With his little wand
he worked his giant’s magic
First she was grateful
the she cried
Dear child
be safe
Feel like a giant within your own world
Feel free to be small in mine
Feel the liberating power of
you don’t have to do this
Feel huge satisfaction
you can do anything
Day 15 of OctPoWriMo. We’re halfway in the challenge, and the prompt was half way. This poem came up instead.
The miller’s daughter looked confused.
“I’m sorry?”
“You must write, and read, as if your life depended on it.”
She eyed the stranger conspicuously,
“I beg your pardon?”
She saw how he looked at her first-born.
“You must write, and read, as if your life depended on it.”
She moved her body between him and the child.
“Have we met before?”
He moved so he could see the child again.
She noticed a streak of gold in his hair.
“You must write, and read, as if your life depended on it.”
She sniffed the air.
“Please leave these premises immediately.”
It was the smell of warm sunny days.
It was the smell of impossible demands.
It was the smell of wonders against all odds.
“You must write, and read, as if your life depended on it.”
She stared hard into his eyes
“Take me with you”.
He looked surprised.
She smiled.
She took her baby and packed her bags.
She handed him a book.
“Your name is Rumpelstiltskin
Please turn to the last page.
We will live happily ever after”
Day 14 of #OctPoWriMo. This poem is based on a these beautiful sentences by Adrienne Rich: You must write, and read, as if your life depended on it.
OctPoWriMo day 13 invited us to write about color. I ended up with a dark poem still.
We worship our mistress today
Welcome to pink sabbath!
We worship our mistress today
Carmine candles are burning
We gather around this heart shaped line
Sacrifices will be made
We will drown marshmallows in raspberry syrup
We will cut off My Little Pony tails
Hello Kitty will lose her head
We will burn candy cotton
We will chant bubble gum songs
Peppa pig will draw fuchsia blood
Barbie will be crucified
on a ballerina shaped cross
Cinderella will screech magenta murder
Welcome to pink sabbath!
We worship our mistress today
Carmine candles are burning
We gather around this heart shaped line
Sacrifices will be made
Human being
fallible life form
irrationally rational
emotionally flawed
messing itself up
with mindful consent
The prompt for OctPoWriMo day 12 was to write about desire. One of the word suggestions was lust. On the OctPoWriMo page I’ve shared the most lustful poem I’ve ever written. I try to publish a new one everyday for OctPoWriMo, so I’m adding this one for day 12. I guess this one is about the desire to be less human sometimes…
He hurt me
My skin curled up
hardened
chain mail
He hurt me
My dropping saliva
thickened
venom
He hurt me
My tailbone lengthened
lashed
scythe
He hurt me
My stained teeth
sharpened
piercers
He won’t hurt you
my child
I have built
a protective wall
He won’t hurt you
my child
there’s a moat
filled with poison
He won’t hurt you
my child
I’ll make a lunge
if he approaches
He won’t hurt you
my child
I’ll have his head
on a stake
My dragon
tries to protect me
it does more harm
than it knows
My castle
tries to shield me
it imprisons
unintentionally
My untouched child
you are like sleeping beauty
I’ll need seven dwarfs
to get you out of here
Day 11 of OctPoWriMo. I’m not exactly using the prompt, which is about speaking up for children. This one is more about my inner child. When I wrote this, I kept thinking about the dragons that Nicola Wilson creates. You can find them on her Facebook page and a number on her website.
Birds flying high
don’t know how I feel
The sun in the sky
won’t know how I feel
There’s no new dawn
no new day
no new life
for me
Empathy is a lie
you don’t know how I feel
Don’t even try
to know how I feel
There’s no new day
no new light
no new life
for me
Here’s the intro for the prompt for #OctPoWriMo day10: “Today is World Mental Health Day, first established in 1992 by the World Federation for Mental Health. It’s a day to raise awareness about mental health issues through education and advocacy. One in four adults and one in five children will experience mental illness this year. (Resource: NAMI)”
Thinking about the prompt, this beautiful Nina Simone Song turned into something bleak in my head….
three lunges—————————–be told
two planks——————————- what to do
five seconds —————————- to get better
times series —————————–reduce fatigue
stress reduction ———————–feel fit
neuro plasticity ————————cope
Tomorrow’s schedule
will be different
yet the same
outdoor activity ————————-helpful indeed
never mind the weather ————my body is thankful
individual session ———————-someone finally got it moving
group session —————————-my mind reassured
yanking ourselves———————- to get help
out of our misery ———————–and not struggle alone
by the hairs ——————————-yet I’m irritated
it’s between the ears ——————to the bone
what messes us up ———————full of resistance
Each day I’m exhausted
proud of making changes
fed up with the time it takes
writing poems —————————prescription followed
is an act of defiance ——————-check
protesting the void ———————escaped into creation
reclaiming imagination—————-check
The prompt for #OctPoWriMo day 9 is to write about why you are choosing to continue to write poetry now.
This is a story about a car
a car that didn’t go far
It suffered from motion sickness
badly
Knackered today. Time for some silliness. Though I’m not a car, I suffer from motion sickness badly. When I’m tired I even have it when I drive… Luckily I’m Dutch and supposed to do as much as I can on a bike. Never had motion sickness on a bike 🙂 Day 8 of OctPoWriMo. The prompts are good, my brain is just not complying.
As I was sitting in the grass
struggling with existence
a plane flew by
It made me wonder
what I would experience
if I got on it
and extended my flight
If I could choose my experiences
what would I choose right now?
Too stand on top of a mountain
with hiking boots and mittens on?
To swim in salt water
surrounded by fish and reef?
To visit ruins and be amazed
by the skills of culture
and the strength of nature?
Another plane flew by
and another
My pants got wet from the grass
Would I choose to be soothed by nature?
Would I choose to be punished by culture?
I noticed people weren’t on the menu
Not even to talk about the meaning of life
Rock and stones
Water and warmth
Colours and shapes
When I looked around me I noticed
that all that was missing was rock –
I had warm soft moor beneath me
I took off my sandals and listened to the birds
Do you know they sing louder when there’s no plane passing by?
(Wilnis, 23-6-2014)
I read somewhere that on the seventh day you’re allowed to rest… Right? I found an old draft in my note book, one that I wrote as kind of a stream of conciousness thing. I was having a tough day that day and decided to sit still and be quiet for a while, and see what happened (almost like in today’s prompt). At the end of writing this I felt better. I realised I simply wanted to be where I was and nothing else. If I can find the pictures I’ll add them to the post.
Perfect?
You wish…
Practice makes flawed
as any perfectionist knows
– only less flawed
Practice makes desperate
as any perfectionist knows –
like the horizon
perfection stays without reach
Practice makes tired
as any perfectionist knows
the effort
is never rewarded
with the desired result
Practice makes angry
as any perfectionist knows
we don’t want to practice
we want perfection
NOW
tomorrow doesn’t count
Practice makes sad
as any perfectionist knows
we try
and fail
try
and fail
try
(once more, with feeling)
This is the first time I followed the prompt for OctPoWriMo. The prompt was perfectionism, and the writer of the prompt loves math. She inspired me to increase the number of lines one by one – and end with an imperfect extra line 😉 Any emotion you can feel in this poem is purely fictional. Perfectionism? Me? Never heard of it…
Unassorted stories 