national poetry month

Revisions – Day 11

| Sheree
Come Again

Day 9 – Goofing off Revisions/ redrafting

Ten years. Ten long years of changes, I’ve been dreaming on paper.

I had to give myself permission.

To create again. Safely.

I was fearful. Fearful of the word. Images are safer. Images speak to the soul.

Paint. Takes me back to being a child and all I wanted was love and joy.

Tapping into this feeling of being with self, I show up to the page. Each day.

Each day, I have the opportunity to start again.

Each day I have the opportunity to meet the sunrise anew.

The Belly of a Mountain – Day 10

| Sheree
Glencoe, Scottish Highlands

We obscure the outline of the belly of a mountain*

when we write about nature

we enter the realm of words being useless

we enter our narcissistic imaginations instead of being in with the mountain

I miss the mountains, the Highlands, Glencoe

At some point, I became marred by immobility, by staying close, staying safe

Now I return in my dreams, awake and grapple to describe their grace and poise

Abstracted longing. Never enough, never true enough to capture their form, their presence

I wait for my return. To sleep within the belly of mountains,

the mountains I’ve always felt are old Black women resting together, safe

*Day 10 prompt was: Find a single sentence someone else wrote that sticks out to you and use it as your first line. Let your poem unfold from there.

This adapted line was taken from ‘Against Nature Writing’ by Charles Foster.

[the hour before] – Day 7

| Sheree

I know I was in the full of it all. Life overflowing.

With all its distractions and demands and me thinking I’m the central force.

I know I was missing from the family home, chasing the next big gig, the next recognition slip.

Maybe my family had eaten for the day and I’d missed it again.

Maybe I had to circle the streets trying to find a parking space for at least half an hour.

I know I carried loads of bags with stuff packed just in case, always worried about being unprepared and found wanting.

I know I lacked the self-belief and love of self. I know I needed more of everything.

So when night fell, and I found myself still working, reorganising books for god’s sake, I know I wasn’t prepared for the public shaming.

But my gut probably knew this day of failure would come to expose me for the imposter always felt and knew.

Pink – Day 6

| Sheree

Pink is such a sick colour. Not like red or orange which own themselves. Pink comes across as whimsical, flighty and lacking. It’s uncooked meat. It’s a tinge of desire. Anger, hardly a ripple. Subdued. It’s lukewarm passion which little promise of satisfaction.

But then I see the blossom. In trees full. Bursting out in big blousy blooms. And pink has me by the throat, squeezing out every feeling of joy, pleasure and awe. Pink cherry blossom does it for me everytime that I forget my dislike for pink and I just swoon.

A Study in Short Lived Adventures – Day 5

| Sheree

We’re always looking for answers.

I think that’s why I tell stories or lies.

The purple sky really sets off the creamy whites of those stars.

Silence plays itself. Silence.

I just wish you’d open your eyes when you hover over me.

I just wish you would see me.

Let Us Indulge -Day 4

| Sheree

Let us linger here in this room with the curtains closed with our other lives forgotten for a little while longer.

Let us not use words when our hands, lips and tongues can communicate our needs, our wants.

Let our breath be silken on our skin, let our bodies entwine still able to promise bloom and ripple.

Let us slow it all the way down, slowly, slow, so we can feel each stroke, each gliding smooth folding into each other.

Let us hear each others moans of joy, of wonder as our bodies wander together away from this room, this bed into our happy place where we can ride out the rest of our time here on earth.

Let us dream this lushness as we reach for each other, conjuring connection beyond the here and now, in the here and now.

Let us linger in the lingering light and just enjoy this afterglow, this pleasured pain like passing ships never to traverse these same desire lines ever again.

A Field Guide to Sheree – Day 2

| Sheree

Commonly known as Sheree, with the scientific name being Nigtum Deam, found mostly within coastal areas, regularly at sea.

She is able to listen with attention and sometimes offers unwarranted advise. Her heart is in the right place.

She thrives in green humid spaces, on mountain sides in solitude, often retreating to Scottish glens to laugh at the moon.

She starts to pale and fade in monotonous, negative climates where light is limited and restricted.

She can be lured by white chocolate lattes and any variety of breads. At which point, she will shift into the pleasure zone, all petals opening to receive joys with a smile.

Try to praise this chaotic world – Day 1

| Sheree

after Adam Zagajewski, translated by Clare Cavanagh

Try to praise this chaotic world,
as the first of April dawns fresh,
with welcome light, and slight breeze of delight.
The blossom is waiting to bloom
as the fruit trees inch towards the sky.
You must praise this chaotic world.
You must keep hope when things go awry
while those few, usually white and male,
act like stewards for all humankind, communities
they have very little contact with
let alone care about.
You should praise the chaotic world.
Remember you are not alone, within you
are generations of people who have been here before.
Who did not moan or falter but protested.
They survived so we could thrive
in companionship with the trees,
seas, hummingbirds and ferns.
Praise the chaotic world
and the chance to emerge
as Spring light has returned
after when we think that all was lost.