Tag Archives: love

Day 14 — Papilio ulysses, the Ulysses butterfly

Lucky enough to see a dozen of these over the past couple of days. Even somehow managed to secure some photos which is pretty cool given how flitterfast they are.


bright blue symbolism

bursts of bright blue : electric flashes : which seem to steal : all light : from the surrounding air : just as it sucks : all air : from my lungs

wingspan as wide : as my hand : intense iridescence : for a moment : then gone

if love : was a colour : it would be this blue : this azurite brilliance : distillate of endless Australian sky : emperor of blue

the males : aren’t all that bright : being strongly attracted : to anything blue : mistaking mere colour : for females 

despite my best : intentions : i see symbols : in everything

Day 13 – my favourite myth about love

During NaPoWriMo there are a plethora of sites & groups publishing writing prompts to help poets overcome the terrifying prospect of the blank screen or page day after day for 30 straight days. I rarely have a problem finding a topic but I usually check out what the prompts are in the groups I’m part of, just to see if there’s anything that interests me. 

An Australian-run group called The Dirty Thirty’s chosen topic today was myth. The number 13 is lucky and scary and shrouded in myth. So today, let’s talk myths. In your poem, find creative ways to include the actual story your myth was based on. 

This is manna from heaven for me & I immediately thought of one of my go to topics: the myth of Orpheus & Eurydice. I love this topic so much that I have several books devoted to the subject & I’ve written at least a dozen poems around the theme; the best of which I one day hope to publish as a chapbook or suite of poems (as part of a bigger volume) called songs of under earth. 

The Death of Orpheus

after many years : wandering : ever-mourning : his lost Eurydice : Orpheus worshipped : only the Apollo-sun

one morning : at the Dionysian oracle : on Mount Pangaion : while greeting dawn’s rosy fingers : with his peerless lyre-playing : as part of his : daily sun god salute : the Maenads : resenting Orpheus’ refusal : to honour : his previous patron : sought to harm him : threw sticks & stones : yet the lilt : of his music : was so sublime : & so strong : the rocks & branches : refused to strike 

enraged : they threw themselves : instead : in a furioso frenzy : ripping : rending : wrenching : his mortal body : to shreds : blood lust madness : engulfing them all

when the women : who tore him apart : tried to cleanse : their gore-covered hands : the river sank : below ground 

as did : Orpheus’ shade : finally : to be reunited

Day 12 — more than a Ronan Keating song

Some relationships seem to throw more challenges in your way than seem completely reasonable. Today’s challenge: the possibility of a positive Covid test.

rollercoaster

surely the thrill 
of the rollercoaster 
(such as it is)
is that it’s only 
meant to be 
a wild ride 
not a lifestyle

Day 11 — some : days

There’s probably more things I could add to the list, but this is a reasonable start.

… are worse than others 

some days : i feel further 
from you : than others
so : i try harder
to bridge : the gap
with jokes : that fail
to do : their job 
create : moments
contrary to : what’s wanted
which is : to add joy
gift : happiness 
share : proper peace

with : you

Day 10 – Acrostics & Golden Shovels

Sunday fun & games again … today’s task involves the use of acrostics & pseudo-golden shovels; forms I haven’t played with much. I tried complicating this (with mixed results) in the middle stanza, but overall, it holds up okay. The melancholy mood seems apt given the songs I’m playing with.

for the love of Murray 2
Acrostics & Golden Shovels

unfinished 

waiting forlornly
for you to realise
this is a one time
love offer

if you decide again
we are meant to dance
never not ever no never
dance together we
again end with if

so i must let 
my soul release you 
& gently watch love go

Day 08 – poem written in the post-midnight hours

After working 8 hours, plus a 2 hour drive to town then 3 & 1/2 hours of playreading, I was feeling somewhat frazzled yet curiously sleepless. My flight north was early morning. This is what escaped in those solitary hours.

killing time

shadows slide : behind me : into walls & dumpsters : as i drive the desert : that is : the city : cbd at night : killing empty hours : before my pre : dawn flight 

an angry : drunk : couple stagger : a younger couple : trundle home in tandem : on one of those insidious scooters : left lying : like litter : all round : the barren streets : he in what appears : at a glance : to be a tux : she’s kilt-wrapped : in a large tartan : cape? : a single woman : walks : the traffic island : like a tight wire : rather than brave : the footpaths 

past old homes : the few that still : remain : ones that haven’t : been converted : into doctor’s waiting rooms : or knocked down : so a big super : market chain : has an entrance : to its under : ground : car : park 

nip : down to the sea : smell the beach : salt : the dog & i : once walked : every day : happy

this quick trip : rips through : high : lights : of past lives : before i fly off : to an : im : possible future 

Day 07 — a fashionable love affair

A slight little poem about a couple of different variants of love. (Also the first poem I’m attempting to post/upload via my phone rather than desktop).

candypants

finally finished moving house yesterday
after three & a half long years

rediscovered my old yellow purple pink & blue
60s psychedelic striped skin-tight Saville Row pants

back from when legs were thin
gut didn’t exist & butt was defunct

i’d love to be able to fit
into them one more time

but even more than that
i’d die to be that man again

Day 06 — been a weird couple of months 

A list poem, that in turn, contains several ideas/lines that might themselves become their own poems this month.

the weird love, 

the tyrannical distance,
the disparate time zones,
the clashing schedules,
the near twenty years,
the roller coaster that never coasts,
the bicoastal bipolar,
the unromantic romance,
the life-is-not-a-fairytale,
the beautiful beast,
the beastly beauty,
the attractive repulsion,
the anxious agony,
the unmated souls,
the singing universe,
the sparkling shiver, 
the cold silence,
the nagging thorn,
the out-of-sync hearts,
the half-made promise,
the broken chain,
the joke that bombed,
the unequal exchange,
the one word reply,
the stranger in the bed,
the intimate inmate inside the head,
the reluctant endearments,
the belligerent confessions,
the definitions of love,
the expectations on love,
the ramifications if it is love,

the very real ghost of another …

Day 05 – puppy love

A somewhat lighthearted pome for an otherwise rather emotional day. It’s also 9 years & one day since my housemate brought Chester home to live with us.

me or the dog

high on one 
of my shelves
a book titled 
as per this poem

jokingly perhaps
or perhaps 
genuinely concerned 

my significant other
bravely asked:
which would you choose?

i told her
i’ll call you 
the very day 
the dog dies