When I’m among Music and Kindly Books


When I’m among music that holds me late
Dawdling through dance delights
I dream of a firelit inglenook
With candles burning straight
A yellow blaze of lights
Of glowing stars and kindly books

With living pictures in the gloom
A woman’s heart turns back from stone
Liberated in that small cozy room
Heartbeats start again as imagination is seen and sewn

As if I’m alone in garden nights
With elm trees nodding at my thoughts
In my mind’s eye I see these sights
Like inkblots over crowded nightspots

©RedCat


I really should be going to bed. Instead I could not keep myself from writing. For weeks now comparative literature has kept me mired in lyric poetry. From Sapfo to the postmodernist, without having any time to write all that they inspire in me. So this prompt just lit a spark that refused to be ignored.

Poetics at dVerse tonight is called, Dead Poets Society. Our gracious host mentions a BBC Maestro poetry course, written by Carol Ann Duffy. Who she quotes: 

“dead poets speak to us across time through their poems,
and they particularly speak to other poets”,
adding “who often choose to respond across time”.

The task is to read three poems, choose one, and respond to it. My writing itch was tickled by – When I’m among a Blaze of Lights by Siegfried Sassoon 1886 (Matfield, Kent) – 1967 (Heytesbury, Wiltshire)


Sassoon photographed in 1915 by George Charles Beresford found on Wikipedia

Image credits:
Photo by Taylor Wright on Unsplash
Photo by Emil Widlund on Unsplash


Fields Beyond – Folktober Challenge Day 18

1.18. Bananach

Fields Beyond

Some say I should curse my love, for making me become this.
That I should have refused her hand, as I lay dying on the battlefield.
I say she swooped down and saved me, took me to the fields beyond.
Gave me new meaning and eternal love.

So what does it matter? How I look, or the horns I bear.
I bear them proudly, without feeling their weight.
They are a sign of my prowess and courageous heart.
Of her giving me part of her essence, meaning she’ll always be near.

Now we fly the skies together. From afar seeing what becomes of man.
Diving down to pick up, those that no longer have flesh hands.
After we have them delivered, we fly back to our fields.
In the soft twilight, there is no need for armour or shield.

There we lay together, exploring the way to each other’s bliss.
So truth be told, I’ve never been happier than this.

©RedCat


When inspiration strikes, whether it’s convenient or not, I try to write. And few things are as good at waking my muse as the pictures curated by Paul Brooks over at The Wombwell Rainbow. See all images and read other responses to the Folktober Challenge here.


You can read other ekphrastic poems here.


March Morning Meditation

© RedCat

Morning dawns

Frost covering the lawns

Ten below zero

Radiating fairy glow

Cold and clear

No hint spring is near

Soon there’s a haze

Icy cold air rising

Lifted by the sun’s rays

Winter vaporising

Gentle touch on skin

Warmth starts to seep in

Giving cause

To slow down and pause

Halt the morning commute

Let deep breaths inner landscape transmute

Calms and quiets the angry anxious din

Roaring deep within

Giving peace and clarity of thought

Reducing the turmoil chaos wrought

Showing there’s no need to hesitate

Seek the benefits of taking a short moment to breathe and meditate

Changing the trajectory of morning and day

Allowing what the world throws at you to be handled in a more constructive conductive way

© RedCat


For the first time in ages I felt the drive to meditate. I’m grateful I did. Since it both started off my day in a better way, and sparked my creativity to write a short poem on my morning commute.



Star Studded Sky (2020 Re-post)


Star studded skies
Mind soar

Time flies
Passion roars

Be wise
Read lore

Hope rise
Loneliness cure

Fear dies
Love more

© REDCAT


Re-post comment:

Time for another post from the archives. The autumn sky is full of stars, so this one felt appropriate.

Enjoy!



On my evening walk today I collected, not things, but words, in this case two word couplets. Then put them together to a poem when I came home. I often find inspiration when walking, and often compose stanzas, or rhyme schemes, on the go. Turning them over and over in my head also lets me live and breath the rhythm of a piece.

Linking to Day 19 at GloPoWriMo.



