Today's prompt encouraged us to write a poem about an animal, which was an excellent excuse for me to to write about a cockroach for the first time! I dedicate this one to my patient hissers, Kafka and Rilke. The Cockroach He burrows, searching for the trail left him by his ancestors, alive with the warning …
NaPoWriMo/ GloPoWriMo 2019: Days 19 to 22
Hold on tight, fairies and sprites! Today, to catch up on my NaPoWriMo backlog, much neglected after three full days of travel and uproar, I give you four poems born out of a sleep-deprived brain! For day 19, a poem about states of emergency. Emergency Measure This is not a drill: gather your thoughts and …
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NaPoWriMo/ GloPoWriMo 2019: Day 18
Today, I wrote a poem about fairies, elves, mermaids, and nature, inspired by the amazing town I'm currently staying in. The View from the Nehaj Fortress One could almost believe that the elves went to war with the fairies here. The hills, bathing their feet in the sea are true testimony; there have been no …
NaPoWriMo/ GloPoWriMo 2019: Day 16
Today I wrote in transit, inspired by the act of travelling, and by the wonderful book I am reading, The Icarus Girl, by one of my newly favourite authors, Helen Oyeyemi. It is a poem not about loneliness, for once, but about – Solitude People wash over me like waves, another landscape flowing by a window …
NaPoWriMo/ GloPoWriMo 2019: Days 12, 13 & 14
I'm lucky enough to have been travelling a lot these past few days, and this plus a lack of access to the internet has meant that I have somewhat fallen behind on the NaPoWriMo challenge. Well, today I am catching up and repaying my three-poem debt! For day 12, I wrote about an unimportant detail …
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NaPoWriMo/ GloPoWriMo 2019: Day 10
Where I come from, people would use the expression (literally translated as) "sun with teeth" to refer to sunny, yet freezing cold weather, such as one might experience in winter. Today's poem speaks of one such day, following the prompt for day 10 of NaPoWriMo. Toothed Sun The sun is baring his teeth today, my …
NaPoWriMo/ GloPoWriMo 2019: Day 9
For day 9 of NaPoWriMo, the suggestion was to write a poem inspired by one of the lists in Sei Shounagon's Pillow Book. Things That Hide Under Your Bed Stray socks, uncharted hills of dust, spiders waiting to clear away the spoils of Sunday breakfasts, lost pen caps, found trinkets, temptations never acted on, a spare …
NaPoWriMo/ GloPoWriMo 2019: Day 8
After a few days of exhaustion, and feeling like I'm just barely pulling through with the NaPoWriMo challenges, I'm finally getting some of that mojo back! For day 8, the prompt called that we write a poem making use of some specialist jargon, and I went all out! My sardonic researcher persona came through, and …
NaPoWriMo/ GloPoWriMo 2019: Day 7
The second week of NaPoWriMo is almost upon us, and here I am, trying really hard to hold on! For day 7, the prompt was to write a poem about what we would give to ourselves or others, and that just meant another whimsical piece for me. Wish List An old house in a quiet …
NaPoWriMo/ GloPoWriMo 2019: Day 6
Today's prompt was to write a poem of possibilities, and, feeling rather whimsical tonight, I decided to do one about – A Tarot Reading Temperance – holding the scales, she tells of balance yet to be achieved, because the Queen of Swords now holds the stage, eyes shooting daggers. The Sun is out of her …
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