Ath's Poem a day for April

Friday, 6 April 2012

Day 6 - The bean

A barely yellow blurry light falls gently on the square,
Where the traders selling worldly wares swear in the open air.
And the token words there spoken, heard by birds in oaks are broken,
down to chimes and cheeps unspoken, where the soaken herds have cloaks on.

There is seen a bottle green, mottled like a throttled spleen.
In the bottle can be seen, fossil of a tiny bean.
And the bean is not for sale, not for money nor for tales,
it is merely on display, clearly played for other sales.

All around the people gather, sister, brother, uncle, mother.
Chatting on the newest wonder and forgetting one another.
And behind the dipping sheep, creeps a slippy sneaky thief.
From a tent where people kipping, try to get from sleep relief.

Passed enclosures to the crowd , whose loud clothes act like a shroud
to the thief, who proudly walks up to the stall in fact unbowed.
He begins to tell the story, to distract them, of a locket.
Slipping bottle into pocket, fitting like a throttle socket.

As he thinks he is unseen, magic precious bean took clean,
he continues with the story, of the locket of a queen.
But he's spotted by the watchful dotted eyeball of the seller
and she points to his side pocket where the bean is glowing yellow.

Thursday, 5 April 2012

Day 5 - Mock Interview

"Well don't just stand there come on in"
The clear clean voice calls out.
"Now let us see, where to begin."
You slide into the couch.

"I have here all your details,
and I've never seen the like.
You claim to've written Moby Dick,
designed the folding bike,
and when Mandela spoke once freed,
you held the bloomin' mike."

"Now I'm as easy going
As the next one, folks tell me.
I give the benefit of doubt
to everyone I see.
But can't see how you did all that
and still be twenty three."

"Well that's straightforward" you retort,
"it's now time to come clean.
I used all my timekeeping skills,
to build a time machine.
And went on an amazing trip,
to prove that I was keen."

"I used my own initiative,
to change the fate mankind.
And with team building skills I'd learnt,
I changed a nation's mind
against three wars. But now I'm back.
A steady job to find."

"I see. Well that makes sense I guess.
You come across quite well.
But in this corner of your form
you've erred in how you spell,
'liaison'. And we have strict rules
for spelling, can't you tell."

"And though you've done impressive acts
this job for Fulham council,
had twenty thousand applicants,
and nineteen thousand still."

But you don't give up easily
"That's quite a lot it's true.
For nineteen thousand folk to meet,
I'll tell you what to do.
Why don't you hire me today
to run their interview?"

"You have a point, these interviews,
six months have taken me.
At this rate I will not be done,
'till Twenty Twenty Three.
So you can take my job right now,
and I at last am free."

Wednesday, 4 April 2012

Day 4 - DONT PANIC!!

Don't panic if the Government starts saying "must buy petrol,
cos' service stations running dry have very high potential"
It makes the situation worse and really 'aint essential.

Don't panic if the things you want aren't happening just yet.
Life takes its own meandering path and nothing's ever set.
So stop and smell the roses now. Good things one day you'll get.

Don't panic if a ghost you see inside an ancient building,
and you've just read a scary book about a reaper yielding.
They've just popped by to catch the breeze, no weapons are they wielding.

Don't panic when you tell someone for first time that you love 'em.
Instead just speak coherently. Don't throw the words above 'em.
Don't give yourself a hard time if the way you cannot fathom.

Don't panic used by one who hiked to see our world from space,
Who put a new perspective on this harmless human race.
Well mostly, so the story goes. Just keep your towel in place.

Don't panic if the sun don't set. You're likely in the Arctic.
Unless you've gone the seven thousand miles down to Antarctic.
And don't panic if you can't find another word to rhyme.

Tuesday, 3 April 2012

Day 3 - Squashed Oaths

The ball picks up speed as it leaves the racket,
hitting the wall obliquely,
finding the only irregularity on the otherwise smoothness of the plastered wall.

It flies off strangely
and player misses
   and stumbles
      and falls
         and swears.

