The Photo

30 Poems in 30 Days: Day 6 

Use the same (or similar) words in both your first line and last line, but change the order or the meaning of the words from the first line to the last line. 

This one's doing double duty as my Tanka on Tuesday (MySpace) piece this week.

Close, he looks nervous;
closer, secretly amused.
My smile looks happy,
reflections obscure my eyes.
Body language? We look close!

See for yourselves: http://rosemary-nissen-wade.blogspot.com/2009/09/well-look-at-us.html

(This is also doing duty as my “Tanka on Tuesday” at MySpace today – being posted to both places Tuesday 8th in my part of the world.)

Snow

30 Poems in 30 Days: Day 5

Pick three words that you absolutely love the sound of 
and set out to use them in your poem. 

This rock is encrusted with lichen
like thick flakes of unmelting snow….

The children were rapturous
skiing Mt Buller that time,
little red coats and rosy faces,
on the almost-flat beginners’ slopes.

In a full car with chains on
heading to Falls Creek in the dark
we lost a tyre on a bendy road,
changed it by torchlight.

Next day we rode the ski-lift
all the way to the top.
I never smelt air so clean.

Almost at once I fell,
legs in a tangle and couldn’t get up
without a stranger’s detailed instruction.

The gluhwein took hours to cook.
Hot, syrupy, spicy, I found it delectable.

(encrusted, rapturous, delectable)

Full Circle

30 Poems in 30 Days, Day 4

Write the final line to your poem first, and then write the poem to get to that ending.

One star in the early night, rising

in a straight line high above the moon.

Thunderous across balmy air,

the constant repetitive boom of waves.

Sharp morning, with a promise

of heat increasing over the hours.

The market ground under surface dew

hard for my tent pegs, drying out already.

Two babies in their mothers’ arms

bounce and laugh, holding my gaze.

The skirt seller suddenly, casually,

tells me her whole life story.

I bring home two bottles of red

captured, held by the necks.

Sitting in front of bright yellow flowers

she describes white rice and truffles.

One of the cats complains of her food

but lies in my lap, purring.

With my wand, I draw down the light;

the moon is one hundred percent full.

Twin Proclamations

30 Poems in 30 Days, Day 3.
Write a poem that begins with a proclamation.

This is a found poem, from media reports. (The two pieces are supposed to be side by side, forming a line-by-line contrast, but space doesn't allow for that presentation here.)

Welcome to Repco Rally on the Tweed –
Good for business!
Fast and furious predicts ace.
A great atmosphere.
Finally we can show what we’ve got
to an international audience.
A stunning display.
Preparations will continue unabated.
It will be fun
and bring money to the area.
A heavy police presence has been sent.
Riot squad ready.
Protestors will be arrested.
Every two years for the next 20.

Join the Protest –
You are needed!
A juggernaut – 90 racing cars,
support vehicles, helicopters and sirens
to scare away wild life.
A close knit community.
People are not happy.
Aboriginal leaders deny permission.
There are ancient songlines and pathways
which go through here.
The Government has failed to protect
the world heritage national park.
Now it’s up to the people.
Every two years for the next 20.

Recurrence

30 Poems in 30 Days, Day 2 (second poem)
The prompt was, "Write a poem that begins with you waking up." John also dropped some strong hints that we might choose to write about a dream. I didn't in my first poem for this prompt, but then decided to do that too. Just for the heck of it, and because I was wanting to play with this form, I made each verse a shadorma.

The old dream
startles me awake.
So often
in childhood …
but why does it return now,
the dream of falling?

Falling deep
between rocky walls,
a chasm.
Too slowly.
And faces leering at me –
distorted faces.

Was it Hell
that awaited me
far down there?
A child’s Hell
from fairy-tales – Grimm horrors –
and my inner dark.

I can’t know,
I never landed;
kept floating
down and down.
What demons now reclaim me –
now that I am old?

Waking Early

30 Poems in 30 Days, Day 2
Write a poem that begins with you waking up.

Ah, the light is music
the world new alive
golden through the edges of the curtains.
I am awake at once.

The cats recline on the bed.
He, black panther, waits.
She, grey puma, mews for their food
low and plaintive.

Outside, my wind-chimes
peal and reverberate
reminding me of a long continuum
of Spring mornings.

The heart leaps now
just as it always has
alive, alive, alive – and glad to live
glad to be awake

on a Spring morning
with cats to feed
and the man in the bed waiting
for me as the sun rises.

