Below are some images of Chimpanzees in the wild. I was wondering if you could write 5 words or a phrase to describe what you see, feel or think about the images. It's a random request, but I'll just ask you to humour me! I may be posting some other images on here and requesting the same thing again...Thank you everyone!

A poem about a swallow...just because...

Also about searching for rest.

The Swallow’s Flight

She dips,

wings quiver,

eyes search

for shelter,

a dwelling place.

She twists,

looks back and forth;

back to once,

forth to unknown,

but she does not see now.

She dives,

frantic needs

build and squirm,

manifest

into pulsating panic.

She falls,

spirals down

down down,

lands in open hands.

At last

she lays.

Three poems about the search for truth and answers...

The Search for Pravada (1^st Version)

 Swim through wave upon wave of written pages

passed down from them to us, us to you.

Drown in words of promise;

resurface confused in symbols.

 

Turn over the cards,

over and over.

Search for one that pleases you

until your future is flecked with gold.

 

Trace the lines of your palm,

the pathways of answers

engrained in your protective armour;

the map that reveals new places with age.

 

Gaze up at the stars,

those sparkling eyes that tell stories

among the planets that shift and align,

sending messages to avid trackers.

 

Stare into the orb.

Let your eyes rest

and allow your mind to cling to the patterns

as a message from beyond.

 

But look no further,

cease your search out there

and come back inside,

where clarity is laid at the feet of the weak.

 

The Search for Pravada (2^nd Version)

Walk on.

Trust the engrained pathways,

the map of years.

Trace them all and know

that you were here.

  

The Search for Pravada (3^rd Version)

Tread the watery path.

Dip into the depths

and catch the answers

that swim like fish flecked with gold.

Lie back;

let clarity hold you there.

Two poems inspired when I was eating an apple!

A is for

Deep within the heart

of a layered fortress,

beneath crimson armour

and soft white flesh

potential waits;

an orchard invisible.

 

An  Orchard Invisible

 A layered fortress

succumbs to pearly axe heads,

striking, tearing.

White flesh exposed

beneath crimson armour, stripped.

A precious treasure held at the heart

revealed and removed,

forgotten in its abandoned place

until potential grows.

Hey all you creative writers at Lincoln uni!

I've posted two versions of my Ted Hughes ending - the first is the one I read out in class (with rhythm but no rhyme) and the second is a re-write (with rhyme but no rhythm as a suggested exercise from Phil). I found the second really hard to write - rhyme comes naturally with rhythm for me! I actually think there might be some rhythm in there at times - oops! See what you think!

Reality Smirked (Original)

I have always been a gullible man,

a man built of trust and faith.

My eyes show me things

that my heart will believe

and my head rarely has any say.

So when I stumbled across hell

and a strange monkey man

with a grin and a limp and a gasp,

I let out a roar to shatter the still

and accepted the matter as fact.

Thus I gagged and I shuddered,

I moaned and I cried

through a sea of ruin and death,

and the monkey man laughed all the more as I did

as we stood in that mass, tangled grave.

So I fell to my knees

and begged to the Lord

to show me what it was I should do.

Then he opened my eyes

as a voice announced ‘cut!’

and reality smirked in my face.

The corpses arose

one by one till the last,

and my monkey man wriggled with glee,

while I was left standing perplexed and in shock,

ashamed that illusion had won.

Later I stood in the perfume of tea,

a cup clutched tight in my hand,

watching actors and frauds

mill about without masks

on a set built to trick and elude.

As I drained the last dregs

my monkey man spoke

and asked where it was I should be.

I was escorted from there

with a sigh of relief and one hell of a story to tell. 

Reality Smirked (Re-write)

I’m a gullible man

built of faith and trust.

My eyes show me things and my heart clings;

believe them I must.

So when I fell into hell

and a monkey man flailed

towards me with a grin and a gasp,

I threw back my head and wailed.

I gagged, shuddered, moaned and cried.

Ruin and death engulfed me like a wave.

The monkey man laughed

in that tangled grave.

I begged to the Lord

‘Show me what to do!’

Bodies cushioned my knees as I sent up my pleas.

Then He opened my eyes to see what was true.

Reality smirked.

I stood perplexed

as corpses began to rise and stagger.

Illusion the victor, I the vexed.

In the perfume of tea I watched the frauds,

their masks shed,

mill about in a set built to elude;

the sour tricks my mind misread.

I was escorted from there

with a vast sigh of relief

and a bitter smile at the story I’d gained;

a tale born of naive belief.  

Thought I'd share a link to Mikky Ekko's new song, Pull Me Down, and video that my sister, Hannah Temple, edited.
Have a look! I love it, and am a very proud big sister :-)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpVVuJnsUL8&feature=relmfu

To all MA Creative Writers at Lincoln Uni - 

I had a go at Michael's book idea for creating poetry! I used Wuthering Heights. Here are 3 poems I came up with:

*

Up the garden causeway

the pervading spirit of neglect

twisted round her head.

He rose,

a born and bred gentleman

eager to greet.

He refused her hand and

shook her head instead,

thinking it best.

*

Hide your face.

Be off!

A stranger’s interest,

an object of amusement.

Trip merrily on!

My expectations are satisfied.

*

Impelled to see through my rudeness,

a respectable character

perceived decay,

black gaps and

creeping moss

woven into the heath

beneath a benign sky. 

No idea if they make sense or are any good but it was fun!!!!