art | Polly

30/04/2013
by Polly Robinson 26 Comments

In the Dark of the Moon

The final day of Napowrimo, and the mood darkens with the waning gibbous moon …

A dark tale of the waning gibbous moon,
the one that lurks in the darkness tonight.
Face louring, eyes glowering,
glittering light emits from the pits,
the pity of the city wrapped in
the evanescence of the smile
it smirks
to those who lurk
below.

They that shirk light on the earth,
in the shadow of moonshine,
that work to earn
a place in noir histoire.
They that taunt and haunt the
crooks of alleys, capes folded, who
lay in wait for those with stumbling gait,
who’ve imbibed a jar
or two …

They wait with needles
keenly sharp knives,
those who shiver and shrive themselves to the priest
of the dark; who leave their mark,
a fusty tang, a taint of dung, blood-letters who
think of mortality only
as banality, forgetting that death
comes to all, and it’s only
a fall away.

20110718 Waning Gibbous Moon (Photo credit: Degilbo on flickr)

29/04/2013
by Polly Robinson 24 Comments

Rondeau: Yellow

Day 29 at Napowrimo and I’m talking a rondeau of ‘yellow’.

In tones yellow, golden sunshine,
Coneflower, yellow, celandine,
Dazzling sunflowers, detailed lobes.
New York taxis, Buddhist monk robes,
Goldcrests fly in forests of pine.

Traditional, from cow urine,
Now food colouring’s Tartrazine.
Songs of a pretty Texan rose,
In tones yellow.

The sweetened gold of dessert wine,
Bradley Wiggins’ jersey design,
Saffron and rapeseed in the nose,
Yellow bellies courage propose,
Wild heretics in capes recline
In tones yellow.

A rondeau is written on two rhymes with fifteen lines, using the first part of the first line as a refrain. The form is created from three stanzas: a quintet, a quatrain and a sestet.

23/04/2013
by Polly Robinson 28 Comments

Ghazal: Will’s Birthday

The sun shines brightly, the birds sing in tune,
today’s Will’s birthday, celebrate the day.

Elsinore, and Francisco’s at his post,
today’s Will’s birthday, celebrate the day.

Polonius hides behind the arras,
today’s Will’s birthday, celebrate the day.

Ophelia scuttles out to the meadow,
today’s Will’s birthday, celebrate the day.

An elevated skull greets the soft light,
today’s Will’s birthday, celebrate the day.

Today is Will’s birthday, celebrate the day,
and Polly will make the tea, as they say.

This was long thought to be the only portrait of William Shakespeare that had any claim to have been painted from life, until another possible life portrait, the Cobbe portrait, was revealed in 2009. The portrait is known as the ‘Chandos portrait’ after a previous owner, James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos. It was the first portrait to be acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in 1856. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

23/04/2013
by Polly Robinson 37 Comments

Lyra

Napowrimo, Day 23, and it has to be about the Lyrid meteor showers. As it’s in the form of a sonnet, and today is reputed to be Shakespeare’s birthday, it also fits with Imaginary Garden with Real Toads prompt

Tiny specks of light, hip-hop through the night,
itsy tails and trails, a thrill for eyes that see.
Lyra shows her faces ~ mini traces ~
while the gibbous moon beams with shadowed hope.
Lying on the grass, the cool of moist turf,
staring at the night sky, waiting for a glimmer,
wrapped up warmly, earthlings view the heavens
and think ‘eternity’ and things ethereal.
The annual Lyrid meteor shower peaks ~ throws
glimpses to those waiting far below ~ shows
the watchers that it is so worth the wait,
the wait, for tiny specks of light that dance.

The patient watchers are entranced, and know
what it is, to see skies in their glory.

Lyrid Meteor Shower (Photo credit: David Kingham)

This photo is a close representation of what I saw tonight, though there were more. It took a while for my eyes to get used to the night sky, but after a time the twinkling became ‘trackable’ and these tiny specks became evident ~ marvellous ~ a true wonder. Click on the image to see it more clearly

21/04/2013
by Polly Robinson 66 Comments

Steaming Tea

Day 21 Napowrimo, at dVerse Poetics Claudia is talking of springtime. And on the ‘Imaginary Garden with Real Toads‘ they’re focusing on World Earth Day, 22 April 2013, for their open link Monday.

Frost
surprises
on fewer
mornings,
beneath clarity: a sky of
blueness mirroring springtime,
in a slew of white
feathered streaks.

