75PoWriMo - LIX

a mundane but perfect moment



swarming
with the commuter shoal this morning
through the crowded concourse
i was on course
for an architecturally-haired young man wearing
a cheap ill-fitting suit who was staring
at the cleaners' cart
from which he was maybe eight men apart
at this point the soundtrack in my cans
began
the gentle drum roll intro to a tune
the timing could not have been more opportune
i watched as the young man raised up
his empty take-away cappuccino cup
and with laudable insouciance and a quick
half-disguised flick
of his wrist propelled the rubbish toward that bin
slowly trundling away from him
and as i watched as that tumbling cup fell
the music in my ears started to swell
and as i watched it glide
into its goal without touching the sides
the song kicked in its first sforzando chord
i had to fight my hands not to applaud
the young man's stony face allowed a tiny grin
of triumph in celebration of this win



literally as soon as this happened i thought that i finally had a way to use this title supplied to me by the lovely @likecrazypaving

Stats - Day 23

poems written = 58

poems written per day = 2.5217

poems remaining = 17

required poems per day = 2.4286

75PoWriMo - LVIII

the most underrated delicacy



when you stumble home feeling snowman-ish
with two ingredients (and maybe some garnish)
you can make a meal which will banish
all traces of hanger from your belly
and clear fear from your mind as well (e-
ven if you cant afford to shop at the organic deli)
opening up your refrigerator
you will find a bowl or plate or
tupperware of food you left for later
last night or perhaps the night before
when you discovered you had prepared more
food than could be crammed into your maw
be grateful to yourself of yesterday
as his propensity for overca-
tering has given you "ingredient a"
depending on the nature of your saved
comestibles it may take too much brave-
ery to eat cold so a microwave
or saucepan may be used to warm it through
the method selected is up to you
(who am i to tell you what to do?)
the second step is also none-too-hard
it simply requires you to maillard
some bread (stopping before it's charred)
once happy with the browning of your bread
all that's really left to do is spread
ingredient a all across its head
it's nothing of which you will want to boast
but the delicious dish i make the most
brings simple joys - leftovers on toast

75PoWriMo - LVII

my city is an archipelago



this city is a continent
but my city is an archipelago
collected familiar islands
a family of isolated recollections
places i have grown to know
to love, to fear, to long to revisit
federated states of mind
suspended in a soup
spread among a sea
the undulating waves and shipping lanes
of places across which i travel
cross over, pass by, fly through
and i love those geological events
those volcanic moments
when new land masses emerge
rising from the depths of the darkness
new islands or just new spurs
peninsulas slowly encroaching the shores
of the formerly unknown

75PoWriMo - LVI

perspective



sometimes i
feel like i'm
watching myself

through the wrong
end of a
pair of binoculars

tiny and
distant and
slightly out of focus

knowing that
at any
moment i could

bump into
things which seem
so far away

75PoWriMo - LV

my brain was trying to sing this like dylan


just a twisted, tiny-hearted man
who never understood the way to feel
he don't when love-atrophy began
and can't even be sure if he is real
which is partly because he's just a composite
and partly because he's partly parts of me
but he's concluded mostly it's because it
isn't easy to define reality
the voice inside narrating
his life had started stating
that by now his heart was in need of reinflating

his heart had very slowly crusted hard
like play dough that's been left out in the sun
he needed a crash cart and cpr
but most of all he just needed someone
to take that clay and gently start remoulding
to find the kind of form he isn't suite
to polish off the dirt and find the golden
kernel and the glowing pilot light
the voice inside narrating
his life had started stating
there were just too many pluses he's negating

Stats - Day 22

poems written = 54

poems written per day = 2.4545

poems remaining = 21

required poems per day = 2.625

75PoWriMo - LIV

well i never did



i've never played a cello
i've never read hello
i've never under-analysed the works of aa milne
i've never won a race
i've never been to space
chances are i've never seen your favourite film
i've never won a toga
i've never tried to yoga
i've never saved much money through attempts at haggling
i've never prayed to zeus
i've never finished proust
in fact i've never even eaten a madeleine
i've never been to lords
i've never been adored
i've never impressed people when i've met them
i've never kept control
i've never reached my goals
though that's because i've never really set them

75PoWriMo - LIII

don't end up like a superdisk



unopened unused
unneeded unappreciated
you met your obsolescence
in mint condition
lost at the back of a cupboard

75PoWriMo - LII

notification



i remember
          knowing your family
     before you existed
i remember
     you as a tiny child
          wailing for an entire holiday
i remember
          the summer of 95
     you were there, small
               but peripheral
                    (i was at a self-involved age)

and now i am informed
     you are a fully adult person
          following me on the twitter?

     this morning
i feel so very old

Stats - Day 21

poems written = 51

poems written per day = 2.4286

poems remaining = 24

required poems per day = 2.6667

75PoWriMo - LI

defenestration (reprise)



i knew the correct
answer to a question on only connect
as soon as the second clue appeared
but only because i wrote a poem about it this time last year




http://bit.ly/9lzzL4

75PoWriMo - L

she knew he loved her because...



     eight hundred broken ghetto blasters were
playing their song
          on worn, old c90s

     each morning's breakfast a new
message of love was etched
          into the black side of her toast

     every florist in a 12 mile radius emptied
her bed strewn with petals
          filled the volume of her bedroom

     2,768,356th in line to the throne
made her feel like a princess
          by arranging convenient accidents to all the others

Stats - Day 20

poems written = 49

poems written per day = 2.45

poems remaining = 26

required poems per day = 2.6

75PoWriMo - XLIX

reflected glory



vicarious success
is even better than
personal success
due to the added bonus
of knowing someone deserves it

75PoWriMo - XLVIII

occasionally i feel worthwhile



you did this
didn't you
i could tell
normally
it's not as
good as this

75PoWriMo - XLVII

a prayer



father
give me the patience
not to need to
help where i am not needed
and father
give them the ability
not to need to
have put my last prayer to the test

Stats - Day 19

poems written = 46

poems written per day = 2.4211

poems remaining = 29

required poems per day = 2.6364

75PoWriMo - XLVI

she was the mist



you descend form the cooling air
condensing into being
lending a flattering soft focus
reminding me that the background
is unimportant scenery
turning every journey
into a series of surprises
making every turn an adventure
hugging me damp
being all i see

75PoWriMo - XLV

steeling



before a full and busy day
to find five minutes' peace to pray
for strength to face each new morass
perform a mental mise-en-place
itemise foreseen concerns
and prepare for each in tern
is never quite enough to get me through it
but i'd fare much worse if i didn't do it