I’m reading books about reading this month (OMG so meta, so fun) & an element repeatedly brought up is not wanting to turn the light out on a book that’s thrilling you & sneak reading under covers. It affects readers across the spectrum. So I thought I’d attempt a poem exploring my experience of it — in a short lined conversational style similar to the YA verse novel I’m reading (Inside Out & Back Again by Vietnamese American poet Thanhha Lai).
This then very quickly lead to an interesting Factoid about the other kind of torch you probably think of when you think torches & stories of the 76 Montreal Games Olympic flame going out & needing to be relit with a cigarette lighter of all things (haha). When I sought verification of this story from other sources, I came across a home grown torch story I’d never heard of. One that was even better.
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light’s (sorta) out
being an owlish teenager in a cock-a-doodle-do household meant getting creative to ensure the reading got done
i secretly saved pocket money for several weeks pretending i’d always spent slightly more than i had
so on one after-school shopping spree i was able to procure a small hand held torch without mum observing
unfortunately my maths illiterate mind hadn’t factored batteries into the equation
but a fortnight or so later i had the power to continue the story even after the official edict
light’s out always came too soon however now i could resume adventures after a discreet interval either under covers or above
soon realised batteries don’t last long when used often & so a rechargeable system was acquired in similar fashion
& sure — there were occasional altercations between parent & progeny shouting matches & such
about sleep v school yet the system was extremely efficient & the illicit joy it delivered immeasurable
~
there are many fine things to being an adult (& several that totally suck) — but leaving lights on as long as i like. wow.
LEDs will last forever & so i drift asleep book in hand, finger in page, glasses still on dream for as long as needed
then wake up & resume from wherever i’d wafted off my teenage self & my flabbier celled successor both agree
— this is living
*****
Day 14 Factoid – torches of all kinds
true Olympic spirit
in 56 : a future vet presented a fake torch — made of a chair leg painted silver : still wet a plum pudding can : & a pair of : burning jocks : soaked in kero — to the mayor of Sydney who proceeded : to speechify while the protesting prankster : slipped silkily : into the crowd & away the following day just before : taking an exam his peers rose to their : feet applauding : their approval
Last year I used the Marathon to create over 40 poems for a verse novel I’ve been plodding away on for years. It was an excellent way to create content that was 1) occasionally pretty good in it’s own right or 2) good starting points for editing. Which I’ve been doing for the past couple of days. I think I’ve probably got around 50-60 poems to write to finish the narrative, then I can assemble, cull, crunch, create when there are gaps or whatever is necessary. Regardless. I should after tonight have a pretty decent rough edit assembled. Yay!
As per the 2022 24 Hour Poetry Marathon I won’t be posting all of every poem on this website. I’ll post the best few lines or 2 to 3 lines that make the most sense out of context. Consider them: pseudohaiku.
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& we’re away. As with last year, the Marathon offers two official prompts every hour, one text-based & one visual. Being a sucker for punishment & given it worked last year I’m gonna attempt to create TWO poems every hour ... Here’s the first hour’s snippet.
(Hour 01 BONUS) 10.30-11.30pm. IMAGE PROMPT: toll booth in forest
glow
ahead : oddly : a light : in a window : in a hut : a warm glow : in the darkness : of the forest
*****
(Hour 02) 11.30-12.30am. TEXT PROMPT, POV of self from 10 years ago
At least now it’s quiet Except for Mummy sobbing on the floor I go to her: Mummy I’m hungry Go away she screams
I don’t know where to go
*****
(Hour 03) 12.30-01.30am. VISUAL PROMPT, woman sitting in an orange “well“
Well
sometimes i feel trapped : a speck of white dust : at the bottom of an endless well : at the bottom of a black hole : at the bottom of the universe
*****
(Hour 04) 01.30-02.30am. BOTH PROMPTS combined: marriage poem without mentioning marriage + silver cave light space with benches
a slight snag
futuristic igloo : crossed with minimalistic man cave : for the modern adventuring extraterrestrial
*****
(Hour 05 BONUS) 02.30-03.30am. VISUAL PROMPT: computer chair in an empty room with polished floorboards
moving
we take what we need : to survive : but this house : i’m in : at the moment : has broken me
*****
(Hour 06) 03.30-04.30am. TEXT PROMPT, flat earth
I quite like this poem, it’s short & kinda punchy so I’m posting the whole thing. The prompt in full was: “The earth is actually flat, you look over the edge and what do you see? Describe it.”
