Today we are asked to try writing a poem that describes a place, particularly in terms of the animals, plants or other natural phenomena there. We should sink into the sound of our location and use a conversational tone, incorporating slant rhymes (near or off-rhymes, like “angle” and “flamenco”) into our poem. For an extraContinue reading “Symphony of the Glen”
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The game
April 12. Today’s brief; try writing a poem that makes reference to one or more myths, legends, or other well-known stories, that features wordplay (including rhyme), mixes formal and informal language, and contains multiple sections that play with a theme. Try also to incorporate at least one abstract concept – for example, desire or sorrowContinue reading “The game”
The centaur and the dulcimer
April 5. We were asked to choose a musical genre and a line for inspiration then select one or more words from a list to include in our poem – I chose to try and use them all in a frivolous poem Imagine, if you would,A centaur playing a dulcimer aboard a yacht,Its hooves tipContinue reading “The centaur and the dulcimer”
A Freudian slice of Bacon
March 31. The self-portraits of Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud have captivated me for a long time. so I grabbed the prompt and the chance to write about both of them. Tectonic plates of colour collide, and slide,So much man mud, muddled, confused.Internally, Externally abused. The fist to the head,The minds that bleed; and bled.WhoContinue reading “A Freudian slice of Bacon”
Plums
There’s no shame in having a fumble,It’s good advice my good lads,Don’t be shy about your y-front rumble,Get your hand in and check your gonads. There’s a pleasure in doing and knowing,You can ignore the advice of our mums,When you feel for what shouldn’t be growing,When you fondle your well matured plums. They may beContinue reading “Plums”
Daylight through my window
In the summer, the whole world overA dissolving moon in a brightening skyWill watch the saffron lips of the sunSoftly kiss the day awake. In my bedroom, however,Through the curtain’s gapped slashed sliver,It stabs me with its taser and yells“Get up, you must not sleep”. Yet in the depth of winter,In the dark of duvetContinue reading “Daylight through my window”
Seascape of slaughter
The ink on the note she wroteLeaches and bleeds,Into the sea. The water that carried her message of hope.On a sea that is deaf to her tearsThat stream downstreamBack to the sea. The cold, black, barren sea,Lifeless water,Grave of her daughter,Seascape of slaughter.
Concrete evidence
Through the tops of the spindle finger trees,Winds the windy breeze of autumn,Whispering in advance its warning,Its promise, of inevitable winter. It sings no song of hibernation,No prospect of warm spring regeneration,Just certain, guaranteed annihilation,And concrete dust;On children’s anticipation, Of death.
Mr Anthracite
When Mr An-thra-Cite is in town,The air falls to its knees in praise.The trees,Lower their limbs,Cover their leaves andAvert their gaze,As he takes to his stage.Dressed in the finest of ebony silk,He gleams resplendent.Such stature, such panache,So much elegance,Not a hint of “flash”.He is the maestro of the treetops,Dusk’s dazzling Diva,His notes can split clouds,PierceContinue reading “Mr Anthracite”
Norfolk morning
Owls, hidden in acorn laden oaks,Speak a soothing, soft goodnight to each otherAs the sunrise, that only I and the farmer greet,Suggests the bright night stars should sleep. The gentle rolling simmer of ochre pigeon chatter,Is occasionally broken by the staccato scratches dispatched by fire-grate painted pheasants.Hares scuttle through the sharp spikes of fadingContinue reading “Norfolk morning”
Missives & Musings 