Writers Digest April Poem-a-Day

Day 1 – Two for Tuesday – write a beginning poem / write an ending poem

Starting a “Little Job”

It all started with the garden.
I needed an easier one,
so I called in a gardener
to get the hard landscaping done.

But before the job was over
I went out looking for a shed
but found a kitchen company
and bought a new kitchen instead.

Then before the men could fit it
a brand new window was required,
so I had my house double glazed
as my windows were looking tired.

Now the new kitchen is fitted,
the new tiled floor has me smiling
But the hall and cloakroom flooring
don’t match so will need re-tiling.

Then my cloakroom fittings and taps
will also be needing mending.
The “little job” that was started
I doubt will ever be ending!

Day 2 – Write a voyage poem

Going to the Local Shop

I went on a journey last week,
down the road to the shop and back.
It wasn’t easy, I must say,
following my usual track.

First I met with some traffic lights
put there because of the road works,
then I was diverted for miles
from just before where the road forks.

I just wanted a pint of milk
and a bottle of fizzy pop.
Three miles out of my way I went
to get to my usual shop.

I thought that had been bad enough
to make me want to scream and curse.
But what was about to happen
on the way home was far, far worse.

I thought that I would take a short cut
and went home a different way
but then when I rounded a bend
I ran into a load of hay.

It had fallen from a lorry
which had taken the bend too fast.
I just managed to avoid it
but I knew I couldn’t get past.

So I had to turn my car round,
and drive back the way I had come.
Next time I need a pint of milk
I think I’ll borrow some from Mum!

 

Day 3 – Write a message poem

Messages

I’ve received messages that I know have come from you.
You may have left this world but you’re still with me, it’s true.
You were with me today giving comfort as I cried,
because you’re watching over me from the other side.

You are behind the bracing breeze that ruffles my hair;
You fly with butterflies that flutter by everywhere; 
You’re dancing in the sunbeams that shimmer through the trees;
You’re free as fronds of fairy fluff that float on the breeze.

You’re showering in raindrops that fall to cool the heat;
You’re under the bright green blades of grass beneath my feet;
You’re riding on the rainbow arches across the sky;
You’re rustling in fallen leaves as they begin to dry.

You are twinkling away at me from the brightest star;
You are winking from the full moon at me, from afar;
You’re flying on fluffy clouds that float across the sky;
You are waving from the top of mountains, way up high.

You’re singing with the angels in their Heavenly choir;
You’re flickering in the flames of our cozy log fire;
You are the softest flake of snow that brushes my cheek;
You are the first snowdrop that comes out to take a peek.

You are a lone daffodil nodding by the wayside;
You’re the haunting forest smells as through the woods I stride;
You are babbling in the brook as it bursts from the spa;
You are always there by my side whether near or far.

You are splashing in waterfalls, happy to be free;
You’re rippling in rivers as they roll down to the sea;
You’re surfing on the waves coming crashing to the shore;
You are with me everywhere I go, that is for sure.

So I’ll try not to miss you: you’re in a better place,
and although I am not able now to see your face,
I’ll remember you and happy times spent together,
and I know that you’ll still be here with me for ever.

Day 4 – Since 

Since I got my heart back

Since you’ve been gone
my life has moved on.
No longer a fretter
about being a debtor
with no hope.

Since you went away
I have time to play.
I no longer worry
or drive in a hurry
cos we’re late.

Since the day we parted
I’ve not been down-hearted
I’ve found many mates,
had lots of dates
for a while.

Since you quit my life
I’m no longer your wife
I can do what I please,
eat chocolate with cheese
if I like.

Since you and I split
I’ve had fun, I admit.
I can party til dawn
then stay in bed all morn
on Sunday.

Since the day you left
I’ve not felt bereft
But I do miss you so
and the things that you do
to amuse.

Since you went away
I really have to say
I miss your winning grin
and your stubbly chin
on my cheek.

Since you’ve been gone
I’ve not sat by the phone
waiting for your call
and I don’t mind at all
if you don’t.

Since we two did part
I got back my heart.
So I feel no more pain
or will love ever again
any man.

Day 5 – A Discovery Poem

You’ll take so long to discover
that your beau has a new lover
but far less time to recover
and to find yourself another.

