NaPoWriMo Day 18 ~ Alphabetically Correct

April 18, 2023April 25, 2023 / A. Gouedard / 1 Comment

After all the fuss and

bother about staying in or going out

Candace said to Isaac,

”Don’t complain about the wind. Don’t

even think about it.’

‘Far be it from me,’ he said,

grabbing with a frantic snatch to catch

her hat as the wind swept it off

into the spinning up draught.

Just then a magpie flew over and

kindly brought it back to her,

like a gentleman in a tuxedo, bowing.

Most courteous he was.

‘Never have I seen such a sight,’ said Candice, astonished.

Obtusely, Isaac claimed he had.

Preposterous proposition. Of course, he hadn’t, ever.

Quite contrary to the truth it was.

Ravens might do this or

seagulls might in exchange for fish but

try now to imagine, if you will,

unlikely situations.

Valiant mice attacking lions,

wolves protecting sheep, rabbits chasing dogs,

xerosis afflicting all the slugs that wander into flower beds,

young mountains, yesterday’s coming back tomorrow, are all as likely to be true as

zebras sitting knitting or magpies acting kindly.

NaPoWriMo Day 17 ~ Snowdrop

April 17, 2023April 17, 2023 / A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

Every year the snowdrop comes.
Only one,
beside the tree
that stands close by my window.
By this I know that spring is here.

Along the river, far away,
I’ve seen them grow in swathes and banks.
They stand in crowds,
in shivering ranks beside the waters margins.

I don’t walk there anymore
but I do remember,
when I see the single flower
that stands beneath my window.

NaPoWriMo Day 16 ~ Don’t

April 16, 2023April 16, 2023 / A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

Don’t

Don’t ask me to define my thoughts.
My tongue is not a lizard.
Don’t demand decisions.
I am not a hawk. Not swift.
I don’t have opinions.
I am not a running hare,
but I switch track through grasses.
I won’t say it’s this or that
proposing it as wisdom.
I am not a salmon.
The scales of thought are easily tipped
from one side or the other.
I swing on the rainbow’s arch
between the sun and showers.
I won’t judge it right or wrong
and condemn another.
I’m not the one to watch and judge.
An open mind is kinder.

Day 15 ~ Kind to the Cat

April 15, 2023April 16, 2023 / A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

Kind to the cat

So cruel to me,

Yet so kind to the cat.

So good at growing roses.

Horses would turn and follow you.

You could calm a nervous rabbit.

Sometimes you were nice to me,

or simply you ignored me,

both a rare relief.

A day of peace and mildness,

But not enough to balance your drunken wildness.

The cat had the sense to disappear.

Its exit had been granted.

Every day I wished I could leave,

be free of you.

That wasn’t what you wanted.

So cruel to me,

but kind to the cat.

That’s the strangeness I saw inside you.

Day 14 ~The Haiku I Forgot

April 14, 2023April 16, 2023 / A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

around the church yard

forget-me-knots, running wild,

fail to recall you

Day 13 ~ The Prompt

April 13, 2023 / A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

Write a poem that follows the beats of a classic joke. Emphasize the interplay between the form of the poem – such as the line breaks – and the punchline.

I think I bent the rules a bit. But I like writing nonsense that has some logic. And I also like writing about The Mad Hatter and Alice (I have quite a series of them). If you put Hatter or Alice into my search box you will probably find all of them. They have an ongoing relationship.

Day 12 ~ I didn’t use a prompt today

April 12, 2023April 12, 2023 / A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

Considering Time

Where will we ever find time?

The answer to that
depends on the date of your death.
Consider it might be tomorrow
and make up your mind to live.

But, you’ve misunderstood my question.
I will rephrase it. Listen.
Where will we find time?

Let’s look in the hedgerows first
to see which plant are budding,
are they limp or dry?
Have all their leaves been lost?
Has a bird built a nest or are all the fledglings fledged?
Did they all fly away to the south?

A year is the same as a decade
or a summer can last a year
but only when you’re a child.
Time is a relative concept
linked to innocence.
It moves faster as you age.
To witness time watch an apple
moving from ripe to rot.

I don’t own a clock.
I don’t expect precision.
If you want to arrange a meeting,
I’ll meet you when the sun dips down
behind the ridge of your roof,
or later if you like
when Mercury hangs above us
a step to the west of Jupiter,
almost parallel to the the moon
(that is to say, on April the 12th at roughly half past nine).
I will wait for you there but if that’s too soon,
any chance meeting is fine.
These moments hang
on the infinite line of time.

Do you think it ‘s all on a line?
I don’t.
Everything turns around and everything’s relative.

The rotation of the stars at night
is faster than we perceive.
I’ve seen them move, from dusk to dawn,
by sitting as still as a rock.

Day 11~ (base a poem on overheard conversation) ~ Finale.

April 11, 2023April 11, 2023 / A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

Finale

‘I can’t sing’ he said, quietly humming.
‘Don’t worry’ she sang.
‘Neither can I.’

They arrived at some kind of harmony as soon they tried.

They were enchanted, ensung,

enthralled to the music soaring, undone.

Lovers singing the song of each other

make patterns, staves, notes in the dark.

It can’t be wiped out once it’s written.

NaPoWriMo Day 10 ~ Write a Shanty ~ ‘How to Write a Shanty, Call and Response’~~~

April 10, 2023April 11, 2023 / A. Gouedard / Leave a comment

Splitting pentametres makes the tune roll.

Think about water and raising the waves.