GloPoWriMo 2018: Day XXX: The Forever, Captain

Ah here we are dear readers. The last day, the last poem. It has, as always, been a bitter-sweet journey, pushing oneself to write and create every day of this month – with results of… varying levels of success : D

For the final prompt, NaPoWriMo offers the chance to finish on a fun and quirky note – a chance I happily welcome.

PS – While I have gone with just one random bit of trivia to inspire my poem today, you may enjoy reading some of the other “Super Obscure Facts” that NaPoWriMo linked.

And now, without further ado, and to bid you adieu…

The Forever, Captain

Oh Captain, my Captain
With your glorious ‘stash
With your magic floating eyebrows
And your golden berried cache

I’ve ne’er had the pleasure
Of dining at your table
But your smile invites me to feel
I’d enjoy it if I was able

You’ve been the face of many a campaign
Your salute standing firm
And though you’ve never been promoted
You’ve steadfastly served your term

It matters not how early or late
How charged with hunger the soul
You are the master of the morning plate
You are the captain of your bowl

You’re there for your men and women
Whether breakfast, dinner or lunch
And on behalf of them I salute you
Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch

GloPoWriMo 2018: Day XXIX: Unscented

Coming in right under the wire and off prompt today for the second last poem of Glo/NaPoWriMo 2018. It was a jam-packed day, full of work and gaming – not the lazy Sunday I’d normally prefer (and rarely get anyway). So keeping and short, but not so sweet for today’s poem with…

A flower without a scent
This beautiful thing
Less that what it was meant

A rose by any other call
Smelt as sweet
Or not at all

A flower without a scent
This deceitful thing
Less than what it was meant

A bloom without its power
Like ivory sunshine
Trapped in ebony tower

A flower without a scent
This hollow thing
Less than what it was meant

A flower without a scent
And a fool
Who thought there was more

GloPoWriMo 2018: Day XXVIII: Wish You Were Here

Okay I really like today’s NaPoWriMo prompt! It’s short and sweet and I knew immediately what I wanted to write. So take a minute, picture your favourite holiday destination, possibly play some Incubus and read on…

Greeting from here
How is it back there
It’s so nice to be away
Almost heaven I swear

Having a swell time
Not the same without you
The air is so sweet
The sky is so blue

I’m lying in the sun
Watching my troubles disappear
Like I said, almost heaven
Wish you were here

PS – Yes I know the prompt today was to write a “prose poem”, but I tried a few drafts and it just didn’t work for me – so I went will a good old-fashioned standard ABCB : P

PPS – Go through the vintage postcards from the NaPoWriMo prompt – Some of them are so idyllic!

GloPoWriMo 2018: Day XXVII: The Mighty Chariot

Today NaPoWriMo asks us to look for inspiration in The Tarot. Now most of us have seen some manifestation of this – in a movie or TV show – but I have to admit I certainly did not actually know much about it. So I spent some time looking through the resource linked by NaPoWriMo – Arthur Edward Waite’s Pictorial Key to the Tarot. While learning more about it has had no impact on the extent to which I believe in say, divination or mysticism, it certainly is interesting to see the philosophy behind this school of thought.

And now for today’s poem, inspired by the major arcana symbol of The Chariot (a nicer version of the pic here)

I am gold and silver shining
I am the light cutting through the dark
Mine is victory over all planes
I bring forth the vision and the spark

On my shoulders the divine
Upon my head eternal crown
Champion over manifest destinies
Answered the riddle of renown

The infernal beasts pull my way
For none can halt my path
I am master of mind and body
None without may stand my wrath

Behold my golden visage
Awe in shining light
I am the prince of princes
I am mind and I am the might

GloPoWriMo 2018: Day XXVI: Medium Rare

Today the NaPoWriMo prompt challenges us to evoke all the senses… So I immediately jumped to an experience I’m looking to replicate again very soon – one that has the potential, if done right, to bring all 5 to life…

WARNING: MAY CAUSE SOME MOUTHS TO WATER ;

Can you see it
Upon its ivory steed
A mix of brown and red and black
Do you see it
Does your heart begin to speed
Your lips quiver and droop and smack

Can you smell it
That intoxicating perfume
A mix of ash and meat and spice
Do you smell it
Do you nostrils begin to bloom
Does it enthrall and bewitch and entice

Can you hear it
The sizzle on your plate
A mix of singe and crackle and hiss
Can you hear it
As you receive it with all haste
Does your palate crave and reminisce

Can you feel it
As you penetrate its skin
A mix of fleshy and tender and firm
Can you feel it
Are you eager to begin
Does your mouth water and your tongue squirm

Can you taste it
As you take it in at last
A mix of fat and blood and ash
Can you taste it
This most perfect repast
With sides of gravy and chips and mash

Because I can

And it’s driving me insane

GloPoWriMo 2018: Day XXIV: On the Death of Lazarus

Today NaPoWriMo challenges us to write an Elegy – a poem typically in remembrance of someone who has left this mortal veil, except with a tone of hopefulness. That’s an innately beautiful thought, and one that might even be hardcoded into the human animal – the thought of bright lights, of a place beyond the darkness. And whether its real or not, it’s a nice thought. And there are fewer of those in the world than there should be.