*****.

I wonder why it has taken until I am old
for me to discover I was not made in a mould.
Repressed by parents with Victorian ideals
I rebelled, and soon fell head over heels
in love with a man who needed a housewife,
not a lover, the cause of more of my strife.
I rebelled again especially when
he found another younger lover, then
ran away with her and set me free.
For a while I found who I thought was me.
But again I fell deeply in love with a man
who needed a secretary, or that was his plan.
But after years of waiting for him and working
hard for him, I discovered he was shirking
his responsibilities as a husband, and lover.
So I came to my senses and got shot of another.
Now after years of being on my own
I no longer sit by the unringing phone
waiting for a man to call, in fact I don’t wait at all.
Now I have my life back, I refuse to fall
under the spell of another controlling suiter.
I have discovered that my life is so much sweeter.

Day 6 – A Night Poem

I am a creature of daylight.
In daytime I will feel all right
but when night time comes I feel fright.
I dread the night, I dread the night.

I like to get up with the lark
and take my dog out in the park
where she can run and play and bark.
I hate the dark, I hate the dark.

I’ll give you my subtle warning:
I will rise when it is dawning.
I detest dark in the morning:
I keep yawning,  I keep yawning

I hate dark evenings most of all.
They start as leaves begin to fall
and carry on ’til Spring does call.
I loathe nightfall, I loathe nightfall.

The night belongs to owls and cats,
or mice running around our flats,
or werewolves howls, or skulking rats,
or vampires’ bats, or vampires’ bats.

 

Day 7 – A Self Portrait Poem

Reflections

Who is that old lady in the mirror?
It cannot be myself.
It must be my mother’s photo
that’s sitting on the shelf.

Who is that odd lady in the mirror?
Always wearing purple
with a bright red handbag
that doesn’t go at all.

Who is that sad lady in the mirror?
Never seen her with a grin,
face is always looking grim
with frown lines that reach her chin.

Who’s that recycled teenager in the mirror?
She’s mutton dressed as lamb,
she still wears sixties make up
and pouts just like a madam.

Who’s that person in the mirror?
No-one else knows but me
that I might almost be seventy
but still think I’m twenty three!

Day 8 – Two for Tuesday – A Violent Poem and a Peaceful Poem

On waking from violent dreams

And after the thunder and lightning
that tormented me during the night,
while I lay there tossing and turning
in my tangled sheets convulsed with fright,
came the sweet melody of morning
birdsong.

Bleary eyes opened wide to the sight
through the closed curtains in the dawning
where I could see a small chink of light,
and I wondered if there was meaning
to my nightmares or if my dreams might
be wrong.

And I drifted again into sleep
to the chorus of birds “cheep,cheep, cheep”.

Day 9 – Shelter

Full Circle

I
made a
decision
to call in a
garden landscaper
to redesign my plot.
It was full and overgrown
and no longer could I manage
to get out and chop back what I’d got.
But I miss my woodland glade in the shade
down the end of my garden since plans I made
to have all my tall trees and bushy shrubs chopped down
just because I could not find enough strength of my own
to trim my garden.

I
quite like
the gravel
and neat little
low maintenance plants
and how I can now see
every plant in my yard
which is now filled with sunshine.
But there is only one tiny tree.
This year they say that we will all swelter
but there is nowhere now for me to shelter
except when I am under the lime green sunshade
standing by my side if and when I venture outside
to tend my garden.

I
sit at
the window
every day
wishing I still had
somewhere to sit outside,
looking longingly at where
my hammock used to be shaded
by trees so that I wouldn’t get fried.
But things will soon grow, I know and now I’m
so very much looking forward to the time
when my plants, trees and shrubs again grow much bigger
and I am just hoping that they will thrive with vigour
to fill my garden.

I
must be
patient but
there’s not much of
my life left to wait
for pleasures to restore.
Every day I must trade
my time on this Earth before
I’ll have no precious time any more.
Ten years down the line and things will be fine:
there’ll be lush growth back in that garden of mine.
There’ll be the private little cool green woodland glade
and someone else might sit down the end under the shade
that was my garden.

Day 10 – The Future

I want to come back a hundred years from now
to see what has happened to the world and how
they have dealt with the rising population
and never ending wars between each nation.

I want to see if there are still pastures green,
or if there’s just buildings with no space between.
Will rich men have moved away to other stars
and travel in space machines instead of cars?

