Naporwrimo 8th April, 2022
Write a poem that is about your alter ego
Post parrhood, when I was a smolt,
I kept a secret in the dark well of my heart.
And I named it – Barracuda.
On summer days, laying back on the railway sidings,
Bacon and egg growing between my fingers,
Rose bay willow herb dispensing fairies on the breeze,
I would sink into my own sighs,
And watch me fly,
Through clear blue skies – miles high.
Away from my peers,
Away from my tears.
No one knew my name.
I was not the same.
Only I could win my game.
I was not the biggest or the best,
Or the fiercest.
But I was fast, so very fast.
Faster than sharks, faster than marlin,
At speed I excelled through my mind’s clouds.
But now, I sail through different seas,
Where my shadows undulate over purple coral,
Thread their way through kelp forests of jade and midnight green,
Glide over ivory shell-built sands,
Like a million crushed narwhal tusks.
Ghostlike is my grace,
As in ballets I dance off the edge of Madagascar.
With silken sheets of ebony for wings,
I fly with far greater ease than in my summer dreams.
Sometimes I DO fly,
And not even David knows why,
I leap from the ocean blue to the azure sky,
And return to sing with whales.
Missives & Musings 
Brilliant! The opening lines had me hooked like a fish and I had the song by Heart in my head. I love the lines:
‘On summer days, laying back on the railway sidings,
Bacon and egg growing between my fingers,
Rose bay willow herb dispensing fairies on the breeze’
which remind me of my childhood.
The line ‘Faster than sharks, faster than marlin’ reminded me of the poem ‘From a Railway Carriage’ by Robert Louis Stevenson.
My favourite lines:
‘…my shadows undulate over purple coral,
Thread their way through kelp forests of jade and midnight green,
Glide over ivory shell-built sands,
Like a million crushed narwhal tusks.’
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Hi Kim, I’m so glad you shared that with me. I was transported back there almost at the instant of reading the prompt. I’have never shared that secret with anyone, and it feels good to have done so.
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Brilliant, Graham! I absolutely love this 💕🙂
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Thanks Harmony, I feel so happy putting this out there
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“Rose bay willow herb dispensing fairies on the breeze,”
Wait, were you in my garden?
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I don’t think so, I was stood in the middle of our street when a cloud of them fluffed around the corner.
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This was absolutely beautiful. ❤
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Thank you so much
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‘Ghostlike is my grace’ Stunning
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‘Ghostlike is my grace’ Stunning
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So good I said it twice…
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