Here is how we are celebrating NPD at City Of Bristol College. Feel free
to join in the wordsmithery...
Simon Van der Linde
>>
Today, as you well know, is National Poetry Day! To celebrate this
momentous occasion, those bastions of culture, the LRCs, are holding
their Annual Limerick Contest. Simply pen/type a limerick (in your
coffee break...) and send it to us by whatever means necessary.
If you're stuck for ideas, one of the following may inspire you:
- There was a librarian called Mick...
- There once was a woman from Cheshunt...
- I once knew a support worker called Annie...
- There was an accountant from Tring...
etc
If you're not familiar with the limerick form, you can check some out
at http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/english/limerick.htm
Please try to keep it clean. All entries will be closely inspected and
may be forwarded to the Poetry Police for analysis.
**Most LRCs are also holding a Poetry Lucky Dip. Get down there to
claim your free random poem!**
Weblinks
The National Poetry Day website is here...
http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/npd/npdindex.htm
And here's an excellent website where you can search for poems
containing a word of your choosing... http://www.poemhunter.com/
And finally...
The Poem Cat
Sometimes the poem
doesn't want to come;
it hides from the poet
like a playful cat
who has run
under the house
& lurks among slugs,
roots, spiders' eyes,
ledge so long out of the sun
that it is dank
with the breath of the Troll King.
Sometimes the poem
darts away
like a coy lover
who is afraid of being possessed,
of feeling too much,
of losing his essential
loneliness-which he calls
freedom.
Sometimes the poem
can't requite
the poet's passion.
The poem is a dance
between poet & poem,
but sometimes the poem
just won't dance
and lurks on the sidelines
tapping its feet-
iambs, trochees-
out of step with the music
of your mariachi band.
If the poem won't come,
I say: sneak up on it.
Pretend you don't care.
Sit in your chair
reading Shakespeare, Neruda,
immortal Emily
and let yourself flow
into their music.
Go to the kitchen
and start peeling onions
for homemade sugo.
Before you know it,
the poem will be crying
as your ripe tomatoes
bubble away
with inspiration.
When the whole house is filled
with the tender tomato aroma,
start kneading the pasta.
As you rock
over the damp sensuous dough,
making it bend to your will,
as you make love to this manna
of flour and water,
the poem will get hungry
and come
just like a cat
coming home
when you least
expect her.
Erica Jong
Simon Van der Linde
Assistant Librarian,
Library,
City of Bristol College,
St Georges Rd,
Bristol BS1 5UA
(0117) 312 2719
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