grahamswords1962

Spring salad days

April 4. Today’s Napowrimo 2026 quest is to craft our own short poem that involves a weather phenomenon and some aspect of the season. We should try using rhyme and keeping our lines of roughly even length. In my spring salad daysBiannually, and without failSeasons signalled change,With revolutionary weather veils. Autumn’s breath would descend,Cloaked inContinue reading “Spring salad days”

Jobsworth

April 3rd, and we are asked to write a poem in which a profession or vocation is described differently than it typically is considered to be. Our poem could feature a very relaxed brain surgeon, or a farmer that hates vegetables. Or maybe we have a poetical alter-ego of our own who runs against theContinue reading “Jobsworth”

The Panda next door

Today’s challenge is to write our own poem in which we recount a childhood memory. We should try to incorporate a sense of how that experience indicated to you, even then, something about the person you’d grow up to be. I thought I’d started this poem years back, but I could find no trace inContinue reading “The Panda next door”

Tempus Fugit

Today’s quest in Napowrimo 2026. The Tanka is an ancient Japanese poetic form. In contemporary English versions, it often takes the shape of a five-line poem with a 5 / 7 / 5 / 7 / 7 syllable-count – kind of like a haiku that decided to keep going. Today, we’re challenged to write ourContinue reading “Tempus Fugit”

Edvard Munch’s bladder

This year’s preparatory call for NAPOWRIMO is to start by reading Katie Naughton’s poem, “Debt Ritual: Oysters.” Now, we should write our own poem in which we refer to a specific writer or artist (or work of literature/art) and make a declarative statement about want or desire. The poem should be set in a particular,Continue reading “Edvard Munch’s bladder”

Angel

We all enter and leave through doors we never knew and cannot foresee. What we leave in the rooms of our lives in between is what marks us and weighs the balance of how we loved and how much we were loved. Many, many rooms in many, many lives felt the love of this angel.Continue reading “Angel”

She breathes

I find the sea awe inspiring, frightening and amazing. It puts our small lives into perspective so much more than the vastness of a desert or the magnificence of a mountain. There is something primeval, ethereal and original about it that demands your respect. With each shift and heave,She breathes.Then sighs as she enters andContinue reading “She breathes”

Still the day

There should not be a moment that passes from which we cannot take time to reflect and find inspiration from all that surrounds, because it will soon be gone from our sight, so enjoy it all while you can. Still, the day is still.The cool, light blue screen of sky offersHope.Morning sun bakes icing cakeContinue reading “Still the day”

Saline petals

Seeing the reflection of the moon on the sea made me think about inverse imagery and reverse concepts (I may have just made that idea up in my mind) and looked at the sight in a different way – what is the moon did rise up out of the sea? Roots, anchored in the PrussianContinue reading “Saline petals”

Fragments

While looking back over the hordes of photos I have stored on my PC I was struck by how easy we confine memories and experiences to the digital past and, how poignant they can be when you open them up and see faces that have been buried in the shadows of experience – so IContinue reading “Fragments”