There is no future left for this world, I’m sure,
unless scientists find a way to restore
the ecological equilibrium
for Man and beast, bird, fish and vegetation.

I’m glad that my time here is nearly over.
I’ve had the best of what has been on offer,
but now that we have used our planet’s resource
I fear there’s nothing left, ’til we change our course.

Day 11 –  A Statement

“There’s nowt so queer as folk”

“There’s nowt so queer as folk”
my granny used to say
and I find that I believe it
more and more every day.

I wonder why folk are queer
why are they not like me?
Although I am starting to fear
that the queerest one I might be!

 

Day 12 – A City Poem

Maybe it’s because I was a
Londoner that I love London town.
Although now I do not live there
I quite often take a trip down.

I’ll take a walk by the river,
after being squashed in the tube,
I’ll have a browse round a market
and munch on some takeaway food.

I’ll laugh at jolly street jugglers,
and marvel at living statues,
I’ll ride on the Frog and the Eye
to admire our great city views.

I’ll see where live Prime Ministers,
even if caught in a shower
when walking back from Downing Street
I’ll hear Big Ben chiming the hour.

I’ll take a stroll along the Mall,
wave at the Queen in her palace,
and see what Christopher Robin
saw when he went there with Alice.

I will walk around monuments
and browse in some art galleries,
go back in time in museums:
these will all be good memories.

I will sample Soho night life
and watch a good musical show
but after a day’s sight seeing
I’ll be tired and ready to go.

Back then at St Pancras station,
to catch the last evening train,
I’ll watch someone play the piano
while I wait to go home again.

Maybe its because I was a
Londoner that I hate London town.
It’s now the countryside I love
where I can live without a frown.

I can breathe fresh clean country air,
watch cows graze and see newbo
rn sheep
gambolling in fields everywhere,
and there’s little noise while I sleep.

There’s a lot to be said for our city
It is always fun to visit
but live there again I’ll never:
it’s not as good as home, is it?

Day 13 – An Animal Poem

Acrostic Poem – German Shepherds

Guard dogs and strong they may be, but yet they are
Ever faithful and gentle, giving all their
Real love to their owner, be it man, woman or child.
Meant for companionship, once you have had one there’ll
Always be no other dog for you and you’ll
Never want to be without one by your side.

Simply the best kind of dog to own and yet
Have been trained as guard dogs or family pet.
Everyone can see they’re valued by the
Police because they’re trained so easily.
Hours of fun can be had out walking. With their
Endless energy they’ll run around ’til they’re
Really tired, when they will want to come home for
Dinner. Then eventually they will sure
Sleep very peacefully lying by your side.

 ******

 Sestina – Advice to a new dog owner (not submitted)

There is no more faithful friend than a dog
He will always want to be by your side.
but he will need a good long daily walk
Give him lots of food, water, toys and love.
Take care of him and he’ll take care of you
and he will always protect you from harm.

2.
A few tasty treats will cause little harm
but take care not to overfeed your dog
You wouldn’t want him to be fat, would you?
He will need lots of exercise outside
and I am quite sure that soon you will love
having to take him for his daily walk.

3.
Be careful when you are on the side walk
that he does not encounter any harm
Just remember how little puppies love
to communicate with another dog
and could quite easily run from your side
and slip off their lead and away from you.

4.
Some good advice to you would be that you
keep him away from traffic as you walk
by holding his lead on the farthest side
away from the road to save him from harm
just in case a car swerves and hits your dog
but this might mean you get hit first, my love!

5.
I know that you will give him lots of love
and you’ll always want him to be with you
but remember that he is just a dog
and will often get muddy on his walk
Keeping him off your bed will do no harm
so he should sleep on the floor by your side

6.
Train him to sit, stay or walk by your side
Reward him with a treat that he will love
Using a stern voice will do him no harm
and make sure he knows that the boss is you
This should make your life easy on your walk
and make you proud of your well behaved dog

7.
Keep him close by your side in sight of you
Dogs love chasing each other on their walk
which could cause harm to an uncontrolled dog.

************

That Mouse (not submitted)

There’s a mouse running about in my house
it’s driving me completely bananas
it’s been rifling through my garage drawer
and been munching on my son’s birthday cake
It’s running round the loft in hobnail boots
and it’s keeping me awake half the night.

