Days 27 and 30 - A Mechanical Poem and a Finished/Never Finished Poem

We'll get there in the end!

The Bottom Line

Bottom had dreams of gracing the stage -
'Twas as much of a fate as a choice,
For Bottom could make plain words leap off the page
With his powerful, resonant voice.

Bottom desired to be bravely clad
With disguises for each of his parts.
And then, all dressed up, Bottom might play the cad,
Going all around town breaking hearts.

One night while with friends Bottom rehearsed a play,
The cast suddenly took off in fear,
For a fairy who'd come to play cruel tricks that day
Made Bottom grow great ass's ears.

Soon after a fair lady he chanced to meet,
Who turned out to be a great queen:
The Queen of the fairies, so merry and sweet,
Quite the prettiest woman he'd seen.

The lady she then took him back to her bower -
O, what an incredible sight!
With the ass the fair lady lay happy for hours
And Bottom she loved through the night!

She left him alone and he woke the next day
Not believing he'd spent such a night.
And so he went on to perform in a play
For the Duke, who did praise him aright.

And so, my dear friends, to enjoy life it seems
That you need not be noble or fine,
For good things come e'en to the ugly and mean
And that is the Bottom line.

The Finish(ed) Line

I refuse to leave this challenge unfinished
However late the completion may be
So as the standards of poems diminish
You have my sincerest

Day 28 - A Shadorma

I will go back to Day 27. I have an idea for it, but it's not done yet.

A shadorma, apparently, is a poem with this syllable pattern: 3/5/3/3/7/5. Basically a bit random, then. I figured I could probably do that with a word per line, so I did.

Poetic
Communication
Cultivates
Creative,
Individualistic
Interpretation.

Days 22, 23 and 25 - Complex, Love/Anti-Love and "Everyone (blank)"

A complex poem, a love/anti-love poem and an "everyone (blank)" poem.

London Complex

The funny thing
About complexes
Is that they never
Actually are:
All matching buildings,
Open-plan, bright and
Shiny; more windows
Than walls; laid out in
Grids for easier
Navigation. Though
The things that they house
May be different,
It's often hard to
Tell which one is which.

The Antidote

"An antidote," he said, "to man's greatest
Problem. Finally an end to all
Irrationality, to misery,
Loneliness and misplaced loyalty.
Gone are the days of unpredictable
Behaviour. This..." he tapped the bottle, "is the
Beginning of perfection." "What is it?"
I asked, curious. He grinned. "Anti-love."

Aftershock

"Everyone out!"
A gunshot, a shout
Some feeling, a touch...
I don't remember much.

She slides away into that dreamy deep sleep,
Away from the nightmares that constantly creep
Into each waking moment. She must let go.
What happened? Who is she? She no longer knows.

Days 24 and 26 - Auto and Cast

All out of order now. More to follow.

Autobiography

Swiftly, deftly, automatically, I

Dissect myself. Almost inhuman,

I open up wounds, removing, replacing,

Methodically processing pieces of me;

Observing objectively, gleaning data

And gaining ideas; reordering,

Re-arranging for cause and effect,

Hunting for stories: a narrative

Self-evaluation. My autopsy.

Cast

It's the world that you're lost in

The spell that you're under

The part you've been playing

Your big acting role.

It's the votes that elect you

Aspersions against you

The eyes that are on you

The dice that you roll.

It's the maths that predict you

The stitches that fix you

The plans that devise you

The plotting before.

It's the hounds that will hunt you

The hawks that will watch you

The line you've been hooked by

The lots that you draw.

It's the mould that will shape you

The plaster that binds you

The climate that bends you

The space you fit in.

It's the port you sail out from

The doubts you let go of

The clothes you change out of

Thrown off like a skin.

Cast it all off: a new chance to begin

Days 19, 20 and 21 - Burn, Beyond and a Senryu

So I've been asked to write ten pages of script for Friday following a play proposal I submitted to Chester Performs, and a workshop I attended with them yesterday. Add to that there's my Disney interview on Thursday, and upcoming deadlines for a few other competitions. These may well be feeble excuses for my lateness and my attempt to squish three very short poems into one post, but there you have it.


Burn

If ever I get lost in little things
That start to seem much bigger than they are,
I look up at the night sky through my window
And think about our orbit round a star.

Whatever in this world could be worth worry
When in such a tiny way our lives thus turn?
Our fears seem nought but specks of cosmic dust
In a universe where so many stars burn.



