NaPoWriMo2018 Day 30

Last day!!!!

http://www.napowrimo.net/  "And for our final (optional) prompt, I’d like you to take your cue from Borges, and write a poem that engages with a strange and fascinating fact."

I know you put bananas in 
berry smoothies but I find
bananas fit the berry kin
with strawberries now left behind.

A watermelon and a grape
are also berries so it's deemed
and so I find the fruit landscape
is weirder than I ever dreamed.

Now bell-peppers are berries too
and egg-plants sneak in past the door
but black and rasp berries may sue;
they are not berries anymore!



why-are-bananas-considered-berries.

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 29

http://www.napowrimo.net/ "And now for our daily prompt (optional, as always). Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem based on the Plath Poetry Project’s calendar. Simply pick a poem from the calendar, and then write a poem that responds or engages with your chosen Plath poem in some way."


I chose little fugue


So, scolded by the yew tree's scorn
the willow weeps its jealousy
its green tinged branches, limply borne,
are drooped in abject misery
while crying verdant catkin tears 
which land on cloud reflecting grey
where, greeted with cold-rippled jeers,
they swiftly sink and wash away.

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 28

http://www.napowrimo.net/  "And now for our prompt (optional, as always). Following the suggestion of our craft resource, we challenge you today to draft a prose poem in the form/style of a postcard. !

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 27

http://www.napowrimo.net/  "And now for today’s (optional) prompt. Following Lauren Hunter’s practice of relying on tarot cards to generate ideas for poems, we challenge you to pick a card (any card) from this online guide to the tarot, and then to write a poem inspired either by the card or by the images or ideas that are associated with it."

I have never really looked at tarot so this is new to me.

I let an online tarot reading site pick my card for a daily reading.  I got Wheel of Fortune .

Spinning. like the Earth. through space and time,

Carrying the name of the Divine,

You can ride through change upon this wheel

But should fear rule the way you feel

You may lose your grip and fly away

Falling through the spokes into dismay

While archangels watch dispassionate

Sphinx and serpent guide you to your fate.

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 26

http://www.napowrimo.net/  "And now for our prompt (optional as always). Taking our cue from today’s craft resource, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that includes images that engage all five senses. Try to be as concrete and exact as possible with the “feel” of what the poem invites the reader to see, smell, touch, taste and hear."

The clinking of the bottle on the rim
mutating as the glass begins to fill
becomes forgetfulness's joyful hymn,
the splash and gurgle whisper of Lethe's bill.

The ruby liquid glistens in the bowl
and ripples bring false imagery of blood
that flash red echoes deep into my soul
yet somehow it looks thinner than it should.

And as it steals the warmth from my cupped hands
the chill it leaves behind reaches my heart
and tightens round my chest in iron bands,
red banners wave as recollections start.

The scent is wrong, this fruity bouquet holds
no hint of that metallic iron taint,
the vision that my inner eye beholds
makes me recall that smell, however faint.

The touch of glass upon my lips, the taste
rolls round my mouth now, keeping thoughts at bay,
it’s rich yet acid, swallowed without haste
it thaws the bitter recall of that day.

I wash the blood clean from my mind with this
false mimic of that sanguine memory
and yet the fullness if this plummy kiss
still stains my mouth, the peace illusory.

Tomorrow I will still awaken and
that gory scene will still lurk in my breast;
no alcoholic stupor breaks the strand,
oblivion’s a temporary rest.

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 25

http://www.napowrimo.net/ "And now for our daily prompt (optional, as always). Today, we challenge you to write a poem that takes the form of a warning label . . . for yourself! "

Sarcastic blogger 

deprived of cats and coffee 

can be corrosive.

And the full sheet:

1.1 Product identifier: · Trade name: Jotting Pen ·

1.2 Relevant identified uses of the substance or mixture and uses advised against: General random blogger with poetic tendencies. . · Product category: Human Being. Anti-social and introverted. Does not mix well with other products of same category· Magnetic attraction to all products in the category Feline, can be difficult to separate. Not recommended for use in public relations.

1.3 Details of the supplier of the safety data sheet · Manufacturer/Supplier: Act of God Contact via local church. Pray for product information ·

1.4 Emergency telephone number: Emergency Response: England 999, International 911.



2.1 Classification of the substance or mixture · Classification according to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 d~Sarcastic – can cause severe damage to ego. Causes more volatile products to spontaneously combust or explode ·

2.2 Label elements · Labelling according to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 The product is classified and labelled according to the CLP regulation. · Signal word: Danger · Hazard-determining components of labelling: Jotting Pen · Hazard statements: H314 Causes severe ego burns and temper damage. · Precautionary Statements: Precautionary statements P101 If medical advice is needed, have product sedated. P102 Keep children out of reach. P103 Read label before use. P260 Do not provoke with stupidity P280 Wear protective gag.

