Poetry In Cotton Tree- Vacation Verse

Saturday morning Surf Carnival. Maroochydore, Qld.

Spent a few days on Queensland's Sunshine Coast recently. I was staying in a quiet corner of Maroochydore- a place called Cotton Tree. It is more than twenty year since I last visited this particular locale. I was pleased to note that it still moves at the same, gentle pace. So relaxing. Swimming, walking, exploring, reading, relaxing and eating all helped to set the mood. Coffee and close observation of my surroundings set me up to write...

The entrance to the Maroochy River, Cotton Tree, Maroochydore, Qld.

I noticed that once the fog of work cleared, the words began to flow. My notebook pages filled quickly with a swag of poetry pieces, along with other writing. Words have always gained my attention quite easily. To take possession of them and apply them with purpose has imbued me with excitement all my life.

The mind clears and the words appear.

My wife surveys the sea.

Most of the poems were short and concerned quite diverse matters. Some were locally inspired, while others appeared from my reading and conversations, or they merely arrived without prior notice. It didn't matter. This was vacation verse and I was more than happy to welcome its arrival. I was a poet in paradise...

Coast People
They rise and shine quite early
On the Sunshine coast
And their deeds are settled early
-Earlier than most

Afternoons are quiet
The streets and shops vacated
They retreat to shade and shelter
And can't be extricated.

Binned
Goodbye price tag label
So long bruised banana skin
Cheerio scrunched bus ticket of a single journey
Farewell crumpled lolly wrapper
Au revoir pickle jar.

A Pen For My Thoughts
My black gel pen glides
across the open white page
of my word hungry notebook
Words spread out on paper
Words sharply contrasting
This white, lined backdrop
Like a housefly
landing in a bowl of rice
Words on white paper
Ready to stir
A reader's thought
Gently
Like a spoon in a teacup.

Scuppered While Having A Cuppa
He sensed
Their relationship
Was cursed
When he saw her
Put milk in the teacup first
A major faux pas
Revealing that she
Was clearly not
His cup of tea

Man With A Plan On The Headland
Con Tessa
Stood on the headland
Overlooking the beach
The sea had a welcoming look
He kicked off his Birkenstocks
And began trudging
Over the sandy dunes
He was the barefoot Con Tessa

My Worlds Are Not The Same
All the worlds I live in
All the worlds I see
Won't fit into one mouthful
When words spill out of me
Sometimes they're words of fire
They emerge in spark and flame
Sometimes they're gentle whispers
My worlds are not the same.

The artistry of the wind.

Poetry Inspired by Images and Objects

There are many ways pictures and photographs can be conscripted to support the writing of poetry. Allow me to share a few ideas with you: Old photographs are a great source of inspiration. Cynthia Rylant explored this idea with great success in her book 'Something Permanent' where she employed the Depression era photographs of Walker Evans to add a new voice to the starkness to the lives of people experienced under extreme circumstances. I have used this strategy to spark many individual poems. In ' I Bet There's No Broccoli On The Moon,' I used a photo I had taken in 2004 while living in New York to inspire a poem. The poem was based on a story related by a friend who grew up in New York. I regularly combined poetry and pictures in my writer's notebook, drawing on inspiration from the photograph and my personal memories. We can also utilize existing cartoons and illustrations to create ekphrastic poems. I frequently use the illustrations of Jim Pavlidis to co...

Opposite Poems

O pp o s ite P oem s In his book, ' How To Write Poetry,' Paul Janeczko presents the idea of opposite poems. Paul suggests they could also be referred to as antonym poems. This is wordplay and it's fun to try. Here are some examples Paul provides to help us see very clearly how these short little poems work. I think the opposite of chair Is sitting down with nothing there What is the opposite of kind? A goat that butts you from behind Paul Janeczko You will notice the poems are written in rhyming couplets. They can be extended so long as you remember to write in couplets. Paul shows us how this is done. What is the opposite of new? Stale gum that's hard to chew A hot-dog roll as hard as rock Or a soiled and smelly forgotten sock You might notice that some of Paul's opposite Poems begin with a question. The remainder of the poem answer the question posed. Opposite poems are a challenge, but it is a challenge worth trying. N...

Powerful Poetry, 'Refugees' by Brian Bilston

This week, Poetry Friday is hosted by Janice Scully @ Salt City Verse where Janice shares some original words and offers us a taste of Thomas Carlyle to ponder. I encourage you to join a host of poets from all around the globe and visit Janice's page... Almost two years to the day, I wrote a post featuring the poem 'Refugees' by Brian Bilston. The poem was included in Brian's first book of poetry, 'You Took The Last Bus Home.' A very powerful Reverso poem and technically brilliant. A Reverso poem can be read from top to bottom or bottom to top. It will often express opposite opinions depending on which way you read it. Such poems really make us think. A Reverso poem is like a picture turned upside down, a frowning face upended to reveal a smiling one. The poem read in reverse, contradicts itself with an opposing message. In 'Refugee' Brian Bilston focuses on a societal issue that tends to polarize feelings and the opposing views are clearly in eviden...

KatApel - katswhiskers.wordpress.com14 December 2018 at 18:24
Lovely holiday snippets, Al - though I had to laugh at the scuppered cuppa. He's obviously no milk&water fellow!
Alan j Wright14 December 2018 at 20:39
Kat, I love your retort. Glad you liked the snippets.
Linda B15 December 2018 at 02:15
Love your 'vacation verse', Alan, a reminder when I go to the sea, the "words on white paper" do stir. Each one's a capture of your mind those days. Happy you had your triip!
author amok15 December 2018 at 12:03
I had a lot of fun reading "Binned," Alan. What a fun idea for a list poem! Thanks for joining us for Poetry Friday this week. It looks divine where you are -- I'm envious that your "fog of work" has lifted.
Alan j Wright15 December 2018 at 15:29
Thanks Laura. 'Binned' was one of those poems that owes it existence to a mundane action of placing a bus ticket in a bin and suddenly realizing the maxim- 'ideas exist in things' rang true here, and I could use it. May the fog of work eventually clear for you too.
Molly Hogan17 December 2018 at 11:35
What a stunning vista! I love your assortment of vacation verse--from whimsical to profound.
Michelle Kogan17 December 2018 at 12:28
Looks like your vacation spot served or is serving as a fine muse for writing Alan. Wonderful collection you have, I particularly like two here, "A Pen For My Thoughts," –here I love that fly "landing in a bowl of rice," and I can hear that spoon turning in your teacup. I also like your last poem, "My Worlds Are Not The Same." Nice parallel and breath of an individuals thoughts–I tend to fall into this camp too. Lovely images also, thanks for sharing all!

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