Lucky

I’m afraid of my shadow
As I should be
He shoots faster than me

Pendant:

Unlucky

I’m afraid of my shadow
As I should be
It shoots faster than me

Letter from Zagreb

Dear misfit,

May I please blow your trumpet?
You are needed now
In these days of consent minus one
You –
denied
limited
trumped –
are on a heroins journey
set by praying mantis

nerved by real news
you provide a hard copy
of neat love

In my musical
you’d be a proud member of the NUA
(now the no-unicorns-association)
no soul broker

Misfit
Please be careful
Cynical self help is a dud

Your disposition
may be
obscene
fixed
even heriditary

but if you were me
you’d love me
and
If I were me
I’d love you

till death do us part

Respectfully not yours,
Angela van Son

PS I forgot Inflection. Please remember i is a number, I’m not

One of the prompts for today at the generous octpowrimo page was to create a form of your own and share it with us. I realised I have a tradition that started some poetry months ago, to create a poem from titles (or snippets, or blog titles) from fellow participants and link up to them. A way to keep favourite parts, honour words I love, and express connection. I’m not even sure, but I think I invented this form myself, out of sheer enthusiasm.

Mine today is a variety on that: I’ve created a poem from the titles of my own poems this poetry month. I think I managed to incorporate all!

I prefer the form where I honour other peoples words, but I need more head space and time for those than I have right now. The good thing about todays version, is that invited me to look back at my own work this month and it works well as closure.

Today is our last day. #OctPoWriMo finishes. Again I’ve made great connections, read amazing poems, and got to enjoy my poems being read, liked and commented on. An inspiring and healing month. Thank you organisers, participants and readers!

If you like the idea of title poems, you can find more examples here.

Misfit

mindless model
mimicking beauty
moribund miss world
made speechless
motionless mime
misleading mirror
May I take your hand and dance?

If I’m correct, I’ve just penned my first pleiades. Which makes me on prompt for day 30 of #OctPoWriMo. The penultimate day.

i is a number (I’m not)

i is a number (I’m not)

i has a special faculty it’s constructed totally there’s no other complex number that’s like that i was made up to create the opportunity to solve equations in physics what if i is the square root of minus one what if i DOES exist? turns out you can count on it to disappear once the equation is solved i made things possible that weren’t possible before	i have a special faculty i am constructed totally there’s no other complex being that’s like me i was made up to create the opportunity to solve equations somewhere, somehow what if i am a square root of minus one what if I Do exist? turns out you can count on me to disappear once the equation is solved i make things possible that weren’t possible before
solve equations create opportunities i will disappear	equations solved opportunities created i did disappear

The prompt today at octpowrimo.com was numbers, and host Amy McGrath provided a list of numbers that have specific connotations. My in house mathematician tried to get me to write about cardinal numbers, because they’re counterintuitive, beautiful, inventive and realising they existed needed a lot of inventiveness and creativity (all hail the fabulous brain of Georg Cantor!).

I, on the other hand, fell immediately for i… i has more poetic opportunties than I’ve used. Look at this:

• the powers of i repeat in a cycle
• dividing by i is equivalent to multiplying by the reciprocal of i

Doesn’t that want to make you do math – or write a poem?

If you like my attempt at combining poetry with science, you can find more when you click on the tag science.

Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mpancha/2505656136

Dud

My dreams are made of this
me floating on air streams
at will, no fear of falling
I know I’m in control

Skating at full speed
luscious curves, never bumping
into anything
I know I’m in control

My days are made of this
– turbulence
– falling
– bumping
– slow motion struggles
– tmIoncloir-n

The prompt for today at OctPoWriMo.com was Split in two.

Cynical self help

No one
hates you more
than you

Some of us have brains who turn against ourselves. Those brains lie.

This one is totally off prompt – the prompt was colour. Obviously, this poem would be black. The poem is about many people I know, and many people I don’t know. Bless your heart if you don’t know what this feels like. Bless your heart even more if you do and you struggle with your mental health.

 

 

 

Please be careful

It barked today
It bared its teeth
into a mean snarl
and barked
– barked
showing its teeth
indicating
pain would be inflicted
if the line was crossed

It barked
– barked
meanwhile wondering
why the line wasn’t clear
and needed barking
in the first place
it had clearly pissed
its territory already

But it barked – barked
ready to bite
if provoked
meanwhile wishing
for someone
to say

It’s safe
It’s allright to stand down
It’s safe

I see the line
I smell it
I hear you

Thanks for the warning
I’ll take care of you

The prompt for #OctPoWriMo today was Inside out. I’ve used the dog illustration before, for another barking poem called Ineffectual.