edgelords
if i could : look over the edge : of everything : what would i see
the edge : of the horizon : more dust the edge : of the earth : tree roots crumbling into air : ocean waterfalling into mizzle the edge : of the galaxy : perhaps even : the red desert hole of a planet : these interstellar arseholes came from
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(Hour 07) 04.30-05.30am. VISUAL PROMPT, swing on the edge of a field of sunflowers
flowers of the sun
that wild violent yellow racing off towards forever
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(Hour 08) 05.30-06.30am. AUDIO + VISUAL PROMPT: Sylvan Esso – Funeral Singers (feat. Collections of Colonies of Bees) + man by fire beneath stars
Another complete poem post, cos it’s one I truly love. Not least because the Marathon led me to a song (perhaps band) I (will) really enjoy.
sparks
thank god : for friends who : sing at funerals : keep lighthouses : collect bees : float beneath ceilings : remain fresh : despite being behind the times : embody goosebumps : ache for books : live in sylvan worlds : flash time : stare skywards : sail boats to stars : love limitlessly : hypnotise laughter : huddle to fires : reveal in blue infinities : stick their arms out car windows : to let their hands : fly up with the force of the wind : like aeroplanes : as someone they love : drives them : endlessly home
*****
This was an interesting prompt, one that is often used: make a poem using at least 5 out of a list of 10 words (I always try & include all 10). Two words had a distinctly American flavour: elk & bayou. Given I am an Australian poet, I have changed those words which do not suit my poems being set in Oz. Nonetheless the original words did their jobs by forcing me to think in images I wouldn’t have done without the prompts. In fact they did the job so well, those 2 lines are my favourites from the poem…
(Hour 09) 06.30-07.30am. TEXT/VISUAL PROMPTS: ten words + 2 butterflies
Butterfly curses
Eyes that suck me in like mangrove mud
Always angry as a wild cassowary
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(Hour 10) 07.30-08.30am. TEXT PROMPT: title begins with words “what is love”
what is love
home : which now : contains : little more than drifting ghosts : to rescue a boy
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(Hour 11) 08.30-09.30am. TEXT PROMPT: “Extraordinary in Ordinary”
pillow talk
just to rest : for one night : in luscious luxurious : lighter than air : angel’s wings : fairy floss : cotton cloud cliche : comfort
*****
(Hour 12) 09.30-10.30am. TEXT PROMPT: poem about a closet
behold
almost as if : the room breathes : albeit out of time : with me : so i stand still : in the doorway : trying to allow my breath : my heartbeat : to match the room : soon : we sync
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(Hour 13) 10.30-11.30am. TEXT PROMPT: profession description, humorous x2
Ryan: an abridged Resume
Many Name Bearer : Ring Diver : Cruiser of Lands : Star Partner : Sky Hunter : Brother Discoverer : Pod Rider : Doggo Adopter : Bad Man Outsmarter : Orange Hater (the colour not the citrus) : Propulsion Ponderer : Dam Buster : & of course : Earth’s Only Hope Against Evil Invading Army Of Desert Loving Crustacean Creature Things
Stella’s CV
Born again cave girl Dweller in silent places Reluctant Guerrilla Fighter in a war I doubt we can win Grandparent Seeker Admirer of Many Dawns
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(Hour 14) 11.30am-12.30pm. PROMPT: redact a poem
REDACTED
here’s what we know : there are ⬛️⬛️ types of ⬛️⬛️⬛️ : currently on this ⬛️⬛️⬛️ : there’s the ⬛️ : which we think are at least partially ⬛️⬛️⬛️ but mostly ⬛️⬛️⬛️ : then there’s the : ⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️ things : of the two : the ⬛️⬛️⬛️ are more ⬛️⬛️⬛️ : they have a ⬛️⬛️⬛️ kind of ⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️ : or at least a ⬛️⬛️⬛️ board which makes them : pretty effective ⬛️⬛️⬛️ : though they can be ⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️ : with effort : the ⬛️ just run by rote : doing manual ⬛️⬛️⬛️ style tasks
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(Hour 15) 12.30pm-13.30pm. BOTH PROMPTS: another POV + pot head.
perfect posture
Priya has put the pot On her head … & left it there
… Despite our cautionary silence. We all cheer. Now she’s dancing. Russian squat Irish River. Twerking. Flossing. The pot a part of her as much as her hair.
