NaPoWriMo Day 12

Isn't it great that so many people have joined up to this self discipline?  I'd just be lazing around the house, watching daytime tele and wondering whether to have KFC or pizza for dinner - I wish.  However, I look forward to opening up the NaPoWriMo site and seeing what the next prompt is, although I have to confess that I am ignoring the one for today, but I have treid to keep the basic theme.


Day 12 - Prompt: take a poem (in a foreign language and attempt phonic translation, or something similar)

Learning a Language

I’m not good with foreign languages

I think it’s those guttural sounds

So, for me, today’s poetry prompt

Is well and truly out of bounds

It’s not that I don’t like foreigners

And I love different foods, and sun

But when it comes to speaking the lingo

Well, I just don’t know how it’s done

At school we had lessons in German

But I’ve only ever been to France

So my counting and short conversation

Was never really given a chance

I’ve tried the CDs and earphones

I quite fancied Afrikanns

But that’s really guttural and Dutch like

So I ‘d have to depend on my charms

I’m British so I just look helpless

Shrug my shoulders a couple of times

Shout ‘cos I think that’s helpful

And if that fails, well I’d mime

NaPoWriMo Days 9, 10 and 11

I'm not keeping as up to date as I would like, but I am managing to follow the prompts this year.  Anyway, here are my latest offerings:

Day 9 – prompt : Persona Poem

A wedding is announced

I don’t want to complain but it’s always the same,

Me doing all the jobs.

They just couldn’t care and it’s really not fair

They’re useless, uncaring, they’re slobs.

Oh Daddy dear why don’t you hear

They’re spiteful and I really miss mum

That woman is awful and I know that’s is lawful

But she’s only a nasty step-mum.

She dotes on her darlings

(they’re puffed up like starlings)

She bought them new clothes for a ball

She told me to stay, I’d just get in the way

Said I couldn’t go at all.

But fairy godmother came, said what a shame

That I had to stay home alone

She used magic powers and, for a few hours,

I went to the ball on my own.

All went to plan and I met a young man

He’s a prince and a jolly nice fella

Says I’m the love of his life, wants me for his wife

Yes me, little Cinderella.

Day 10 – prompt:  steal a first line from another poet

(Pam Ayres – The Harvest Hymn – first line only!)

Give thanks for the Harvest

All is safely gathered in, the barns are full of grain

Nature now can take a rest and leave off chucking rain

Last year it was hosepipe bans, this year too much water

My house is falling down ‘cos you’ve washed away the mortar

Geraniums did tempt me and I grew them by the score

Uprights and the trailing ones, I had them by the door

But when you summoned rain clouds to dampen earth’s dry land

I think you laid it on too much and things got out of hand

For now my garden’s flooded, in fact, it’s more a stream

With only mud and puddles so I’ll have to change the theme

I wanted plants with colour, red, spicy, orange hot

But you had other plans for me, a water feature’s what I’ve got.

I give thee thanks for harvest time and food to feed us all

And answering last year’s prayers for water when you got the call

But now we’ve had a deluge, it’s brought on my sciatica

Please collect your rain clouds and bung them over Africa.

Day 11 - prompt: use all five senses

Jack Frost 

I heard him cracking at the window

fingers scratching to get in

And watched as his etched his message

In patterns too intricate to copy

As I opened the door he morphed into

Vapour as gentle as a baby’s breath

Covering me with the icy chill

floating in the ether

His smell, caught in my nostrils,

Then froze in my throat

I tasted dampness

And decades past

NaPoWriMo one week late

Well,I told many of you via fb that I was, again, doing NoPoWriMo and nudged a few of you in that direction.  However, I didn't start on time.  I could give you a number of good reasons (or excuses) but the truth is I couldn't remember how to get on my blog site! So what good a blog site to spread the word and publicise events if I haven't used it for twelve months? And, of course, I now have seven poems to write. So here goes:

Day 1 - prompt is "Triolet"

A Lovely Day

He whistled as he swaggered down the street

Unaware of the driving rain
His thoughts on love and the girl he was to meet

He whistled as he swaggered down the street

For she had turned his whole world upside down

He couldn’t wait to see her once again

He whistled as he swaggered down the street

Unaware of the driving rain

Day 2 - prompt is poem about songs from the year I was born

April Fool

I was born on April first, an April fool

The only songs I found were about a mule,

A reindeer, and riders in the sky,

Why?

