Tag: Writing

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

9

Drowning Bibliophile

This is an unusual feeling for a bibliophile
Usually piles of them make me smile
But now it feels like I’m drowning in books
Astray in a quagmire, kept on tethering hooks

Discombobulated, bewildered and confused
Trying to expound and elucidate ancient literature
Learning to unravel the ineffable mystery
To fathom allegories and tropes of poetry

Oh, the surprises
awaiting those following the path of civilizations sunrises
Oh, the sorrow
when advised to disavow love like Trumbull’s sparrow
Oh, the disgust
when you feel words and language are nothing to trust
Oh, the fear
when you imagine raping Zeus or avenging Furies are near
Oh, the joy
to dream yourself on Lesbos or in Troy

Such is the power of thoughtfully chosen words and rhythmic rhymes
To be read and remembered for all of time

©RedCat

An attempt to capture the elation, confusion and disquiet of myself and several of my classmates embarking on the adventure of Comparative Literature.

Image credits:

Photo by Eugenio Mazzone on Unsplash
Photo by Vasily Ledovsky on Unsplash
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Also shared to tonight’s OpenLinkNight #345 at dVerse.

11

Topsy-turvy

That topsy-turvy feeling
when you haven’t written what you should
but rather what made you feel good
Is a bewildering perplexing thing

©REDCAT

So keeping the blog updated haven’t gone very well. But fortunately my writing classes mostly do. I’m learning lots and really enjoy the feeling of being free to write and read as much as I can. Some days though, like today, I have things I really should work on but my mind keeps me busy writing other things instead.

Oh, well…!

Image credits:

First image: Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash
Second image: Photo by Nigel Tadyanehondo on Unsplash
Third image: Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

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13 Days of Samhain (volume ii) – A Horror / Halloween Writing Prompt Challenge

This sounds like a fun challenge for this time of the year. :-)

Sammi Cox

I’m a little late sharing this year’s Samhain writing prompts but after the fun of last year I thought it was a chance I couldn’t pass up. (For those interested, you can find last year’s prompts here).

So, without further ado, here are the 13 prompts for 2021, with the first prompt beginning tomorrow, 20th October, and the last prompt, Day 13, falling on November 1st:

If you do decide to join in, I hope you have lots and lots of fun.  Write whatever you wish, as long as it is inspired by that day’s prompt.  Here’s a little graphic / badge for anyone who wants it:

For last year’s challenge, I wrote a tanka in response to each prompt. For this year…I’m still undecided as to what I will write. We shall have to wait and see what tomorrow brings :-D

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Monday Musings, September 6th – A Haibun

It’s been two weeks since I wrote a poem for the blog. Instead I’ve been busy writing mostly prose for my creative writing courses and reading and responding to other participants’ texts. I’ve also spent a weekend on the first mandatory group get together. Before getting on the train I had grand plans of what I was going to write for the blog in the evenings. That turned out to be utterly naive of me. When evenings came I was so tired I took long walks and then fell into bed without even having dinner.

Before this I had managed to build a routine writing poetry mostly in the weekday evenings and during the weekends. Now I have to build a new one reading and writing during the day, every day. Which has totally disrupted the old one. Right now I oscillate between being content I’ve kept every assignment deadline so far and feeling like a failure because I haven’t updated the blog. It will take some time to find a new equilibrium.

Honing my pen craft

Shedding papers like fall leaves

Waiting for calm winds

©RedCat

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

Read other Daily Haibun’s here.

Image credits:

First image: Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
Second image: Photo by Bruno Martins on Unsplash
Third photo: Photo by Cedric Verstraete on Unsplash

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Daily Haibin, August 22nd – A Student

Getting emails about the student discount card, and applying for student grants. It’s finally starting to sink in. For the coming year I’ll be a student of creative writing. The idea still blows my mind. Who? Me! That cant be true… Except it is.

I sent out my applications and text samples and in the end got accepted too so many of them I had to choose which ones I thought suited me best. It’s felt unreal and mind-boggling. And my inner critics and saboteurs have made everything they can to try to discount the significance of what that means. But my passion for writing shines brighter then them, and I’ll be damned if I ever again let then scare me into not attempting something I want very much.

It will mean less time for participating in writing prompts and blogging. Although I can’t see myself quit writing poetry as often as possible. I’ll keep you updated on what’s going on, and when time allows share what I learn and write.

Seeds sown long ago

At last gets sunlight to grow

Let’s see where they go

©RedCat

Stockholm city library built in 1928.

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

Read other Daily Haibun’s here.

Image credits:

First image: Photo by MChe Lee on Unsplash
Second image: Photo by Gunnar Ridderström on Unsplash
Third image: Photo by Roel Dierckens on Unsplash

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Daily Haibun, August 19th – Poetry reading night

Once a month I participate in online poetry readings. Which has made me even more aware of how a poem sound. How inflection matters. How my heart pounds when getting onto stage so to speak.

I relish the opportunity to hear and see others in the community. Writing might be a lonely art form. But once something is written it can be joyously shared with others.

Creativity

Shared with like-minded people

Let’s energy grow

© RedCat

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

Read other Daily Haibun’s here.

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Daily Haibun, August 17th – Paper Trails

I’ve spent more time then I want to admit sorting through paper today. Old bills. Advertisements. Notes from school and daycare. Empty envelopes. Newspapers and magazines. Stacks of children’s drawings.

Once I start I can’t quit until every drawer and heaps on desks are reduced to a minimum.

After a while I started to think about what paper’s we leave behind. And for some reason found myself content that together with old tax returns and employment deals. I will leave a whole bunch of notebooks with poetry and stories. And some books that actually have my writing in print.

Old papers tumbling

Spinning into new stories

As leaves in autumn

© RedCat

© RedCat

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

Read other Daily Haibun’s here.

© RedCat
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