Day TwentyTwo-NaPoWriMo-The Things That Held Me

NaPoWriMo: write a poem about something you’ve done – whether it’s music lessons, or playing soccer, crocheting, or fishing, or learning how to change a tire – that gave you a similar kind of satisfaction, and perhaps still does.

Day TwentyTwo-NaPoWriMo-The Things That Held Me

From We're Islands Series - Deepa Gopal - Watercolour - Detail

I never “learned” to draw when I was young.
Never had paint on my hands,
Or glass-sleeved portfolios.
No towers of sketchbooks,
Just scattered A4 sheets—
Random, undocumented—

**The poem has been removed to facilitate for submissions. Thank you for visiting.**

This poem needs reworking. But for now, here it is.

Day Twenty One-Napowrimo-Garden Log: Morning Report

NaPoWriMo: here’s our daily (optional) prompt. Sawako Nakayasu’s poem “Improvisational Score” is a rather surreal prose poem describing an imaginary musical piece that proceeds in a very unmusical way. Today, try your hand at writing your own poem in which something that normally unfolds in a set and well understood way  — like a baseball game or dance recital – goes haywire, but is described as if it is all very normal.

Day Twenty One-Napowrimo-Garden Log: Morning Report

Art: Thomas A. Gieseke - Spring

I stretch and stretch and pull weeds from around the blood-dripping hibiscus—still leaking despite last week’s pruning. The Ixora has developed short tentacles again. They’re within acceptable length but have begun waving and dancing mid-air, which may require intervention if it continues during pollination hours.

**The poem has been removed to facilitate for submissions. Thank you for visiting.**

This took some time for me. I had to get the hang of it! 

Once I fell into the zone, it was fun! Hope you like it too, dear Reader.

Day Twenty-Napowrimo-Carpe Diem

NaPoWriMo:write a poem informed by musical phrasing or melody, that employs some form of soundplay (rhyme, meter, assonance, alliteration). One way to approach this is to think of a song you know and then basically write new lyrics that fit the original song’s rhythm/phrasing.

I went along with something spontaneous and followed the impulse without pondering too much. I have been unwell for quite some time now, and so some days are still tiresome and taxing.

Here's my take on the Day Twenty prompt:

Day Twenty-Napowrimo-Carpe Diem

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May, by John William Waterhouse-1909

1

Think of all things nice
Light, soft, and not a tinge of vice
Join in the summer slumber
I might order a juice or two

**The poem has been removed to facilitate for submissions. Thank you for visiting.**

Do leave me your thoughts.

Day Eighteen -Napowrimo-At This Hour, What Sound

NaPoWriMo: Take a look at Ellen Bass’s poem, “You’re the Top.” Now, craft your own poem that recounts an experience of driving/riding and singing, incorporating a song lyric.

Day Eighteen -Napowrimo-At This Hour, What Sound

Death and Life - Gustav Klimt - 1911

Winding through the wet hush of dusk,
your song spilled from the stereo—
Enna satham indha neram*—
and something inside me slit, quiet.

**The poem has been removed to facilitate for submissions. Thank you for visiting.**

*Enna satham indha neram - What sound at this hour?

This poem is a response to the haunting Tamil song “Enna Satham Indha Neram” from the film Punnagai Mannan. It is the first song that came to mind as I read the prompt, so I went ahead with it. It explores a quiet, emotionally loaded moment shared between two people. The piece draws on the poignant knowledge that in the film, the lovers are living their final day together, which echoes into the lives of the listeners in the poem, acting as both a soundtrack and a catalyst for introspection. Hence, this artwork - Death and Life by Klimt, though some may find no correlation.