NaPo WriMo: Day 28

Near the end now, only a few days left. Here's today's poem which is taken from a short story I'm actually trying to write at the same time. 

The Cracks

Today I saw the cracks appear

The small wrinkles of the earth

They started small like maggots

Then grew longer into worms

Today I saw the cracks appear

Like lace around my feet

They sliced into the earth’s skin

Then split open like a pear

Today I saw the cracks appear

As though traced with marker pen

I stepped over them one by one

Then erased them with my feet

NaPo WriMo: Day 27

Boxes half full you carried half my things down the stairs

Whilst I stayed in the sweaty heat and tried to finish packing

Flattened cardboard around me with no celetape left

And with each lift of the box we spoke of times

That could be and forgot of the reasons why I was leaving

And loading up the van I stood in circles of

Items that didn’t look like mine anymore

Shirts sticking to our back and the taste of salt in my mouth

We ran out of words to say but only because there was too much

The engine purred on the large van as we pulled

Away without a thought of what we were leaving behind

Accept the keys that we needed to find a home for

And the new place that we didn’t quite have

The road was long and icy but luckily

No traffic blocked our roots

And as the radio hummed it’s low song

I thought of you and only you,

Nothing about the things left behind of the things I was driving to.

NaPo WriMo: Day 26

This one is about a time when I got stuck in the middle of an extreme storm in New Zealand. We foolishly parked beneath a tree below a mountain and the thunder rocketed off the edge of the mountain and felt like it was consuming our van.

The Storm

1.

Bruised sky above

Our little yellow van

Your breath soothes me to sleep

2.

The sky’s angry roar

As it echo’s around the mountain

Heart hard in my chest

3.

Motion Picture

Lighting up my view

Flashing on then off

NaPo WriMo: Day 25

That Day

Two eyes, Closed, On white face,

Not just white but pale

Rich pale

As though all soul that could bring colour has left

Two lips, Parted, As if in thirst

Or midway between saying the last word

One body, Alone, In a single bed

Soiled sheets and clothes

No last wishes or commands

Us, left beside, to misguide the truth

From his unknowing wife

NaPo WriMo: Day 24

To be Loved

NaPo WriMo: Day 23

Here's one for Day 23 which I wrote based on a little easter holiday trip to Shrewsbury. It's a first draft but isn't that the whole point of NaPo WriMo?


Summer Rain 

And when the rain came we were left with
Half finished words and undiscussed ideas
And we continued on our small talk
Until the rain became too much.

Then moving our things inside
We found we had no more words
Yet too many things left unsaid
And no way to say them


But into that evening
All I could think of was how
To express the things I never said
Only, you followed.

You always follow.

NaPo WriMo: Day 22

Today I decided to try the three worded poem. I would give it a title but I think it would be just as long as the poem.



Tonight
          Only you.

NaPo WriMo: Day 21

Nice summery one today. Sorry. It had to be done. I just couldn't resist writing about the sunshine - it's wrapped around me everywhere I go at the moment!

Forgetting You

We sat for hours at the end of the park

Watching BBQ’s cook and avoiding the smoke

Making words in the middle of our picnic blanket

And pouring sparkling wine from fake posh bottles

We sat for hours in the burning heat

You no sunscreen to wear, arms turning purple

Opening large bottles of cider

And watching kids attack trees around us

We sat for hours in our scrabble game

Comparing the themes of words in each round

Noticing when we were feeling negative,

Or tired, or rude

We sat for hours and I forgot

About everything else I needed to do

Like going to an art class

Or tidying my house

Or meeting you

And we sat for hours in the sun

Talking about nothing and everything

Eating ice lollies as they melted down our arms

And forgetting about anything else.

Forgetting about you.

Napo wrimo day 20

Another Sunday

What of? ...
No house
No job
No bed?
What of?
No place to lay my head?
What of?...
No friends
No money
No hopes
What of?
Not facing things when I cannot cope?
At least I have you.
Right?
At least I have you.

NaPo WriMo: Day 19

Bit of a depressing one today. Happy day 19 :)

Yesterday

Yesterday,
You said,
That this was something that you needed.

Today,
You say,
That this is something that you never even wanted.

NaPo WriMo: Day 17

I used to think that

Time was never ending

And that even as my body aged

My heart never would.  Then

As time passed and I grew tired

Of everything I had seen even

The thought of you could not

Keep me from ageing.

NaPo WriMo: Day 16

This one is based on travel stories I've been trying to put into some sort of poem or story for years but can never quite seem to take it away from the diary element. This one is called:

Forever Red

So we wondered through red dust me alone

you ahead, I staggered slow enough to

live my own view but just fast enough to

keep up, because no one wanted to

get lost out there.

We climbed over red rock whilst

we were told that no one was

allowed to climb these, that

it was against their religion, that

they mourned differently.

We staggered through clouds of red sand

and I kept some in a bottle, plastic against

grain, in the hope to one day show you

what it was like but through the journey

it turned brown.

And we drove through valleys of red,

camping under stars, me barely speaking

except to one Spanish girl, my hair cut

and weight lost, in a world so alien yet

so loving, thinking of never returning.

Only to live in the red forever.