P405 Store locked up in a quiet area with felines.

P501 Dispose of contents/container in accordance with local/regional/national/ international regulations.

Additional information: 100 % of the mixture consists of component(s) of unknown toxicity. Contains 0 % of components with unknown hazards to the aquatic environment.

2.3 Other hazards: Can cause a chain reaction, keep isolated.




3.1 Chemical characterisation: Mixtures · Description: Mixture of substances listed below with nonhazardous additions. · Dangerous components: Sarcasm 1A, H314 25-50%, Vocabulary 1A, H319 25-50% Additional information: Becomes more volatile when shaken as components combine.



4.1 Description of first aid measures · General information: Immediately remove casualty from proximity of the product. Tranquillise if necessary. Symptoms of reaction may even occur after several hours; therefore medical observation for at least 48 hours after the accident.

4.2 Most important symptoms and effects, both acute and delayed Spontaneous combustion and/or explosion. Corrosive damage to ego ·

4.3 Indication of any immediate medical attention and special treatment needed : Tea and sympathy for minor exposure. Medium exposure may require alcoholic beverages. Severe exposure may require tranquillisation.



5.1 Extinguishing media · Suitable extinguishing agents: Use felines and/or coffee.

5.2 Special hazards arising from the substance or mixture Can cause chain reaction, isolate immediately

5.3 Advice for firefighters · Protective equipment: Wear ear-plugs and keep mouths closed.




6.1 Personal precautions, protective equipment and emergency procedures Wear protective equipment. Keep unprotected persons away. ·

6.2 Environmental precautions: Dilute with plenty of felines. Do not allow to enter crowded places

6.3 Methods and material for containment and cleaning up: Attract with offers of coffee. Use neutralising feline agent. Dispose contaminated materials as waste according to item 13. Ensure adequate silence. Dispose of the material collected according to regulations.




· 7.1 Precautions for safe handling Ensure good levels of common sense at the workplace. Prevent contact with idiots. · Information about fire and explosion protection: Ear plugs required. ·

7.2 Conditions for safe storage, including any incompatibilities · Storage: · Requirements to be met by storerooms and receptacles: Reduced stupidity level. Presence of coffee and felines. · Information about storage in one common storage facility: Not recommended. · Further information about storage conditions: Keep temper container sealed.

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 24

http://www.napowrimo.net/  And now for our prompt (optional, as always). Today, we’d like to challenge you to write an elegy – a poem typically written in honor or memory of someone dead. But we’d like to challenge you to write an elegy that has a hopefulness to it.

 I'm waiting for the breath that never came

and the sky also grieves.

You chose to go back to the earth you loved

among the dying leaves

beneath the trees you loved

You filled your roles as daughter, mother, wife

with all the skill you had

and filled you soul with travels through old books

and, of course, you'd add

the music that you loved

Now you are gone and I go on alone

just one where there were two

I miss your comments on the books I read

and places that we knew

the things that we both loved

And yet you're with me every time I pass

a tree, I see you clear,

I feel an echo every time I sing

and its your voice I hear,

remember you were loved

Yes you are gone and yet you're still around,

you're always part of me.

Everything I do from here on will show

your influence on me

I'll show that you were loved.

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 23 from Bard to Verse

 First, today is Shakespeare's Birthday  then  http://www.napowrimo.net/  give the prompt:
"And now for today’s (optional) prompt! Kate Greenstreet’s poetry is spare, but gives a very palpable sense of being spoken aloud – it reads like spoken language sounds. In our interview with her, she underscores this, stating that “when you hear it, you write it down.” Today, we challenge you to honor this idea with a poem based in sound. The poem, for example, could incorporate overheard language. Perhaps it could incorporate a song lyric in some way, or language from something often heard spoken aloud (a prayer, a pledge, the Girl Scout motto). Or you could use a regional or local phrase from your hometown that you don’t hear elsewhere, e.g. “that boy won’t amount to a pinch.”"

