Napowrimo2020 on A Geek's Life

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 30: The Thing The Birds Bring

Thu, 30 Apr 2020 10:34:40 +0000

Last day, Yay!!! The prompt for today as this season of NaPoWriMo comes to an end is to write a poem about something that returns. Photo by Zane Lee on Unsplash \\\* The songs the birds bring each spring remind us of the stirring of life, darkness yielding to the lengthening light and cherry blossoms blooming again. Hope is the thing that birds bring that after death comes life, and rebirth.

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 29:

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 08:48:37 +0000

Off prompt today:

\\\* After the rising and the falling of the things that surround, after the letting off of blood for forgiveness, after the release of the pressure building up, Breathe

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 27: A Haiku For A Prodigal

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 13:41:24 +0000

For Day 27, the prompt is to write a poem in the form of a review of something not normally reviewed such as a mother-in-law, the moon, or the year 2020…I went for me, the prodigal in need of forgiveness :) \\\* Offends seventy times seven times but returns for forgiveness. Me

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 26: Questions

Sun, 26 Apr 2020 12:30:37 +0000

For Day 26, on which the prompt is to write a poem based on your answers to an ‘almanac questionnaire’. \\\* I reach out to the sun to quell this longing to be free to feel its warmth on my face like the trees do, stark against the blue skies. The same way the grape hyacinths, teased out by the sense of spring grow out, adding colour to the gaudy box I now call home. The childhood dream was to run free to revel in the clouds of red earth my feet stirred, but fear has me penned in. Hope lingers here. and freedom too.

NaPoWriMo 2020 Day 25: Worn

Sat, 25 Apr 2020 08:13:39 +0000

Off prompt today: \\\* Each night when the day begins to fade into the next I find myself slipping into the haziness of sleep. But the remains to the day fester, rising up from the innards of my mind into the reality of dreams.I reach for rest but find I am worn.

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 24: In Praise of a Banana

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 16:16:51 +0000

The NaPoWriMo prompt for Day 24 is to write about a particular fruit, describing it as closely as possible. Here goes, for the delights of a banana.

\\\* Nothing delights a tired tongue on a hot summer day like a banana, the rush of sugar it gifts to the blood like salve on burnt skin. Joy hides beneath its skin and in each bite salvation.

NaPoWriMo Day 2020 - Day 23: Why

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 09:17:40 +0000

For Day 23 of NaPoWriMo 2020, the challenge is to write a poem about a particular letter of the alphabet, or perhaps, the letters that form a short word. Y(Why) comes to mind. \\\* He rests in the shadows of the night his hands like a “Y”, raised in the exasperation of not knowing. Why? Why does day follow night? Why is the quiet of first light ripped to shreds by the blinding light of the noon day sun? Why does pain persist? Is it the messenger of healing or its foe which we feel as it is driven off?

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 22: Distanced

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 11:30:01 +0000

Day Twenty-Two, for which the NaPoWriMo.net prompt is to find an idiomatic phrase from a different language or culture, and use it as the jumping-off point for your poem. Something about the Kazakh idiom Сенің арқаңда күн көріп жүрмін (I see the sun on your back) which means “Thank you for being you. I am alive because of your help” seemed particularly apt for the times in which we live. Sourced from this list on the TED Blog.

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 21: Mistranslated

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 12:08:26 +0000

The Day 21 prompt is to find a poem in a language that you don’t know and perform a “homophonic translation” on it. I’ve chosen the first stanza of Mbuyiseni Oswald Mtshali’s Umalasi Nomhlambi Wakhe (The Shepherd and His Flock). Doesn’t make sense but.. *insert shrug*

\\\*

I miss being yellow with anger if Anna never sends chillies. I am callow, seasick with a broken mala. My scent attacked Ursa; I see from back here.

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 20: Gratitude

Mon, 20 Apr 2020 09:24:39 +0000

Today’s theme is gratitude, with the prompt being to write a poem about a handmade or homemade gift that you have received. Whilst out on a run today I noticed an artist had painted a thank you to the NHS. Here goes:

\\\* For the things the few give the many: Life, Time, Breath. Heartfelt gratitude.

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 19 - Found Things

Sun, 19 Apr 2020 13:22:18 +0000

Today’s prompt is to write a poem based on collected things which reminded me of a picture I took a few weeks ago in the middle of packing up my house ahead of a move abroad which is now on hold thanks to the CV-19 induced shutdown.

