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A Sonnet for Astoria

  She’s a wild Turkey off to see the world ‘Cause there’s such a lot of world to see She’s looking dreamy, got her feathers furled Sweet drifter, where she’s from is a mystery Everyone loves her, she’s the new bird in town Some call her Rosie, Some call her a turkey Waldorf Astoria is where she was found Reading the menu for breakfast at Tiffany’s Up between the moon and New York City She sleeps in trees, has everything she needs Cops keep trying to capture her, a pity She won’t be caught she flies away with ease And kind folks follow to see she has cover May she live long and find her true lover. Challenge: Write a sonnet – or at least something “sonnet-shaped.” Think about the concept of the sonnet as a song, and let the format of a song inform your attempt. Be as strict or not strict as you want. To refresh you on the “rules” of the traditional sonnet: 14 lines 10 syllables per line Those syllables are divided into five iambic feet. (An iamb is an unstressed syllable follow...
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Joni

  She was lovely when she appeared on stage like a beautiful butterfly in her gorgeous tie dyed dress, took my breath away I felt like I had died and gone to heaven when she started to play To say I was a fan is an understatement And it was my first concert ever anyway at the Queen Elizabeth theatre   in Vancouver in my student days Perfect venue for the occasion and not too far from the downtown bus station She sang accompanied by her guitar all her wonderful songs that I loved The audience was in awe and respectful we were thrilled that she was home again She had a place on the Sunshine Coast where she could paint and make her pottery Just another hippie freak when she wasn’t touring. The concert was lovely in every way I was transported and delighted to be there As she giggled and laughed (in her breezy way) I had just come back from travelling to Spain myself And felt like I was there again. Challenge: write a poem that recounts an experience of hearing live music, and tel...
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Solo

This poem isn’t going well It pains me to tell you I cannot sing,  I was banned from Karaoki (true story) And I’m ashamed to say I only learned to play rudimentary piano, and guitar and sing off key my Bob Dylan repertoire Some were kind She’s got a character voice But others cruel   Sing solo my friends would say So low we can’t hear you And maybe (I can only guess) That is why I write poetry today.   Challenge: write a poem that involves people making music together, and that references – with a lyric or line – a song or poem that is important to you.
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Starlings

 Birds  awake at dawn sweet trills and chitter chatter rustling into day challenge: write a poem that focuses on birdsong Repost from 2018  I have Starlings nesting in the roof but not heard any chicks yet this year.
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Good fortune

  A folded paper fortune teller, pick a colour any colour and I will tell you your future and your true love’s name . I was a precocious child   I would bring my knitting to kindergarten to show for show and tell (and show everyone on the ride there in the limousine) I had a lot of pride and self esteem for a child of five Just happy to be alive… I could throw a ball against a wall and spin around and catch it before it hit the ground, I could climb the weeping willow tree in our yard and shoot straight with a BB gun (my brothers showed me how) Life was marvellous never dull, it was magical always interesting. Sometimes I feel like I am still a child inside and in dreams I see that weeping willow tree that seems to call me back for one more climb But my folded paper fortune teller tells me no We must accept (relent) to growing old. Challenge: write a poem about something you’ve done – whether it’s music lessons, or playing soccer, crocheting, or fishing, or learning how to cha...
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Snubbed by the muse

  Sauntering words take a jaunt around the proverbial block   taking in the evening air, not stopping at my door where I wait for them there. I envy their easy going stride as they pass without a glance. How is it words can be so cruel to walk right past? Shyly I open the door hoping they will find me   But no, off they go whispering sweet nothings. Challenge Day 21:  write a 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. Another repost, this one from 2020
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Morning Song

  She writes of the song of the morning that she heard on a wing and a prayer She sees all the shapes in the borning but when she looks close nobody is there She writes of the sound of the morning and the growl of the thrumming sea a growl like a mourning prayer while birds tumble over in air Their wings are all tufted and lacy bright eyes peer back at her stare She writes from a dream now grown hazy of a past that she left who knows where fast tracking back to a feeling when  she was there wheeling wildly without a care. Challenge Day 20:Taking inspiration from Theodore Roethke’s poem “ In Evening Air”  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. My poem using rhythm and phrasing inspired by Algernon Charles Swinburne poem ~ By the North Sea...
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