Words

Sometimes it's just a little too easy
To get wrapped up in one's own little world
And forget that there's anything else beyond
These scribbled notes: these big little words


Senryu

When writing one thing
Became overwhelming I
Turned to another

Day 18 - An "I am" poem

Dear Sir/Madam,                                                      Dear Hopeful Applicant,

I am writing to tell you that I am:                                We regret to inform you that you are:

Creative                                                                    Tentative

Administrative                                                           Unrepresentative

A decision-maker                                                      An instruction-taker

And an instruction-taker                                             Not a rule-breaker

Ambitious                                                                 Injudicious

Expeditious                                                               A bit suspicious

Artistic                                                                     Unrealistic

And yet realistic                                                        Over-optimistic

Well-suited                                                               Unsuited

Reputed                                                                   Refuted

Reliable                                                                    Unjustifiable

Pliable                                                                      Not really viable

Dependable                                                              Expendable

Commendable                                                          And unrecommendable

A collaborator                                                          A second-rater

A communicator                                                      An exaggerator

Energetic                                                                Pathetic

Sympathetic                                                            And too apologetic

A fast learner                                                           Easily spurned

A low earner                                                            Of no concern

Very eager                                                               A beleaguerer

Very keen                                                                Young and green

A storyteller                                                             A poor seller

An exceller                                                              A cloud-dweller

Yours faithfully,                                                       Yours sincerely,

A Hopeful Applicant                                                 The Uninterested Management

Day 17 - An Express Poem

Delayed again I know. Yesterday's and today's also to follow shortly.

I also discovered yesterday that I did Day 10, Day 15 and Day 16 wrong because I looked at the November list instead of the April one. That may have been because I checked the prompts earlier in the day before the new ones had been posted. Still.

This is an express poem, made up of (some slightly edited) headlines from the last few issues of the Daily Express.

Wastepaper

Why Carol Vorderman is smiling again

BACK PAIN CURED BY A SINGLE INJECTION

GEL TO WIPE OUT ARTHRITIC PAIN

ROLLING IN THE CASH: ADELE AND ONE DIRECTION

FISH IS KEY TO A LONGER LIFE

INTRIGUING DOUBLE LIFE OF STUNNING BARRISTER

PROOF THAT STATINS CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE

HAS CYPRUS CRISIS PUT YOUR SAVINGS IN DANGER

FAREWELL IRON LADY: SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

Breakthrough treatment to bring relief for millions

Five easy steps can beat the killer condition

CHEERS! LOOK FORWARD TO A BUDGET BOOST FOR MILLIONS

£16M PAYOUTS TO GAS BOSSES AS WE FREEZE

Cheaper beer and fuel, income tax cut and free loans

Experts find key to beating major disease

STRICTLY CRAIG: DANCING IS GOOD FOR YOUR BONES

Migrant backlog will take 24 years to clear

36 HOURS OF SNOW CHAOS ON THE WAY

Water firms say cut back despite our wettest year

“We will have said farewell to a giant here today”

TWO MEN FOUND GUILTY OF JOSS STONE MURDER PLOT

MAD MAD WEATHER: 21°C ON SUNDAY

LIFE IN JAIL FOR CHILD KILLER MICK PHILPOTT

Massive security operation along funeral route today

Worst offenders lose payouts for up to three years

GARDENING'S BRILLIANT NEW STAR: AGED 104

Values rise by £45,000 in next five years

AVERAGE HOUSE PRICES LOOKING SET TO SOAR

SURPRISES ON MAGGIE'S FUNERAL GUEST LIST

Philpotts guilty of child blaze deaths

ADELE AND ONE DIRECTION TOP POP RICH LIST

Eat it twice a week to cut risk of early death

FREE DVD: MAGGIE THATCHER'S LIFE STORY

5 MILLION COULD GET A PENSION WINDFALL

COLDEST EASTER EVER -15°C

JOCKEY WINS GRAND NATIONAL IN HORRIFYING FALL

MASSACRE AT THE BOSTON MARATHON

TODAY'S TV RACE CARDS ALL IN FULL COLOUR

“We lost a great leader and a great Briton”

KATE McCANN: WHY I COULD FORGIVE MADDIE'S ABDUCTOR

7 EASY STEPS TO A LONGER LIFE

48 HOUR DIET 48 HOUR DIET

FIVE-POINT PLAN FOR A HAPPIER LIFE

“A very British occasion. The lady would have liked that”

Fury at Britain's soaring foreign aid bill

-12°C Summer Time starts with our coldest Easter

EVIL PARENTS' 6 LITTLE ANGELS KILLED

Why can't we just get rid of this evil hate preacher?