Birds trill, trees bud,
cyclamen leaves peek.
Lambs shout to their ma’s.
Soft, soft, the
wood pigeon calls.
Oh, and the daffodils,
the daffodils,
the glorious trumpeting
daffodils.

As my tea steams
in the chill morning air,
I look around
and beam,
at work
waiting
to begin.

20/04/2013
by Polly Robinson 12 Comments

Fevers

Mysterious fevers in Malvern,
fever in Worcester, burning her up.
The brave, sombre child,
did not understand why mama went away.
She came home frail, damaged, loving, yet
unspeakably sad.

Mama lost his brother.
The other.
The one who would have been his friend.
His best friend. His closest friend. The boy who would
look out for him. Be there for him. Always.
His love in the womb extends from the tomb.

Mother’s loss and tears stifled.
She was told, ‘get a grip’ and ‘move on,’ as if to forget
were possible.
The tiny child ~ innocent ~
a babe, never in arms.
No grieving for lost babies then,
they shuffled them away and
burned them in kilns
so no-one would miss them.

The mother suffers a lifetime of loss,
with an idea of how siblings feel.
We learnt these things painfully.
Today such babes are mourned,
buried. Time moves on and
we talk of tragedies.
Not so back then.

19/04/2013
by Polly Robinson 28 Comments

Tip the Windmill

Day 19 Napowrimo

We look after our feet
to keep walking
and our skin
for comfort and care;
an observation,
in wellness defined …
think of yourself,
don’t ignore your mind.

The fragile mind,
full of vim and vigour,
deserves our attention too.

By and large
it keeps in good health,
yet a day may dawn
when almost by stealth
it no longer functions in
quite the same way.
They dole out meds,
maybe something is said, that

tilts the balance,
tips the windmill,
turns the head,
away.

Polly Robinson 2013

18/04/2013
by Polly Robinson 15 Comments

Books

Day 18 Napowrimo prompt challenges us to write a poem that begins and ends with the same word.

Books, they line the walls,
they’re piled on the floor,
the tomes that you and I adore,
books.

They keep us quiet,
make us cry,
with wibbly words we so enjoy,
books.

We read ‘em,
we write ‘em,
fight always to keep ‘em,
books.

Covers, they bind us,
pictures delight,
chapters keep turning deep into the night,
books.

We laugh out loud,
at escapades,
thrill to chillers that talk of the grave,
books.

We learn, we yearn,
see falls from grace,
life mirrored and echoed by worlds embraced in
books.

Genres to please each tang and taste,
romance and history,
tragedy, mystery, smooth and whiskery,
books.

Fiction and faction,
biog’s and auto’s,
text books and how-to’s with lots of photos,
books.

The smell of the paper,
or flick of the ebook,
whichever we favour we’ll never be stuck
for a jolly good read
from books.

17/04/2013
by Polly Robinson 29 Comments

Greetings!

Napowrimo, Day 17, and the prompt is to write poems of greeting. While over at Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, they’ve asked for a hello / goodbye poem too

Greetings!
I’m from Ibble-Wibble
you might have heard of us
the Ibble-Wibblers have a song
and it is sung like this:

Ibble, wibble, wobble, way,
A silly poem I write today,
Ooty, scooty, mooty, moo,
If I can do it, you can too!

15/04/2013
by Polly Robinson Leave a comment

Safe Hands

For Day 15, Napowrimo’s prompt is to write a pantun, not a pantoum, a pantun. The pantun is a traditional Malay form that consists of rhymed quatrains (abab), with 8-12 syllables per line. The first two lines of each quatrain aren’t meant to have a formal, logical link to the second two lines, although the two halves of each quatrain are supposed to have an imaginative or imagistic connection.

Hand lotion soothes away the cares of the day,
Smoothes and eases, makes skin comfortable,
Children sleep and dream their dreams away,
Safe, someone there, should nightmares trouble.

14/04/2013
by Polly Robinson 18 Comments

Voice and Flowers

Day 14 and Napowrimo wants a persona poem – ‘that is, a poem in the voice of a particular person who isn’t you.’

A ‘poem in the voice of a superhero (or a supervillain)’ was suggested. ‘Comic book characters are very much like mythological characters — they tend to embody big-picture values or personality traits. Good or bad. Loyal or disloyal!’ Greek myth it is, then.

Voice and Flowers

I am proud and I hunt.
You may have heard,
I found my Nemesis,
or rather, she found me,
me, me, me, me.
That wretched Echo
kept following me,
me, me, me, me.