Image credits:

First image: Photo by Min An on Pexels.com

Second image: Photo by Cliford Mervil on Pexels.com

Third image: Photo by Kristopher Roller on Unsplash

Forth image: Photo by Fernando Rodrigues on Unsplash


GloPoWriMo 2020

DAY 1 – Build a New Start
DAY 2 – Beloved Bookstore
DAY 3 – Sunshine and Hail
DAY 4 – Isolation Dating
DAY 5 –Staring out a Windowpane
DAY 6 – Casanova Comes Closer
DAY 7 – Swirling Colors of my Mind
DAY 8 – White – Red – Black
DAY 9 – Different World After
DAY 10 – Spring Hay(na)ku
DAY 11 – Love – Hay(na)ku
DAY 12 – Make Art – Triolet inspired
by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell
DAY 13 – What did you think would happen
to a child left on my doorstep?
DAY 14 – Ballad of the Lost Poet
DAY 15 – Writer’s class – Hay(na)ku
DAY 16 – What is a Nomad without a Tribe?
DAY 17 – Pale Spring, Here Again, Nature Awake
DAY 18 – Spring Day in the Garden
DAY 19 – Close Couplets
DAY 20 – Lost in Love’s First Flush
DAY 21 – She Tasted Like Memory
DAY 22 – Struggling Mind
DAY 23 – Written in the book of dust
DAY 24 – At the end of every week, Friday-Cozy!
DAY 25 – Slip, Crack, Shatter
DAY 26 – Humans Really Don’t Know
DAY 27 – April Rain
DAY 28 – Greeting the Watch Horse
DAY 29 – Letter of Hope
DAY 30 – Witches Walpurgis Night Preparation

Daily Haibun, August 13th – Inner calm


Yesterday’s stargazing was well worth it. Even if it meant sacrificing a bit of sleep. I saw several meteors streak across the sky.

Can’t remember the last time I sat bundled in a warm blanket doing nothing but listen to night sounds and watch the starry sky. Today I felt an inner calm reminiscent of what you get from meditation. I’ve also felt energised. Like the stargazing replenished something I didn’t even know was missing.

An August night spent

Stargazing instead of sleep

Soul well replenish

© RedCat



Read other Haibun’s written for the monthly dVerse prompt by me here.

Read other Daily Haibun’s here.


Daily Haibun, August 11th – Thinking on your feet

I’m very good at what the title implies. Especially in situations others find overwhelming. But this is not about that.

This is about walking. Once if I took a long and fast walk. I ended up tired in both body and mind. Nowadays I end up with tired muscles and a mind full of ideas. Doesn’t matter if I just focus on my breathing, listen to music or think about tomorrow’s dinner while I walk.

After I cool down my mind is racing with writing ideas. Faster than I could ever capture them all. So let’s hope I manage to catch the best ones.

Fast like the wind blows

Swirling around like fall leaves

Fancies come and go

© RedCat



Read other Haibun’s written for the monthly dVerse prompt by me here.

Read other Daily Haibun’s here.


Daily Haibun, August 8th – Pen & Paper

Once I feared the blank paper. Now I revere it. Because I’ve found the courage to dare to try. Learnt how to release my creativity.

Started to realise it’s all about writing, editing and rewriting. Few first draft is as good as the text can be.

Today I bought a couple of new notebooks and pens. Love the feel of flicking through still empty pages. Wondering what kind of stories and poems they’ll be filled with.

Shed old fears and doubts

Prepare mind space for new growth

A new life season

© RedCat



Read other Haibun’s written for the monthly dVerse prompt by me here.

Read other Daily Haibun’s here.


I’m Tethered


This burning need has got me caught,
I’m tethered

She’s collared me with sweet release and
supple leather

Keeping me on leash by burning passion and
dream-wing feathers

Demanding I write regardless of the world,
or weather

I’ve come to recognize her as my fantasies and
mind’s bellwether

I must do her bidding or she’ll go, abandoning me
altogether

I thought she was forever lost, so I’ll happily walk in
my muse’s tether

After all, she’s my soul’s first lover

©RedCat



Written for this weekend’s prompt by Sammi Cox. The prompt word is tether and the word count is 80 words.


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