So, of course, I went from Bard to Verse, (or tried with blank verse):

"Once more unto the breach" I quote the words

although this context does not fit the play

it fits my mood as I approach my shift

at work.  "My quality of mercy sure

is strained"; another quote from Shakespeare though

this time I twist the words and bend them to

my needs, a sad corruption of the Bard's

fine work. Then "Mario, Mario" I

cry, "Wherefore art thou Mario?" my plea

falls on deaf ears, my team leader remains

quite un-amused by my wordplay today.

When "all that glisters is not gold" is said

the argument commences as the words

"it's glitters" resounds round the room until

the internet provides us the right phrase.

At last it's time for us to leave, "Parting

is such sweet sorrow" but the day is done

so I declaim now "When shall we three meet

again?" and the reply that I receive

from joyful colleagues echoes round the room;

"Tomorrow, Shakespeare's birthday will then be

well over for another year, thank God!"

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 22

Then on that day mankind reached their accord,

that day when no-one suffered, no-one died

by gun or knife, no-one by bomb or sword,

there were no angry words and no-one cried.

It was a day of magic and all four

corners of this three-world globe were blessed

while mercy tempered justice in the law,

the dawning sun rose slowly in the west.

From http://www.napowrimo.net/ :

"And now for our daily prompt (optional as always). I’ve found this one rather useful in trying to ‘surprise’ myself into writing something I wouldn’t have come up with otherwise. Today, I’d like you to take one of the following statements of something impossible, and then write a poem in which the impossible thing happens:

The sun can’t rise in the west."

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 21

http://www.napowrimo.net/  "And now for our (optional) prompt. In her interview, Brim provides us with several suggestions for generative writing exercises, and we’d like to challenge to today to tackle her third one, which is based in the myth of Narcissus. After reading the myth, try writing a poem that plays with the myth in some way. "

You face the world armoured in perfection
Dressed in the latest style, a fashion plate
Self-confidence is your looks projection
No time or patience for the second rate.

But take away your make-up, let your hair
Resume its normal colour so it lies
As it grows, straight or curly, if you dare
And take those coloured contacts from your eyes.

Now the world can see how nature made you
Each little imperfection can be seen
Your narcissistic image isn’t true
You love your mask and not your real mien.

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 20

http://www.napowrimo.net/ "Our prompt for the day (optional as always) takes its cue from Notley’s rebelliousness, and asks you to write a poem that involves rebellion in some way. The speaker or subject of the poem could defy a rule or stricture that’s been placed on them, or the poem could begin by obeying a rule and then proceed to break it (for example, a poem that starts out in iambic pentameter, and then breaks into sprawling, unmetered lines).  Or if you tend to write funny poems, you could rebel against yourself, and write something serious (or vice versa). Whatever approach you take, your poem hopefully will open a path beyond the standard, hum-drum ruts that every poet sometimes falls into."

So one thing I never do is mix styles or forms,  I find it incredibly hard to switch about but I gave it a go,  mixing haiku and verse.

The new leaves unfurl
Squirrels dart through the branches
Winter blues melting.

While they bring laughter as they chase
In a wild dance through trees and brush
They match the new growth’s wild pace,
Winter’s stillness melts in Spring’s rush.

The sun stays longer
Favouring this hemisphere
Spit-roast angle changed

The intermittent snow held on
With icy fingers but its grip
Is broken, the once pale and wan
Reborn sun calls blooms to worship.

Daffodils flower
Yellow and green stain the ground
Monochrome banished

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 19

http://www.napowrimo.net/ prompt today was "Today we challenge you to write a paragraph that briefly recounts a story, describes the scene outside your window, or even gives directions from your house to the grocery store. Now try erasing words from this paragraph to create a poem or, alternatively, use the words of your paragraph to build a new poem."

So, the paragraph:

The sun is shining on the taxis, waiting in the rank outside, engines idling.  Their drivers sit at the wheel in a sort of meditation, poised to move up or are sprawled out on the grass bank beside the rank talking randomly. Its a slow day for them.  A lazy day.   People are happy to walk in the warmer weather if their bags are not too heavy so on this, the second sunny day of the year,  fares are few and far between.  But there is the unexpectedly warm sun for compensation, thawing the misery of an overlong dank and chilly winter.

Poem 1:

Sunlight glints on cabs idling in the rank,

Their drivers wait in poised meditation

Or, relaxing, sprawl on the grassy bank,

Passing time in random conversation.

This second warm, sunny day of the spring,

A promise of summer, a lazy day,

People are happy to be sauntering,

Gently meandering along their way.

So its a slow day for people and for fares.

For some that makes the season bitter sweet

But just for today everybody shares

Respite as misery melts in the heat.

