I couldn’t care less
about caring lots
Lots of people care less
than I do
I’m careless
about caring
a lot
I care lots
about caring less
Less people care lots
like I do
I care a lot
about caring less
Day 11 of #NaPoWriMo. The challenge a napowrimo.net was to “to write a poem of origin”. I’ve been away all day, on a fabulous but exhausting day out. So what I did was leaf through some old notebooks to see if there was something there. I found this one.
I’m not planning on taking a shower
though it would make me feel better
I don’t think I’ll comb my hair
though it could make me feel better
I might not brush my teeth
though it might make me feel better
I don’t want to go out of the house
though it will make me feel better
I don’t want to see friends
though it can make me feel better
I don’t want to exercise
but it shall make me feel better
Mental health note
a depressed brain
doesn’t want to
anyhow
so don’t
wait
for the
want
just
do
and be gentle
So
today
I’ll visit
a friend who
is healthy to be around
I’ll go there on my bike
and buy fresh bread to enjoy
So
my hair
is combed
and i pledge to you
I will brush my teeth (soon)
I repeat
a depressed brain
doesn’t want to
anyhow
so don’t
wait
for the
want
just
do
and be gentle
This poem may grow over time, if I find new important things to add to it. Feel free to contribute to it, build on it, make it your own. Yesterday I read poetry shouldn’t be therapy. That’s great advice to create good poetry. But today, I want to reverse it. I don’t need to write a great poem. I need inspiration to get healthy behaviour done instead of postponed. As procrastination coach, I work from the motto ‘by any (healthy) means necessary. If a poem does the job, let the job get done.
If you decide to build on it, please leave a link. I’d love to read it!
By the way, the prompt for NaPoWriMo day 10 was a very different one, on using local weather vocabulary. Instead I aimed for ways to improve my personal weather. I didn’t want to add another rainy poem to the gloomy ones I’ve written already… This poem is building on yesterdays one, called Things that fail to deliver.
No matter how much I eat
I don’t feel better
No matter how much I drink
I don’t feel better
still I eat
sometimes I drink
No matter how much I work
I don’t feel better
No matter how much I avoid
I don’t feel better
still I work
sometimes I avoid
No matter how much I complain
I don’t feel better
No matter how positively I think
I don’t feel better
still I complain
sometimes I think positively
Sometimes I write a poem
I don’t feel better
Still
The prompt at napowrimo.net: “Our (optional) prompt for the day asks you to engage in another kind of cross-cultural exercise, as it is inspired by the work of Sei Shonagon, a Japanese writer who lived more than 1000 years ago. She wrote a journal that came to be known as The Pillow Book. In it she recorded daily observations, court gossip, poems, aphorisms, and musings, including lists with titles like “Things That Have Lost Their Power,” “Adorable Things,” and “Things That Make Your Heart Beat Faster.” Today, I’d like to challenge you to write your own Sei Shonagon-style list of “things.” What things? Well, that’s for you to decide!”
If reincarnation exists
what does my current life
tell me about my past ones?
I used to be an optimist
I’ve come back
For a reality check
The prompt for today at napowrimo.net was “to think about the argot of a particular job or profession, and see how you can incorporate it into a metaphor that governs or drives your poem.” This one almost fits the bill…
This black dog of mine
is a bit of a mongrel
though admittedly
I wouldn’t care for a pedigree one
This impolite piece of shit
humps the leg
of everyone who feeds it
with pleading puppy eyes
acting all cute
and very, very hungry
I’ve made him a bag
all covered up in smiles
to carry him around
take him everywhere I go
unnoticed
I cough when he barks
or rather sneeze
– it explains the tears better
Just like any mongrel
he showed up one day
unnoticed
uninvited
I didn’t understand
when people asked me about a black dog
sharing my plate with me
or pointed out
where he slept on my bed
I was certain I knew what dogs look like
Four legs, a tail, a face that doesn’t look
like a cat’s one, I mean
it’s not that difficult, right?
I still find it hard to see him
but I can feel him
licking my hand
He gives a paw when I ask for it
I just can’t teach him how to play fetch
“Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem of gifts and joy. What would you give yourself, if you could have anything? What would you give someone else?” The prompt at napowrimo.net was a positive one.
This poem is dedicated to all involuntary black dog parents. I wish you a leash, a collar, a muzzle and a good veterinarian.
If we consider time and space obsolete
I’m all I ever was right now
and all I ever will be
When I look back
nothing will change
When I look forward
nothing will change
When I look inside
there’s nothing there
(space obsolete, remember?)
When I look outside
there’s nothing there
(ditto, ditto)
If there’s an I
that wonders about this
the I is all there is
If there’s a why
to wonder about
the question is all there is
But let’s not consider
cause and effect obsolete
even without time or space
Would that mean
cause is effect
and effect is cause
The I wonders
– same difference
but different all the same
Let’s just consider these questions obsolete
and simply state all there is right now
There is no time
There is no space
Cause is effect
Effect is cause
And I wonder
What’s the difference
between infinity and a void?
If we live infinite lives
there’s a void
that can’t be filled
Does the meaning of life
comes from the fact that it ends,
dissolves in time and space?
Let’s consider ourselves obsolete.
We cannot alter space nor time.
We cause effect.
We effect causes
– no matter
if we’re old
or wise.
Today’s prompt at napowrimo.net came with two instructions: “we’d like to challenge you to write a poem of the possible. […] Today, write a poem that emphasizes the power of “if,” of the woulds and coulds and shoulds of the world.”
Oh lord
he could
feel it
in the air
that night
Oh lord
a song
coming
through the air
that night
Oh lord
a #1 hit
he knew it
it was in the air
that night
Oh lord
he was right
it will be on air
tonight
Sometimes I like a prompt so much I need to share my #NaPoWriMo entry before I can seriously go for it. Today’s recommend poem totally blew me away, so I’m embedding it here:
The prompt I still want to have a go at is this one, on napowrimo.net: “Following Dargan’s lead, today we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that incorporates at least one of the following: (1) the villanelle form, (2) lines taken from an outside text, and/or (3) phrases that oppose each other in some way. If you can use two elements, great – and if you can do all three, wow!”
How sad it is
to be loved by you
of all people
the one who is
flawed to perfection
solicited my heart
did not return it
after the trial period
our use by date
has passed
unnoticed
unforgivingly
The prompt for today at napowrimo.net was to write a poem that achieves sadness through simplicity. I wrote this poem a while ago but never put it on my blog. Since today is going to be a very busy day, I’m glad I can share it now.
I don’t remember much of it
(to be honest)
but I’ve been told
we bonded instantly
The blood forgotten
as soon as I screamed
her pain eased
by the flow of milk
To be honest
I don’t remember much of it
but I’m glad
she liked me
The prompt at napowrimo.net was to write a poem that develops over time. This poem was written in such a way that it might take some time to realise who it is about. Then again, it might not 🙂
By Angela van Son
What
.. …went out
.. …with a big
bang?
At napowrimo.net the prompt for day 2 was to write a poem that ends on a question. Mine is so short it can hardly be called a poem, and it consists of just one question. Six words. But the mystery of it is so big to me, that more words would simply take away from the core of the question.
Unassorted stories 