Poetry Friday-Coffee in Covid Times

During these days of lockdown and social distancing, I have clearly missed the social interaction and conversational stimulation flowing from coffee time at my favourite coffee haunt, Il Piccolo. My morning routine involves a protracted period of writing, reading and responding in my writing space, and then round about eleven o'clock, I venture out into the day for coffee. They say that if a writer/poet is not out there, they will never be out there...

My coffee time enjoyed at Il Piccolo

When I leave home I take a book to read, my writer's notebook, a stack of pens and with my cappuccino beside me, I listen, observe, engage and then take a moment to surrender to my thoughts. I enjoy being among friends and familiarity. I generally sit at the back of the cafe in order to better observe the passing parade. It's also close to the kitchen and I get to talk to my friend, the chef.

Quite a number of my poems have sprung to life in this place. I've always been comfortable writing in different locations.

Well, all that's changed of late. Circumstances have required me to better acquaint myself with our home based coffee machine, and I must say our relationship is going along quite smoothly. Almost flourishing.The first thing I did was learn to operate it. Up until this time, we had been strangers.

My 'home-made' cappuccino and sweet ravioli I made to enjoy la dolce vita.

It doesn't mean I dont miss going out for coffee, oh no. It just means I've been able to adapt.

I found John Asgard's poem, Coffee in Heaven, nestled in one of my collected poetry books, The Everyday Poet, edited by Deborah Alma and thought it would fit aptly with the coffee theme of my post.

Coffee in Heaven

You'll be greeted
by a nice cup of coffee
when you get to heaven
and strains of angelic harmony.

But wouldn't you be devastated
if they only serve decaffeinated
while from the percolators of hell

your soul is assaulted by
Satan's fresh espresso smell?

John Asgard

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...

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