April is National Poetry Month (NaPoWriMo).  So, I wrote a poem a day and put them all on this page.  It was an interesting process.  Some days I wrote the poem but forgot to post it up and some poems were more thoughtful than others.  See what you think and please do send me some feedback if you have time.

 

 

1 April

                              Dancers march out

                        The spirit of Summer

                        Children scramble for

                             Hidden eggs

                keep on rolling

 

2 April

At Ely's Eel throwing

They make Anguilla the eel

With tights stuffed with socks

To throw in the sun.

An Easter tradition

At a Cambridgeshire fair

It's amazing what some folk

Still do for fun.

 

3 April

Sun shining on red brick tenement

White sheets flap masking the broken fridge

 and half burnt sofa

Today it's all car horns and seagulls,

Excited chatter and Sunday roast smell

binbags are out three days early.

Last night we gathered on the square

Watched firemen climb through a window

Alarm silenced

We half looked into another half life

Today they gather on the square to wine-slug and

snail-trail without a home on their back

I write inside with the curtain half shut.

 

4 April

Fun in April sun

Communication is key

I love my I phone

Me, me, me, me.

 

5 April

In a blue sundress

Held a gun to her own head

The heavens opened.

 

5 April

I wake first

Your ashtray is full

And beer cans are scattered

Morning smoke chokes

I open the window

Surround sound seagulls soon silence

When you walk in the room

Smoke taste disappears

And I am ready to kiss the day.

 

6 April

Roadtrippin' Andy

Was never at home

Always cruisin' the highway

He loved open roads

Roadtrippin' Andy

Liked being alone

The wind in his hair

Didn't need to backcomb

Roadtrippin' Andy

Lived life fast

Had a heart-warming smile

He'd do owt you asked

You'd feel like saluting as he sped up the street

Roadtrippin' Andy

What a nice guy to meet.

 

7 April

Nobody heard me, as I rose

but here I sat

Watching This Morning on tele

and not waking but gazing

 

What a shame, I'd love

to be wide a wake

but it takes at least two coffees

it must be since I've got older they reckon

 

Oh no no no, it's always too early

(Still i like to be up before midday)

I always was very highly motivated

but here I am

not waking but gazing.

 

8 April

Yes I have the skills you need

I communicate well, I write, I read

I won't see it was a job more a career

A way of life

I have no fear

Yes I am just the height

Here's the fuse for you to light

To be launched from a cannon

I'm feeling wired

Can't wait until

The time I'm fired.

 

9 April

Tickle white, black hammer

Clear sounds, thoughts stammer

Middle distant dream kiss

Pedal down, good vibrations

It's about the tim-ing

Classical, jazz, pop, music hall

Play them Sam

I love them all

Gorge on melody, feast on beats

Pump out bass tones

I want my rock stars drugged or dead

Songwriters gentle, honest, warm

Jazz acts in smoke wobbling heads and hatted

Music of my soul be stained and torn

Poetry is just like music

I told the wet-fish-handshake man

I won't intellectualise my life away

But see the gold whenever I can.

 

10 April

I used to be happy on thimbles of love

now you flow in my days

and I dance in pure fountains

I'd stumble around in life's dirty molehills

now I hold your hand

and we stand on the mountains.

 

11 April

So now I stay at arms length

not through lack of love but

to deny history denies identity.

I don't want to dwell on dark times

I worked hard to get this light.

So now I stay at arms length

I don't want to be cold,

Just don't believe in hiding my truth,

or brushing the mess under the rug

although it might be wise to

hide it from innocent eyes.

So now i stay at arms length

close enough to be heard,

close enough to be called upon,

close enough to lend a hand

then say goodbye  when I need to.

And it's not through lack of love,

It's self preservation,

It took a long time to get this clear

And others need me

And others want me

And others love me here.

To deny my history denies my identity,

So I stay close to those who know me,

Close to myself and to you

Not through lack of love

I stay at arms length.

 

12 April

 A chance romance in the street

She was carrying her flute

He was keeping a beat

He was looping new lyrics in his mind

She was humming a tune

And their paths entwined

They found a place that was more secluded

I've heard they're still together

This story's not concluded.

  

13 April

We're the Halfords sleeping bag testing crew

We snooze on the job just for you

Nathan in a field, Claire in the street

Wayne on his mams floor just for a treat

We are dedicated

We pack in the hours

only stopping for meals and showers

A job full of dreams for £10 an hour

We mark out of ten and we write a review

We snooze on the job just for you

We're the Halfords sleeping bag testing crew

 

14 April

Candy was a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants  girl

But that day she held her body strangely

She was a hum a tune look up to the sun girl

But that day her head weighed down, she was groggy

Candy was a live-life-to-the-full girl

But that day she looked over her shoulder

And she just kept saying

"Every time I fall, I see his face"

But she wouldn't tell us who she meant

She just said

"You've got to careful, what impression you give"

 

15 April

All the complaints went out of the window

screwed up letters, shredded fax memos

 the phone, the flat screen

the impartial advice

the polite guidance, the obscene

the wastepaper basket

the desk tidy, an old family photograph

and finally he launched himself

back into his work.

