches

hanging heavy, dropping windfalls

my memories of mum's custard

ladled thick on apple pies.

Now in my own back garden

I have poplar trees and willow

I so miss the trees of childhood

my sweet apple munching days.

#NaPoWriMo Day 16 Home

#NaPoWriMo Day 16

Today's prompt was to write a poem of negation. A poem that involves describing something in terms of what it is not.

Home

My home is not an easy place

I don't drive there by car

I cannot walk or run to it

although it isn't far.

I do not turn a tap to drink

I may not have a bath

unless I fell into the Thames

but then I would not laugh.

I cannot easy get to shops

when outboards will not start

my mum is far too far to come

I do not like that part.

I do not miss the petrol fumes

I do not miss TV

I would not want a bigger home

that couldn't float you see.

I would not like to be without

owls, otters, swans and then

I'd miss the songs of little birds

the blackbirds and the wren.

I would not like to miss the sight

of red kites flying high

I would not like to be without

tall trees that touch the sky.

I will not tell you how I love

sweet nature all around

suffice to say it soothes my heart -

the sights, the scents, the sound.

I would not swap my home

you see, I would not live elsewhere

the flowing river is my home

I live without a care.

(P. S. Please spare a thought for the kingfishers, squirrels, deer, fox, badgers, herons, cormorants, grebes, geese, ducks, bats, mice, fish, spiders, insects and any other creatures who would not fit in my poem. Except maybe the mink, despite them being so beautiful, because they like to kill everything else).

#NaPoWriMo Day 15 The Paragon

#NaPoWriMo Day 15

The Paragon

Someone to

look

Rows of cross-legged children

with cricks in their necks

He won an OBE

the perfect headmaster

Author of 'Titty's Terrible Talks'

could crush us like insects

under

his

feet.

#NaPoWriMo Day 14 I Haven't a Clue Whose Woods These Are

#NaPoWriMo Day 14

The challenge was to write a parody of a famous poem.

So here's my parody of Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost...

I haven't a clue whose woods these are.

The owner may live very far

And he may have CCTV

To see me stop and take a wee.

My moped's running out of gas.

The service station I did pass.

Between the pub and my campervan

I dropped my phone, I'm feeling crass.

I try to rev the engine up,

Take out my bottle for a sup.

I hear a police car drawing near

The siren's screech is very clear.

The ditch is muddy, deep and wide

But I have stolen goods to hide.

I'll bury them before I'm spied

I'll bury them before I'm spied.

#NaPoWriMo Day 13 Private Jokes

#NaPoWriMo Day 13

Tell a poem like a joke...

I live in a boat.

The more it rains

the higher I float.

Our lives

are

funny

whatever way

you look at them.

Our private jokes.

#NaPoWriMo Day 12 Dear Poem

#NaPoWriMo Day 12

Today we were challenged to write a poem that addresses itself or some aspect of itself. So here's mine...

🤔

Why do I write you poem

Is there any need

What is the benefit

Who really pays you heed?

Multicoloured offerings

Nonsense words that spew

Jangling fetid frothy things

Are better out of view

Why do I write you poem

What are you for

What is the benefit?

Oh poem I implore

At times you slide out freely

Golden moments fly

Petals on the river

Rainbows in the sky

Haiku, sonnets, made up trot

Discarded bits of whim

Sometimes I think it might be best

To keep the fuckers in!

#NaPoWriMo Day 11 Overheard Words

#NaPoWriMo Day 11

The prompt challenged us to play around with overheard language. So here's mine called Overheard Words...