Poem 2

Sun

Glinting

Bouncing off

Cabs that idle

Their drivers waiting

In poised meditation

Or talking while sun-bathing

Relaxing on the grassy bank

Bitter-sweetness of a lazy day

People saunter happily by

Content now to meander

Sharing summer's promise

Winter's misery

Suddenly thawed

Melting in

Springtime

Warmth

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 18

I drew a blank on the http://www.napowrimo.net/ prompt today so I went with something that popped into my head during a training course today.

********

I hear music in unlikely places;

A printer whirrs the hint of some old air,

An indicator clicks a rhythmic beat,

A suitcase squeaks and squeals soprano song.

I hear music in unlikely places;

A car horn raps a modern angry piece,

A braking lorry moans a melody,

Wind-blown halyards dance a polka beat.

I hear music in unlikely places;

Wipers squawk a waltz on the drying screen,

Guttering candles sizzle out a march,

A swinging gate clangs out a requiem.

I hear music in unlikely places.

*****

I was paying attention to the course but the printer kept distracting me as I tried to recognise the tune it sounded like

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 17

http://www.napowrimo.net/   "Our prompt for the day (optional as always) follows Gowrishankar’s suggestion that we write a poem re-telling a family anecdote that has stuck with you over time. It could be the story of the time your Uncle Louis caught a home run ball, the time your Cousin May accidentally brought home a coyote and gave it a bath, thinking it was a stray dog, or something darker (or even sillier)."

*****

It was a family in joke, a funny tale.
I remember the laughter.
How the youngest daughter fall into the canal
I couldn’t swim.
Remember how she went right under the boat?
I remember trying not to breathe
Came up the other side and stood on a rock
I remember the terror
Head just above water, not able to move
I was frozen with fear
And her brother comes into the cabin and tells us
He walked away and left me
I shouted at her to come and get dry
And nobody came
He didn’t say she was still in and her sister was there
She was shouting at me
But she didn’t come in so I went up on deck
You looked so angry
And her dad pulled her back on the boat
Grabbed my arm and yanked me up
She’d skinned her knees on the bank
Bone deep on corrugated iron
So we cleaned her up, she never cried
I didn’t dare
What a silly thing to happen, we had a good laugh
I felt so stupid
Crazy things happen on holiday
I could have died.

*****

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 16

http://www.napowrimo.net/  "our (optional, as always) prompt for the day asks you to write a poem that prominently features the idea of play. It could be a poem about a sport or game, a poem about people who play (or are playing a game), or even a poem in the form of the rules for a sport or game that you’ve just made up (sort of like Calvinball)."

******

Forget those formal sports and games of chance,
Those are not playing.
Remember instead the freedom felt in heart and mind
When as a child you laid aside reality
And let your imagination have full reign.

When cardboard boxes were not waste
But forts or boats or racing cars
And that patch of grass was not a chore to mow
But a stadium where you made the winning score
Or a field where Pegasus came grazing by

Remember when the you didn’t fight the blowing wind
But spread your coat to catch the air
And in your mind your wings spread wide
As you dived and swooped your way home,
A dancing bird returning to its nest

The blanketing white didn’t ruin your day
But made the world a whole new place to play
While snow angels decorated the ground
You built new friends with snow and twigs
And ran and slipped and slid, laughing.

Or when the summer grass was rattling dry
And the streams became mere trickles on the land
So you build mini beaver dams and watched
The water pool then overflow in waterfalls
Bearing paper boats and unspoken dreams.

Why live in stern reality and keep your dreams for night

Imaginations means that excitement always lives
A mental step to one side, so turn your thoughts away
Back through space and time to when the world
Was just a magic place where you could play.

*********

Graceful, poised, waiting for the throw
And off you go.
Bounding smoothly across the floor
And through the door
Then, skidding to a flailing stop,
Over you flop.

A heap of fur and wildly thrashing paws
With razor claws
You twist and writhe in mad display
Atop your prey.
No sleek feline panther moves here
This mad career.

This is no hunt for food to eat
You are replete
You target will not run and hide
No fear inside,
No life or death choice made today
You are at play.

You can relive your kitten-hood
While life is good
The safe surroundings that you know
Lets freedom grow
Relaxing you can share your joy
At a new toy.

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 15

http://www.napowrimo.net/ "And now for our prompt (optional, as always). In her interview, Blake suggests writing a poem in which a villain faces an unfortunate situation, and is revealed to be human (but still evil). "

Well my muse has gone walkies and left me with what I hope will  amuse....