2,
I went out into the garage last night
which is an integral part of the house
I just wanted to find my walking boots
but then found my forgotten bananas.
These days I am such a nutty fruit cake
I keep finding things in the wrong drawer.

3.
Why am I keeping food inside a drawer?
I should have taken it out the same night
but I had to hide my son’s birthday cake
just as he was coming into my house
and I put it there with the bananas
whilst pretending I was changing my boots.

4.
I had bought some writing icing from Boots
and had hidden that in the same drawer
with the cake and the bunch of bananas
because my son stayed for most of the night
so I couldn’t take them back in the house
just in case he would discover his cake.

5. 451362
But now I find a chunk out of the cake
and a mouse has made a nest in my boots
using my dog’s hair he’s found in my house
and he seems to think that it’s his food drawer
as he helps himself to supper at night
and he’s even eaten my bananas.

6. 246531
Can one mouse eat a bunch of bananas
and then take a big chunk out of a cake
and keep running around every night?
How many mice were living in my boots?
How many more were rifling my drawer
and are they running amok in my house?

7. 25, 43,61
No more bananas. I’ve filled up my boots
with poisoned cake and emptied my drawer.
No more thieves in the night, a silent house!

*************

Day 14 – If I were …….

My faithful old dog lies at my feet
beside me, hardly breathing.
I watch for signs of life.
I pray for signs of life.
And then she twitches
and in her dream she’s running
chasing rabbits in the park.
And I heave a sigh of relief.

If I were braver and stronger,
if I weren’t so fond of her,
if I thought I could live life without her,
if I were less selfish,
if I knew how she actually feels,
I could make that hard decision
and take her on her final trip
to the vet.

She cannot hear, can hardly see,
cannot walk far any longer,
but while she still can hobble
round the block beside me,
while she still can enjoy her food,
still can bark at the cats next door
or at the dogs across the road,
there’s still some quality of life
in my old dog yet.

How can I make that final decision?
Maybe one night she will die in her sleep
as she’s dreaming about chasing rabbits,
and I will be left all alone to weep.

**********

Day 15 – Two for Tuesday – Love and Anti-Love

Love or Anti-Love

I love lots of things:
mostly things that can’t hurt me.
I’ve given up loving people
because I know they’ll desert me.

**********
To Love or not to Love
with apologies!

To love, or not to love: that is the question:
whether ’tis easier for your heart to suffer
the slings and arrows of all-consuming passion,
or to avoid temptation and appear tougher,
and, by resisting, so to miss the thrill
of a lover’s touch that tingles down
the spine until it reaches to your very soul,
and tugs you deeper, deeper, until you drown
in an uncontrolled ocean of desire,
while
you feel your heart will burst
if you don’t put out the smouldering fire
with which your yearning body now is cursed.
For those who can bear the whips and scorns of love,
tread carefully lest you lose your lover
to wretched infidelity which doth disprove
the grunts of passion beneath your bed cover.
Beware the yet undiscovered painful cost
of losing the one who once did enthral.
But know that it is better to have loved and lost
than never to have loved like that at all.

***********

Day 16 – Write an Elegy

I couldn’t bring myself to do this one as I was already too tearful about my Myschka nearing the end of her days, so I submitted my poem “To Jezzie” without actually reading it again, as it was lunchtime and I had to get back to work without crying again.

**************

An Elegy to Claude

You were one of our three bantam hens
called Claudia, Clara and Chloe Cluck
and you quickly became the boss
pushing your sisters around in the muck.

Some time later we noticed you
stand on a rock starting to crow.
We promptly renamed you Claude
when your family started to grow.

With Mama Clara and Auntie Clo in tow
eight little chicks would follow you around
but one by one our eight chicks we found
in our shallow pond in our garden drowned.

Then when we lost your sisters too
we wondered why or how they had done it.
But we had witnesses to the deed
and discovered you were the culprit.

You pushed them all in
whilst trying to mount them
There was no point in keeping you then
when we were living without them.

So we had you homed in a hen house
in the local children’s pets zoo
but you were the one who was lost
in the Easter floods of ‘ninety two.

Claude, you were a handsome chap
and I’d thought you were our friend
looking after your chicken troop.
But Claude, you met a fitting end!

