Tweet Poems

Explanatory note

These are poems I write specifically for posting on twitter (and then duplicate here). They are 140 characters or fewer, including punctuation, spaces and hashtags. Nowadays many poets are doing this, designating the verses micropoetry and/or poetweets. When I began creating them in May 2009, I labelled (and hashtagged) them tweetpoems. For sentimental reasons I still call them Tweet Poems here, though you can also find them tagged by the other labels, and on twitter I now hashtag them as poetweets.

At Obiri Rock

At Obiri Rock a woman,

chalked on dark stone, floated 

next to the orb of the moon.

Drawn hundreds of years ago,

her delicate lines have lasted.

Around Obiri, the sheltering scrub

was sparse, the grasses 

dotting bare earth. I wanted to be

an Aboriginal child long ago

running that ground.

Note: Obiri Rock is in Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory. The drawings are in a shallow (but tall) cave created by an overhang. I have never seen a photograph of the particular images in the poem, though photos of the many other drawings there exist and can be found by Googling. The ones in the poem were apart, very high up, and not so sharp or detailed as others.

Submitted for dVerse Form For All: Poetry as Semaphore, in which Samuel Peralta (@Semaphore on twitter) invites us to create poems with verses of exactly 140 characters. I found that this discipline 'fixed' an old draft that wasn't quite working before.

My own twitter name is @SnakyPoet. I tend to use it (poetically) for short poems, where the whole poem is 140 characters or fewer, or else to link to longer poems on my blog.

Heart Light

heart light

burning soft

the day white with cold

you

present in your absence

will it always be thus?

Written for twitter

Tweet poems, August to November 2009

(Poems written for Twitter, 140 characters max.)

1/8/09

#23

full moon & one small star/bright only lights in a blue fog/I call the light down into my wand/holding hands with Andrew & we exult

6/8/09

#24

Her smile z bright music,/her gaze z a dance/either light & vivacious/or measured & grave,/her laugh z sunlight/on a sparkling shore

20/8/09

#25

they r long, these months/of th change-over/warm & cool & mild & hot/nothing settled nothing begun/I nod off in th middle of th day

21/8/09

#26

The tide comes in/so much higher now.//How long before we must move/to higher ground – and how high?

1/9/09


#27

I’m away & far/trying not to see/how hunched he is/& heavy dark/in that small space/looking only in/at his mind onscreen/his fantasy

28/10/09

#28

dance flower/down deep air/& perfume time

20/11/09


#29

so full of grief/there’s no room left/for poetry//recollecting wounds/of early childhood


Written for twitter

Tweet poems for July 2009

#13

Bright bud renews/the straggly rose./Older blooms loosen untidy petals/curling at the edges/ready to fall.

3/7/09


#14

Who goes out/through the wind/through wind-blown leaves?/A glimpse, a shadow, an imagining,/a memory, a momentary dream?

5/7/09


#15

A dream v light that z all music. A dream v music that z all light. I stand n th Temple v Illuminatn forming around me tangible song.

9/7/09


#16

A flash of shade/from a swinging branch/and I think a bird’s wing/has crossed my window.

12/7/09


#17

Sleek black/my cat lies against me/placed just right/for caresses.

17/7/09


#18

we roam th night sky/where stars are flowers//by rivers of light/we sing to th moon//she is golden, I’ll never/relinquish your hand

17/7/09


#19

Big sea darkening/heavy grey, churning /to white over black./Soft pink sunset/on soft blue sky./The moon/already radiant.

18/7/09


#20

Two cats asleep on the bed/lying apart, curl/in identical shapes.

20/7/09


#21

Th path to th beach/is closed after storms,/th gentle ramp to th sand/a cliff now, barricaded/with broken branches/barbed like wire.

27/7/09


#22

What invisible out in the dark/fascinates my cat with fear?/He peers through the glass/arching his black back,/slow tail switching.

28/7/09


Written for twitter

Tweet Poems for May & June 2009

(Tweet poems = poems on Twitter,
140 characters max.)


#1

Falling into music/after a night & day/of pursuit through a maze./Now safety, lullaby, dream;/lock th door & sleep/until morning.

12/5/09


#2

walking the meadow of despair/surprised by sudden rainbow/after I lifted my head

14/5/09


#3

I inhabit a strange landscape here./An underground spring bubbles forth/breaking the smooth surface.

15/5/09


#4

In the grey fog/you know we're there./We shine our lights.


#5

Coming through dark/bends in the road/other lights passing/show me I'm not alone.


#6

Wild & cold out/dangerous seas/crashing non-stop.//Yet we are warm/in our stone-floored house/we are safe/in these present moments.

23/5/09


#7

Black cat walks in/from cold night/gazes at us/raises his tail/as if disdainful/goes to the door/& out again./Are we so unexciting?

24/5/09


#8

My time autumn/my place tropics/here & now/my hair grows thick/my nails get strong/I’m jungly/I’m becoming/leonine.

25/5/09


#9

slender as bamboo/white flowers in her hair/she stands straight/peace in her eyes/strength in her voice

5/6/09


#10

Vets call her tortoiseshell./To me she looks grey/except that as she moves/it seems that waves of light/ripple through her fur.


#11

My island rises/in dreams or when rain/settles dark, or the ocean/wallows and froths./I remember being held/contained by its shores.

19/6/09


#12

Soft night at home/after the long long day./I sleep awake/& dreams begin:/I’m driving & driving/the long road home/to be with you.

28/6/09

Tweet Prose-Poems, August 2008

Dreaming of Colorado, where a friend is creating a temple. – 2/7/08

Last night's frost sank into my dreams. I woke up with a memory of whimpering from the cold, or did I dream it? Even the cats looked sad. - 15/8/08

Staying up far too late, chasing poems through the dark. Tonight they are elusive, glimpsed only. I'm wishing for red wine and chocolates. – 18/8/08

Desert man, u write v th sea. What wd u know? At last, aftr 2 lovg yrs, I find myslf irritated. Its end v wintr here. Stick yr perfct haiku. - 27/8/08

Listeng 2 classical music (Beethoven & stuff) w/ gr8 enjoymt. This never happens. Now I KNOW I must somehow have grown old. Or at least up. – 31/8/09


Written for twitter