Day 3 - prompt "Epithalamium"

The Wedding

The wedding was planned for eleven

and the church was alive with sweet flowers

which draped from the pews, spilled forth from the font

and appeared to grow from the bowers.

Diaphanous frocks and their owners

drifted past on a perfumed breeze

as the guest and invited partners

sank quietly to their knees.

From "the Gods" the choir shuffled gently

as harmonious chords filled the air,

the organist flicked several switches

on an organ so old it was rare.

Then, from the back of the church and the darkness

the bride cruised the aisle with her Dad,

as her Mother blew into a tissue

so happy, so proud, oh so sad.

For the daughter she'd loved for a lifetime

and who'd lived with her all of her life,

had finally left home that morning,

and soon would be somebody's wife.

Day 4 - prompt "writing the Blues" (animals and sadness usually or is that folk?!)

Dog Gone

My dog fell down a mine shaft late on Tuesday night

Yes, my dog fell down a mine shaft late on Tuesday

And if he aint alive tomorrow I’ll die too

He’s been down there a whining and a yelping

Man, he’s been down there a whining and a yelping

He won’t be coming back,  broke his doggarn back

So I’m digging  this grave out front to fit us both

So I’m digging  this grave out front to fit us both

‘cos he was my best friend and I was his

Day 5 - prompt "Opening Day" (can't say this is a prompt for me to follow this time so here's one on negativity instead)

Half Empty

I didn't find him repulsive nor his skin 

too pale and damp, I didn't see him

as lacking in all I desired

neither did I feel the entrapment

that forthcoming motherhood

had brought to my door

I did not view my future with uncertainty

my present with sadness,

nor my past with regret

wherever today takes me I know I shall

not be unhappy, confident in the knowledge

that I had not made the wrong choice

Day 6 - prompt  "Animals"

THE DOMESTIC CAT

I’ve given much thought to the reason why

A cat’s thumbs are the wrong way around

It could be for balance when walking a fence

Insurance against hitting the ground

But if this was the case, the whole feline race

Would similarly be designed

So they’re no help at all to protect from a fall

So another purpose I need to find

I won’t get depressed

I’ll take another wild guess

Dispersing this ominous gloom,

I know! … they’re such clean creatures

These newly formed features

Are for holding aloft a vacuum

Or the abridged version

Cats are such clean little creatures

Their deftly formed features

Are indeed the most purrfect boon

For the fussiest cat can keep a clean flat

As his thumbs can hold a vacuum

Day 7 - prompt is a colour - poetic choice here producing a variety of colours - another cheery poem!

ROTTING FLOWERS

Don’t leave flowers at the road side

You don’t even know my name

You are a total stranger

And in this accident take no blame

Don’t leave flowers at the road side

Where they will die, just like me

Are they here as a sign of respect

For all the world to see?

Because, if they are, I say again

You don’t even know my name

Take your flowers away with you

Pretend you never came

................ and now I'm up to speed

Day 8 - prompt is "outside"

THE END OF DAY

Heading west with the setting sun,

flocks of rose-coloured sheep fill the sky.

On the ground, shadows lengthen as

the last of the honey bees make their way home.

A calmness settles over the earth;

Another miracle draws to a close.

