POW PROMPT 1
Write a poem to the above collage.
It is Wednesday already Down Under. I realise that it is still Tuesday for most of you. I am going to set the time the same as USA RWP time because that is what we are used to. This is an exception because I am on the road all day tomorrow . Am heading off to the sticks and will be out of computer range until tomorrow night. Can't wait to read everyone's poems.
This poem was not as easy to write as I thought it would be. It wrote itself in the end.
Please DO NOT write your poem in the comment section here.
Gypsy Poets
A bedraggled lot
trundling along
king hit
with sneers aimed sharp
bull's eye'd by
arrows of disdainful stares
from the thumbs up thumbs down
complacent crowd a dull'd herd
damned since the Fall
Sometimes a patronising soul
offers tea and sympathy
an essay in prescribed goodness
balancing the ledger taking out
an insurance policy against the
hereafter a vain attempt to
squeeze through the eye of the needle
None know that tucked away
under thin blankets
clattering amongst the broken pots and pans
under bare feet in between dirty toes
diamonds gold and rubies lurk and lodge
Some spill out and slide through slits in
the wooden plank'd floor
A trail of gold dust follows the rickety old cart
Even the horse is laughing
Write a poem to the above collage.
It is Wednesday already Down Under. I realise that it is still Tuesday for most of you. I am going to set the time the same as USA RWP time because that is what we are used to. This is an exception because I am on the road all day tomorrow . Am heading off to the sticks and will be out of computer range until tomorrow night. Can't wait to read everyone's poems.
This poem was not as easy to write as I thought it would be. It wrote itself in the end.
Please DO NOT write your poem in the comment section here.
Gypsy Poets
A bedraggled lot
trundling along
king hit
with sneers aimed sharp
bull's eye'd by
arrows of disdainful stares
from the thumbs up thumbs down
complacent crowd a dull'd herd
damned since the Fall
Sometimes a patronising soul
offers tea and sympathy
an essay in prescribed goodness
balancing the ledger taking out
an insurance policy against the
hereafter a vain attempt to
squeeze through the eye of the needle
None know that tucked away
under thin blankets
clattering amongst the broken pots and pans
under bare feet in between dirty toes
diamonds gold and rubies lurk and lodge
Some spill out and slide through slits in
the wooden plank'd floor
A trail of gold dust follows the rickety old cart
Even the horse is laughing
Tuesday it is. Certainly here in the UK. Poetry is an everyday thing and mine is as everday as it comes.
ReplyDelete"A London Morning"
the moon was a broken dog that floated at my feet.
a tail for tricks and the kickback rain to puddle.
the anointed air wept a mystery into the throats of roses.
neon climbed highrise and twisted the knotted air into vague shapes like barbed wire cackling a witchy sound.
the hammer fist throb of a locomotive rushed the black and backed it into piss pond door frames.
like a zoo cage.
like the stench of ages.
i caught a faint whiff of burning meat that hung threaded.
wax like and bogus.
a mockery of food to the fools of booze.
catch the rattle of the milk float.
catch the rubber squeak of the paper boy as he perspires his paper chase round past the rustle of the pig pen pigeons.
above and below.
towering and cowering.
stand the columns of cash in brash statements of concrete and...
hush, hush, here come the bipeds. bright and burnished.
facing the day down with a sense of being.
of being.
what?
Phew, you got me laughing too, just for a moment! If they were really gypsies, I dread to think of what their fate might have been, if they met the character in my piece.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for the prompt. I think I must be on Aussie time, I went to see 'The Australian Pink Floyd' at the Manchester Arena last night.
Anyway, here's mine: Thank The Big-Bang
STG aka Andy Sewina
Rallentanda!
ReplyDeleteIt's great to get back to writing poems after my time away and the end of RWP! My initial poem is off-prompt, titled:
"Angels and Samaritans"
I'll try to write one on-prompt later, if I can scrounge the time. But this one was what I produced today.
Best,
Well into Wednesday here...
ReplyDeleteGood start, and a hard act to follow.
Post here? Or will you be using a Linky?
ReplyDeleteHere's mine anyway: COLLAGE
My grandfather said his grandparents who raised him after his mother died were "gypsies," figuratively, that is. They moved so frequently that every year on the first day of spring the chickens would lie down and cross their legs to be tied... I like to think that that restlessness carries forward into my art. That's the inheritance I hope to have received.
ReplyDeleteI love the way you have mixed artistic peripatetic vagabondage with hidden riches. And I love your reference to the insurance taken out against the hereafter. Great stuff, Rallentanda!
Finish with a horse laugh?
ReplyDeleteWe've been having flooding around here (fortunately I'm on high ground) and some of it worked its way into the poem. mine's called the hitch
Andy,the gypsies of Europe were annihilated
ReplyDeletein the war. 'Kokorico' is a wonderful movie which shows their love of life and love for each other against all adversity.
There will only ever be one 'Pink Floyd' for me.. What an incredible band!
Thanks Stanski.We will find each others poems easily through you linked titles or names.
