#NaPoWriMo2024 #Day18 #Donchawish

" Doncha wish you were like, not disabled?"

New born I was perfect –
though aren’t we all in our mother’s eyes?

Though there were signs in childhood,

nights were I slung myself from bed.

In my pre-teens, named
Dolly Daydream because my attention wandered.

Seventeen, first tonic clonic,
but anyone can have a one of seizure, right?

Once the wall was breached
by my brains own projectiles.

Seizures like sorrows did not
come as single spies.

Left behind, labelled disabled
a sixth form dropout.

Eighteen, my personal best
206 seizures in a fortnight.

Regrets?   Don’t get me wrong,
I think, maybe life is easier –

Though it’s trite to say
“My dis/ability is my superpower”.

It has it’s gifts, it’s insights.
I can advocate, like a devil.

#NaPoWriMo2024 #Day17 #allthepeoplerejoiced

ALL the people rejoiced

I saw it out of the corner of my eye.

A poster, Zadok the Priest.

Suddenly I was transported

My 15 year old self

proud member of

Havering Youth Choir.

I had sung the song

to a piano accompaniment 

I wasn’t prepared for

an orchestral arrangement 

oboes, bassoons, trumpets, strings

the subtle strings, building

to galvanising crescendo of trumpets

acoustics bounding round

St Andrew’s Church

leaving absolutely no doubts,

that ALL the people rejoiced.

 

 

#NaPoWriMo2024 #Day16 #Ponddipping

 

Pond dipping, Tyland Barn

 

Wide round bowl,

net, small white containers

and a teaspoon.

Anna says the later

is ‘a serious bit of

scientific kit’.

Kneel, swish the

net through the water

figure of eight motion.

Anna says ‘not too 

deeply or you’ll end up

with a net full of silt’.

Kneeling is fine,

getting up again?

I’m grateful for the ropes!

I’ve caught a 

couple of water beetles 

with my science-y spoon.

Hail halts play,

my quarry released,

back into the pond.

I ponder my bigger pond 

a stakeholder map 

to dip for young people.

#NaPoWriMo2024 #Day15 #philatelywillgetyounowhere

 Philately will get you nowhere

I see you raven!

Corvids constantly trying

to sneak into my verse.

A poetic genius?

You’re pulling my tail feathers.

#NaPoWriMo2024 #Day14 #Believe

Believe

Believe that things can only get better

Believe that anything’s possible

Believe the evidence of your heart

Believe you’ll know the truth when you see it

Believe that you unshakeable

Believe that you can climb any obstacle

Believe that karma is a bitch

Believe that they got what’s coming to ‘em

Believe even when your faith is gone

Believe you can make your dreams come true

 

#NaPoWriMo2024 #day13 #psalms63:10

Psalms 63:10

Bought a cheap laptop

to listen to some doowop

sloshing down my adult juice

to get myself a little loose

count each expired breath

another step closer to death

every night asleep in bed

is a “practice run” he said

vampires hate garlic 

no stakes use a toothpick

serpent tempts eve with apple

(that’s what I heard in chapel)

I have read the good book

inconsistencies for those who look

wise men sans car

travelled guided my a star

church parades I attend

drive me slightly round the bend

I would be less annoyed

If foxes portions they’d avoid

 

#NaPoWriMo2024 #Day12 #Choughtastictales

 

Choughtastic Tales

I heard from

Merlin that the chough

was King Arthur

the “once and future king”

red legs and beak

the blood shed in his

final battle

I heard from

a knight who

wanted to serve his king

and rid him of a

turbulent priest 

that a curious crow 

dabbled in martyrs blood

I heard from

a community organiser

that chough are

the size of buses

and will swallow

a toddler whole