Author Archives: grahamswords1962

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 onContinue reading “Manta Rayvani”

Napowrimo 7th April, 2022 Today’s prompt, to take a proverb and challenge it somehow. Books with dull covers, do they make for good lovers?Your adage suggests that I should not assess,Yet how can I guess if he’ll pass my test,That is shallow at best, but still raises my chest? By whose rules should I judgeContinue reading “The Devil’s Advocaat”

Napowrimo 6th April, 2022Create an acrostic poem using the initials from a well-known phrase. I asked friends to pick a phrase for me and I chose one suggested by one of my oldest friends, on whom I will never call time. Bulls Head lows to an empty drinking parlour,On the side of the Moor Road,Continue reading “Closing Time”

Napowrimo 5th April 2022 Imagination flows like an ebbing tide, When on Devon surfboards unicorns ride. See the graceful stand and the regal air, That demands those near stop, stand, and stare. On frothing white horses, horned equines sail, With spray in their nostrils, and wind in their tails. Wild are these beasts, with saltContinue reading “Unicorns surf in Devon”

Napowrimo April 4th 2022 Write a poem . . . in the form of a poetry prompt. If that sounds silly, well, maybe it is!. The poet Mathias Svalina has been writing surrealist prompt-poems for quite a while, posting them to Instagram. You can find examples here, and here, and here. I borrowed Mathias’s train of thought whichContinue reading “Twitter Tips”

Naporimo April 3rd 2022 Today’s idea is to take a quatrain from a poem that I like, and then write a four-stanza poem that explains or responds to each line of the quatrain, with each of the quatrain’s four lines in turn forming the last line of each stanza. As I’ve been bought tickets forContinue reading “I read the news”

Napowrimo April 2nd 2022 Today’s challenge, to write a poem based on a word featured in a tweet from Haggard Hawks, an account devoted to obscure and interesting English words. I chose Glisk, which is a brief glimpse of warm sunshine, for no other reason than he posted that one on my birthday and IContinue reading “Dragon’s Breath”

Napowrimo April 1st 2022Write your own prose poem that, whatever title you choose to give it, is a story about the body. The poem should contain an encounter between two people, some spoken language, and at least one crisp visual image. Burnished silver the perfectly placed head of hair that graced her head. I fellContinue reading “Mercurial Moment”

“You won’t ever be satisfied will you?” She said. Not asked, but said.How could he be with a world riven by hate and inequality?“Not till the wall comes down” he replied.She sighed.While she hung out the washing to dry in the sunshine, he watched lives drain from barbed wire lines in the shadow of theContinue reading “Pray for victory”

By the soot black, lead blackened grate,Ivory white swan-necked bottles of sterilized milk with their crimped crimson crowns waited.To pour clouds into chestnut tea and viscous hickory coffee, in gold rimmed china cups, on which red roses bloomed.By the dead metal pewter Dolly tub, weathered and faded green cakes of soap stood, waiting to haveContinue reading “Colours of childhood”