Author Archives: gareth roi jones

Day 12 – poem about home

birdie_01_by_lonegamer7

An hour ago, I sat down & looked at the ideas I’d been playing with & groaned. 

Why at this time of night, do I suffer NaPoWriMophobia: the fear that nothing I’ve worked on all day is worth sharing?

At the end of a regular day, if nothing’s good enough to share, um, well I don’t. (To be honest, it’s a fine line, because sometimes I write something I think is good/has potential, but I don’t want to share it because it might have a life at a competition or in a journal somewhere; & many such avenues frown on public broadcasting even on such a humble thing as a poorly subscribed poet’s blog.)

But then, I typed up half a dozen lines scrawled in my notebook after waking this morning, which grew into this moody piece. Not what I was originally intending to do with it (I don’t think) but something I am more than satisfied, even pleased, with.

nest

woven layers : accumulation : levels of detritus : leaves like slugs : webs pull the corners : closer : a comfortable chaos : treesurrounded : birdnoisewrapped : step over twigs : all wound through : with string : & stolen hair : windrunnels : wingflutter : cavesafe : eggless : empty : arrive : unlock with relief : discard shell : flop onto : feathersoft couch : to rest : regenerate : recubate

Day 11 – poem about, er, art

5 Pieces of Moon

Um, yeah. Well. It’s getting ridiculous now.

I’ve been playing round with a couple of pieces again today, & I just kept coming back to a phrase a friend messaged me after reading Saturday’s poem which was, er, about the moon. She said, “I really want to frame this.” Being the sort of person who takes praise well, I replied: “what the poem or the moon, uh-hahahaha?” “Both.”*

& so, this.

the woman who wanted to frame the moon

not content
with mere admiration
through dark glass

no more
muted suffocations

in a shared over
crowded atmosphere

she wanted it
all for her own

something only
she could see

recompense for a life
too long lived
in shadow

 

 

 

[legal disclaimer**: the only connection between my friend & the woman in this poem
is the jumping off point described above.
To my knowledge she does not desire lunar-ownership of any kind.
The rest, as they say, is licensed.]

**[legal disclaimer disclaimer: my friend is a lawyer so this only seems prudent]

Day 10 – poem about memory

_filtered__by_aksdareflection

I think I’ve mentioned before that during NaPoWriMo, I try & draft several pomes a day, testing out ideas to see what sticks … & hopefully finding an idea worthy enough to develop into some sort of acceptable first draft.

This very short pome began life as a stanza in a longer piece which wasn’t pulling its weight. I spent a long time playing with versions of it, until I realised, everything I was trying to say was in these lines. Less is more & all that. So I abandoned the rest; copied-&-pasted this bit into a new document & kept cutting*, playing with enjambment, alternative words, & finally titles; a dozen versions came & went before I stumbled onto the current choice which seems so ideal I wonder why it took so long.

Speaking of long, this introduction is so, only because the pome is so short & I wanted readers to feel like they got value for money 🙂

filtrate

he craves age
so everything
can be better
than it was, when it was

 

 

 

*sure it’s only 14 words long, but once it was 19

Day 09 – poem about damage

1

If I said I understood everything I wrote, I’d be lying. Today’s effort comes from a form of poetry-generation; a pome-making game I guess. The steps are simple.

1. Make a series of lists (using prompts).
2. Choose one element from each list.
3. Find a way to combine them in one pome.

Ergo, below…

surveying the damage

through the window
yellow leaves cover the lawn
on the table bread is dark
brown like chocolate
— the wind blew all night
forcing doors & knocking
knick-knacks from sills

too cold to emerge
from beneath blankets
so the water did what it must
— spend the morning
throwing all my books
into a pulping machine
they’re useless now

 

Day 08 – poem about gifts

Blue_Moon_CROP

Arrrggghhh! Can’t seem to shake this subject. Despite several poems worked on today, the two I was considering for today’s post somehow didn’t seem to stack up, so had to go for this fallback. New subject matter tomorrow, I promise (I hope).

the gifts of the luni

every night the moon leaves me gifts
like a cat depositing nightkill on my mat

this week on the wall by the back door
a rectangular jewel box, waiting to be buried

above the kitchen blind, a sliver of laser light
as i stumble out for an insomniacal glass

repainting the window in my bedroom
into a mirror which reflects undreamt dreams

on the drive home it rezones the countryside
into a dimension far beyond the fourth

even its gilding of the boxangular city
until it is almost beautiful enough

to star in its own fairy tale

Day 07 – poem about bicycles

Penny-farthing bicycle on a distant moon CROP

Some of my favourite poems come out of the dreams I have. Coincidentally they’re often among the easiest to write, even if I’m not always sure what they mean (the dreams I mean; I always know what my poems are about, huh-ha… ha).