***********

Day 17 – A Pop Culture Poem

Concerts

My workmates think I’m weird,
spending Saturday night
going to a classical concert
or listening to a choir
in comfort, in the house of God.

I think my workmates are weird,
spending a long weekend
camping at Glastonbury
listening to loud rock bands
in pouring rain, wallowing in mud.

Then I remember
the Rolling Stones
and how I stood for hours,
wet through in the rain,
waiting to see them again.

****************

Day 18 – Write a poem about the Weather.

Seriously?
In England?
You want me to
write a poem
about the weather?
How long have you got?

It’s the opener
for any conversation
with a complete stranger
whether you want to
converse or not.

“Wet today, isn’t it?”
“Expect it will rain before long!”
“Any more rain and we’ll all have webbed feet!”
“They say we might see the sun today!”
“Heavy showers forecast later!”
“Eeee by gum, it’s cold!”
“Really hot today, isn’t it?”

Weather!
Where would we be without it?
How would we start a conversation?
Or would we all sit in silence
on a bus or train,
wondering if
it would ever rain again.

************

Day 19 – Pick a Colour and write about it

Purple

Nothing rhymes with purple, so about it I shouldn’t write
but it’s my favourite hue, so for once I think I might
Purple always draws me to it, I cannot resist it
and my wardrobe is now too full of it. I could list it.

Seven multi-coloured, basically purple, blouses
a couple of purple skirts, four pairs of purple trousers,
four purple hats, two pairs of purple shoes, five purple coats,
a couple of purple track suits for messing about in boats.

A purple tartan cloak with a matching beret and scarf,
I bought them when I was up in Scotland, just for a laugh,
oh, and I probably own at least seven purple scarves,
these days it seems that I never do anything by halves.

Purple doesn’t just pick my wardrobe to monopolise
my bedroom is duck egg blue, but with purple butterflies,
pictures of purple flowers, amethysts and purple lights
I am amazed that I never dream in purple at nights!

In my bathroom are purple towels, and a purple rug.
I think I’ve been intoxicated with a purple drug.
I love purple, violet, lavender, lilac or puce
and I am now even drinking purple blueberry juice.

My garden is always full of pink or purple flowers,
I’ve a purple sunshade, or umbrella for rain showers.
Purple cushions sit on the seats on my patio set
and I think there could be purple rain falling when it’s wet!

To the colour purple like by a magnet I am drawn
It is just as well that I have not got a purple lawn
In fact I’ve a gravel garden, without a lawn at all
although now I am thinking of painting my garden wall!

What can I do to conquer my purple addiction?
I’m starting to think that I have some sort of affliction.
I started my collection when I was sixty three.
“When I am old I will wear purple”. Was that penned for me?

********************

Wine

Yesterday I loved the colour wine
while I was painting the town red,
Now I feel a little green
I feel it should be said.
and tomorrow
I might be
black and
blue!

*********

Cerise

I did a search and no-one has yet
written about the colour cerise,
so I thought I’d honour that vibrant
colour by writing this little piece.

Cerise is such a cheerful colour.
Call it fuchsia, hot or shocking pink
and dab a splash of it anywhere
and it will liven the place up, I think.

You do not need very much of it
that would be just too much “in your face”.
I’m told to paint a whole wall with it
would be a total shocking disgrace.

But I am now feeling very smug.
I have painted cerise on one wall,
added some hot pink pots and a rug
and invited some good friends to call.

They came in the room and gasped out loud
with awe when they saw the fuchsia,
but they loved it and I’m very proud
that one’s copying me in the future!

************

Day 20 – Write a Family Poem

Birdwatching

A family of long-tailed tits have come to visit me,
they’ve been here all day, in and out the Eucalyptus tree.
They’re eating all the old nuts and fat balls that I’ve put out
I’ve not seen them here before, so I guess without a doubt
they like what I’ve provided more than the usual seeds
that all the birds sort through and drop down to grow into weeds!

Mr Blackbird, who’s long been a regular resident
is pecking at the coconut – that was money well spent.
And Percy Pigeon still waddles all about down below
picking up the seeds, I hope, before they begin to grow.
There’s lots of diff’rent little birds scrabbling in the gravel
if next door’s cat sees them there, they’ll have to quickly travel!