*****
(Hour 16) 13.30pm-14.30pm. TEXT PROMPT: poem pretending to be something else
Thank you Poetry Marathon gods … this is exactly what I needed.
ATTENTION
unfortunately this poem factory is currently
CLOSED FOR LUNCH
We will reopen again at 2.30 ACT after a bite to eat & possibly a quick lie down
*****
(Hour 17) 14.30pm-15.30pm. PROMPT: Kaleidoscope
But decidedly uninspired by kaleidoscope, chose to play round with this app instead.
burn it down
*****
(Hour 18) 15.30pm-16.30pm. BOTH PROMPTS: haunting + photo of 2 corvids
three ravens
& we wander on : away : wondering : what calamity occurred here : worse than elsewhere : to flaunt its : torment so brazenly
*****
(Hour 19) 16.30pm-17.30pm. TEXT PROMPT: inarticulate surroundings, tiny truth
exhausted
we’re lost high on some tiny hills somewhere in a valley of paradise overlooking a misspelt ancient Spanish warfield dripping olives
*****
(Hour 20) 17.30pm-18.30pm. VISUAL PROMPT: animal with red eyes in blackness
embers in the dark
Been exhausted so long But his eyes in the dark like red embers glowing
*****
(Hour 21) 18.30pm-19.30pm. BOTH PROMPTS: start & end with running + yawning lion
running problems
iii. Running nose Dribbling onto a shirt Worn 9 days running
*****
(Hour 22) 19.30pm-20.30pm. BOTH PROMPTS: pizza + silence
a small piece of peace
& suddenly : for the first time : there’s a beat : of genuine : silence : as we all remember : piping hot : pizza : greasy fresh : from the box : till Rueben breaks : the ceasefire : gotta be Hawaiian : & Priya screech-shouts : pineapple : on piz-zah! : please tell me you’re kidding
*****
Not quite sure what’s wrong with me … but as I finished the previous poem with half an hour to spare, I elected, ie, of my own volition, to undertake a bonus poem. (IKR!)
This was the full text of Hour 22’s prompt. — A few years back I prompted everyone to write a cheese poem because of this quote, “Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.” ― G.K. Chesterton. The same could be said of pizza, so that’s your prompt this year. Pizza.
(see above)
[& now, see below)
(Hour 22) 19.30pm-20.30pm. BONUS: cheese
sour cheese
“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.” G.K. Chesterton
Well might English writer, philosopher, critic & Father of Brown
bemoan cheese’s woeful under-representation in the annals of poetics
as he himself being a descendent of Clerihew Chesterton
aka the 1st Lord Chester ; the name Chesterton is an Elizabethan corruption
of Cheeses’ Town from Latin Jesus’ Town — & if cheese is good enough
for our Lord surely it’s worthy of more diverse versification
*****
(Hour 23) 20.30pm-21.30pm. TEXT PROMPT: a world that is not this one
this is not the prompt i was looking for
almost every poem I’ve written over the past 22.5 hours has been in a world not this one as I continue to flesh out my Young Adult Novel in Verse manuscript Dropped the Sky — a beyond dystopian alternearth where seemingly 99.9% of earth’s biomass has been exterminated converted to fine orange dust via an invasion force of intergalactic end-of-lease style AI/cyborg crustaceans & follows teenaged survivors Stella & Ryan as they seek ways on how to stay alive
that said it seems fair I write this poem about me … in this world as an inverse to the prompt above — given every previous prompt today I’ve endeavoured to filter through Ryan or Stella’s eyes — even if it’s not okay
… I’m too tired to care 🤩
*****
(Hour 24) 21.30pm-22.30pm. TEXT PROMPT: poem about hope
the hope trap
1. I hope I’m smart enough That next year I remember Nay, I decide not to sign up For another poeting marathon I’m getting waaay too old for this claptrap
2. Except of course I won’t I’ll be here again with bells Revelling in the subliminal Fugue state at the end of a day Built on but a few scattered 12 minute naps
3. Because the beauty of Marathon: Poet-style is the hope that in This heteroclitic haze of exhaustion Gold is struck & I just step out The way, let the shine glow : then — snap!
