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Apr 30
Well Helloooo, last day of NaPo for 2020!
The last optional prompt on the site was:
“I’d like to challenge you to write a poem about something that returns”.
For which, I wrote:
The feeling of excitement at a new page
The indulgent, deep inhalation
Of the smell of possibility;
A new month stands before us.
Yes, constrained by news-worthy events.
Yes, uncertain.
Yes, with a hint of mistrust;
An edge no one wanted.
But it returned!
A soul memory,
A kicking in of natural optimism.
Late Spring:
A creative mind, dancing with all that could be
To create what we don’t have yet.
Yet.
That amazing concept of forgiveness!
Of that one last ‘picking up’
That champions all others.
The hope, garnered in three letters!
M-A-Y
We haven’t met
Y-E-T
But Yet waves us here,
Kisses us on the cheek,
And we’ll return.
Just watch us!
Big hugs, stay safe, and…
…as usual I am hoping that I will manage to post here at least once a week in May?! I think I’ll be homeschooling the kids for a few weeks yet, so chances are I’ll have something to “show and tell” more often…? 😉
Take care of yourselves and do keep in touch so I am nudged to post more frequently! I do hope that whatever is normal in your life starts to return over the month of May. I think we are probably all needing a longer walk in the fresh air than we’re allowed just now, and some certainty back in our lives?
Thank you for your company over this month of poems, and I hope to catch up with you again very soon!
Monty X
[Pic is from here]
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Copyright © 2020 Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Apr 29
Hi 😊
Today, I challenge you to write a paean to the stalwart hero of your household: your pet. Sing high your praises and tell the tale of Kitty McFluffleface’s ascension of Mt. Couch. Let us hear how your intrepid doggo bravely answers the call to adventure whenever the leash jingles.
If you don’t have a pet, perhaps you know one or remember one who deserves to be immortalized in verse.
So read the prompt for Day 29.
I wasn’t that enthused by it, but I produced something, at least…?
I only have pet people,
That I have to walk a lot,
And carry all the gubbins for
(Clean up their poop, and snot)
They’re smelly, and they’re expensive
And demanding (but cute)
They grew from small – one’s ‘middling’
The other’s getting huge!
I spend my days in service
But they make it worth my while,
With adventures and stories
That are sure to raise a smile.
They say I’m their pet: ‘Mummy’
And they like to pat my head;
Sometimes they even let me
Curl up properly on beds…
Cheat? Moi?!
Big hugs, stay safe…and I can’t believe I’ve now only got Day 30 to go! When did April evaporate?!
Monty X
[Pic is from here]
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2020 Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Apr 28
Hey there 😊
Day 28, only two days until the end of this month of poetry, and we are still to go rooting about in my childhood, it would appear:
Describe a bedroom from your past in a series of descriptive paragraphs or a poem. It could be your childhood room, your grandmother’s room, a college dormitory or another significant space from your life.
Many rooms are rolling around in my memory banks, and I wasn’t sure which to pick, or how to introduce them. The first line of my poem popped up as I thought about my writerly/crafty ways over the years, and I decided just to write it down and follow where it wanted to lead me:
I do my best work in bedrooms;
The places where dreams
Have space to expand –
Take one over,
Grow one’s mind.
There is a stillness I crave
A potential in everyday costumes hanging silently,
A cushioning of the outside noise
By virtue of soft furnishings.
Every quilt reminds me
Of the mythical Land of Counterpane.
The secret thoughts within its walls –
Just a room
With a bed;
But somehow sacred.
I remember a large expanse of blue
With original cornicing,
Where a storyteller slept:
The Keeper of a projector
Full of explorations.
The cramped space –
One had to climb three staircases to reach –
Where a small woman reposed.
All dark furniture
And flowery accents.
The cry of seagulls
Past the attic glass
Of the guest room.
Sun falling on my latest knitting attempt.
A pile of my auntie’s childhood books waiting to be read,
And the promise of chocolate cereal
When I emerged.
What imprints these places
Into our consciousness?
Why is it their comfort feeds
Our souls all through our lives?
Which room in what house did the prompt make you think of? Let me know in the comments!
Big hugs, stay safe, and I’ll get my thinking cap on for Day 29!
Monty X
[Pic is from here]
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2020 Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Apr 27
Hi!
The prompt for Day 27 said:
I challenge you to write a poetic review of something that isn’t normally reviewed. For example, your mother-in-law, the moon, or the year 2020 (I think many of us have some thoughts on that one!)
I plumped for a wee exchange that took place with Eldest while we were (all) watching the wedding DVD, as it’s our twelfth anniversary today.