Back to back

Or side by side

A snippet of

Our separateness

Unwilling eavesdrop

Listens in

Your Words a snapshot

Stranger things

Glancing off

Leaving their marks

Cruel

Ecstatic

Words of fear

Or kind

And lilting

To my ear

Your words not mine

Misunderstood

Not Telepathic

Tower of Babel

Words that injure

Words that heal

Chinese whispers

Gossiping

Love poetry

Verbal abuse

Jokes

First words

Remembrances

Words can start or halt a war

Words will make a fight or mend it

When all our words are finally done

And hurled through space towards the sun

What will our final symphony be

Choose with care

Each syllable

For once emitted

Words are free

#NaPoWriMo Day 10 Sea Shanty

#NaPoWriMo Day 10

Had to write a Sea Shanty. Now I can't stop singing it! 😅🌊

Haul away

Haul away all

We'll make our way

As the sea birds call

The waves will crash

and the flag will fly

We'll get to land

before we die

Haul away

Haul away all

We'll make our way

As the sea birds call

We sailed away

And it's been five years

The rum's all gone

And we've drunk the beers

Haul away

Haul away all

We'll make our way

As the sea birds call

Our hearts won't fail

As we brave the foam

Just a few more days

'Til we reach our home

Haul away

Haul away all

We'll make our way

As the sea birds call

Oh I can't wait

To see my love

And give my thanks

To the Lord above

Haul away

Haul away all

We'll make our way

As the sea birds call

Haul away

Haul away all

We'll make our way

As the sea birds call!

#NaPoWriMo Day 9 Gaia's Child

#NaPoWriMo Day 9

*Sonnet Sunday!* Never having written a sonnet before I'm quite glad to have managed it 😅

Gaia's Child

Does the golden mist rise from the river?

Does the lone kingfisher dive like a dart?

Can she spear silver fish all aquiver?

Can electric flash make cold waters part?

Do red kites fly free above tall treetops?

Does tiny wren hop low upon the ground?

I'll sit here 'til my breathing almost stops,

Listening to a symphony of sound.

When harvest moon lies upon the water

And naked trees dance pale in the breeze,

You'll see I have become Gaia's daughter

Her beauty fills my heart and mind with ease.

Nature surrounds me, I feel like a child.

I love my boat life, was born to be wild.

#NaPoWriMo Day 8 Fenrir

#NaPoWriMo Day 8

This was a real challenge! The complicated prompt is given below my poem. Anyway... Here it is! Enjoy! 😂

The night was black as tar,

My gloveless fingers frozen to my sword.

I fell.

With taste of iron and sound of splintered ice my head thudded against rock.

I watched the wolves move closer,

Their breath the fragrance of death metal music.

I know you Fenrir of Thrudheim.

The full moon reveals my beautiful friend... my buddy!

You make the sun shine.

Velkommen!

The shaggy beast of freedom.

Teeth bared in a fierce smile.

You lift me as you leap into the sky.

You're going to carry the warrior maiden home.

To her ungodly parents.

We are all Gods!

Takk min venn.

Fenrir bowed low.

The scent of heavy metal filled the air.

The prompt is called the “Twenty Little Poetry Projects,” and was originally developed by Jim Simmerman. And here are the twenty little projects themselves — the challenge is to use them all in one poem:

1. Begin the poem with a metaphor.
2. Say something specific but utterly preposterous.
3. Use at least one image for each of the five senses, either in succession or scattered randomly throughout the poem.
4. Use one example of synesthesia (mixing the senses).
5. Use the proper name of a person and the proper name of a place.
6. Contradict something you said earlier in the poem.
7. Change direction or digress from the last thing you said.
8. Use a word (slang?) you’ve never seen in a poem.
9. Use an example of false cause-effect logic.
10. Use a piece of talk you’ve actually heard (preferably in dialect and/or which you don’t understand).
11. Create a metaphor using the following construction: “The (adjective) (concrete noun) of (abstract noun) . . .”
12. Use an image in such a way as to reverse its usual associative qualities.
13. Make the persona or character in the poem do something he or she could not do in “real life.”
14. Refer to yourself by nickname and in the third person.
15. Write in the future tense, such that part of the poem seems to be a prediction.
16. Modify a noun with an unlikely adjective.
17. Make a declarative assertion that sounds convincing but that finally makes no sense.
18. Use a phrase from a language other than English.
19. Make a non-human object say or do something human (personification).
20. Close the poem with a vivid image that makes no statement, but that “echoes” an image from earlier in the poem.

#NaPoWriMo Day 7 Mum's Spare Room

#NaPoWriMo Day 7

I had to write a poem with a list included...

Mum's Spare Room

Bed linen with a scent of breeze,

bright colours of your handmade quilts,

beloved scraps from long gone days,

soft wool in bags and birthday cards.

Embroidered birds,

pot pourri hats,

cookery books with markers in.

Fading photos, eulogies,

essences of friendship's end.

That dreaded computer still plugged in and rows and rows of slanting files.

