Poetry Pals - Week 1 - Noticing

writing to a prompt

Noticing
1.
There are two crows calmly perched on the crown of the
tall sun-drenched birch trees outside my kitchen window,
soaking up late winter warmth as it dribbles onto their iridescent feathers. 
They own the thin branches, weight shifting with the barely perceptible breeze. 
Silhouetted, regal, majestic, striking against the pure blue sky behind them.

I bend to type these words, look up and they are gone,
the branches swaying slightly in the absence of their being, 
golden yellow stems now tickling the cloud free expanse above.

2.
A second-hand bargain from a sweet local seller on marketplace, 
a mere 5 pounds but worth every single penny,
four were on offer and I took them all,
but this is a particular favourite. 
An excellent cup to replace the many I have smashed,
of sufficient proportion to sit neatly in my inelegant shovel hands,
fingers wrapped to garner warmth through the hand shaped clay coils.
The countryside glaze of sea-foam blue, moss green, splashed with purple heather and bilberry blue,
Warms my gaze and cheers the beginning of my day.

Keeps the tea warm for a good while too. 

3.
fluffy pompom bums wobble as they run
searching for grubs in the warming soil
they make me giggle these bantams of mine.
eight wee chooks in a variety of colours;
four shades of black,
four shades of brown, 
(and one with added curly feathers);
black, black splash, blue and lavender;
partridge, millefleur, chocolate lace, and a buff/lemon.
they haven't all read the official colour descriptors
there are a few wayward markings or the lack there of 
(I'm looking at you milfleur with your conspicuous lack of white)

now go lay me eggs, multiple.

4.
a small glimmer of the new sunrise 
washes the room with watery winter-pink light
I think about rising to watch the growing dawn
but warm under my quilt I embrace sleep instead

5.
old vinyl albums
singing lyrics
feeling cool; dude.

This was a writing prompt from

Poetry Pals

, to write a poem inspired by Mary Oliver and her poem Good Morning. Five noticings to be collected over the course of the week, using her structure to help. I found the noticings easy, I think because with the ME/CFS I have been forced to take the world at a very slow pace, and have learnt to notice the small things around me, basically because I can only very, very rarely do the bigger things. I’m not the meditative type and it took a long time to learn. My OT actually told me to forget meditation as my brain just never stops and starts playing around and being silly instead. She was the one who told me to go watch my chickens instead. So noticing was easy, I do it all day every day out of necessity.

However, writing non-dark, basically upbeat type poems, much harder. Where is the angst? Where is the wringing of hands and beating up of the brain? Trying to be ‘happy’ without being saccharine. That was hard. Trying to live in the moment, and write for the now and not revise too much. That’s was hard too. Trying different forms within one poem was odd too. We were pointed to a structure but I coudnt’t see it and trying to make it work was a struggle. In the end I just gave up and wrote what I wrote as that’s what the source poem felt like.

I might have managed it, I might not. I find reviewing my own work hard unless from a timely distance.

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