Tag Archives: coffee

Day 29 — dirty books + factoid couplets

Almost every poem this month to date has been, in essence, a love poem. To books. To reading. To reading books. This one, breaks that pattern.

The Poetic Factoid is actually a series of Hypertext Factoids with Bactoids — It’s a poem where every line has a hypertext link to verify its claim. About why Reading is good for you. (A familiar theme true, but these are more of the facts I’ve collected along the way as I research. Originally they were just gonna be the text from the articles, but then I realise a couple of them rhymed; then I made the rest do so as well. It was fun.)

*****

dirty books

do alarm me : a little : i sometimes think : who held this before me : & worse : what did they hold as they held this book : various things have been  ::  in  ::  second hand books i’ve bought : & i don’t just mean : abandoned bookmarks : & forgotten pressed flowers : but other things : have been caught : like muffin crumbs : jam smears : peanut butter blotches : is that tomato sauce : have you been eating Cheezels : or Mac’n’Cheese : squashed mosquitoes : & miscellaneous other bugs : can now tell the difference : i believe : between coffee plops & tea drops : wait is that blood : no i don’t want to know  ::  & sometimes : i think even worse : the things i cannot see : are actually the curse : like getting medical & technical for a sec :  what if the previous reader was sick : germs bacteria fungi microbes : how many of them are still hanging around : did the previous reader : wash their hands : not just after gardening : or emptying the bin : please tell me : i’m not holding microscopic : drips of pee : or for that matter //

// look it doesn’t matter : i think i’ll put the book down : just for a bit : while i go & take  ::  some time out

*****

Day 29 Factoid Overload — Hypertext Factoids with Bactoids

reading …

reduces stress
aids academic success

boosts brain connectivity
improves your memory

more than one book at a time challenges & improves cognitive flexibility
can be used as a form of therapy

expands your vocabulary
develops empathy

gives your brain a comprehensive workout
causes new neural pathways to sprout

improves concentration a heap
before bed gives a better night’s sleep

to kids supercharges early language acquisition
whereas kids reading to dogs improves their own condition

makes you kinder
protects you from prison (kinda)

even prolongs your life
(which ya gotta admit, is kinda nice)

Day 06 – flight (& caffeine)

06 zoom

Visited a place. Disturbing and awe-inspiring in conflicting measure.

*****

From our flying machines

On the outskirts of a calm country village
hiding in plain sight on nondescript dirt
is a testimony to an obsession writ large.
One man’s love of our avian imitation.
A huge game of aeronautical tetris;
wingspans laid across the dimensions
of his shed to determine how best
to accomodate two full size planes;
plus countless parts of engines, frames,
wings, tyres, cockpits, fuselages, noses, gun
turrets, dioramas & much other miscellania
I have no knowledge of.

And. The. Models. So many models.
Glass cabinet. After glass cabinet.
Into an infinity of dusty air.
Some in 1:72 scale. Some in 1:48 scale.
Others in scales my brain did not retain
because it had already overloaded
by this point and spent the rest of the visit
screaming over & over to my past & future selves

what have you done with your life
what have you done with your life
what have you done
                                     with your life 

 

 

BONUS POEM: April 6, 2018

A simple pome about an Italian favourite.

*****

Espresso of Sorpresa

three mornings in a row
three separate hostesses
have been surprised
when I request
Espresso 

today I beat her
to the punchline
Americano
is only good
to wash

your face

 

06b caffe

Day 20 – poem about emotional maturity

dogaccino

Two thirds of the way through NaPoWriMo 2017 … & a light-hearted poem on a day when I just wanted to read & relax.

growth

people accuse
me of being
change-reticent

patently untrue
clearly they have
not observed

the blasé way
i now fingernail
a stray dog hair

up the slippery
side of my mug
after its quick

coffee dip &
continue sipping
unperturbed

Day 19 – Photocopy of a photocopy of Dante

Another day of Last Line (Gone). Yesterday was fun & easy. Rules: use last line of book as first line of poem, then once complete, remove it [Optional extra: let book’s title influence the mood of the poem]. Again, stream-of-conscious, fast, fun & very little editing.

After tonight’s excellent Lee Marvin Reading, fellow poet & friend Thom Sullivan & I, sat on some public furniture & chatted about the poeting caboodle. He mentioned (again) Australian poet, John Kinsella as someone whose (best) work interests him. He’s suggested I should read him several times now, oops … & every time I’ve promised myself that when I get home, I’d remember to take out my only book of Kinsella’s (Divine Comedy: Journeys through a regional geography) & check it out.

Tonight, at last, I remembered. (Well, to take it out. In reality, I only “checked out” the last couple of pages.) Today’s last line is taken from that collection.

semidivine comedy

we hoped we would — instead — we rushed apart — like breaking glass — like the coffee cup — tipping over your phone — notebook — collection of poetry you were carrying — it’s been that kind of day — road blocks — crime scene tape — bureaucratic pedantry — bureaucratic banality — bureaucratic pettiness — always had trouble spelling bureaucracy — even after spellcheck figured out — what i was trying to type — still get it wrong — the word as irritating — as the construct — it represents — a day spent rushing — trying to catch up to itself — sort itself out — wondering where you went — whether you’d be back — another heart — left behind — another story — incomplete — a homeless guy — with a worse tale — doesn’t even know a joke — but can rail — against the system — give him money — realise — life can be a starlit canto — if you let it

semdivcomCROP

LAST LINE: grow inseparable.

fruits of a lazy sunday

Despite the catchy title of this post, I actually got quite a bit done yesterday.

I wrote drafts of, edited or tweaked at least half a dozen poems. Not to mention read, took the dog for a wild weather beach walk, & lost several hours in the perennial pleasure of tidying & rearranging books on their shelves.

I even spent a few minutes thinking about doing the dishes. (Sure a pedant will point out they didn’t actually get done, but you have to start somewhere.)

So here’s the first draft of one of the new poems. (It actually had a verse revised late in the evening, so technically I guess it’s draft #1.5.)

*****

essence of sunday afternoon
all week

i’ve been looking forward
to the thought of writing
a poem which captures the
essence of sunday afternoon

after a decadent sleep-in
i read in bed for a little
get up, toast crumpets
drown them in butter

make a fresh black coffee
stretch, sit at my desk
stare out my window
scribble over neat notes

realise i need to think
more deeply on the subject
lie on sunwarmed couch
— wake three hours later

job done

*****

rainbow hammock

 

NB this is not a photo of me in my hammock hee hee