Like clockwork it comes
A starting gong
Immortalised in song
And ode and verse
Enemy of the night
Friend to all life
Cutting through the darkness
Like a red hot knife
The signal of the rise
After the ever present fall
Landing on each being
Big or small
A symbol of hope
And the passage of time
Ushering in the new
Lighting and burning
As the perennial climb
The bringer of the morn
And the blue birds sweet cheer
Telling one and all
That tomorrow is here
Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt starts with a single word. And how fitting. Because oh so often just one word can change the course of a conversation. A relationship. A people… Okay that was a little dramatic, but you’ve probably noticed by now dear reader that I have a penchant for that sort of thing (if you have indeed had the misfortune… err I mean pleasure of being a frequent visitor).
So shout out to the piece that started today’s rambling adventure “Oh, The Places You Will Go” by the incomparable Dr. Seuss. (I would have gone with Green Eggs and Ham but it’s around lunch time and I was afraid I might make myself too hungry to finish ; p)
Upon my feet
They trod the street
Painted red and white
My shoes, my shoes
How much they do
From dusk till the dawn light
They jump, they skip
They twirl, they flip
They’re really outta sight
They climb, they kick
Sometimes step in shit
They march, left and right
They’re tough, but worn
Sometimes give me corns
Sometimes they really bite
And though they get muddy
And may look quite cruddy
I like my shoes, despite
My shoes, my shoes
So much they do
From dawn till the dying light
My shoes, my shoes
Because they do
Some guy stole them in a fight
Skeleton band
Ain’t in grand
There they stand
Instruments in hand
Playing jazz
With razz-matazz
Ivory bones
Carrying tones
A merry crew
With a merry boo
See how they do
Playing frights
Every night
Aint it grand
The skeleton band
Today NaPoWriMo prompts a ‘Skeltonic Verse‘ (best name ever right?!). The description prompted an all too familiar subject so I just ran with it, but this is a particularly fun poetic scheme so I will probably throw in a second challenge entry today. So enjoy the first of you two-for-one NaPoWriMo Skeltonics reader…
Falling, tumbling
Nervously bumbling
Flat on your face
As you heart does race
Past the pain
Again and again
Those old refrains
“This is love”
“She fell from above”
“My turtle-dove”
Pain and pleasure
Beyond all measure
Sometimes fighting
Sometimes biting
Always lighting
Birthday candles
Silly love handles
“Relationship weight”
Then comes hate
It slowly precipitates
Then a split
What a hit
Words get shook
That’s all it took
Now you’re blinded
Absent minded
Craving the past
Till you move on at last
Now newly single
So lets mingle
Meet new people
Most vapid sheeple
But soon through the crowd
One stands aloud
And so then
Lets do it all again
It was fire and smoke
When it first fell upon my tongue
I masked the taste with agents
Designed to sweeten or dull
But in time I came to grow
And with it grew my thirst
My hankering for the amber
Golden nectar slowly nursed
That beautiful smoky liquid
That wonderful sweet refrain
Burning so good down my throat
As it fills me up again
Too warm and it would be a harsh friend
Too cooled and it’d lose its essence
Not so fast as to lose its depth
Or slow as to be lost in evanescence
Intoxicating, exuberating
That smell, that bittersweet flavour
If I had a peg with me right now
I’d sit back at ease and savour
Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt encourages us to explore the viewpoint of archeologists far in the future… What will they find? What will they make of what we leave behind? When the remains of a long forgotten human race are found, will they make any sense?
My answer may be a stretch. Or just too convoluted even to follow. But nothing ventured nothing gained!
Upon what would have been his middle finger
On his non-dominant hand
There we found this piece
An inscribed gold band
It was scratched and the ring warped
Telling its wear through climates and years
Whatever this piece signified
This one held it very dear
You can see here that it is missing filling
Around these characters unknown
So even to have it repaired and renewed
It would not part from his bones
Three letters, what do they mean
Are they numbers of letters?
Did they inspire fear and hate and prejudice?
Or did they push him to be better?
He must have worn it most his life
For his finger did shape around it
And something interesting actually
About another near where we found it
We have studied the bodies around him
And done a DNA match to identify a few
There is one near by that is peculiar
It has an identical indentation on its finger too
There is a small chest that lies
Somewhere in my living room
Always kept, often forgotten
In the corner by the broom
Stained wood and faded polish
Rusty hinges and creaky handles
With drips of white paint
And dried wax from old candles
It is most unremarkable
Which is something quite ironic
Bought as it first was
Because it looks quite iconic
Like something that could hold secrets
Or protect old memories from harm
Now it lies there, half empty
Half full of its original charm
It has those little edges
That scratch me when I lift it
And contents that shuffle
Like wheat when it’s sifted
I can’t quite picture it now
Though I try and I try
Which is ironic for a box
That holds memories gone by
Always Begging
Cruel, Denied
Ever Feeling
Gargantuan Heft
Ill-conceived Jungles
Killing, Lasting
Maiming New,
Old Patrons
Questioning Rights
Silencing Truths
Under Vapidness,
Worrying Xenophobia
Yet
Zero
I’m not usually for too many rules of form when I write. So I generally gravitate towards simple rhyme schemes, or the one-off free form, when I am randomly inspired to pen something. This is why the NaPoWriMo prompts can often offer interesting opportunities to try something new.
Today that something new is the ‘Double Elevenie’ (which in my head for some reason just kept summoning David Tennant’s “Alonsie”). Certainly a very structured style of poetry, I’m not sure the Elevenie or its Twin would be for me, but it was an interesting experiment…
Quills
Making worlds
Upon blank surface
Moving swiftly, building freely
Beginnings
Swords
Starting wars
In hateful hands
Cutting down, slicing through
Endings
Amonst conversations in the last few days about “the Singularity”, human colonisation of other planets and the changing state of world politics, today’s NaPoWriMo prompt takes me to another world… Today I was inspired, funnily enough in the spirit of Earth Day, to write a Georgic with a twist…
Look at this land before you
Untouched by the blemishes of the last
So listen to my words
And repeat not errs of the past
First look upon this dirt
It is less moist and far redder
It may not have the brown and green of your home
But in time it will get better
Begin first by preparing the ground
Remove the thorns and old dead roots
That fall in the way of planting
The seeds of future fruit
Plant them free and loose and wild
Though it may seem counter-productive
Don’t bind your growth by straight lines
Or boundaries most reductive
Next you will need to nurture
Feed and water growing progeny
Yes sometimes this means dealing with shit
But that’s a part of this new phylogeny
The last step now is to be patient
Clip and stem and re-pot where you must
And soon you’ll see a familiar life
Where now stands just death and dust
When finally comes your harvest
Be kind and share with your brother
You’ve gotten a second chance here
You will get not another
When your fields are standing fallow
Envy not another’s reaping
If you burn another’s stocks in fear
You’ll both be left weeping
The only thing left to say then
Is see para 2-6 and repeat
Growing life is as simple as just that
As the red dirt beneath your feet
Musings of an Eclectic Soul 