His eyes flitted
From the on-screen vision in a light mocha dress
– With an up-do and lipstick –
To his mum on the couch:
All leggings, and lockdown lack of sleep.
He took in the lines etched,
The folds freelanced,
The haywire hair on a style siesta;
He thumbed through his playground
And social conditioning,
Paying little heed
To her decade of diligence,
And asked:
“How did you get from that to this?!”
…A flick of the wrist taking in my whole worth
And finding it wanting.
“Time.” answered his father, flatly.
No talk of beauty
Still residing in me…
Big hugs, stay safe, and off I hop to Day 28!
Monty X
[Pic is from here]
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2020 Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Apr 26
Hiya!
The prompt for today asked me to fill in a long questionnaire and then to use the results as the basis of a poem. Again, that is very time consuming, so I picked the question that appealed to me – “childhood dream”:
I want to be a writer, mum!
To explore ALL my head.
I want to be a writer, mum!
To gift words, when I’m dead.
I want to be a writer, mum!
To stay up late and type,
Others to enjoy what I’ve done
To earn my wordsmith stripes.
I want to be a writer, mum
I’ll practice every day!
(Please can I now stop going to school,
And in my bedroom stay?)
I want to be a writer, mum!
I’ll need some paper, pens,
Windows for inspiration – and
Less contact with my friends.
I want to be a writer, mum.
Please help me to stay strong
When publishers reject me, and
My scansion sounds all wrong.
I want to be a writer! MUM!
I promise I won’t drink
Or get tangled in seedy things!
I’ll sit at home, and think.
I want to be a writer, mum!
Don’t LET me get a job,
That would be so boring – and
Just bring on writer’s block!
I want to be a writer, mum,
And remain on this cloud.
I want to be a writer, mum!
And stand out from the crowd!
Why am I not a writer, mum?
I forgot who I was –
Somehow, ‘midst all the ‘adulting’,
Stopped championing the cause.
And here I am: un-famous
With a blog that few frequent,
Because I don’t promote myself
Or have trust in my bent.
I’m failing at this writing, mum 🙁
But thank you for your faith
That I can be ‘most anything
If I my time don’t waste… xxx
*Sigh*
Well, that was a bit of a sobering poem that came out! Rhymed too, like my early stuff always did.
*Double sigh*
Anyway...
Big hugs, stay safe, and oooooooonwaaaaards to Day 27!
Monty X
[Pic is from here]
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2020 Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Apr 25
Hello 😊
The prompt for today was a long and tangled one, with a poem from another poet to read/listen to and then a series of instructions…it was all lovely, inviting and full of angles I could get lost in given the time – but unfortunately I have three other inhabitants in the house constantly these days, and I need a lot of quiet to really get lost in anything!
So I took this part out of all the suggested writing-sparkers:
Seek the “unforced flow of words”
And I went with that, after reading (while listening to the poet’s rendition of) James Schuyler’s lengthy poem “Hymn to Life”. I thought about a Saturday being a day I didn’t have to be home schooling; about interactions that occur while doing other things; about natural repetition in speech and habits, and all the things Schuyler had touched upon. I didn’t structure my poem in any particular way, just wrote, but Schuyler’s enjambment seems to have filtered into it?
I don’t have to, but the bananas need eating
And it all counts as learning. Too bad your big brother disagrees.
There’s so many parts to each recipe with kids;
We lay it all out, but it’s still complex.
Your gorgeous little fingers, all so much bigger than they were;
How can you be 7 already? “Yes, that’s a perfect egg.
You’re right! No hint of shell before it’s beaten”.
I wish I could tell you, definitively,
Which parts are needed
For what purpose; keep it all straight in my head.
But you’re getting the gist really well.
Maybe this is what you’ll remember
From an ocean of time spent at home
In circumstances with more rules than usual.
Who knew your mum’s germaphobe leanings
Would become the norm so catastrophically?
That she’d be less chicken-headed
Than people would have thought?
“Yes, that stirring’s really good”. “I love the smell
Of sugar-and-butter, too. Watch I don’t burn you
As it pours…” Round and round we go.
Each spoon, season, speech.
“Sugar on the top makes it crunchy…
The crust is always the best part”
The smell of baking brings reluctant minds into focus,
A bad mood soothed by fruity fumes.
Bear-claw oven mitts are donned
And the ten year old seems less bananas as
A hot oven he braves.