NaPo WriMo: Day 15

So I've tried to be a bit more experimental with this one. I've tried to create a poem in the form of a list similiar to the one that the character in the poem would be signing. It's based on various experiences at work.

So they came and they took:

Your tumble dryer

Your TV

Your TV stand

Your car

Your Settee

Your washing machine (even though it was on hire purchase)

And your children’s toys, that you thought were classed as essential but apparently not.

So they came and the let the lock smith in and they took your items because:

They were allowed

They’d been told

Because you’d signed

What else were you supposed to do. 

I'm not too sure if lists work in poem but it might be something worth playing around with again. 

NaPo WriMo: Day 14

A sonnet for day 14. And I promise you, this is probably the worst poem I have ever written. Genuinely. I wanted to try something new, a poetry form I'd never mastered before. I hardly ever use rhyme and now I know why. This poem is called....

Because I can't Rhyme

We sat for hours in blankets of songs

Too scared to move closer; tips of arms touch

Conversation led to where we belong

You talked of comics of what you knew much

We sat for hours on top of your bed

Everyone assumed we did otherwise

I can’t remember specific words said

But we talked until it was past sunrise

Too scared to touch I knelt by your book shelves

And feigned interest in your collectables

Wrapped in knitted blankets we hid ourselves

Until at last our words became muddles

And now all I have is a memory

A remaint of what I want us to be

I've ruined a perfectly good idea I had for a poem boo hoo! But at least I got to try writing a sonnet.

NaPo WriMo: Day 13

For today's poem I've taken inspiration from the NaPo WriMo prompt yet again to write a poem in 5 minutes. I timed myself to make sure I didn't go over and I haven't editing to keep in the true spirit of the five minute poem. The idea was to write about something fast also so I've written about someone I once knew who was super fast at life. It doesn't have a title yet as I couldn't fit that into the five minute challenge!

Your limbs are like extensions

Unconnected,

Barely glued to your body

You bang your head on anything

Luckily it’s glued on tighter

The speed you move

Can’t keep up with the speed of your brain

And when you think

I can’t keep up

A conversation with you is like a race

Where I

Pass certain words

But only catch them as a blur whizzing past me

And I wonder how you rest at night.

The times we travelled I felt exhausted

Too many thoughts to contain in one day

Exhilarating but tiresome

And you never seemed to notice

How even your own body

Was too slow to keep up

And I wonder if one day

You’ll find someone just as fast

Who won’t feel like they’re running a race

When they walk next to you.

NaPo WriMo: Day 11

If I Was a Bird

If I was a bird

I would hide in your garden

Perch on a branch and

Watch you lay my seeds

If I was a bird

I would nest in your bushes

The twigs be my blankets

And the rain be my roof

If I was a bird

The worms would be my neighbours

The insects my sofas

And your hands my sun

If I was a bird

I would visit your window

Wait till you were asleep

And sing into your dream

If I was a bird

I would wake you in the mornings

Find your wonky tile

And hop above your head

If I was a bird

I would live in your garden

Let you give me name

And put me in your cage

If I was a bird

I would hide in your garden

I’d keep my wings unmoving

And never fly away.  

NaPoWriMo: Day 10

I decided to write a lighthearted poem for the 10th as it was my boyfriends birthday on the 10th April and I didn't want any negativity on that day :) I wanted to write a birthday poem but all of my thoughts began 'happy birthday to you'. Instead, here is a poem about my friends kitten which I looked after last weekend. He has thumbs!


Kitten Kisses

Kitten paws
                 creeping on my face
Eyes close
               soft pads on my cheek
Tiny mews
               sneaking in the dark

NaPo WriMo: Day 9

Welcome to day 9 of National Poetry Writing Month. Today I have tried to write about childhood. One of my first memories is sitting in the unfinished kitchen of my childhood home watching builders finish the room around me. The floor; cold naked concrete and no glass in the windows. I sat eating smarties out of a cup, because out of a cup it felt special, more grown up. So that is why this poem is called Smarties. The rhythm and stanzas are off but it's only a first draft as I've had no time to edit.

Smarties 

Your toes on the floor

Legs curled under

Beneath you naked concrete

Cold behind the knees

You leave them in the cup

Red yellow and blue

Eat only the pink

The ones that look like dreams

You watch builders through frames

Painting the kitchen wall

Filling in the holes

That your parents left behind

They say that when it’s finished

It will be an archway

A grey solid halo

At one end of the house

You curl in your dress

Legs bare against the floor

Cup of smarties in one hand

Red yellow and blue

Napo wrimo day 8

I imagine your
Face the same, his older,
Same receding hair

NaPo WriMo Day 7

Day 7. This started as a poem about growing up and is now just a poem about anger. Ha Ha! I've had an angry day today so this must have been where it came from. 

Knots

My tongue, thick like bark
rots in my mouth, as I
hold back the words I want to use.

I'm barely there, as I
breathe in your toxic
poison by breathing backwards.

And I,
chew my lips, as I
hold in my truth
to satisfy what I think you want.  

This is the way,
we tie ourselves in knots.

Also been having a look at some more light hearted poems here:
http://therumpus.net/2011/04/national-poetry-month-day-7-jack-gilbert-by-p-scott-cunningham/#more-76922