As stated in my introductory posts about the 2022 24 Hour Poetry Marathon June 25-26 I won’t be posting all of every poem on my website. I’ll post the best few lines or perhaps, 2 to 3 lines that make the most sense out of context. Consider them: pseudohaiku.
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(Hour 01) 10.30-11.30pm. IMAGE PROMPT: spiky sculpture in snow
& we’re away. One down (though technically two). The Marathon now offers two official prompts every hour, one text-based & one visual. Being a sucker for punishment & it being early days, this hour (& perhaps this hour only) I’ve written one for each. The visual one was as the title of this post suggests. Here’s the snippet.
nuerons
being close to a mystery : & not knowing is agony : even if that knowledge : has the express purpose : of obliterating : us
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(Hour 02) 11.30-12.30am. VISUAL PROMPT, Man looking round white edge
Managed two again this hour. Again choosing the visual prompt largely because it’s from the other characters POV & I want to mix it up.
L-plate hitch-hiker
not sure what Ryan thinks he’ll do now he’s clinging — to the edge of one of those things —
*****
(Hour 03) 12.30-01.30am. VISUAL PROMPT, red tree in pink field
The poems keep coming, but I’m already feeling tired. This is too early for this to be happening.
Agent Orange
all this red dust in the sky : gets in your eyes : doesn’t irritate or itch : but plays tricks : on what you know is there: but feels like it isn’t : or can’t be
*****
(Hour 04) 01.30-02.30am. BOTH PROMPTS combined: 100 years from now & old piano in the forest
A bit cheeky but I’ve combined both prompts in this one poem. I’m okay with it, cos it gives me a longer break & the two prompts do work together well. Having said that, I know I haven’t quite set the poem 100 years from now, only in Stella’s imagination, but the intention is there.
old pianos
i came across an old piano in the forest flaking veneer like the shoulders of a sunburnt child
*****
(Hour 05) 02.30-03.30am. TEXT PROMPT: write a poem using 5 of the 10 words
I’m glad my story has hallucinogenic drugs in it. Means I can whip off a quick poem, claim the character ingested Dust again & go rest. NB I used all 10 words
halluc:nogen
so i half-dream : of sunflowers : knitting cheddar : cheese satchels : for their favourite gardeners : to keep seeds in
*****
(Hour 06) 03.30-04.30am. TEXT PROMPT, letter from someone no longer in your life
Bit uninspired by the photo, & I struggled to adapt the text prompt to the verse novel … but I kind of have by using personal stories & pretending they happened to Ryan (there’s always a letter poem in these kind of things NaPoWriMo & Marathon & I’m bit over them TBH).
absences
spending endless hours trying to teach “I love you” in Russian: Ya lyublyu tebya without success if only I’d tried Yellow blue tibia I might’ve succeeded
*****
(Hour 07) 04.30-05.30am. VISUAL PROMPT, old couple on bench in silhouette
5am here and very tired. This needs a lot of post-marathon tweaking.