\\\* I am finding lost joy in found things, each object saved from the detritus of a past life, a reminder to remember, to imagine again past seasons of loving and of losing. Of losing oneself in the delight of being, and feeling. Each page revisited is a present from the past to the present, a tribute to the loves that once lived here.

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 18: The Joy In Small Sips

Sat, 18 Apr 2020 08:46:35 +0000

For Day 18 of NaPoWriMo this year, the prompt is to write an ode to life’s small pleasures. My first cup of coffee of the day is one of those for me. Loosely inspired by what is becoming one of my favourite poems, Wendell Berry’s The Peace of Wild Things.

\\\* When the darkness of night lifts and I awake to the dreariness of existing in this place, forgetting where Yesterday ends and Today begins to slip into Tomorrow, I reach for this worn mug, its stained sides and chipped edges reassuring in their durability. At first light I lose myself to the muscle memory of returning and find joy in small sips.

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 17: A Farewell for My Walkman

Fri, 17 Apr 2020 13:17:37 +0000

Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt is to move backwards in time away.. to write a poem that features forgotten technology. For me, it was my first Walkman.

\\\* Farewell, Walkman protector of my ears and overcomer of my fears with soothing sounds. Farewell, Walkman the opener of my eyes to worlds unknown, translator of songs, from thin tape to all engulfing sound. You may have gone the way of all frail things but you live on in the soundtracks of my life.

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 16

Thu, 16 Apr 2020 09:10:33 +0000

Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt is to write a poem of over-the-top compliments. Pick a person, place, or thing you love, and praise it in the most effusive way you can. Here goes: \\\* You smile. Your eyes dance. Morning breaks with glorious light. Forgotten, Night’s fears.

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 15: Dancing In The Rain

Wed, 15 Apr 2020 09:23:15 +0000

Today’s prompt is to write a poem inspired by your favourite kind of music. Here goes, very loosely interpreted as always: \\\* Breathe in with the clash of the cymbals and then out as the drums begin. Let the patter of your feet lose themselves in the patterns of the music of the rain as they rise and fall, pausing like a runner at the crest of a seventh hill. Let the patina of red earth be washed away. Breathe in and out, and dance, Begin again.

NaPowriMo 2020 - Day 14: Nostalgia

Tue, 14 Apr 2020 10:25:29 +0000

Day 14, off prompt: \\\* Nothing hides yesterday’s sins like nostalgia. Nothing rewrites the memories of things seen like the desire to forget, the ineluctable wish to untether oneself from the burdens of grief, and the weight of things lost. For the daughter kneeling here, oblivious of the paths that we have trod we wish peace, that the things which weigh us down may cease.

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 13: Stolen Things

Mon, 13 Apr 2020 12:42:10 +0000

Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt focuses on stealing, a challenge to write a non-apology for the things you’ve stolen. Here goes:

\\\* The dog-eared book with your name scratched in its tired cover, the familiarity of its worn pages like the scent of home, a welcome. The picture, battered by the sunlight until it begins to age into a sepia blur, reviving memories of a distant time. The song, your song, repeated until its notes invoke the memories of stolen times and places, Lost but not forgotten.

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 12: A Triolet for Resurrection

Sun, 12 Apr 2020 14:48:07 +0000

For Day 12, the challenge is to write a triolet. Not a form I’m overly familiar with but given the Easter season and the influence of Patrick Carey on the form in English (who used it for his devotional writing), it seemed only fitting to attempt something with a faith tilt. Here goes:

\\\*

At first light, she comes to bless

the broken body but finds Light

in the space where his head should be: discarded dress.

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 11: Catching Light

Sat, 11 Apr 2020 14:13:06 +0000

The prompt for NaPoWriMo Day 11 is to write a poem in which one or more flowers take on specific meanings. I went off prompt for this one though…

\\\* They say in the brightness of the right light everything is beautiful, the cuts and scrapes that things bear all birthing beauty in the intricate interplay of flickering light and flitting shadow. So catch the light shine, be beautiful.

