A blog post writing I am

Written in response to a fellow poet's prompt to 'write a Yoda poem'...

yodadiary.blogspot.co.uk

Like a Jawa used it as a toilet
my mouth tastes this morning.
Ached my head did, not now
(Paracetamol, not Jedi mind trick).
Old Thumper I tried – liked it I did, yes,
karaoke night at the Star & Falcon it was, mmm;
“more, than this, much more, my way, I did it”
I sang,
“geroff, frog-face”, lads shouted –
green I am,
small I am,
Kermit I am not;
in the Serpentine
thinking they are ducks,
quacking
they are now
(Jedi mind trick) –
muppets.
OLL.

Free-verse texticonography

Following a recent workshop on using 'new media' to generate poetry, here's a short one using emoticons and similar, plus its associated explanation...

Took a dip in a \___/
found an old Black Sabbath LP –
playable
\m/>.<\m/
u like CraaAAaiiIIig DaaAAaviIid
:p

Translates as:

Took a dip in a skip
 
found an old Black Sabbath LP –
playable
 
[symbols indicating listening to metal - it's two hands raised with 'finger-horns' either side of scrunched-up eyes]
 
u like CraaAAaiiIIig DaaAAaviIid (mocking Craig David's uppy/downy, oversung-but-bland vocal stylings)
 
blowing-a-raspberry smiley

Wordy workshops and ichthyology

From yesterday's Archimedes Screw workshop on using social media (etc) to create poetry. One exercise was to find a tweet or facebook status update, then use it as a repeated refrain. BTW, Sphoeroides is a genus of pufferfish...

Homo sphoeroides

Platy teeth crush shells and carapaces,
tetrodotoxin awaits unwary fugu-diners
with diaphragm paralysis –
bite me, I’ll bite your lungs,
I’m like a pufferfish in more ways than one.

Hanging boxily in warm midwater,
unhydrodynamic, spines flat for now –
approach with caution,
spikes may rise like the sun,
I’m like a pufferfish in more ways than one.

Slow but manoeuverable, comfort-built,
achieving surprising short-distance speed,
OK – an acquired taste maybe,
floating relaxedly rotund,
I’m like a pufferfish in more ways than one.

I sit at depth, playing in the sand,
making submarine crop-circles,
supposedly enticing new mates,
but spawning’s done,
I’m like a pufferfish in more ways than one.

A thousand years after the Vikings...

The Havarmal, sometimes called 'The Book of Viking Wisdom' or similar, is part of the Elder or Poetic Edda and is a collection of how-to-live-your-life sayings attributed to Odin. Stanza 75 is one of the most famous sections and translates along the lines of:

"Cattle die and kinsmen die,
all men are mortal.
Words of praise
will never perish,
nor a noble name."

So, Odin tells us we will be remembered by our good deeds, long after we have died. Sounds OK to me...

A Modern Havarmal

Few now own cattle, fewer spears
Or speak of ‘kinsmen’
But still, ‘tis good to live a tale worth telling,
To waken new each day while still unwaked,
Live well
And in doing so
Free the Earth and Man from bonds
Of wanton avarice,
Of small-mindedness
And unenlightened dumb self-interest –
Repay at least a little
Of what we can not help but take,
Oppose by witness borne,
By passive lock and shackle,
Or carefully placed cyber-sabot –
Bring down the bad,
Let them take their shots;
Publish and be culture-jammed –
Fear not
The fear-mongers and the haters,
The sorrow-leeches feeding on
A dead man’s grief –
No words will hail them
In their dishonour,
But rain down hard
The mockery of tear-streaked clowns,
Of drummers, singers,
Lovers, dancers,
Readers, writers, learners,
Players and creators,
Gentle citizens and warriors
Steal the wheels from their bandwagon
By acts of mindful, kind dissent –
That’s time well-spent
When all is said and cited,
There is no life in spite,
And revenge is best kept off the menu
To avoid a world gone blind.

Four more modern haiku

It's hot today, so keeping things brief...

I

Fruit machine winner
returns to coin slots like a
dog to its vomit.

II


To infinity
and… there is no beyond, but
I guess that’s the point.

III

Power-mongers hate
renewables ‘cos Third World
has plenty solar.

IV

Climate of Hunter,
Tilt, Drift, Bish Bosch – progression
of music and mind.