Writing / Poetry Career Poem

The Greenygrey kicked me out of the Greenygrey Rambles blog today, and I had to give way to my wolf side as it had an emergency message to deliver for the North Rockies wolves.

I had a great blog prepared for Greenygrey’s Rambles, sorry if I’m rambling now, but I’m sure you’ll understand I was so prepared to ramble, and now have nowhere to go with it, and didn’t have any poetry prepared for this blog, so I’ve quickly come up with the following, which kind of entered my head this morning.

It describes a writer/poet’s possible career (maybe mine!?) and has similarities to one I did on a football career many moons ago. Cheers, and have a great weekend.

A Writer/Poet’s Life

ambition and achieve
fulfillment and fecund

perched on promised

block and barreness
obfuscate and obsured

P.S. GG asked me to include this video and link to save the North Rockies wolves.

Love Story: New Janet Jarrell Poem

Today we have another Janet Jarrell mirror poem from her A Room For Poetry site.

It’s a clever poem with a sweet sentiment, and without further ado I’ll leave you to read and digest the words.

I’m With You

You are so close when I wake
So vivid I can feel your heat
I lay still and listen close to my heart

And there I find you waiting

Stop; listen close to your heart
I’m forever warm and near
Before you wake I’m with you

Turning Negatives into Positives: the Green in the Grey

Firstly, I made a few alterations to the Hiking Hadrian poem, changing words so that I didn’t use the same colours and the word ‘mountains’ in both halves of the poem.

I was sat at the computer yesterday when the afternoon turned from predominantly green to grey, as low cloud descended and the rain poured down. While it was not an ideal August day, I thought it was a good afternoon to be working and it inspired a bit of a poem. I wrote a free form poem at first, and then adapted it to a Folding Mirror for here and today’s NaiSaiKu Challenge; full poem available for free on request.

The poem uses the day’s weather as a metaphor for my (bipolar?) personality, which is hopefully a sign of my developing poetry skills, as I haven’t used much metaphor before. I thank those who’ve contributed here and in Tips for Writers (etips autumn issue available from Norfolk poets link to the side now), Every Day Poets, the NaiSaiKu Challenge, Poetry Monthly International and other poetry publications for providing the experience and stimulus to advance as a poet.

Poem Explanation

The poem is hopefully explained above.

Poem Structure

I did away with the strict words per line mirroring for once, and settled for the line lengths mirroring instead. The outer lines have 8 and 4 words, but the inner ones do mirror with 5 each.

The punctuation doesn’t mirror exactly either, with a comma on the inner line at the top, and outer line at the bottom.

The Poem

Self-portrait in a Wet Summer Day

on sunny days I shine like an emerald:
bright and sparkling, morning herald.

But grey mist clouds can form quickly

pouring rain obscures my sometimes
verdant appearance, afternoon grievance.

Iridescent Colours, Sunset and Last Light Poem

Today we have a poem that I just did, from an idea that came to me while adding a video link to the last Hadrian’s Wall post. That video is relevant to this post, and contains the photos of iridescent light and sunset that influenced it.

Poem Explanation

The poem starts with the arrival of iridescent light, as it did that evening, when the photos were taken. They don’t always appear in the evening though, and I’ve also seen them in the morning.

The folding middle line is the sunset, which everybody notices.

The bottom half is the last light of day, which like the iridescent lights also has a subtle beauty to me, as it slowly leaves the sky to the north-west (in the UK). I often imagine where it is going, and how people further north can still see it in our northern hemisphere summer.

Poem Structure

The words per line mirror each other in each half with a
6-4-2-4 (9) 4-2-4-6 structure.

There’s no punctuation, so it mirrors!

The Poem

Summer Evening Sky Show

sweet shy scout for evening show
subtle colours enriching clouds
iridescent light
oh what a sight

Sunset fills the horizon with an upward rising splash

curtain call for day
light departure
slowly falling downward vanilla
chased by moon night time filler

Hadrian’s Wall British Nature Hiking Poem

I hiked along the Hadrian’s Wall path a couple of weeks ago, and thought it would make good subject matter for a Folding Mirror poem, what with it built to divide British territory within the Roman Empire from its uncontrolled land.

Poem Explanation

The poem works from north to south, divided by the folding line featuring Hadrian’s Wall in the middle.

The top half features Pictish land and the bottom Brigante: the main British tribes resident either side of the wall at the time.

But the poem also draws attention to how the land is similar either side of the wall in the middle.

Poem Structure

The poem mirrors in words per line either side of the middle, with a word count of:
7-7-4-6-8-6-5-3 (7) 3-5-6-8-6-4-7-7

The punctuation mirrors pretty close too.

