Skip to main content

Goodbye Eighteen Poem- Poetry Friday

A somewhat whimsical retrospective poem to mark my 2018...

Image result for looking back over 2018


Goodbye Eighteen

Last year
I failed to win the lottery
Wasn’t an award recipient
And I failed to repair anything of significance

Last year
I forget to cull my book collection
Didn’t spend a single night in Paris
And didn't compete in a marathon for the first time

Last year 
I chose not to watch Masterchef
I didn’t get around to cleaning out my office desk
And I failed to snap any selfies at famous landmarks


Last Year
I didn't eat a single snail
-Nor a married one for that matter
And yet again, I failed to find any joy in Trump's tweets


Last year
I still refused to like cats
Or anchovies
Or cats who like anchovies

Last year
Was similar to the year before
This year shapes up as being the same

Comments

  1. What fun! Though those cats... 🙀 I do hope you like K-a-ts! Now wondering what I didn't do... Gotta admit, 2018 was a huge year for me - and my first thought is, there's not many things I didn't do!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am a fan of K-a-ts, but the other ones have a chequered history with me I'm afraid. My wife, Vicki is allergic to cat fur, so that means cats get short shrift in our house. Dogs, we love. Your 2018 did seem busy- and fulfilling, so wishing you an equally great 2019.

      Delete
  2. A new kind of retrospective calls for the opposite thoughts as in "I didn't, yet. . ." My granddaughters help a lot when cleaning out the desk drawers! Happy New Year, Alan!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happy New Year to you to Linda. I like the idea of using this retrospective approach in a variety of ways. Maybe next year...

      Delete
  3. Maybe cats will grow on you in 2019? :) Thank you for the retrospective.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You remain more hopeful than I do Irene. My history with cats is not an altogether happy one. My children had cats as pets and it always ended with tears -catastrophes! I could write about those various cat tales. That cat history coloured my perceptions, no doubt.

      Delete
  4. What fun! Sometimes there is accomplishment in the things not done

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you liked it Kay. And yes, there is some sense of accomplishment in things not done.

      Delete
  5. Love the sense of humor in your poem Alan. And humor is one thing you did have last year and have this year too–got a good chuckle from your poem, thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Michelle. One of my resolutions each year is to retain a sense of humour in the things I do, and the things I see happening- so thank you. Let us both keep chuckling in 2019.

      Delete
  6. Your poem is such a clever way to mark the passing of the year. Such fun! Like some others, I do hope you reconsider cats this year. Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Molly. I think that when it comes to cats we are not destined to co-exist under the same roof. As a child, my very first kitten, name of Alice, died suddenly with distemper and that kind of set the scene for later encounters with cats my children requested. Two later cats died under our house -in summer! -but not at the same time. There is a pattern here. I think I have developed a reticence in order to protect them from fate. Plus, my wife is allergic to them. Glad you liked the poem, by the way. Happy New Year to you Molly!

      Delete
  7. I enjoyed your humorous poem, Alan, especially these lines: I didn't eat a single snail
    -Nor a married one for that matter. Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Carol. I do enjoy injecting a little humour in my poetry where possible, so I'm glad you noticed. Happy New Year to you too.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...