NaPoWriMo Day 19 – 216

Today’s official prompt of using a Shakespearian insult or even those from Skeletor just didn’t sit right with me. Not when I’ve got a rich history of inventive and highly personalised barbs. When you mix two parts wrestling fan with five parts Mancunian you’re guaranteed a silver tongue that can shimmer as brightly as it’s slices are deadly.

So here’s a story from September 2007 on the 216 bus when an interloper was unclear which of my companions he was referring to.

“Oi mate, is that your bird?”

He warbled unintelligibly.

“No” I protested … with much chagrin

“I’m not into bestiality” I spat back at him.

“Wots bestiality?” bellowed the brute.

“Ask your mother…” I said being cute.

“it might explain a few things”

yet he offered no rebuke.

However what puzzled me most

wasn’t his chauvinistic candour

nor his obliviousness

to my cheeky backhander.

For all the fish in the sea that we swim in,

he just wasn’t clear…

for I was seeing

TWO women.

NaPoWriMo Day 17 – Drink in the moon

Today I’ve opted to use the official prompt of writing about the moon.

Drink in the moon

with a big gulp-sip.

Drink in the moon

till you hear that smooth blue click.

Drink in the moon,

don’t you be a fool.

Drink in the moon,

you know it looks so cool.

He loved his friend but hated himself,

fields of gold become pyrite in stealth.

Tell me how’d you become such a fool,

hurtling at hurdles

and drunk at the school.

Faced with mendacity

he resigned himself to chastity

in light of fiery feline ferocity.

Drink in the moon

with a big gulp-sip.

Drink in the moon

till you hear that smooth blue click.

Drink in the moon,

don’t you be a fool.

Drink in the moon,

you know it looks so cool.

NaPoWriMo Day 15 – What Goodness means to me

She’s always had the biggest heart.

Starts her days as wilful as dawn

and her light shines just as brightly.

Caring isn’t just her vocation,

it’s her state of being.

Every day her thoughts of others

radiate in her every action.

Mother, wife, grandma.

With the quiet strength of Atlas

and a kindness that blooms like May.

If she’s taught me anything

it’s that goodness isn’t just a

Catholic replacement for swearing

but a choice in how you live your life.

NaPoWriMo Day 11 – The Path to Self-Love

Today I’ve opted to use the Local Gems Poetry Press prompt of writing about a time I did something against the norm.

It does no good

to dwell on how you hurt me.

But I suppose you’ll never know

how I spared you from an even greater pain.

Your best friend knew you did me wrong

when you cheated with… him.

Yet when she offered to hook me up

with any one of her friends for my leaving party…

I declined.

Unwilling and unable to hurt you in kind.

Courvoisier and peach Snapple

packed a lesser punch than losing you.

Emotional scars and stretch marks are ley lines

on the path back to self-love.

NaPoWriMo Day 10 – Trust

Today I’ve opted to use the Local Gems Poetry Press prompt.

I’m in somewhat of a fractured yet healing place right now. I’ve no idea where this journey is taking me. I just know I’ve become much more sensitive lately, and that I’m finding no humour in mockery, derision or malice. A knife edge between sanity and salvation.

For many years I’ve been guarded,

a mound around my heart

commemorating lost hope.

Yet as I work on showing kindness to myself,

this vault contains a trust

where I may also place the kindness of others.

NaPoWriMo Day 5 – Maybe

Today I went with the Local Gems Poetry Press prompt of beginning each line with the same word.

Maybe I haven’t achieved all I wanted.

Maybe roadblocks were mountains as I were pedestrian.

Maybe perseverance is the lesson.

Maybe everything really is random.

Maybe serendipity is broken clocks ceasing in unison.

Maybe trying to understand is another game we play.

Maybe I’m afraid of maybes.

Maybe the guttural chords of regret are echoes.

Maybe echoes are a blessing for those who can hear.

Maybe rumination is a sign that you’ve lived.

Maybe allow yourself to live once more.

Maybe greatness is your heart’s gilded armour.

Maybe splinters see themselves as grand oaks.

Maybe is the space between ideas and experiences.

Photo credit: Edited version of an original image by Woohyuck Jang operating under a royalty free licence.

NaPoWriMo Day 3 – Flashforward

I’m a tad behind having been a busy bee. Nonetheless I wrote day 3’s offering yesterday on day 5.

I got a homebody with a journeyman’s soul,

I’m always on the run even when my pace is slow.

So let’s go back, half a decade ago

unwind to a time when I were in vogue.

At the top of my game, yet I still got relegated.

I was in love but it got cut short,

she wasn’t outta my league

she just played another sport.

Cos y’know only fools play by the rules,

you thought that I could be a star but I shined because of you.

Maybe that’s my fault, I should have shined just for me,

but I loved the angel too

so I was shining for three.

It’ll never be the same

cos I can lose the weight

and regain momentum.

But when you’ve loved and lost

you still don’t forget em.

So I could travel the world

– getting drunk on a memory.

I never wanted the hoes,

just a shot and some Hennessy.

Double-barrelled casks? I ain’t trifled.

Cupid swapped arrows for an Uzi

cos you’d taken the Michael…

the Conrad, and even Bob’s Burgers

with a red neck and brown nose for taking orders.

Then I became a chef, how I laugh at the irony.

Cooking up a storm with a pinch of what might’ve been.

You had all the ingredients but you swapped it for a Pot Noodle,

now you’re in hot water

fuck the Bombay Badboy.

There’s more fire in my eyes than a billion Mike’s dropped.

Cos this Fat Man goes nuclear when he’s put in a tight spot.

See the passion of my soul

I’m the hip hop Prometheus,

I stole a gift from the Gods

now I’m continuing to pay for this.

Now I’m working in theatre,

and I’m hitting my renaissance.

I may be fickle for fame

but I don’t want the things that they want.

A platform and marketing is all that appeals,

and a family sized trailer called a Heart on Wheels.

Now I know you cut the breaks,

but I’ve no intention of crashing.

I hope this flashback will flash forward

to a day where I’m laughing…

at some dumb shit, someone special’s cute smile…

but it won’t be you…

I’ve known that for awhile…