Robin’s still here strutting around, singing his lovely song,
Blue tits and finches come as well, but don’t stay very long.
There’s so much going on outside it’s hard to concentrate
on what I have to do today, and it could make me late.
But that’s what makes my life so good, watching the birds come by,
I think of them as family, these visitors from the sky.

*************

Day 21 – Back to Basics

Quill pens, ledgers – bring them all back. 
Throw away computers on a disused railway track.
Bury them deep and plant over lots of trees,
or take them to the bottom of the deepest seas! 

I don’t think that we were this stressed fifty years ago,
except when we couldn’t get through the driving snow.
So much information, how can one take it in?
And do we really need it for our happiness within? 

I remember when we had our first computers. 
They were bigger than a pile of invalid scooters!
There was an army of personnel pumping info in,
and a forest load of trees spewed out, which ended in the bin. 

Clerks used to write neatly and were proud of their work,
and typists got it right first time, or else it would irk.
Information came from an encyclopaedia,
and we didn’t have to believe all the rubbish in the media! 

People had conversations, using their voices,
not their fingers texting, making irritating noises.
Next door neighbours would come in for some tea. 
Now they’re in all alone, playing on their Wii! 

So I think IT is a four letter word.
We’re out of control, it has become absurd.
Bring back politeness, contentment and some cheer
and let’s communicate again with our neighbours near.

********

Day 22 – Two for Tuesday: An Optimistic Poem and/or a Pessimistic Poem

My half empty glass is half full

If 
my glass 
is seen to 
be half empty,
why does someone then 
come to fill it again
right up to the very top
just as soon as I turn my back? 
This makes me absolutely mad.

I like my wine glass to be half full 
not filled almost up to the brim
like barmen are prone to do.
Red wine should be savoured,
swirled around the glass,
then sipped slowly
until it
is all
gone.

*******

I hope that someone here has noticed
that my wine glass is half empty
and comes along to fill it.
I’m hoping I’ll get more
before they run out,
although it looks
like they have
plenty
left.

My
wine glass
is really
almost half full
but I doubt if they
will fill it up again
before their supply runs out.
There do not seem to be enough
bottles left for everyone here.

********

Day 23 – Location

No matter the location,
no matter how she feels,
whenever I’m around
she’ll be there at my heels.

She doesn’t care where we go,
she doesn’t even care when.
So long as I am there with her,
my dog is content again.

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Oh to be out on Cornish cliffs gazing
at reflections of a million stars
twinkling in the ripples on the azure sea,
where the air is clean and bracing,
as I walk amongst the springtime flowers
after eating a Cornish cream tea.

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Day 24 – Tell it to the ……..

TELL IT TO FACEBOOK

After a bad day at work
I go home my dog to greet.
My troubles soon disappear
as we walk along the street.

I am due to retire soon
and my dog is old and tired
I’ll be needing a close friend
to talk to when I am bored.

But my friends are all busy.
Having been retired some time,
they have joined in lots of clubs
and rarely are they at home.

I always talk to my dog,
but although she cannot hear
she gives me her attention
even though her time is near.

But when my dog takes her walk
off over the Rainbow Bridge,
who will I have to talk to,
who will help my life enrich?

I’ll be talking to my plants
and to birds and bees, I’ll bet,
and to the check out girls in
our local supermarket.

I’ll be posting messages,
mostly in gobbledygook,
trying to see if there’s life
on Twitter or on Facebook.

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Day 25 – The Last Straw

Each day you caused me pain
ever since we began
but I just thought that was
because you were a man.

You used to make me laugh,
you always made me late,
you often made me cry,
you got me in a state.

Time went on, you changed not,
my humour had long gone,
you gave me cause to doubt
that we could carry on.

But another lover?
That was the final straw.
I knew you had to go:
we’d no love any more.

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Day 26 – Water

APRIL SHOWERS

On with my coat and walking shoes,
the dog is all ready to go,
but the sky has turned a dark grey
and it looks as if it might snow.
Now it’s actually raining:
so here indoors I am staying!

Off with my coat, working again,
waiting for the shower to stop.
It’s now raining cats and dogs,
and hail has caught us on the hop.
Marble hailstones mixed with the rain:
there will be no walk yet, it’s plain.

Now here’s the sun, I guess we’ve time
for a quick walk around the park.
But just as I’ve got my coat again
the dog has started to bark:
“It is too late, here comes the rain:
we’re going to get wet again!”