As for my poem today… well, there are many kinds of death… and many kind of hope…

Goodnight sweet prince
You wonderfully naive soul
Farewell to your brave heart
That once made mine whole

I can fondly remember
The stupid smile on your silly face
I’ll never forget
What you’ve tried so to erase

They say fools rush in
And you were never any exception
Deceit and subterfuge and betrayal
Were always beyond your perception

You lived a dozen lifetimes
So often died and resurrected
But this too did pass
And in the end each is bested

I feel you less and less now
With each passing day and year
Not gone, not entirely
But not as quite here

Your trials taught me well
And though I am not man you were
I will try to honour your lives
Your lessons I will not spur

Forgive me if I falter
If I cannot open my heart as you did
I am scared where you were not
My spring not undiluted

Lazarus you were the best of us
And now gone you are missed
Your shadow hangs over me
Your spirit not yet dismissed

Goodbye is not forever
Though I do not know, I have faith
One day we’ll see each other again
Whether mortal flesh or ethereal wraith

Goodnight sweet prince
Farewell my friend
And may we never say goodbye
If you ever rise again

 

GloPoWriMo 2018: Day XXIII: End of the Board

For today’s NaPoWriMo prompt inspired poem I went with a phrase I overheard at work… While I started writing with the intent of penning a 2-4 verser, somehow it just ended up feeling like it was meant to be a short one…

When will my turn come
End of the Board

Why does the world burn
End of the Board

Where will my blood fall
Replied the hoard
End of the Board
End of the Board

GloPoWriMo 2018: Day XXII: Done the Impossible

Have you ever seen
A clock that strikes thirteen
Would you believe me if I told you
That such a thing had been

It was on February 31st
At just past mid-day
The sun was about to set
And the pigs were flying away

I’d just woken from my day at work
And a frigid summer breeze was blowing
The TV was set to TNT
And episode 14 of Firefly was showing

I looked upon my Grandson Clock
Its wings struck by a moon beam
And as I saw its gentle hand strike
I woke from a peculiar dream

GloPoWriMo 2018: Day XXI: Narcissus and His Reflection

Today NaPoWriMo challenges us to be inspired by the myth of Narcissus (an interesting and somewhat morbid one if you’re inclined to read up on it). While their examples rather openly target the “cult of the celebrity”, as well as the ingrained narcissism of modern generations, I thought I might try something closer to the source.

Hello there beautiful
Where have you been all this while
I’ve searched all my life
For such a beautiful smile

Why are you so shy
Why hide in this frigid lake
Come out and take my hand
What a gorgeous pair we’ll make

Don’t you see you’ve stolen my heart
None in the land is as fair
Without you even one more moment
I do not think I could bear

I see your eyes gazing into mine
I see how they adore me
And I adore them just as much
What more sign of love could there be

You are shy, keeping me waiting
But for you I shall wait always
I’ll sit here by your side every night
On this bank I’ll spend all of my days

I am entranced, I am bewitched
I am betrothed to you and no other
Take me, heart and soul and body
Take me, as confidant, soul mate and lover

I hear them call me away
Let them beat their chests in vain
In your face I have found true love
And in your reflection I’ll forever remain

 

 

GloPoWriMo 2018: Day XX: Breaking Free (Form)

Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt is all about rebellion… something I’m not terribly familair with.

It’s not that I haven’t broken a rule or two in my life. I dare say I’m not really as straight laced or “white bread” as I was in my school days (man was I a teacher’s pet!) But I never really had a “rebellious phase”. I partied, stayed out late, even got inked. But my parents mostly gave me the space and the patience to do my own thing, make my own mistakes.

So with that avenue out, lets go with another kind of rebellion (as suggested by today’s prompt)… The well known saying goes that “some rules are meant to be broken”. So lets break some rules.

Sitting quietly
I wait for my turn to speak
But that turn will never come
And I’ll get stress marks on my bum

Arguendo and
Innuendo fly across
A room full of suits
With their shiny black boots

Sleep of night before
Calling me back to its arms
Gotta pop to an offie
And get myself a coffee

Eyes tired

I walk

In waking dreams

And my thoughts

Drift

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