I found it beneath contempt,
so I shouted,
‘Who’s there?’
And she, a mountain nymph,
of all things,
replied ‘Who’s there?’
like she didn’t know me,
me, me, me, me.

Well, no-one told me she’d
been cursed
by Hera,
couldn’t do anything other
than repeat,
repeat, my words.
She was following me,
me, me, me, me.

And now everyone hears her
forever,
as they see me,
me, me, me, me.
I rest beside river banks
a pale flower
that peers at its own
beauty.

Echo and Narcissus as Amaterasu and Susano in a Mirror (Photo credit: timtak)

12/04/2013
by Polly Robinson 17 Comments

The Lecturer

Napowrimo Day 12 and we’re asked to, “write a poem consisting entirely of things you’d like to say, but never would …” so I’ve immediately thought about a poem I posted in 2012, repeated below:

The Lecturer

I don’t need you to lecture me
I don’t need you to hector me
I don’t need you to point out
The error of my ways.

I’m capable of thought myself
I too have learned my lessons
I detest your abject misery
Your supercilious nays.

You don’t know everything my dear
You don’t have dibs on knowledge
You cannot force your views on me
Hey, I too went to college!

You make folk feel uncomfortable
Because you don’t let go
You lecture, hector, make life hell
The one who always knows.

09/04/2013
by Polly Robinson 29 Comments

Awdl Gywydd: Raku

A repost of a poem from last year for A2LSM who is interested in form in poetry.

The Awdl Gywydd is a Celtic (Welsh) poetry form that complicates the end rhyme scheme by interlacing an internal rhyme throughout the poem on the second and fourth lines of each stanza. The end rhyme scheme is as follows: a,b,c,b… d,e,f,e, etc.. however, the internal (cross-rhyme) can be placed in either the 3rd, 4th, or 5th, syllable position.
Awdl Gywydd: Raku

Crickle, crackle, raku glaze,
Shattered craze of crafted pots,
Bisque ware fired in burning kilns,
Potters film, peel-off slip shocks.

Excitement lifts temperature,
Glaze is sure to be red hot,
Post fire unpredictable,
Flames a miracle new pot.

Raku ware is the type of Japanese pottery seen in the form of tea bowls in the Japanese tea ceremony. This type of pottery is tricky to fire relying on a complex process that many potters find exciting because it is unpredictable. Raku is more generally recommended for decorative purposes as it is delicate and can crumble if not properly glazed. To find out more about raku click here.

07/04/2013
by Polly Robinson 8 Comments

Sabotage

He knew.
He thought he knew, there would be
sabotage.
It opened up,
a black hole with white frosted spikes.
He did not witness
the evil taste, the smell
of the tainted
saboteur.
Instead, external aggression by
ships dragging anchors.

‘There’s more than one way,’
they said,
‘this is not a mirage.
‘Wait, it cannot be avoided.
‘excuses will be exposed.’
‘The present determines the future, but
the approximate present does not
approximately determine the future.’
‘Your time may come
‘to witness sabotage.’

Polly Robinson 2013

Sabotage not suspected in Seacom cut: CEO (techcentral.co.za)

05/04/2013
by Polly Robinson 19 Comments

Fiery

Blaze
distal phalanges;
sparklers of pain,
in luminescent ligaments.
Carpals cussing, cursing
the dreadful digits,
gripping, griping,
grasping, gasping
rage.
Rage against
the pain.
Rage
through
agony.

05/04/2013
by Polly Robinson 13 Comments

Raku Fox

We are prompted to write a cinquain on this, the fifth day of NaPoWriMo. A cinquain is a poem that employs stanzas with five lines. Each line has a certain number of accented or stressed syllables, and a certain number of overall syllables per line.

The wonderfully named American, Adelaide Crapsey created the “American” cinquain, a form in which the number of stresses per line is 1-2-3-4-1, and the number of syllables is 2-4-6-8-2. So the first line would have two syllables, one stressed and one unstressed. The second line would have four syllables, two of which are stressed, and so on.

Here is my cinquain for Day Five:

Raku Fox

Raku
ceramic hares,
and fox, who hides behind
the TV in the corner, peeks
and grins.

Here’s a little info about Raku ceramic making:
Raku-Firing-Pottery

03/04/2013
by Polly Robinson 18 Comments

Skull and Crossbones

For Day 3 of Napowrimo we’re challenged to write a sea shanty.

Sea Shanties were work songs sung on ships during the age of sail. Napowrimo’s prompt today is to write a Sea Shanty. They were often in the form of call and response, so that’s the shape of my poem.