NaPoWriMo one week late

Well, I told many of you via fb that I was, again, doing NoPoWriMo and nudged a few of you in that direction.  However, I didn't start on time.  I could give you a number of good reasons (or excuses) but the truth is I couldn't remember how to get on my blog site! So what good a blog site to spread the word and publicise events if I haven't used it for twelve months? And, of course, I now have seven poems to write. So here goes:

Day 1 - prompt is "Triolet" 

A Lovely Day

He whistled as he swaggered down the street

Unaware of the driving rain 

His thoughts on love and the girl he was to meet

He whistled as he swaggered down the street

For she had turned his whole world upside down

He couldn’t wait to see her once again

He whistled as he swaggered down the street

Unaware of the driving rain 

Day 2 - prompt is poem about songs from the year I was born

April Fool

I was born on April first, an April fool

The only songs I found were about a mule,

A reindeer, and riders in the sky,

Why?

Day 3 - prompt "Epithalamium"

The Wedding

The wedding was planned for eleven

and the church was alive with sweet flowers

which draped from the pews, spilled forth from the font

and appeared to grow from the bowers.

Diaphanous frocks and their owners

drifted past on a perfumed breeze

as the guest and invited partners

sank quietly to their knees.

From "the Gods" the choir shuffled gently

as harmonious chords filled the air,

the organist flicked several switches

on an organ so old it was rare.

Then, from the back of the church and the darkness

the bride cruised the aisle with her Dad,

as her Mother blew into a tissue

so happy, so proud, oh so sad.

For the daughter she'd loved for a lifetime

and who'd lived with her all of her life,

had finally left home that morning,

and soon would be somebody's wife.

Day 4 - prompt "writing the Blues" (animals and sadness usually or is that folk?!)

Dog Gone

My dog fell down a mine shaft late on Tuesday night

Yes, my dog fell down a mine shaft late on Tuesday

And if he aint alive tomorrow I’ll die too

He’s been down there a whining and a yelping

Man, he’s been down there a whining and a yelping

He won’t be coming back,  broke his doggarn back

So I’m digging  this grave out front to fit us both

So I’m digging  this grave out front to fit us both

‘cos he was my best friend and I was his

Day 5 - prompt "Opening Day" (can't say this is a prompt for me to follow this time so here's one on negativity instead)

Half Empty

I didn't find him repulsive nor his skin 

too pale and damp, I didn't see him

as lacking in all I desired

neither did I feel the entrapment

that forthcoming motherhood

had brought to my door

I did not view my future with uncertainty

my present with sadness,

nor my past with regret

wherever today takes me I know I shall

not be unhappy, confident in the knowledge

that I had not made the wrong choice

Day 6 - prompt  "Animals"

THE DOMESTIC CAT

I’ve given much thought to the reason why

A cat’s thumbs are the wrong way around

It could be for balance when walking a fence

Insurance against hitting the ground

But if this was the case, the whole feline race

Would similarly be designed

So they’re no help at all to protect from a fall

So another purpose I need to find

I won’t get depressed

I’ll take another wild guess

Dispersing this ominous gloom,

I know! … they’re such clean creatures

These newly formed features

Are for holding aloft a vacuum

Or the abridged version

Cats are such clean little creatures

Their deftly formed features

Are indeed the most purrfect boon

For the fussiest cat can keep a clean flat

As his thumbs can hold a vacuum

Day 7 - prompt is a colour - poetic choice here producing a variety of colours - another cheery poem!

ROTTING FLOWERS

Don’t leave flowers at the road side

You don’t even know my name

You are a total stranger

And in this accident take no blame

Don’t leave flowers at the road side

Where they will die, just like me

Are they here as a sign of respect

For all the world to see?

Because, if they are, I say again

You don’t even know my name

Take your flowers away with you

Pretend you never came

................ and now I'm up to speed

Day 8 - prompt is "outside"

THE END OF DAY

Heading west with the setting sun,

flocks of rose-coloured sheep fill the sky.

On the ground, shadows lengthen as

the last of the honey bees make their way home.

A calmness settles over the earth;

Another miracle draws to a close.