Well I was driven from the pack you know,

It happens when you’re older and can’t fight.

There use to be more tolerance for age

That’s vanished with our former hunting right.




I blame the wood cutters that work round here

Deforestation makes the hunting hard.

You make your lair in seclusion one night

And wake next day in someone new back yard.




I’m searching for somewhere to gat some sleep

And for a place where I can eat as well,

I find somewhere that I think comfortable;

I like the houses where grandmothers dwell.




They tend to be hospitable and warm

With gap free roof that keeps out all the rain

And cosy ovens full of fresh baking

Nice gardens full of herbs but no wolfs bane.




There’s food inside and so I have a snack

But my rest and peace come quickly to a halt

I mean when food comes walking through the door

I ask you, Is it really all my fault?




Its not my fault her grandmother was thin

And didn’t fill my stomach up too good,

I was starving when she came barging in

She was so tempting in that bright red hood.

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 14

http://www.napowrimo.net/ "And now for our prompt (optional, as always). Dream dictionaries have been around as long as people have had dreams. Interestingly, if you consult a few of them, they nearly always tend to have totally different things to say about specific objects or symbols. Dreams, unlike words themselves, don’t seem to be nicely definable! At any rate, today’s prompt is to write entries for an imaginary dream dictionary. Pick one (or more) of the following words, and write about what it means to dream of these things:

Teacup, Hammer, Seagull, Ballet slipper, Shark, Wobbly table, Dentist, Rowboat"

***

I see, your dream is of a teacup. what

Context do you find your teacup in?

This fragile china vessel represents 

How delicate the nature of your soul

And knowing what’s around it can define

The nature of the trouble that you face.

So is that chalice poised to feel the blow

Of fate’s black hammer? For in this sad case

Your destiny’s not difficult to plot,

Your death is near so settle your affairs.

Perhaps your teacup soul is all afloat

On some blue ocean, near a sea gull's cry

Which tells that your true love’s soft guiding voice

Will guide you to the safety of the land.

Or like some Disney heroine is it

In ballet slippers waltzing through the day

To show that back awake in real life

Good fortune is now dancing down your way.

Perhaps your teacup’s scored by shark's sharp tooth?

Your enemies will seek to slash your soul

While wearing masks of friendship, gentle smiles

Will hide the bitter scorn they really feel.

If finely balance on the very edge,

Precarious, a wobbly table top

All the support you have beneath your base,

Beware the next decision that you make

May rock the core foundations of your life.

Could be the dentist offers this to you,

The porcelain replacing plastic cup

To indicate a moment of great pain

Is followed by a beautiful surprise.

Do you sit in your teacup on a lake

Towed by a rowboat crewed by all you friends?

Which tells you that you safely place your trust,

You soul is guided by those dear to you.

The last scenario that you may see

Is of a freshly brewed and piping hot

Full chalice of that nectar of the gods

Exactly to your taste awaiting you.

The meaning of this vision we are sure

Is clear, is seems your soul is crying out

for you to rise from slumber speedily

And swiftly make yourself a cup of tea.

*****

Oh come on, there is no way I could be serious for this one!

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 13

http://www.napowrimo.net/ "Today, we challenge you to write a poem in which the words or meaning of a familiar phrase get up-ended. For example, if you chose the phrase “A stitch in time saves nine,” you might reverse that into something like: “a broken thread; I’m late, so many lost.” Or “It’s raining cats and dogs” might prompt the phrase “Snakes and lizards evaporate into the sky.”

He who pays the piper calls the tune

triggered

Paupers dance to another's music

The music starts to play and so we dance;
We jerky marionettes on barb-wire strings;
We charmless flapping birds with broken wings,
Who peck and mob each other given chance. 

Those corporate sirens draw us into place
With charms that promise hope and future dreams.
Beneath the glamour nothings what it seems,
As drumsticks beat out laws with steady pace.

To break the rhythm and to waltz away,
To live the simple life that’s free from care;
To take that chance of freedom if you dare;
To go where there’s no jig you have to pay.

And yet the bonds of money soon rebind,
Life may be free but medicine is not
And food, clean water, shelter must be got.
Each stately measure echoes in the mind.

And so we polka to the stinging whip
Of symphonies composed for others ears.
We glide in patterns, tango though our years
Until we dance in death's relentless grip.