Lookout
& for the first time — I realise — how quiet No insects, very few almost hesitant birdcalls (no song) & no sign of movement on any roads
*****
(Hour 08) 05.30-06.30am. VISUAL PROMPT: Mancala game
wrote poem. needed nap. nap raged long
stones
in tonight’s house : the boy finds : a Mancala set : the rules : are so simple : as I watch : the boy & girl : play : she is rapidly : collecting : all the stones
i try not : to see : the symbolism
*****
(Hour 09) 06.30-07.30am. TEXT PROMPT: kitchen cupboard memory
Take elements of truth. Tweak. Create new truth.
tinned soup
tonight straight from the tin cold & without buttered toast
— i’m struggling to recall its appeal
*****
(Hour 10) 07.30-08.30am. VISUAL PROMPT: looking up at a couple touching foreheads from below
After initially being singularly stonkered & utterly unimpressed by both prompts, this cute, perhaps clever, & definitely quirky tale presents another side to Ryan’s character … along with providing some much needed humour
chins +
so while we are : essentially : all looking skywards : anxious of AI pods : & drones : & god knows what : other death-dealing : monstrosities : he’s doing that too : plus with chins : & pimples : & boofheads : & meaningless arguments : about Disney : blocking much of the view
*****
(Hour 11) 08.30-09.30am. TEXT PROMPT: laughter poem without using laugh words
It’s “funny” how a prompt which initially made me groan, can produce a poem (& a part of the narrative) I would never have conceived of without the initial impetus. So pleased with how things are tracking.
not funny
all five of us holding it in as best we can
they’re so close we hear their near silent hum
*****
(Hour 12) 09.30-10.30am. BOTH PROMPTS: a gathering + photo of several drums
This is a bit too long & a bit too narrativey, but given I didn’t quite know where it was going I’m glad it got where it did in the timeframe I had. As they say in the film biz: I’ll fix it in post hahaha.
drumming circle
soon we had : a wild rhythm : going : including wild roars : hollers : screams : & yelps : as well as a canine chorus : from Milky : delighted he could join in : the chaos
*****
(Hour 13) 10.30-11.30am. TEXT PROMPT: something bad that went right
A short poem’s a good poem, I always say. Especially if it says all it needs to say & fulfils the prompt.
TEOTWAWKI
need to find a way to say that even though it took the world almost (& maybe still) ending
*****
(Hour 14) 11.30am-12.30pm. 1.5 PROMPTS: photo of mushrooms by boots + kinda a folk tale with a twist
No setup in this poem (lack of time) but it might actually work depending on the poems around it.
psilocybin
chanterelles
time is more than standing still it’s lying on its back staring at the stars
*****
(Hour 15) 12.30pm-13.30pm. BOTH PROMPTS: lust + delicate leaves
Sometimes everything falls into place with such simplicity: the prompts both word & visual; the idea, the image, the moment in the narrative, the structure, the actual words themselves — that’s when writing truly is …
bliss
& i feel as see-through & light
as the skeletal filaments of a leaf left too long on the tree
*****
(Hour 16) 12.30pm-13.30pm. TEXT PROMPT: last line question, title the answer
Two pretty uninspiring prompts this & photo of bland sunset mean I’ve taken the last hour easy to recharge for the final run home.
Nobody knows
How the bloody hell did they just obliterate 7 billion people & countless billion animals, birds, insects in a millisecond?
*****
(Hour 17) 14.30pm-15.30pm. PROMPT: mythical monster & silhouetted image 3 figures against blue slit
This one remains a WIP. Too much research too many unknowns, not enough about that section of narrative is locked in. Something to work on …
dam & blast
ahead : a narrow strait : dripping water : darkness : pale blue light : beyond : as if under neath : an endless ocean : forcing down : desiring only : to drown : anyone near : the wall whispers : of : all that water behind
*****
(Hour 18) 15.30pm-16.30pm. TEXT PROMPT: moment of joy
A nice little poem about one character’s moment of joy, made more interesting as seen through another’s eyes.
glad day
still : watching Stella : arms to the sun : dancing : is a breath stopping : sight : that bubbles : laughter : in even my : grumpy breast
*****
(Hour 19) 16.30pm-17.30pm. TEXT PROMPT: poem for a city, real or imagined
Sometimes prompts are just perfectly fitted for poems in your head. Yesterday while preparing & planning & re-reading current poems to find where there’s gaps that need filling, an arrival into the big smoke was one of those on the agenda. So tick.
just do it
most disturbing are the piles of clothing jeans & shirts & dresses blown into doorways handbags & backpacks dumped on footpaths
*****
(Hour 20) 17.30pm-18.30pm. VISUAL PROMPT: a mattress bed in a flower bed
I’ve said nothing which is enough said.