I Did It Maggie's Way (30/30)

And now the time has come and so I write the final stanza
Poet friends, I'll say it clear and mention here Napowrimo's bonanza.
I've tried, yes tried so hard to follow each and every guideline
but more, much more than this, most of my poems rhyme.

Rejects, I've had a few but, then again, too few to mention,
I've changed what I had to change travelling in a new direction.
I wrote each structured verse and read aloud to make it sound right
but more, much more than this, I emailed by midnight (well mostly).

Yes there were times, oh we all knew
we'd taken on more than we could do,
we wrote all night, keeping verses tight,
we'd jot them down, move them around,
I tried them all, hit the writing wall,
but did it Maggie's way.

So now Day Thirty's here, no more to write, no competition
perhaps I'll write a book, go take a look, my special edition.
So, thanks yes thanks to you for all supportive comments rendered
'cos now, as I wipe my brow, I have surrendered.

Fantasy or Nightmare (29/30)

Fantasies or nightmares,

you choose.

Close your eyes, just dream,

what have you to lose?

Feel his warmth beside you,

breath upon your skin,

fingers sliding down your spine;

you’ve lost it, he wins.

Fantasy is over,

the nightmare reigns supreme,

banishing all thoughts of him,

cruelly mocks the dream.

The smells, the touch, the taste all gone,

dawn brings another day to live through

until night returns,the fantasy to re-play.

The Wedding (28/30)

There was panic at Westminster Abbey of the kind the Brits do so well,
an orderly kind of upheaval and calmness so no-one could tell
that the maples and hornbeams, though lovely, could hardly fit through the door
and the home of a nesting blackbird bounced twice before hitting the floor.

The trumpeters practised their fanfare spurred on by the listening crowd,
it was the last, the final rehearsal, they stood upright, stately, proud.
Bystanders outside the Abbey cheered and waved little union jacks,
it was twenty four hours to the wedding but spending the night on their backs
on a cold and hard concrete pavement, meant they limbered up when they could,
so they waved and they stamped and applauded just where they stood.

Elgar was still in waiting but the crowds were beginning to wain,
yes they loved all the pomp and ceremony but they'd been told it was going to rain. 
So they unrolled tents and brollies, creating a most colourful sight,
but as the music rose to a crescendo, they rolled over and said gooodnight.

Classy (27/30)

It's lust at first sight, the girl to your right,
the one with the straight brown hair.
The one in the dress, no, not her - she's a mess
be casual, don't stare.
She's classy alright, no holes in her tights
and look at those heels on her shoes.
She needs to be kissed and I just can't resist
a girl with so many tatoos.

Ageing (26/30)

Her pale blue eyes no longer
    saw the colours of the world,
no longer viewed the bluebell sky
    as it merged with the dark blue sea.
But, within her mind's eye,
    colours remained vibrant,
just as she had first seen them, as
    nature had intended them to be.
She had witnessed the rise of the sun
    in a sky shot golden and pink;
had watched that same sun setting
    making way for the darkness.

Bank Holidays (25/30)

Factory closures
school children at large;
roads full of traffic cones
caravans and cars.
Airports are heaving,
controllers on strike,
Easter in England
Oh, what is it like?

When the sun comes,
when the rain stops,
when tornados play
I simply remember my favourite month
that wonderful month called .... May!

(If you can manage it, this should be sung out loud to the tune of "My Favourite Things" - happy singing)

Trying to Dream of You (24/30)

Horlicks. Cocoa. Diazepam.

Drowsy. Sleepy.

Grab it when you can.

Silent Night mattress,

NASA Memory Foam,

Snuggle in a duvet,

“No Place Like Home”.

Wishful thinking;

Penny for your thoughts;

Dream Catchers hanging;

No dreams caught.

Yoga. Meditation.

Paul McKenna on CD.

Hypnosis for the weary

But just dreams of you for me.