Monologue

30 Poems in 30 Days, Day 1
Prompt: Use the word Pattern in the first line and/or the last line of your poem.

The pattern of my life
is little changed.
I walk always with you.

That music we used to play
echoes here still
as if yesterday it sounded

sweet in the keen memory
and softly sad
though I no longer weep.

Spring is greening the hills
with welcome rain.
We pray it will be enough.

The seasons too are unchanged.
Life continues on
in familiar, relentless pattern.

30 Poems in 30 Days - again!

I first encountered a whole month of poetry prompts in September 2007 at Poewar aka Writer's Resource Centre (and a very good resource it is), the blog of John Hewitt. It was a magickal month. Some of my old friends joined in – because I told everybody about it – and I made some new ones. And the writing was heaps of fun, trying new styles, forms and topics.

Last year I couldn't sustain the effort, but this year I'm back again, and loving it so far!

I didn't notice it was on again until the second day, but I've now caught up. In fact I have two poems for Day Two. (Coming right up! See following posts.)

A Couple of Found Poems

The Deer and the Labyrinth
Found Poem

Found in the LiveJournal of Seraphim Sigrist, 1st Sept 2009:
http://seraphimsigrist.livejournal.com/839012.html

A deer ran
from under the trees
across a field
to the woods beyond.

I took some photos
which showed what I had not seen
somehow, a labyrinth...

the evening light on the grass
a cloud of brightness
on which the deer can seem
to float over the labyrinth.

Let that be our offering for today...


Randomness
Found poem


Found in the LiveJournal of OzDragonLady, 4th Sept. 2009
http://ozdragonlady.livejournal.com/

It suddenly rained
After a day of sun.
The garden smelt green.

There was a flock of pelicans
Flying over the freeway

Wattle bushes in flower –
Traditional mimosa-balls.

The full moon was rising
Pale yellow and transparent
Through the pink and blue
Of the Belt of Venus.

My lawn is shaggy with weeds.


(I'm shifting these just slightly, chronologically, so the following "30 Poems in 30 Days" appear as an uninterrupted sequence.)

We emerge from darkness: haiku for August 2009

1/8/09

the feast of Imbolc
we emerge from the darkness
life renews itself


2/8/09

Sum up your day in the form of a haiku:

a spring-like winter

morning under piled blankets

noon stripped and sweating

7/8/09

the sun's up early
still haven't pruned those roses
winter's so soon past

*****************

Sum up your day in the form of a haiku:

I 'm cleaning the house

for an old friend's arrival

so work becomes love

knowing when we meet

our old friend won't see beyond

our welcoming smiles

14/8/09

On the evening beach
gigantic waves crash too close
although it’s low tide.


21/8/09

of all her faces
which so intrigue I like best
a simple back view

Flamenco dancer
moving like snake or like fire
in that sleek red dress


28/8/09

Mars comes close tonight
a second moon in a sky
too dark to see one.


29/8/09

In sudden flashlight
my cat’s eyes gleam like twin moons
against night-dark fur

Tanka on Tuesday: August 2009

(Reposted from MySpace)

4/8/09

the day clouds over
after sunny beginnings
we are reminded
this is the last of winter
as well as the early spring

********************

startled I come to
noticing late it’s Tuesday
I’ve been counselling
I’ve been sharing her visions
my friend herself is poem

*********************

you are in your life
my friend across the ocean
I see that it’s good
your face in the photo calm
and bathed in radiant light

*********************

again it’s Tuesday
I’ve been lost in cyberspace
gazing with a friend
at a reflection of light
now turn and make a tanka


8/8/09

in a patch of sun
curled on the Reiki table
my black cat sleeping
like every other cat
and just like himself


11/8/09

a great wind comes up
swelling the sound of the sea
to a warning roar
echoing through the dark night
like a rising tsunami


(after writing this I found out there had been a tsunami warning for that night!)


19/8/09

yesterday was long
my husband immobilised
my inept nursing
chiropractic adjustment
now he slowly recovers

(my excuse to the MySpace tanka group for forgetting to start the blog until Wednesday)

************************

husband is cranky
bored and fed up with himself
he’s getting better
laughs at the verses I quote
writing him up on MySpace


25/8/09

I went off alone
to be as a child again
watching a movie
eating chocolate icecream
with no cares for two whole hours