A brief exclamation nothing more.
An immediate link between brain and voice that shows us to be real and alive.
Not hidden but human and visceral and part of the world.

It is enough.
The opponent is not impressed.
"That'll do for today"

Racket slides into sleeve.
Sleeve is pushed into bag.
And bag and owner squeeze themselves through the door. Like that.

Silence.
Sudden silence.
A little way off can be heard the bounce of balls in other courts.
Other worlds.

Swears again.
A mirror to the first expletive, but one of loss.
The opponent so crucial to progress is out.
District attorney, client, publisher, celebrity?
Back to square one.

Outside a hop,
a skip,
a consideration of a jump,
is enough to disentangle the webs of the mind.

The sun shines regardless.
The world is abuzz.
Another profanity,
one of sheer joy.

Monday, 2 April 2012

Day 2 - The world today in triolet

The people of Burma are happy today,
what we take for granted they fought for.
Although true democracy's still far away,
the people of Burma are happy today.
The army should harken what they have to say,
raw power for decades they sought more.
The people of Burma are happy today,

what we take for granted they fought for.

The people of England are worried today,
the whole public sector's in danger.
Though other world problems might seem to outweigh
the people of England are worried today.
And all that was good will be carried away,
the government couldn't act stranger.
The people of England are worried today.
The whole public sector's in danger.

The people of Syria're dying today,

reports say explosions continue.

Though 83 countries denounce Assad's way

the people of Syria're dying today.
UN's called a ceasefire, will start soon they say,

the power to stop it's within you.

The people of Syria're dying today,

reports say explosions continue.

Sunday, 1 April 2012

Day 1 - The Flute

A speckled broom leans lightly 'gainst a wall
that in a southern sun gleams crisp and bright,
and shows the cracking paint in all its funk.
All framed by two ash trees to left and right.

A growth of vines has spurted to one side,
though of its crop but two small grapes remain.
The rest in metal buckets carried off.
And one such pail is left upon the plain.

A hooded figure enters from the north
and picks up broom and bucket in each hand.
Then turns to wander slowly down the path,
with feet that know the contours of the land.

The land has known the seasons long and dry,
and crunches 'neath the hooded figure's boot.
The figure has but little to her name,
except her prized and precious silver flute.

Through all the toil and hardship of her part
that she plays out below the scorching sky.
The only thing that let her heart feel light,
was when she played her flute to passers by.

Her mum had passed it down to her years back,
along with knowledge of how flutes were played.
Her mother's mother passed it down to her.
None knew how long ago the flute was made.

But after many years of heavy work,
the world's become a harsher harder place.
She knows there's only one way to survive,
and that is something she cannot yet face.

But sell the flute she must to pay for food
if only for her little daughter's sake.
The pain is more than she can well endure
but hunger is a keener sharper ache.

So knowing this she takes out silver flute
And looks at it across the many years.
And for the first time and indeed the last,
she plays a tune just meant for her own ears.

Saturday, 31 March 2012

NaPoWriMo2012

Its been eleven months since the last National Poetry Writing Month in 201 The challenge was to write one complete poem a day for the month of April. I didn't know if I could do it but after 100 hours of writing I managed it. This year I'm planning on doing the same but for a number of charities - thereby given myself an extra incentive to make sure the poems are of a decent standard. Gulp!!
I'll be listing the charities later today. In the meantime look down to remind yourself of the poems from last year.

Athos

Saturday, 7 May 2011

Tuesday, 3 May 2011

Narrative Poems

Sunday, 1 May 2011

Looking back on Napowrimo

When I decided to take part in National Poetry Wriing Month I don't think I realised just how much work would be involved. I also had no idea whether I would finish or what type of poems I would come up with.

If you are coming here for the first time then I hope you enjoy the poems that you find here. Feel free to leave comments on them. Tell me which ones you liked.

If you have been here before then I would like to thank you for reading my poems. Knowing people were reading them was one of the things that kept me going on days it felt harder to write.

Although there is no order to read them (apart from 22 - 25) you might want to start here with the very first one http://athspoemaday.blogspot.com/2011/04/day-1.html