Sewing kits, grandchildren's art,

a folded bed for when they arrive.

I hear your tread upon the stair

Listening for birdsong 🐦💗

#NaPoWriMo Day 6 Foreign Words

#NaPoWriMo Day 6

Inspired by the poems from Poetry International.

Foreign Words...

Your soft spun words slip like mutton from my mouth

I speak and your starlit reflections turn to mud

With my voice your sounds distort and your echo is gone

Your softness is hardened, your sharpness now dull

Yet we are connected

You see what I see

We breathe the same air

as we dance on this Earth

So I will pause, breathe your breath,

place a hand on your heart

Feel your ecstacy,

your pain, your love and your World

Let's gather together and rise up on fire

with the gift of tongues

from each other's land

#NaPoWriMo Day 5 Pig

#NaPoWriMo Day 5

I had to write a poem which included inappropriate laugher... 🐖

Pig

the Pig broke into our tent

indignant and raging

as big as a hippo

and solid like a wall

my Mother shrieked and prodded it with a tiny fork

she'd been turning sausages

on the camping stove

one half cooked banger still pronged by the fork

as she tried to shoo the sow away

I never saw my Mum so brave

with curlers in her hair

her slippers danced as she flailed at the beast

the great Pig fled

we cheered and laughed

then we sat down to eat her children

#NaPoWriMo Day 4 River Triolet

#NaPoWriMo Day 4

My first attempt at a triolet*

The river flows from spring to sea

past golden fields and moonless woods

It washes and it carries me

the river flows from spring to sea

So I let go, becoming free

Pale petals flung on winter floods

The river flows from spring to sea

past golden fields and moonless woods

*A triolet is an eight-line poem. All the lines are in iambic tetramenter (for a total of eight syllables per line), and the first, fourth, and seventh lines are identical, as are the second and final lines. This means that the poem begins and ends with the same couplet. Beyond this, there is a tight rhyme scheme (helped along by the repetition of lines) — ABaAabAB.

Sunday, 23 April 2023

#NaPoWriMo Day 3 I Heard a Bird Sing

Day 3 Opposite Poem

🐦 🐦

I heard a Bird sing - when you were born -

The Exaltation in the Room

Was like the Exaltation in the Sky -

Above a Rainbow's Arch -

(From Emily Dickinson... I heard a fly buzz)

I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

The Stillness in the Room

Was like the Stillness in the Air -

Between the Heaves of Storm -

#NaPoWriMo Day 2 River Promise

#NaPoWriMo Day 2

The challenge...I had to answer some questions then make a poem from my answers.

What is elusive?

-hiding under my stone

What is an Owl?

-feathered soft spun caller

What is fog?

-white cold curtains

What is a river?

-the flow that soothes and letting go

What is a miracle?

- I'm still breathing in and out

What is mercurial?

-the darkness within

What is a song?

-rhythms and lilting

What is a cyclops?

-one shuttered eye

What is thunder?

-the sound of opening

What is artillery?

-piercing

What is an acorn?

-a promise beginning

💗 💗

beneath heavy earth

enshrouded in silence

cold curtains surround me

a soft spun caller

on quiet feathered wings

with rhythms and lilting

lifts the darkness within

then with sound of split sky

piercing and opening

my one shuttered eye

as the cool water flows

with a sparkle a shimmer

release

and let go

the miracle of life

I'm still breathing

still being...

the promise begins

💗

#NaPoWriMo Day 1 A Masque of Days

My first attempt at writing poetry for the whole month of April has begun. We had to write a poem based on a book cover.

The one I chose was A Masque of Days by Charles Lamb (1901)... 💗

We ride alone

through spectres of the past

arriving at this point beneath the sky

our time is come

this moment

take off your perfumed clothes

and stand naked

amongst the broken lilies

be free and clean

feel warmth on your face

the masque of days

is ours

National Poetry Writing Month 2023 #NaPoWriMo To Be a Poet

I challenged myself to write a poem every day for a month following the prompts from the National Poetry Writing Month's website. I'm already on Day 23 but just got round to making a blog. I'll post my poems starting here...

to be a poet

to breath words of gold

the river doesn't think about its song

neither does the blackbird

it sings songs so sweet

maybe I'm the crow

I will carry worms and fly free in blue sky

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Sunday, 23 April 2023