I don’t know what magic Youngest performed with the ingredients this time around, but today’s was a pretty yummy batch of banana bread! I think it’s maybe because the last few loaves that I’ve made have been with bananas I’d taken out of the freezer? Defrosted bananas are NOT pleasant to look at, and also taste weird, in my opinion.
Youngest also insists on adding chocolate chips to most things 😉
Do you like banana bread? Have you been making any in lockdown? Have you a favourite recipe you swear by? Tell me in the comments!
Big hugs, stay safe, and I’ll meet you at Day 26!
Monty X
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2020 Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Apr 24
Hi!
Having written about the lovely Orla and her ornately-arranged oranges yesterday, Day 24’s prompt asked me to:
write about a particular fruit – your choice. But I’d like you to describe this fruit as closely as possible.
So I had fun.
Again 😉
Wispy-haired punk
Wearing stripes with your mates,
Hanging out in alien shades
At the bottom of my friend’s garden –
I never really liked you;
Was more enamoured
With Cheery Red’s patch next door.
He was always a hit with the birds,
And really into tennis.
Did you eat a lot of Gooseberries as a child? I’m not sure we ever washed them first…?!
Big hugs, stay safe, and we’ll reconvene for Day 25!
Monty X
[Pic is from here]
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2020 Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Apr 23
Hey 😊
Day 23’s prompt went like this:
write a poem about a particular letter of the alphabet, or perhaps, the letters that form a short word.
Here’s my attempt, it doesn’t talk about the letters but it does play with them as a nod to the word down the left *shrugs*
Proud, perhaps pouting prettily,
Orla organises oranges ornately.
Eventually, evening envelopes events –
Morose mind meanderings maraud…
It’s another short one today, but it was all that came to mind for this prompt! As you’ll well know, I do love a little alliteration 😉 I was tickled when I found the pic on Pixabay after I had written the poem; a suitable ‘Orla’, I’d say.
Big hugs, stay safe, and we’ll push on to Day 24!
Monty X
[Pic is from here]
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2020 Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Apr 22
Howdy!
The NaPoWriMo prompt posited:
Today, I’d like to challenge you to find an idiomatic phrase from a different language or culture, and use it as the jumping-off point for your poem.
I picked two from here (because, why not?!) “Att glida in på en räkmacka” in Swedish (“To slide in on a shrimp sandwich.”) and ไก่เห็นตีนงู งูเห็นนมไก่ in Thai (“The hen sees the snake’s feet and the snake sees the hen’s boobs.”). What fun…!
He slid in
On a shrimp-lined sandwich;
All sushi and simpering.
But his serpent socks
Could not escape
My barnyard vigilance.
Again with the fowl deeds… 😉
Big hugs, stay safe, and be sure to stay tuned for Day 23!
Monty X
[Pic is from here]
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2020 Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
Apr 21
Hey there 😊
The prompt for Day 21 was to:
Find a poem in a language that you don’t know, and perform a “homophonic translation” on it. What does that mean? Well, it means to try to translate the poem simply based on how it sounds.
The first (Hungarian) poem was from here and it does have the translation in English if you scroll down, too, but I didn’t look at that until after I had written my version. They differ quite a bit…! No idea what mine’s about!
The second (swedish) poem is from here and it has the real translation right next to it…but I like mine better 😉
Szeretlek, szeretlek, szeretlek,
Secretly, stealthily, stealthily,
egész nap kutatlak, kereslek,
egress from catastrophe, carefully
egész nap sírok a testedért,
egress from such a test
szomorú kedves a kedvesért,
sleeping knives and stabbers,
egész nap csókolom testedet,
egress from catastrophic tests
csókolom minden percedet.
catastrophic minds proceed.
Minden percedet csókolom,
Minds proceed to catastrophe,
nem múlik ízed az ajkamon,
their milk used as medicine
csókolom a földet, ahol jársz,
catastrophe unfolded, every year
csókolom a percet, mikor vársz,
catastrophe a percentage, minor variations
messziről kutatlak, kereslek,
messy, cutting , careless
szeretlek, szeretlek, szeretlek.
stealthily, stealthily, stealthily.
Hon vet
The vet
vem som får
took it too far
slå henne
with my hen.
Underlydande
Understandably
har mer
he got
bukfett
buckled.
I like this kind of prompt, I do think I have done a similar one before…
Big hugs, stay safe, and I’ll meet you for Day 22’s prompt!
Monty X
[Pics are here and here]
Come visit the Facebook page and follow @ComfyRestless on Twitter
Copyright © 2020 Montaffera All Rights Reserved
Please do not use any of my content (posts, pictures, poetry etc) without my permission, but feel free to link back to my blog if something catches your eye. Thank you!
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