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 10: Exile

Fri, 10 Apr 2020 10:22:10 +0000

Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt is to write a hay(na)ku, a riff on the haiku created by the poet Eileen Tabios . A hay(na)ku consists of a three-line stanza, where the first line has one word, the second line has two words, and the third line has three words. My mind went to self isolation as a metaphor for exile: in both cases we have memories of happier times but are restricted in the present to what we remember, not what we can experience. Here goes:

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 9: Perfect Day

Thu, 09 Apr 2020 08:53:58 +0000

The prompt for today is to write a ‘concrete’ poem, one whose words and space are organised to reflect the theme of the poem. I went with the theme of a prayer and a perfect day. If you squint hard enough, you’ll see the shape is reminiscent of hands folded in prayer :)

\\\*

First, awake to the sounds of birds chirping, the lilt of their spring song reminding you of rebirth. Kneel in quiet contemplation- yield to the embrace of the rising sun, let its light call out to the prayer lurking in the dark places of your tired heart. When morning morphs into the heat of high noon, cherish the beauty of the cherry blossoms pink against the skies, and when the day slowly slides into the bosom of the night, offer up a libation of red wine for deliverance from today’s troubles. Tomorrow comes tomorrow but till then revel in your perfect day.

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 8

Wed, 08 Apr 2020 13:13:04 +0000

The prompt for today is to utilise a line or phrase from a twitter poetry bot as a jumping off point for a poem. I went with this from a Richard Siken poetry bot. Here goes:

\\\* We know who our enemies are - they are us. They are the memories of yesterdays bubbling up, straining against the resolve of today to begin again.

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 7: Lenting

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 14:44:55 +0000

Today’s National Poetry Writing Month prompt asks us to use a news headline as a jumping off point. I chose to go with the one about the chap giving up solid food (and subsisting on beer only) for Lent this year. Enjoy:

** The body aches for absolution, for forgiveness and release from the weight around my waist, this man born by past seasons of surfeiting. So I offer this, a libation of liquid to quell the sounds of my inner monologue.

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 6: Calling My Daughter Aoife

Mon, 06 Apr 2020 15:50:40 +0000

Off prompt today… \\\* You have taken seven years to get here each one a memory lodged deep in the space between the hunger of anticipation and the malaise of hope deferred. Now as I hold you in my hands, and see you, frail yet strong, you are Mother returned. I call you Aoife, for you have brought beauty to our broken places

NaPoWriMo 2020 Day 5 - Morning

Sun, 05 Apr 2020 12:05:13 +0000

For Day 5 of National Poetry Writing Month, the prompt is to write something aligned with “Twenty Little Poetry Projects,” originally developed by Jim Simmerman. Here goes (very loosely interpreted):

\\\* The sun parts the curtain of the night its light like a knife cutting through the crust of bleary eyes.

In its wake comes the sound of birds waking - a mellifluous melody and tribute to the muscle memory of the cycle of life and time.

NaPowriMo 2020 - Day 4: Dream

Sat, 04 Apr 2020 13:59:48 +0000

For national Poetry Month day 4. The prompt for the day asked to write a poem based on an image from a dream. I chose to go with dreams as a genre of mental experience.. Here goes.

\\\* What if a dream is the whisper of God, his touch, light on the shoulder feather-like, a word in the ear of the worn and the weary: Come drink, fill yourself with this water?

NaPoWriMo 2020 - Day 3: Live Anyway..

Fri, 03 Apr 2020 13:28:22 +0000

For Day 3 of National Poetry Writing Month. Today’s prompt is to make a list of ten words, and use Rhymezone to build a bank of words for use in a poem.. Here goes.

\\\* Without a care the sparrow flits between the trees oblivious of the need to fret for bread or bed but returns each day to its nest, its place of rest from the coming and the going - from first light to the gloaming - and the cycling of the seasons as they decay; birth and death, being and becoming.

NaPoWriMo2020 - Day 2: Place

Thu, 02 Apr 2020 18:07:13 +0000

Place, for NaPoWriMo2020 Day 2, the prompt being to write a poem about a place. My old house on the corner of 3rd and 39th with its stubborn grass and red earth came to mind. I miss it!

\\\* I carry your memories in my heart, the bright tint of your red earth whipped to fine dust by the Harmattan wind, the whistle of your tall pines, the smell of your freshly cut grass in the aftermath of mowing. I remember the sound of cocks crowing the call of the muezzin, piercing the morning air like a knife and cherish the memories of small things, of peace, of beauty and of simple days.

NaPoWriMo2020 - Day 1: Peeling

Wed, 01 Apr 2020 17:48:01 +0000

And so in the midst of all that’s broken in the world, its Day One of National Poetry Writing Month for 2020. Today’s prompt is to write a self-portrait poem in which you make a specific action a metaphor for your life. My choice is life as peeling onions.

\\\* When it all falls apart, like a ball of yarn slowly unravelling, the wind whispers in my ear: this is how life is, an onion, complex in its layers each hiding and being hidden, drawing tears as its juices released in a flash rise. In the stinging we remember the promise of savoury things where in the present bland things lie.