Hello, you all! Welcome back to my blog, and I’m so happy you are here. #NaPoWriMo, the worldwide celebration of poetry, has begun.
I’m so happy to be able to share this poem that I had written in December 2016. It lines up perfectly with the first prompt: “Write poems that provide the reader with instructions on how to do something.”
—
how to work:
- put away your sorrows. stack them each by each
in a neat centre of your mind. now the clutter
is swept.
- plug a tune. let voices shrink. let silence br-
eak. brick then paint a chamber in which you e-
cho. now listen.
- brim a nib, ink-thick. hold between finger and
thumb. check tip-sharp. poise then wait to
carve.
- find a fresh sheet: touch-light, suede-fit. fill your
veins with paper-light. warm your skin with
paper-breath.
- then the chamber dissolves. there is a garden.
- walk into the garden where the walls once were. the
sun is singing. the clouds are high. your stack of sorrows
look! now seed the ground.
- take a pair of shears: sharp and good. give a short snip.
pick the flowers of your thoughts. sprinkle some on the
bright-light sheet, make meet.
- tap the nib on your dew-new-fleur. watch it run and
bind, run and sew. now the sprig is bedded in the sheet so
now the sweet-breath floats.
- take your bloom string carefully in palm-offering. tiptoe to
the side. find a mirror. brush your hair. fix to your lips a
smile.
- step and hold the fruit of your love, the flower of
your pain, the craft of your art out to the shining side.
gift
the gift of life: to yourself.
—
Artist (and friend!) Mohona Bhadra of Art of Misanthropy had illustrated this poem when I first put it up.
The early bird prompt, “Write a poetic self-portrait… a poem in which you portray yourself in the guise of a historical or mythical figure,” also lined up with a poem I wrote only a few weeks ago, so that will be coming up very soon, too.
Thank you for reading!
