A Celebration of Poets for National Poetry Day

(updated October 2020)

I thought it would be nice to celebrate National Poetry Day 2020 by giving you a few examples of some very different types of poetry.  National Poetry Day is held on the first Thursday of October, this year it was on 1st and in 2021 it will be on the 7th. It is a day to celebrate poets and their words. Each year there is a different topic as anyone is welcome to try and be creative too.

Until a few years ago, I hadn’t read any poetry for decades, but it is so easy to read when you only have a few minutes to spare. I remember getting The Fireside Book each year in my Christmas stocking, and hearing Pam Ayres recite her poetry on tv. It always raised a giggle.

It is my pleasure to share with you work from 5 poets – Claire Baldry, Geraldine Ward, Colin Sinclair, Pamela Jessen and Michelle Baltano Curtis. I hope you enjoy them.

Artwork by Amber Gee

Beware of the Trolls by Claire Baldry

They like to jab a needle in a touchy place,
An online provocation right against your face,
They seek your darkest corners and invade your souls,
They are nasty, wormlike phantoms, called the internet trolls

They post a ghastly picture, then they disappear,
Swamp your page with troubles and invade your fear,
They tunnel under virtual ground, sneaky facebook moles,
They are shadows in your backyard, called the internet trolls

They gather several emails so can change their name,
This lets them work in secret, they can hide their shame,
You’ll hardly ever spot them, as they chase their goals,
They are damaged friendless beings, called the internet trolls

So children, in your nightmares, filled with thoughts you dread,
Be grateful for the monsters underneath your bed,
They will teach you self- protection and will keep you whole,
For the time you meet a demon, called the internet troll.

This poem originally featured in my post about the book, Simply Modern Life by Claire Baldry – read more about Claire and the book here.

I do not like peppermint tea by Geraldine Ward

I first featured Geraldine Ward when she joined me for the blog tour release of her poetry book Bouncing Back With A Bang back in 2018.  As I read one poem, I thought it was perfect for Tea and Cake for the Soul and Geraldine has kindly allowed me to feature it here on the blog.

Please give me breakfast
No stuff with a teabag and milk,
No need for a posh name,
Proper tea with milk and sugar
I don’t want Star Struck or Costa Packet
Just sit down at home with a nice cup of the brown stuff
I just don’t like peppermint tea, green or orange or anything
healthy,
Just give me a nice cup of proper English Tea.
I know tea comes from India or China,
I just want something warm inside me,
If I wanted something fruity I would just eat fruit.
I only want normal tea.
So you are on a fancy fad with your non caffeine crap.
I just don’t like any kind of peppermint or green tea.

You can read more from Geraldine in her guest post HERE.

2 poems by author Colin Sinclair

Colin Sinclair is a published author of a fantasy series and just loves poetry.  He has kindly allowed me to share some of his work with you today. He told me “I write it because I love to write it and I can” Here are some of his poems for you to enjoy.

The Game 

At the hotel on Park Lane at 10:33
I held out my hand for the usual fee.
You called me a bastard, a cheat and a liar.
You spat out the words with venom and fire,
Your face told it all as you crashed through the door,
Your hat and the shoe fell to the floor.
You knew all the rules as we started the game.
We’d agreed them and talked, they were always the same.
I was shocked; I was stunned as you walked out on me.
It’s only a game of Monopoly!

All I am is you 

It’s perhaps just an echo of the feelings from then
But I plunge into it with a passion unrestrained.
I reach back and capture the memory of your smile
Creating a feeling that causes my soul to soar.
My hand reaches out to take yours and my heart takes flight,
Skipping and dancing through emotions.
As it did on the very first day we touched
Increasing its intensity through time and sharing.
You have enriched my life beyond understanding
Enhancing my existence as only a true Love can do.
There are no bounds to the depth of my feelings for you
All I am is you.

Wistful Thinking by Pamela Jessen

Blogger and writer Pamela Jessen sent me this poem for inclusion.

The moon makes me wistful, it’s so far away yet it’s filled with the dreams and the hopes of the men
and the women who knew that one day, they would walk on its surface, they just didn’t know when
And all those years ago now from when it first happened, we haven’t been back and I worry about why
Does the moon feel left out? Does it ever feel lonely? I wonder if Moons even know how to cry?
It probably thought we were first of the many who would come to pay homage and visit and stay
But after the hoopla and the sciencing was over, we all said goodbye and we rocketed away
Now the Moon overlooks us, and I overlook it and I’m wistfully thinking I’d like to go there
What a joy it would be just to soar in the sky and perhaps see my home as I fly through the air
Imagine my new home where my body could be free of the earthly restrictions I currently feel
My pain would be less as I soar spaceless and free, now that sounds to me like one heck of a deal!
Alas, I don’t think that dream is likely to come true, but I can sure be inspired when I look at the Moon
And one never knows as our science evolves, perhaps someday I might get there, sooner than soon.  🙂

there is always hope

You can read lots more about Pamela where she joins in with the series An Afternoon of Tea and Cake for the Soul.

2 Poems by Michelle Beltano Curtis

Last but definitley not least, I have two poems from Michelle who blogs at Mykie Writes and The Zebra Pit. She opts to write prose poems, so I asked her to tell me a little bit more about them.

“Written in paragraph form, prose poems leave behind the traditional forms of line and verse, while relying on such poetic devices as rhyme, imagery, and parataxis. Prose poems can be as short as a single paragraph to several pages long and have appeared in the Bible and beyond. They were popularized by French symbolists Baudelaire and Bertrand and spread throughout the world.”

Infinity by Eights – For David

Eight years. To some, eight years is a fast tick on a vast clock, blink of a giant’s eye, brushing aside of a crumb. If I could measure out each moment with you, I’d have a lifetime’s sum of love. You fill me with lives lived, possibilities for more. Eternities we’ve experienced and left me wanting more. How could a lifetime be so short, so complete, yet this hunger never slaked? Eight more years I think I’ll stay, and blink and blink again.

The Pianist 

In the morning, before her students begin to arrive, you can sometimes hear the velvet tinkle gliding on the air in delicate waves. The notes hold hands like paper dolls; never ending before the next begins. They dance across the cul-de-sac in their ball gowns and tutus. Plié into my living room where I stand mesmerized, dreaming. She has an accent, Russian or Baltic. I sometimes hear as she calls out to the neighbors when she walks her little dog, tiptoes on fragile heels to check her mailbox. She likes primrose pink and black, feminine lines, elegant cuts around thin hips, ample bosom. I imagine her in her prime, concert pianist behind the iron curtain; her aural dancing lulling weary souls in blaring white nights; too mythical for her old Kentucky home.

Michelle also featured in An Afternoon of Tea and Cake for the Soul.

I also have a funny poetry excerpt from author Milly Johnson on the subject of menopause that comes from her charity book A Cat Shaped Space – You can read that HERE. 

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