night bike ride

you ride your penny farthing
along the lush lip of the moon
while I potter along beneath

pushing the chunky wheels
of my trike round hard as I can
without getting anywhere

soon you’ll be soaring along
the roadway of milky stars
& i’ll be watching you fade

Day 06 – poem about THE wonder of the world

text close up

Life can be such a poo the way it gets in the way. The first draft of this pome was finished well before 11am with intentions to tweak later in the day; but work, 2 & 1/2 hours of driving, that pesky niece again (thankfully the essay is due tomorrow, well today now) meant it’s had no chance for revision & is being uploaded a few minutes after my midnight. Ahh well, it’s a solid start that can be worked on later.

cheap paperback wonderland

though the pages are yellow, foxed
though the spine brittle
though the glue cracks
as each page tumbles over
transforming bound book
into loose leaves no matter
how reverentially i turn

despite the damage i inflict
upon this precious relic
long savoured by my mother
as one of her favourite fictions
i am once more lost   this time
in revolutionary cornwall
as the industrial age fires up
weeping at love gone awry
wailing harder when reconciled

every so often wandering astray
at the way words  no matter
the medium  these upright lines
curious curves  intermittent
dots & convoluted squiggles
repeatedly rearrange themselves
into emotional outpourings
that make them the greatest
of all wonders

Day 05 – poem about shadows

talking_to_the_moon_by_gilad CROP

This strange little poem grew out of the first three words which just popped into my head. The rest flowed out afterwards without much effort. Gotta have at least one poem about the moon or else it isn’t a real NaPoWriMo. Hope I haven’t done my dash by tossing it in so early in the month.

the moon & me

the moon
smothers

in violent light
holds head under

satin stain
on the wall

awkwardly cast
shadowself

always clawing
through to the other

(dark)
side of me

Day 04 – poem about research

cat_videos

As the poem explains, I was working on a different piece when I was interrupted (many times) by beloved niece. Since I didn’t have time to complete the previous composition, a hasty last-minute decision was made to salvage some of the wasted time into this … er, sparkling effort you see before you.

millennials on the interwebs

i.
just spent over 35
minutes on a back &
forth text argument
with my niece find
her somewhat wonky
feet learning how
to attribute sources
in academic writing
(yes i know, zzzzzzzz)
when i should have
been finishing today’s
poem of perfection
& utmost genius

spent too much time
trying to teach her
how to fish on the net
for more than just cute
kittens & youtube vids
of people falling off things

ii.
ergo: a condensed
summation of the encounter

If i use a quote from a
lecture how do i
reference it do you
know?

Google

It doent explain shit..

Type: how do I reference
a quote from a lecture
Harvard (that’s what I did)

None of them are
answeeing my question..
doesnt matte

Don’t get huffy with
me !!!

I dont even know who
the bloddy lecturer is
because  the lectures
written and it doesnt say
anywhete im looking
through everything!

Done..

Happy
or
Grumpy

It wasn’t a matter of
Google it was a matter of
working how who the
author was

Well why the fack you
even asking me then! I
don’t know who your
lecturer is 😝

I know but at first i didnt
know if the lecturer was
the author or if i had to
reference where they get
their info from..

Hhhmmmm
Not what you asked me

The more specific your
question, the more
accurate the answer is
likely to be 😂😂😂

Btw you’re welcome 😜

Solve it for yourself next
time lazy pants x

iii.
the radio silence
between my last
4 answers implies
there might not be
a next time for this
grumpy uncle

Day 03 – poem about calcium

473099813

A day in the life of a poet in 21st Century Australia.

limestone life 

each minute
rolls down
from the roof
of your sub
conscious
with glacial
slowness
stultifying
slomo tumble
accreting
minute minerals
overtaking its
predecessors
with precise
finality
bundling
at the bottom
where after
ponderous
uncertainty
allows itself
to fall
dripping
away to
the cave
floor

& so passes another stalactital 60 seconds
in the two hours agony that is … Job Club

even writing this poem has only added
another 18 minutes to my timesheet