It’s April, renowned for showers
that suddenly come and then go,
but we’ve been waiting here for hours
with the dog wandering to and fro.
But finally here comes the sun:
let’s go out quickly for some fun,
or will we get caught in the rain
just as we go outside again?

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Day 27 – A Monster Poem

Procrastination

A woman’s work is never done
and I think that I know why:
it is the fear of boredom
when all her work runs dry.
If she completes all her tasks
where will she then be?
What will she do
tomorrow?
That’s the monster I fear in me.

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ARACHNOPHOBIA

I am unable to move, I’m shaking inside.
I just can’t take my eyes off him in case he’ll hide.
He stands motionless, staring at me evilly.
I’ve got to do something. It’s either him or me.
I go to fetch my special long-handled tool
but I get the feeling that he’s trying to fool
me as when I return he is missing, but where?
Is he hiding behind the curtains or my chair?
Will he come out again when I am fast asleep?
Or will he wait until tomorrow and then creep
stealthily out from his secret dark hiding place?
Will I wake up to feel something tickling my face?

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LONG WORDS

I have a fear when writing my poems
of not using a long enough word.
Four syllable words I find okay
but I know that this might sound absurd.
I Googled  it, because I wanted 
to find out what they would call my fear.
I was surprised to find I have got
hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia.

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Day 28 – A Settled Poem

In my teens I had ambitious dreams
of being an architect, a journalist, 
a cartographer or a meteorologist.
I was restless and I hated maths.

I would never in my wildest dreams 
have been an accountant like my father
or a book-keeper like my mother.
I was rebellious and I hated maths.

In my twenties I met the man of my dreams,
followed by marriage, kids, and was working 
doing secretarial duties and book-keeping.
I was settled but I hated maths.

In my thirties I was vastly improving
at motherhood, domesticity, gardening,
My career in accounting was developing.
I thought I was settled, but I still hated maths.

In my forties I was divorced and dating,
had a new house, a decent job and two cats
I was mistress of my own destiny at last.
But I was lonely and I hated maths.

In my fifties I had found a new man,
ran a business, and it was looking like
I was finally about to settle down again.
But that was not to be. I hated maths.

In my sixties I broke free. Got two dogs,
got rid of the man and the high pressure job, 
made new friends when I joined a social club, 
started writing again, but I still need maths.

I wonder what my seventies will bring?
I will probably still be part-time working
but hope I’ll always find time for writing.
I won’t need a man. I won’t care about maths.

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Day 29 – Two for Tuesday A Realism Poem and/or a Magical Poem

UNDER THE WILLOW TREE

It was a magical day,
a day to be out at play.
He was bathing in the pool,
splashing about in the cool.
water, without a care in the world.
He hadn’t noticed her curled
up beneath the willow tree.
He was just happy to be free,
and his happiness announcing
he started joyfully singing.

It was a magical day,
a day that was going her way.
She seemed peacefully sleeping,
but with one eye ever peeping,
watching the birds come and
go, waiting for them to stand
at the water’s edge as they shook
waterlogged wings, Then she took
her chance for pouncing,
and started carefully springing.

It was a magical day
and I am glad to say
that the bird flew away
and the cat went off flouncing
with her tail crossly swinging.

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Day 30 – Calling it a Day

THANK YOU

That is it. It is over and I’m glad.
Yet when I think of the fun we’ve had
it really makes me feel slightly sad.
But I have things that I have to do
that I’ve been putting off until I knew
that at the end I could say “Adieu”
Hopefully I will still continue
to visit the site to read anew
the poems penned by the rest of you.
A “big thank you” I would like to say
for all the beautiful poetry
and to Robert for his prompts each  day.

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Calling it a Day

Almost any other day would be okay
but why pick that day to call it a day? 
You knew very well how I felt about
anniversaries and there is no doubt
that this day will loom with gloom in my life
forever. The date you made me your wife.
And now it fills me with ironic mirth
that it’s the day your new girlfriend gives birth.
My mother warned me not to marry you
on her father’s birthday and it’s true
that nothing good ever started that day
so it looks like you now will have to pay
a lifetime for your infidelity.
So that was why. That was why you left me.
All is now explained. Now you are in chains.
We can’t resurrect our love that remains.

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