The Poem

Hiking Hadrian’s Wall in August

Painted Picts once roamed northern lands where
Cheviot cerulean mountains smoulder in the distance;
framing green and yellow.
Green fields of pasturing animals mixed
with barley, rapeseed and wheat providing the yellow.
Swallows and curlews, shearing and harvesting
Grottingham Cottages and Keepwick Fell
thistles and poppies

coast Hadrian’s Wall coast

poppies and thistles
Hangman’s Hill and Written Crag
harvesting and shearing, hawks and housemartins
above golden fields of wheat, rapeseed and barley
sheep and cattle graze emerald meadows
stretching corn and lime
to sharp edged blue horizon Pennine peaks;
where wild Brigante spirits still ride free

There’s a video to accompany the poem on YouTube.

My Name is Nobody Continues Spaghetti Western Theme

Continuing the spaghetti western theme for the NaiSaiKu Challenge, this Tuesday’s Folding Mirror poem relates to a comedy film parodying the genre called My Name is Nobody. There’s a link to more info about the film after the poem.

My Name is Nobody

I’ve come from nowhere
I’m going no place
Just passing through

My name is nobody

Just passing through
I’m going no place
I’ve come from nowhere

My Name is Nobody information

Seasons and Confusion: Janet Jarrell Poetry

Today we have a poem from Janet Jarrell, who has a Room for Poetry full of beautiful words and sentiments on her blog.

Confusion was Janet’s entry for the NaiSaiKu Challenge last week, and she prefers her poetry to be interpreted freely, so without further ado I’ll leave you to read and absorb the clever and gripping Confusion.

Confusion

The seasons change daily now
The voice says quite loud
I rest my head in my hands
I think about now
I don’t know what I’m doing
Conscious convoluted confusion
What are you going to do?
I’ll think about this
When I am finished my rest
The voice repeats that
The seasons have promised change

Double Mirror in Space: Saturn Equinox

Just came across a news story about the Cassini spacecraft witnessing two topics covered on Folding Mirror: an equinox on Saturn.

The mind boggles.

There is only one equinox every fifteen years on Saturn, whereas we have one twice a year, because we are much closer to the sun.

Haircut in a Mirror: Comedy Poetry …(I hope)

Today’s Folding Mirror poem is an attempt at comedy from Marc Latham which first appeared in The Pages.

Poem Explanation

The poem was created to fit into the Another Haircut? theme of a short book the House of Meredith published.

It’s just a bit of fun, and I hope you find it such.

Poem Structure

The words per lines mirror each other either side of the folding middle, with a words per line structure beginning and ending with the outer lines of:
8-7-5-6-4-8 (14) 8-4-6-5-7-8

The punctuation also mirrors pretty well, but not exactly.

The Poem

Haircut in a Mirror?

My hair’s too short, don’t get no shape;
need some wax, so people can tell
me I look real swell.
My hair’s gotten out of control,
can’t control the mass,
In my eyes and down to my ass.

Gotta get me a haircut, nice and trim, so people don’t think I’m dim

Now my hair’s too short to get shape,
can’t get no style,
my hair needs gel to excel.
hair is growing quickly now,
soon it’ll be, like two feet past
My neck and down, to eyes and ass.

Fistful of Dollars Spaghetti Western Film Poem

Today’s Folding Mirror tells the story of the Fistful of Dollars film.

It was the first of a Sergio Leone trilogy starring Clint Eastwood, and was followed by For A Few Dollars More and The Good the Bad and the Ugly; they were all great films.

There is a link to more information about the film at the end.

Poem Explanation

The outer lines see the Man With No Name (Eastwood) ride in and out of town.

The next lines to the outers feature the competing sides in the battle for the town that is taking place: Sheriff Baxter and the Rojo Brothers.

The next lines feature a couple of allies the Man With No Name gains during the story: Piripero and Silvanito.

The Folding Middle line features the Man With No Name, who stands between the two sides during the film.

Poem Structure

The words per line in the poem mirror each side of the middle with a:
7-8-9 (7) 9-8-7 structure.

The punctuation also mirrors, with capital letters starting each line.

The Poem

Fistful of Dollars

A stranger rides into dusty San Miguel
Sheriff Baxter doesn’t like the look of him
The busy coffin maker Piripero is an unlikely ally

Man With No Name in the middle

The smiling inn keeper Silvanito is a relieved mate
Rojo Brothers want power and No Name dead
Out of San Miguel rides a liberator

More information on the Fistful of Dollars Spaghetti Western film.