Streams of Consciousness

high above ocean 

on this piece of the hill

this peaceful hill

always had to

sit up straighter

speak when spoken

the little girls playing

across the road

laugh together

she had a language

of private gestures

quick faces made

in the yard opposite

swings and guinea-pigs

crowd 

cross your legs

at the ankles

don’t laugh out loud

expansive sunlight fills

the wide circle

of the cul-de-sac

that’s dangerous

unladylike

don’t be silly

Amanda yells to her kids

her smile is wide

her stance open

grown awkward

I returned home 

less and less often

at night I gaze

from my vantage

the street rests unafraid

For a dVerse exercise on conflation: expanding one poem with another which is unrelated. I chose to weave my two threads in and out of each other. I’m not sure it’s a true conflation; it could be said that there’s a relationship of contrast. And of course the title is slightly ironic; this is not a 'stream of consciousness' poem in the usual sense.

Love (Etheree)

Love

has music

you don’t hear;

you are not listening

to the underneath of love

but to the lovely surface sounds

which are all cooings and slurpy kisses

catching your attention and filling up your ears

so you never discern those almost inaudible notes

that sing the promise of pain, of looming, inescapable sorrow.

An etheree is this form of poem, lines increasing by either words or syllabes, 1 - 10. I’ve used a word count here rather than syllable count. There can also be reverse etherees, and double etherees counting from 1 to 10 and back again from 10 to 1, or even double reverse etherees. I suspect I’m not done with this new (for me) discovery yet.

Between busy life and atrocious internet connection, I missed the ‘shape poem’ prompt at dverse, so am submitting this instead to OpenLinkNight #15.

Not My Calling #BAD11

My garden

looks bedraggled

in the rain.

My one broccoli leaf

flourishing yesterday

is full of holes.

Half the mint

has suddenly turned brown.

I decide 

to keep buying my food.

This is my Blog Action Day post on the topic of Food. I have to hope the situation is not as bad as we fear, since I am such an abject failure at growing my own!


I am also submitting this for dVerse Poetics prompt, taboo subjects. Not that the subject of food is taboo in general, but this politically incorrect treatment of it on Blog Action Day is surely taboo! Shouldn't I be deploring the hunger in the world; shouldn't I be writing poems to encourage Westerners to grow veggies instead of giving up? Shouldn't I at least create a deep and substantial poem instead of this slight piece? I nearly didn't post it for fear of being seen to be shallow and selfish — and this prompt is all about overcoming our fears and writing the truthful poem anyway ... and then sharing it! (Besides, I have already tackled all the big taboo subjects, lol.)

Soft Morning

Soft morning 

fresh from rain

the birds just beginning — 

and I walk out again

one childhood morning

from The Orchard House

my grandparents’ house

in Spreyton, Tasmania

early after rain

when the air

had just this light

this scent. 

Girl Blowing Bubbles

Hard to see the girl

behind the bubbles she’s blowing

brightly filling the air.

Her face is covered 

in sparkling globes

that pour, more and more,

from her breath.

Look closely though

and you’ll see,

in the lifted arm

the straight head

the intensity of her stance,

how focused she is.

Nothing else exists

for her but the light she creates

over and over and over

floating away on the air

and being replaced.

I don’t need to see her face

to know her expression,

or to remember she’s me.

Submitted for Bluebell Books prompt, week 11.

Friday 7 Oct. 2011

cold morning

woken too early

restless cats

my man wakes

demands the time

back to sleep

get up feed the cats

I’m awake

the cats are resting

#haiku #senryu lune#

Submitted for dVerse FormForAll prompt: Haiku and Senryu 
OK I snuck in a lune as well. I like lunes. And I should add for new readers that these days, like many contemporary haikuists, 
I favour short/long/short lines over 5/7/5.

#BAD (Blog Action Day)

Blog Action Day rolls around again on October 16th, which is also World Food Day, so the topic of course is FOOD. I have registered this blog and also my personal blog SnakyPoet.  I hope to persuade the other members of WordsFlow to be in it too.

In case anyone hasn't caught up with Blog Action Day in the past, it's one day a year when bloggers all around the globe focus on one topic that we feel needs attention called to it. In the past the topic has been chosen by vote; this year, because of the coincidence of the date, it's already decided.

How one treats the topic is up to the individual blogger. How I'm going to approach it, I don't yet know, but I'm going to have fun thinking about it.

I know that whenever I give 'food' or 'eating' as topics in writing workshops, they're very inspirational! Food is primal, basic to our survival and therefore a great source of pleasure. Hunger is painful. Starvation is fatal. There are people in the world experiencing hunger and even famine right now. Oh yes, there's lots to write about!