The Council Wheelie Bin (23/30)

I'm a garden refuse wheelie bin
quite a pleasant shade of green,
I used to wait at the pavement edge
but now I'm rarely seen.
I'm purpose-built to do the job
I store all garden waste until
the council send their trucks
to empty me, with haste.
But the months have passed
and I haven't moved
just stood here with my load
waiting to hear those trucks again
as they hit the open road.
I'm full to my lid and bursting
with twigs and rotting leaves,
so council men come rescue me
and empty me please, please, please.

Why Today? (22/30)

It was in the half light of a new day she left.
      The imprint of her body moulded into the sheet
like a handprint on damp sand.
       Even in the confused state between sleeping and waking
he knew she had gone.
       Tracing the curve of her back on the sheet, inching
forward as if she was still there,
       he placed his head on the pillow where hers had lain
and smelled the faint roses of her shampoo
       but tasted salty tears.

The Ultimate Dream (21/30)

She stared in the mirror, eyeing herself

pleased with the face looking back;

the puffed eyes with pouches

and wrinkles both sides, now gone

like the old skin so slack.

She moved from the mirror

and picked up her glass,

adding tonic, refreshing the gin.

Yes, dreams can come true,

you can change your life,

thanks to a lottery win!

Cowardice (20/30)

As I waited in the surgery
for my turn to hit the chair
I closed my eyes and made a wish -
I wished I wasn't there!
The sound of gurgling water
the hissing of the air
I wished and wished with all my might
I wasn't really there.
The drilling stopped, no further sounds,
had the patient died?
"Oops! Wrong day, wrong week," I said
the hygienist saw the lie.
"Please don't stress and worry,
it doesn't hurt a bit,
it's over in a minute,
resume your seat, please sit."
My confidence had left me
I know I'm really weak but
I'm sure that I'll be braver
If I come again next week.

Salvation (19/30)

"So" the smiling angel said
"You think I'll let you in?
You can guarantee to me
that you are without sin?"
"Oh yes", I said with ready smile
"I've never hurt a fly and knew
that I would come straight here
as soon as I did die."
"I've never hated anyone
nor done a callous deed
I've not been lazy with God's gifts
and always did succeed.
I've never overfed myslef
and gave to Ethiopiaid,
I've never lusted after men
nor from my husband strayed.
But I can see you're not convinced
you think I'd lie to you,
St. Peter listen closely now
to what I propose to do -
so much for monogamy,
so much for being chaste,
I'll show you what a miracle is
then you can open up those gates"!

A summer Gig (18/30)

Eyes are streaming
Nose so sore
Throat is painful
Tonsils raw
Yet the crowd calls out for more
The show must go on

Conundrums (17/30)

How long is the sunbeam that splits the chesnut tree?
Who sends the whispered secrets to the wind?
Where does the dark hide when the yellow sun comes out to play?
How far is the answer to the the question?

16/30 and onwards ......

Well dear Readers,
It would appear that the enthusiasm with which I started this project was overtaken by other calls on my time. However, if nothing else I remain true to myself and am determined to do 30 poems within the month of April.  So, quantity being the aim as opposed to quality (on this occasion) I am catching up this weekend.  I hope you find something to make you smile - or even cringe.  All emotions catered for.

Sunshine - who needs it? (15/30)

I’m sick and tired of sunshine and its cunning little ways

of luring idle children to go outside and play

then it creeps in through my windows,

and with its sunbeams highlights dust

which means I have to vacuum and polish, fit to bust.

And when I’ve earned a cuppa plus a biscuit, maybe two

I stroll in to the garden and lo, I still see you

drying up the flower beds, turning green grass brown

heating up the patio without making any sound.

So, you lure me in to daylight, dazzle me with light

then roast me like a turkey to thirty Fahrenheit.

Well I’ve had enough I tell you as I watch you leave your mark

I’ll languish like a hothouse flower - in my cellar until dark.