National Poetry Writing Month
April that special time
Poetry composing abounds
Only thirty short days
Writing begins furiously
Resting only briefly
Imagination running rampant
Mastery of the written word
Once a year …
Digital Image
© Dawn Whitehand 2017
our planEt is dying
our politiciAns denying
our scientists Ridiculed
our populaTion fooled
meanwHile the earth sighs
while the fauna Dies
and the florA slips away
inevitablY we will all pay
Digital Manipulation of Original Drawing : original drawing can be seen here https://apoemandadrawingaday.wordpress.com/2016/10/15/obliteration/
© Dawn Whitehand 2017
I stared
unbelieving
open mouthed
palms outstretched
tooing and froing
left foot
right foot
imagine
my surprise
© Dawn Whitehand 2017
eyes heavy with the sands of sleep
I struggle down the bare hallway
footsteps echoing spasmodically
stumbling blindly … grasping…
reaching for the elusive
that which will make sense of the day
…coffee …
© Dawn Whitehand 2017
Whilst walking in a meadow last weekend,
I found a flower of strange appearance.
Its stem delicate yet strong would not bend,
Growing in the middle of a clearance.
With misshapen leaves stripped in orange fur,
And prickly bells smiling up at the clouds.
I tried to pick it, impaled on a bur,
and was quite unaware of the mass crowds,
Big black cows watching me from a distance.
Curiouser they crept ever closer,
As fickle beasts I need no assistance,
In backing away no nonsense, no sir!
But alas the object of my desire,
Trampled and crushed a flower never more.
Digital Drawing
© Dawn Whitehand 2016
Prompt from www.napowrimo.net – a sonnet
once a gold carriage
then suddenly midnight strikes
a pumpkin again
Digital Painting
© Dawn Whitehand 2016
Prompt from http://www.napowrimo.net
Write a poem in the voice of minor character from a fairy tale or myth. Instead of writing from the point of view of Cinderella, write from the point of view of the mouse who got turned into a coachman. Instead of writing from the point of view of Orpheus or Eurydice, write from the point of view of one of the shades in Hades who watched Eurydice leave and then come back.
So, I am writing a haiku from the point of view of the pumpkin!!
deep ruby red,
the glistening seductor
smooth liquid relief,
work week forgotten
modern day shaman,
pill free deliverance
tantalising taste buds,
silky non judgement
soft aromatic pleasure,
relaxing warm fuzzies
cool summer sheets,
saturday morning slumber
Digital Drawing
© Dawn Whitehand 2016
Prompt from www.napowrimo.net – to write a “kenning” poem
a societal moulding
as if made from clay
fuelled by coal
slowed by a cooling damper
the eternal heat
my life within a kiln
spared by a muffle
a mind in constant reduction
eyes ever glazing
an eternal life of sulphur
Digitally Manipulated Original Conte Drawing
© Dawn Whitehand 2016
Prompt from www.napowrimo.net … read on for my inspiration!
To find, either on your shelves or online, a specialized dictionary. This could be, for example, a dictionary of nautical terms, or woodworking terms, or geology terms. Anything, really, so long as it’s not a standard dictionary! Now write a poem that incorporates at least ten words from your specialized source.
So, as a ceramic artist I have many ‘potters dictionaries’ at my disposal – and chose this dictionary to find some random terms.
I randomly opened ten pages and chose a term from each page & then constructed the poem using the chosen word as the last word of each line ….
Enjoy 🙂
gothic silhouettes in the mist
assemble at noon beneath the town clock
a monotonous daily mindless ritual
for what nobody now remembers
I dream clean fresh air
while watching two headed fish
navigate a brown murky stream
and wonder at hungry flowers
gobbling wingless birds falling from the heavens
but a blue sky exists
claims my handsome imaginary rescuer
ignoring my glib unisex uniform
enforced to construct forlorn subservience
memories of the past diminish
while the eccentric tells all
and I clutch to my heart
a scrap of parched letterhead
love forever mum and dad
the only other paper newsprint
headlines the sun soon expires
and I imagine a koala
clutching a dead leafless branch
framed gruesomely through my grimy bedroom window
and remember the childhood story
don’t approach the city limits
corrupt music and laughter abound
yet when walking three minutes
down a sterile drab alley
I see nothing of difference
and I fear remaining here decomposing forever
an export of harvested flesh
where street money is valueless
a forlorn fixture of loneliness
trapped within a town postcard
an homogeneous grey deteriorating cityscape
Digitally Altered Original Conte Drawing
© Dawn Whitehand 2016
Prompt from http://www.napowrimo.net
The challenge answer, in no more than five minutes, the following “Almanac Questionnaire,” which solicits concrete details about a specific place (real or imagined). Then write a poem incorporating or based on one or more of your answers.
My place was imagined, and I used every answer in my poem…. here are my answers:
Almanac Questionnaire
Weather: misty
Flora: carnivorous
Architecture: gothic
Customs: assemble under the town clock at noon everyday
Mammals/reptiles/fish: mutants
Childhood dream: fresh air
Found on the Street: money (has no value)
Export: human harvested flesh
Graffiti: a blue sky exists
Lover: an imagined rescuer
Conspiracy: power brokers have constructed a scenario of servitude and helplessness
Dress: homogeneous uniform grey apparel
Hometown memory: none
Notable person: eccentric on the hill (who has memories)
Outside your window, you find: dead tree
Today’s news headline: sun soon to expire
Scrap from a letter: love forever mum and dad
Animal from a myth: koala
Story read to children at night: don’t approach the city limits
You walk three minutes down an alley and you find: nothing different
You walk to the border and hear: strange nose (music and laughter)
What you fear: remaining here forever
Picture on your city’s postcard: grey non-descript deteriorating cityscape
gently blooming bud
glistening in morning light
mother natures gift
Digital painting
© Dawn Whitehand 2016
