It’s that time of year.
The blinding sun seems lower
And narrows the eye.
– John Nixon 2007
Posts Tagged ‘poem
18
Oct
Daily Haiku for Thursday
Rising and falling,
The fierce breakers crash against
The sea beaten rocks.
16
Oct
Daily Haiku for Tuesday
Fiery coloured leaves
Dance to the tune of the wind
In haphazard twists.
14
Oct
Daily Haiku
A haiku is a Japanese lyric form which encapsulates a single impression of a natural object or scene in seventeen syllables arranged in three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Writing a haiku every day trains your attention and your ability to capture a moment in a succinct form. So here is the first of my daily haiku:
Seagulls mocking call
Draws you to a pale blue sky.
I smile and wonder …
— John Nixon 2007.
I was asked in my creative writing class to write a poem about a childhood memory in sixteen lines or less. The sixteen lines got me thinking of Tony Harrison’s poem ‘Marked with D’ which is a sonnet with sixteen lines rather than the usual fourteen. But then I realised Tony Harrison is a poetical genius and I am a beginner. So I decided to stick with the traditional fourteen lines. Anyway, here is my effort:
The Hedworth, under thirteen football team
Are gathered together near the band stand.
Waiting for the teacher, their Ibrahim,
Certain of guidance to the promised land.
Just like in the league we knew we would win,
Our faith firm. ‘It’s like a bye!’ ‘Too easy!’.
One step nearer to the final in Berlin,
So cocksure it was almost sleazy.
Then, we were told, ‘Our keeper cannot come’.
Like the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima
The words cut like an aweless blasphemer
And in a heartbeat were all stricken dumb.
Down to ten men we didn’t stand a chance.
A real humbling end to our cup romance.
— John Nixon 2007.
04
Oct
Metric Martyrs
In the sweet shops throughout northern England,
Metric Martyr confectioners renounce.
And say ‘Up Yours’ in their unlawful stand
Selling Imperial mints by the ounce.
– John Nixon, 2007.
03
Oct
Debute Villanelle
I have been reading poetry for some time. However, I have never attempted to write anything down. Until now. I started a creative writing course today and tonight I have dedicated some time to write my first poem.
I decided on a villanelle, because I found the strict form easier to work with for a first attempt. Hopefully, by the end of my creative writing course I will have improved my usage of poetic devices and, I think, it will be nice to compare this poem with poems when I have completed the course. So without further adue, my debut villanelle, ‘Disease of Talentless Celebrity’.
DISEASE OF TALENTLESS CELEBRITY
In constant fear of mediocrity,
Nobodies are infected, with desired
Disease of talentless celebrity.
Bright young things loose all sense of faculty.
Watched by more nobodies, being admired
In constant fear of mediocrity.
Focused minds, unsure of reality,
Fuel and stimulate, symptoms of desired
Disease of talentless celebrity.
Can we instil, with a sense of verity,
That to be valid, they should not be mired
In constant fear of mediocrity?
The short sharp shock of actuality
Is the only remedy for desired
Disease of talentless celebrity.
Their belief in your incredulity
serves only to rebel, rant and deride
In constant fear of mediocrity.
Disease of talentless celebrity.
– John Nixon, 2007