  

16 April

She developed a taste for cigarettes

an infatuation with the smell of leather

saw his clothes scattered round the room

Imagined they were still together

 

An infatuation with the smell of leather

She dreamed she was close to her love

Closed her eyes and remembered his voice

Lit up again while she blushed

 

She dreamed she was close to her love

Like that dreadful night had never occurred

Lit up again while she blushed

She was convinced she was cursed

 

As if that dreadful night had never occurred

And the policeman that came to their home

She was convinced she was cursed

And the rest of her life, all alone

 

And the policeman that came to their home

Saw his clothes scattered round the room

And the rest of her life all alone

She developed a taste for cigarettes

 

17 April

My dad's all-weather rucksack

Virtually empty, apart from his diary

and the objects that he carries everywhere he goes.

The weight of my Dad's rucksack

Tinned mackerel, an adjustable spanner and tonight's Evening Mail.

The look of his diary, scrawled upon,

Battered, well used, looked at so often.

Time with my father, the smell of mackerel

which ever since has meant masculine

and emptiness, and love and bad news.

 

18 April

I'm not really a quiet child

In spite of what those adults say

Ask my imaginary friend or my Skype connection

They get tired of me talking every day

I'm not really a hyper child

I don't even think I'm really ill

Just my parents want a quiet child

So they gave me a label and feed me pills.

 

19 April

My pen became an aircraft

My bad writing became an autograph

My step-ladder became a step-dad

a candle became my life illuminated

my sleeping bag became a bed

my flat became home

my fear became my empathy

my tragedy became my insight

my observations made people laugh

I began not knowing what to say

I have made a life of saying

"Yes" and "You're OK"

You can make something out of anything.

 

20 April

Praise them

Big them up while they are in the room

Tell them they light your day

Tell them you hear and be

excited by their presence

 

Continually

Relax and smile

share moments

a laugh if possible

 

Remember everything

Every minute, each detail

Bring them a song

Celebrate with a cheer

Insert silence

 

Keep on bringing

 

21 April

I took the horse to the river

He didn't drink the water

It had taken an hour to get there

I tried my best to encourage the fine beast but

He did not lap up one drop.

Although they told me

You can take a horse to water but

You can't make it drink

I didn't predict

How disappointed and deflated

I would feel

After that I never saw the horse again.

 

 

22 April

Today I am a rocket

My fuse has been lit

I am soaring

It's the middle of the afternoon

So unusual for me to be out now

But here I am

Doing the one thing

I'm meant to do

BANG

 

23 April

The comedienne wasn't funny

It was all just dictation

Cracks about gender roles and menstruation

Her pace was a mess

Her themes overstated

In all her reviews she was totally slated

The comedienne wasn't funny

She was scraping the barrel

Next year there'll be DJ's

And a choir singing carols.

 

 

24 April

Don't walk down my creaking stairs

Don't look behind my shower curtain

I'm the scream when you put the lights out

I'm the blood soaked hand

The lost girlfriend

The body in the boot of the car

The crime scene

The dark woods

The drip, drip, drip

Don't try the phone

The chord has been cut

Don't look in the mirror

I'm right behind you now

Don't.

 

25 April

All I could do was wait

Imagine my fate

Walk down the river

Distract myself

Couldn't eat dinner

Couldn't phone

For the first time in ages

Felt alone

planned a speech to prove my love

watched the ducklings from the bridge

checked for messages a million times

couldn't scratch my itch

Sometimes you have to trust the world

Breathe fresh air and have a beer

At the end of the day it worked out fine

Sometimes it's good to feel the fear.

 

26 April

Against it all

Against the street

Against the quagmire in his mind

Against the eight years of virtue

Against the rash left by his watch

Against his all consuming anger

He was up against it

Outside against his house

Against a hundred empty milk bottles

A note read “No milk today please”

 

27 April

All they offered was a glib shrug

We trust our leaders to do the right thing

All they wanted was a peaceful life

All we wanted was to dance and sing

So they suggested we go underwater

A carnival opera in the depths of the sea

By the end of the drowning we’d all graduated

But in death no-one cares what’s on your CV.

 

28 April

Wayne loves Alphabetty spaghetti

Orange stains down his white t-shirt

Empty tins scattered around him.

He enjoys separating letters onto different coloured plates,

cutting toast into different shapes,

Hexagons for S’s.

He generous scrapes on I can’t believe it’s not butter,

Today is Wednesday and he has a mouth full of B’s.

 

29 April

She asks for explanations

She’s just given one word

She asks for a pet dog

She’s given a bird

She’s full of confusion

But she’s never heard

 

They cut her coat

According to her cloth

Decide what to tell her

According to her age

She gets frustrated

Always outgrowing her clothes

Always searching for more answers

And confusion turns to rage

 

One day when she’s older

She’s ask them why they did that

Or through loyalty mis-guided

She’ll ignore it all

She’ll figure out what’s important

And hopefully she’ll trust enough

To share intimate joys and sadness

And feel connected to the world.

 

30 April

Love is brighter than the happiest memory

Phat-er than my pizza-belly

More generous than the Christmas aunts

More constant than my change of pants

 

It’s always sane and sunburst

And the more that it becomes

It’s greater than all living things

Even creatures without thumbs

 

Love is more than winning

Always more than life

Always bigger than beginning

One day I’ll be your wife

 

It’s more nuts than a bunch of Snickers bars

Louder than a turned up tune

And sometimes I’m speechless when you’re around

You’ll always make me swoon.