mattress bed in a flower bed
in my dream : i dream : of trying to sleep : lying on this : oddly placed : day lounge : but i can’t : knowing as i do : that 7 & 1/2 : earth minutes ago : the sun somehow : blinked entirely : out of existence : as if an enormous : intergalactic child : picked it up : like a marble : & popped it in : her pocket : before jumping on Einstein’s : beam of light : & riding away : stopping all the clocks : behind her
*****
(Hour 21) 18.30pm-19.30pm. TEXT PROMPT: less than 50 words: must contain umbrella or almond
No more than 50 words. Perfect timing. (Though I did add a little game of my own into the mix)
umbrella?
no way not for me you don’t get it i don’t need an umbrella want blessed rainfall on my skin always keeping me clean, safe from harm away from whatever’s in that alien Agent Orange eviscerating everything good real & warm into soulless dust
*****
(Hour 22) 19.30pm-20.30pm. TEXT PROMPT: tenderness Another synergy moment. I need this moment. Tenderness was the perfect framing moment.
tenderness
I just do. Trust me. I know without knowing How I gotta approach them like they’re Skittish colts. Cos they really are.
*****
(Hour 23) 20.30pm-21.30pm. TEXT PROMPT: title of a book(s)
This penultimate poem is not related to the verse novel. It was originally going to be, but I got carried away playing games. 🤣
42 Bookers 2015-21
it might only be a little life but it is my life & i am unwilling to exit west to lose everything under the overstory. i am a satin island in a sea of fishermen born in the year of the runaways next to a spool of blue thread. sucked hot milk from the autumn milkman am all that man is. am girl, woman, other. do not say we have nothing. for we are his bloody project a history of wolves. and i would rather spend 10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world in this mournable body in the new wilderness of a real life than be burnt sugar for the shadow king & that is the promise. for no one is talking about this bewilderment and the fortune men lose in the sellout to a passage north to the great circle of ducks, newburyport. the long take of the testaments reminds us 4321 of lincoln in the bardo & a brief history of seven killings: eileen, elmet, shuggie bain, washington black, quichotte as well as an orchestra of minorities in the mars room.
*****
(Hour 24) 21.30pm-22.30pm. TEXT PROMPT: poem that starts & end with same word (5 options given or choose your own)
Also not from the YA novel. Just want it all to stop hahahahahaha.
This time tomorrow I’ll be 3 hours into my 6th 24 Hour Poetry Marathon (it begins 9am ET in the USA & about 500 people from all over the world participate).
A Poetry Marathon is exactly what it says on the box. Once an hour for 24 hours I’ll be attempting to churn out a poem (possibly using assigned prompts; maybe just using my own ideas) while attempting to stay focused, stay awake, stay sane, & occasionally, if a poem is completed relatively swiftly, grab a few moments kip here & there…
My goal is to finish (or at least progress) a Young Adult verse novel I’ve been playing with on & off for too many years. About 40 poems in the sequence have been created so far. There are multiple gaps in the narrative. My goal is to plug some of those gaps and hopefully incite a sense of momentum & motivation to spur me on to completing a first draft of a complete manuscript.
In previous years I’ve posted my 24 hour poems on this page (one of the requirements of the competition is a poem must be published every hour; ie you can’t write 4 in an hour, then sod off for 3 hours to play hockey). This year I won’t be publishing them here. This is because one day I would like said verse novel to be published. Having a large swathe of poems already online; albeit on a relatively innocuous little poetry page; could potentially be detrimental to said publication’s chances. So no go. I’ll still be posting on the group’s blog — but given that is closed to the public it doesn’t have the same issues.
That said, I still intend to post hourly snippets of poems, just 2-4 lines perhaps, the best bits as it were, taste tests, teasers, treats from each new poem. But in the interest of sanity, I intend to simplify things & post every teaser on one page, simply updating the same page every hour. Who knows, they might form their own meta-poem by the end of the day. (Or they might be a dog’s breakfast. We don’t yet know. But we will be 10pm Sunday. So hope you pop back occasionally & check it out.)
gareth roi poet boi 