Hi everyone, I was doing another video for the school YouTube channel today; another poetry challenge. The form today was Naani. This is a South Indian form of poetry that dates back to the 11th Century. It’s very simple; 4 lines, 20-25 syllables. There are no other rules. The word means ‘one and all’ which […]
Read more "A couple of Naani (or Naanis – I’m not sure)"Hi there, I wrote the last villanelle as a demonstration of the form for a video I was going to do for the children in my school, but when I read it back I realised that it was far too dark and depressing for Primary School. That left me in the horrible position of having […]
Read more "How I Wish – Another Virus Villanelle"Hi everyone, I wanted to try this poetic form which I’ve never attempted before. It’s called a villanelle. It has quite a rigid structure and rhyme scheme with two lines that repeat throughout. The subject matter is probably familiar to you all. I was just thinking how to a lot of us, this is a […]
Read more "Until the Day – A Virus Villanelle"Hi everyone, If there is a Twin Peaks character who sums up 2020 so far, it has to be the reclusive Harold Smith, played so wonderfully by Lenny von Dohlen. I haven’t written any Twin Peaks poetry in a while, but I kept seeing his image pop up on social media and I was compelled […]
Read more "Solitaire – a haiku sequence"Hi everyone, Here begins an unusual adventure. The boy, my son, has been waiting patiently all throughout Reception for the chance to take home Engelbert the Elephant. Every child gets a turn and finally, his came! It would seem, however, that with the Government’s decision to close schools until further notice, Engelbert’s stay with us […]
Read more "The Interminable Isolation of Engelbert"Hi everyone, I’d like to present my latest poem, A Projection of a Man. It’s about the dangers of being obsessed and anxious with how we are seen by others to the point that we put everything on the surface and do not pay attention to the depths of ourselves. This is a ‘worst case […]
Read more "A Projection of a Man – a poem"Happy World Book Day everyone, Thought I’d share my costume from today at school. I decided to be Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, as it’s one of my favourite poems. Costume nice and easy – just yoga stuff. I had fun making my albatross (it’s always nice to challenge yourself with something you’re not very good at […]
Read more "World Book Day 2020"HI there, We’re having a writing competition at school for the children along the theme of time travel. One of the categories is poetry; the children have to write a poem entitled The Speed of Light. I couldn’t resist having a go myself, thinking about some of Carl Sagan’s thoughts on the universe. I chose […]
Read more "The Speed of Light – a sonnet"Hi there, I took a Year 3 English lesson yesterday and the subject was, fortuitously, haikus. Of course, I couldn’t help but come up with a couple to go with what the children were doing. This was the inspiration… And these were the poems… Wooden eruptions Spewing branches into light Symphony of life Beautiful branches […]
Read more "A Pair of Haikus"Hi everyone, This one just came to me the other night. I was very tired and I fell asleep thinking about it. As a result, what I produced was a little disjointed so I sat on it for a few days until the chance arose to spend some time wandering around the National Gallery. I […]
Read more "The Devil Breathed Out- a poem"Life Hacks and Advice
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Let your soul burn a flame in this world. Be damned to make a difference.
The Ardenna Crossing 