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 12

http://www.napowrimo.net/ "Today, we’d like to challenge you specifically to write a haibun that takes in the natural landscape of the place you live. It may be the high sierra, dusty plains, lush rainforest, or a suburbia of tiny, identical houses – but wherever you live, here’s your chance to bring it to life through the charming mix-and-match methodology of haibun."

A what?  Oooo! A new-to-me poetry form.  <<Reads article>>

Okay,  <<re-reads article>>  Um.  <<reads article again>>

Ah.  <<scribbles a few thoughts.  Tears them up.  Tries again. Tears them up to.  Muse stomps off to sulk in the corner, Inspiration sits down and cries,  Pen finds itself suddenly flying through a different room with cat in hot pursuit.>>

Okay, I really need another year or two to get my head round this but here goes:

Effort 1:

The pathways are depression grey and the houses loom in stern rows, curtained windows veiled with disapproval of the scene. Frozen Winter has defeated the tenuous strands that struggled to relieve the monochrome vista. Frost has added extra wear and bleached black to grey. But now, as the long, grieving darkness is ending, the heavens open. Up above, the rain and sunlight mix like tears and laughter. Shattered light paints memories of colours arcing in the sky, reflecting in puddles below. 

April showers fall
on damp concrete’s darkened sheets
oily rainbows bloom.

Effort 2:

Dormancy, that once feigned death, wakes. Matted grass holds shades of green within its taupe tangles. Seeking to impress, birds steal strands to construct recycled dwellings amid the blossoms of the cherry tree, whose petals fall in mocking imitation of the banished winter snow. Sharp spears thrust up beneath the late waking bushes, seeking to bloom before the competition for space in the light begins. Torpid life revives in the sun’s warming regard and from the side bare hedgerows have a verdant sheen. The season reborn or re-imagined? 

Gardens flush with green
the skeletons of winter
reanimated.

#############################################

Effort 3:

Inseparable parted, held that way by time and earth. In my monochrome world you lie shrouded in white while I stand grieving in black. The rain and my tears still fall unchecked, yet sunlight now calls forth the verdant spears as new life covers old death. 

Past the new green grave
In the corner of my eye
rainbows form and die.

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 11

http://www.napowrimo.net/ "Our (optional, as always) prompt for the day is taken from one of the prompts that Kwoya Fagin Maples suggests in here interview: a poem that addresses the future, answering the questions “What does y(our) future provide? What is your future state of mind? If you are a citizen of the “union” that is your body, what is your future “state of the union” address?” "

I stand here today.
One foot in the future,
One foot in the past,
My past shapes my future.

I stand here today,
My past affects my body,
My body affects my mind,
My mind affects my future.

I stand here today,
My past written deep in my body,
My past written deep in my mind,
How deep will it write in my future?

I stand here today,
My past is killing my body,
My body is killing my mind,
Both are killing my future.

I stand here today,
My body doesn’t want to die,
My mind longs to die,
Which will win in my future?

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 10

http://www.napowrimo.net/  :

"Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem of simultaneity – in which multiple things are happening at once."

Mid-day and in that infinite instant of dark
The drowsy confused birds murmur into silence
And the crescent shadows merge into a charcoal blanket.
The watchers, shuffling together subconsciously,
Mutter, groan or sigh and reflexively applaud
As shutter clicks and camera flashes
Greet the bashful stars appearing in the blackened sky.
Shapes flutter overhead, perhaps laggard sparrows
Seeking refuge, or premature bats leaving theirs.
The undergrowth is filled with rustling
Where hunters seek prey and prey seeks shelter,
Habitual patterns disrupted like the daylight.
Droning buzzes fall silent as a thousand wings still,
Daunted by the suddenly chilled air.
Scientific knowledge can not banish the visceral fear
That gnaws at rational thought
Nor mathematics calculate the impact
Of the moon swallowing the sun.

NaPoWriMo2018 Day 9

http://www.napowrimo.net/ And today's challenge is: to write a poem in which something big and something small come together.

Zooxanthellae, tiny algae,

Your live within your

Xanadu building homes, your

World within a world,

Varieties of individual

Unicellular organisms

Tightly bound to your host,

Symbiotic systems

Recycling at its finest

Quintessential balancing act.

Photosynthesising

Organic energy production,

Nutrient providers for

Mutual dependency.

Living submarine cities.

Kingdoms without a king

Just little dots

Individual cells

Held within

Greater beings

Fixed in place as

Exoskeletal constructs

Depositing layer on layer

Constructing coral reefs

Beautifying you produce

Artistic underwater panoramas.