ReplyDeleteStill TU night on the west coast, but close enough to Wednesday for an American poet. Loved your POW collage prompt, here goes with:
ReplyDeleteExodus Redux
http://www.jdmackenzie.blogspot.com/
J. D. Mackenzie
Love the chicken story. Now I know where you get your great sense of humour from.! Thanks for the generous comment.
ReplyDeleteOops..above comment to Paul Oakley.
ReplyDeleteKeep dry Babs!
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked the prompt Mackenzie. Your poem was a little ripper...a must read! You get a
ReplyDeleteprize in the picture column.
The gypsy poets will always have the last laugh! Mine took a macabre turn: Vita's Dance
ReplyDeleteFrancis, if you want to see Gypsies at their most lively,see a movie called 'The Concert'.
ReplyDeleteIt is set in post soviet Russia and is hilarious.
Hi Rall,
ReplyDeleteI like your mix of squalor and splendour. My own would seem to be echoing similar thoughts. It's here:
Perpetual Motion
Welcome to the motley crew Derrick. We keep the grey at bay ( well maybe not the hair colour)
ReplyDeleteSorry about the misunderstanding. Not unusual for me but no excuses eh?
ReplyDeleteYour poem is great mine was not so instead go here http://fishyswarb.blogspot.com/
Cheers!
what a crew you've assembled this morning!! thank you, Rall, for a great promt!
ReplyDeleteI love the "diamonds gold and rubies" tucked away, and of course the laughing horse!
mine is cherry bomb -- just click my name.
I'll be around to visit when I get home from school.
thanks for the prompt rall
ReplyDeletehttp://crankymango.blogspot.com/2010/05/words.html
Thanks Angie and Lucy for 2 gorgeous poems.
ReplyDeleteIt is like having a birthday.
Thanks for a unique prompt, Rall - and your incredible collage!
ReplyDeletehttp://herwordsbloomed.blogspot.com/2010/05/pow-1-collage_02.html
Rall ~ liked the image you've created here, especially stanza two and truths about some faiths, that it can be quid pro (you get the kindness but it costs as you get to hear the sermon). And did I interpret correctly stanza 3, that some of us give away our treasure for the taking? I would hope we do! See you next Wednesday...
ReplyDeleteI promise not to do any more, but this is one for fun Pity Oscar Wilde
ReplyDeleteWell Mackenzie if we do give away our treasures
ReplyDeletewe are considered to be foolish and imprudent.
The emphasis and importance placed on wealth and possessions now is obscene. Anything for free has no value and earns no respect in our society. I do not choose to uphold this materialistic concept.I wear the badge of anti
materialism with pride. Next Wednesday I have something tricky up my sleeve that will test
all of you bright sparks. Thankyou for commenting on my poem.
Rall,
ReplyDeleteLove the third stanza and the image of the horse laughing. Great! It is nice to here be with some of the gang from napo and RWP. Here is the link to mine:
http://flaubert-poetrywithme.blogspot.com/2010/05/where-you-lay-pow.html
Thanks for your comment Pam. It is good that we managed to keep a lot of the team together.
ReplyDeleteMarianne thanks for the comment on the collage...collage is supposed to reflect the state of your mind....maybe it's time for a holiday!
Miss Pommeroy is going to get very agitated if she sees this Bessie May Mucho!She does not like Oscar Wilde because he was very rude about that wallpaper in his Paris hotel.
ReplyDeleteHi Rallentanda! I'm still recovering from RWP but here is my modest contribution for your prompt-Thanks for continuing the fun!
ReplyDeletehttp://1965footprints.blogspot.com
Hi Rall, here's a cool link to Mike Fitz's post, for anybody having trouble with hyperlinking! Mike Fitz's Post
ReplyDeleteThanks Dawlin'!
ReplyDeleteLove where you took that! Great final stanza.
ReplyDeleteexcellent verse conveying the hardship of those who were persecuted, the last line of each set balance perfectly the story told... shall be back later to contribute to this fine group of poets...
ReplyDeleteThankyou Robin and Miss P Pie. I agree,this is a fine group of talented poets and I am honoured that they turned up for this adventure
ReplyDeletewith Captain Foolhardy in her rowing boat
manoeuvering her way through the larger fleet.
It should be an interesting journey.
Hi Rall, give me a day to post my poem. I am in with those gypsies.
ReplyDeleteGood for you Uma.
ReplyDeleteThe Irish in Me
ReplyDeleteThought I had posted a link, but I guess not.
ReplyDeleteThe Irish in Me
Good to see everyone!
Fun idea, this POW. I'll be back to join in.
ReplyDeleteHi Rall. Here is my gypsy poem - http://umaathreya.blogsome.com/2010/05/08/put-on-your-walking-shoes/
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your poems Deb.Prompt 2 is up for next Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteUma you will definitely stand out toting an ipod wearing nikes and rattling car keys(probably a BMW)You can be a token affluent gypsy!Reminds me of Zsa Zsa Gabor.When she landed penniless in the States she got a job in a factory but always wore her diamonds and gold.
ReplyDelete