Tag / napowrimo

by Carol J Forrester

New Notepads, NaPoWriMo And Open Mic Nights #WeekendCoffeeShare

March turned into a slower month than planned for me and I’m not entirely sure why that was. Perhaps it was the expectation for April and NaPoWriMo, or the relief of getting my submission in to The Poetry Business for their Book and Pamphlet Competition. Either way, I didn’t really write much in the second half of March and I feel a little guilty for letting myself slip into old habits for those two weeks. On the other hand, I’d managed to be pretty productive during January and February in terms of submissions to journals and competitions, and March isn’t particular busy when it comes to deadlines, so if you’re going to pick a month to kick back, March would be it.

April has been busy with NaPoWriMo kicking off and the first week is just about to come to a close. So far I have managed to post a-poem-a-day for the prompts provided and unlike some years, I’ve found myself connecting with the official prompts. Previously I’ve sat there staring at the screen wondering how on earth I’m going to come up with something but this year I seem to have found my flow. All my NaPoWriMo poems so far can be found under the poetry category of this site, and I even preformed my response for the Early Bird Prompt at the Shrewsbury Poetry Night. My sister was brilliant enough to video the set so if you want to take a look you can see it below.

I would like to do some more poetry readings this year as I’d forgotten just how much I actually enjoy them. They are a fantastic space to voice poetry in, but you also get to connect with fellow poets and listen to some amazing work from other writers.

While I’ve signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo, the actual amount of writing I’ve done it pretty minimal. Each time I sit down to the computer I seem to hit a wall and pushing past is proving to be troublesome.

Overall I’m trying not to beat myself up about my lack of progress with my novel as I’ve been writing more poetry and it looks like I should have a full length manuscript by the end of the year if not before then. If I don’t get anywhere with the pamphlet competitions I’m going to look into self-publishing again. I self-published ‘Before The Words Run Out’ so I know I can do it, I just want make sure that I’m 100% happy with the content this time. Either way, there will be a poetry collection coming soon. I just hope there  will be people who want to read it.

by Carol J Forrester

Downward Path – #NaPoWriMo Day Five

We did not so much fall as…

saunter vaguely downwards,

wrapped up in each other.

 

You brought the sky along,

strung like a child’s balloon.

We did not so much fall as…

 

Drifted like seeds let loose,

wandered a little lost,

wrapped up in each other.

 

Settled, we marked here

a strip of green we’d found,

we did not so much fall as…

 

Play house and families.

Make believe until made real,

wrapped up in each other.

 

Whispered this is what souls

are made of.

We did not so much fall as

wrap up in each other.

 

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Day Five’s prompt is to include one of the following (1) the villanelle form, (2) lines taken from an outside text, and/or (3) phrases that oppose each other in some way.

Now I’m aware that this is not a perfect Villanelle. I was halfway through the draft before I’d realised that I’d forgotten about the rhyming scheme but since I’m not a fan of rewriting to make something rhyme I decided to just run with what I had.

The lines taken from an outside text are “did not so much fall as saunter vaguely downwards” (Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett ‘Good Omens’) and “whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same” (Emily Bronte ‘Wuthering Heights’). I didn’t quote the second exactly as I couldn’t quite work out how to without wrenching the tone of the poem completely.

*In addition, the Good Omens quote also fits nicely with phrases that oppose each other in some way, so two birds, one stone, two prompts, one quote.

 

 

 

by Carol J Forrester

Glass And Seed – #NaPoWriMo Day Four

I’m weighing words.

Counting them

like beach glass.

Trying to judge

how you might distort

the light through them.

 

Most

I will slip back inside

my hollow throat.

Swallow,

like tablets

or seeds.

 

Ignoring the fizz

as they hit my gut,

sprout up,

and wrap around

anything else there is

to say.

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by Carol J Forrester

Slowly Goes By So Quick – #NaPoWriMo Day Three

Does it count as taking your time,

pausing between each item

fingers on clasps,

heartbeat a tempo dancing

beneath the skin

in a skip, skip rhythm

I felt against my breastbone.

 

Slid my foot along the seat

of a chair like the one I sat in,

bare skin cold

against the plastic.

 

Counted the buttons,

two,

four,

six,

stopped

when they ran out

and fabric hung loose

from my shoulders.

 

Open.

 

Parted my thighs the same,

slow,

or maybe fast,

the motion of it blurred

in memory

distracted by your face

close to mine.

 

Open

mouthed.

 

Kissed you,

slowly.

 

Open legs.

 

I won’t say what we did

next.

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