2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Fifteen - Halfway there!

Today's prompt for Writer's Digest 2015 April Poem A Day Challenge is: An Adjective Titled Poem.

Lost

I know
That these words
Will never be enough

I know
That our country
Which you Bravely
Sought as solace

When you fled from
Trouble Back Home
Has In the Darkness
Raised It's Ugly Greedy Head
And Destroyed
The Life You've Built

Your neighbours
Have listened to the lies
Fed to them from up high

But they do not know
That we are all Africans
Whether from the South or North

I know these words
Will never be enough
As your children cry
And you wonder where to go

But if they come at you
With petrol and knives

Fight your way out
Fight your way back
Back to the Rainbow nation
We all fought so hard for

And I will be there
With open arms
Waiting

2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Fourteen

Today's prompt for the Writer's Digest April 2015 Poem A Day Challenge is: Write a poem about Honesty or Dishonesty. I chose Honesty.


The truth Hurts

I expect nothing less than honesty
But I've lied my way

Out of tricky situations

Used my gender
As an excuse
Not to stand out

Acted like I didn't know
What was going on

Kept my opinions to myself
So that you would accept me
(Not that that ever helped)

Stayed silent and small
So as to not rock the boat

Turned my anger inwards
And blamed you!

The truth hurts
But it was my choice all along.

April 2015 PAD Challenge - Day Thirteen - Confession

Today's prompt for the Writer's Digest Poem A Day challenge is: Write A Confession poem.

Confession

Not being born Catholic
I always liked the idea
Of being able to anonymously
Confess my sins

To sit in the darkness
And let all my secrets out

I love the intimacy of strangers
So I confess to you
On these virtual pages
Which hold my shadows and secrets

Will you forgive me world
For what I have done?

2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Twelve - Damage

Today's prompt for the Writer's Digest April Poem A Day Challenge is: Write A Poem About Damage.

No Song To Sing

We think we’re young
But we are broken
Our minds are closed
Our mouths are open

So few words are truly spoken
Our eyes tell lies without emotion

We think we’re young
But we are broken
Our minds are closed
Our mouths are open

Keep reaching out
Not reaching in
We don’t have have
A song To sing

2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Eleven - A Season

An Irish Winter

The first time I saw snow
I was in my late twenties
But I might as well have been three

As the snow started to drift down
Outside our college window
Without thinking
I jumped out of my seat mid lecture
I ran down the stairs
And into the snow

It was colder and harder than I expected
And I swirled around
Like I was Winona Ryder in Edward Scissor Hands
The cobbled streets
Became the sets of every American Christmas movie I had ever seen
If Father Christmas himself had landed his reindeer on my path
I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid
As Jingle bells wafted out of every pub
And happy Dublin children screamed with glee
I was a million miles away from South Africa
And I believed in the magic of an Irish winter

April 2015 PAD Challenge - Day Ten - A Third Of The Way Done!

Today's prompt for the 2015 April Writer's Digest Poem A Day Challenge is: Write a 'How' Poem.

How It Should Be

Normally I find meeting new people difficult
It’s A Cold World Out There
Of Transactional relationships
Built on Broken Promises and forgotten dreams
But this week
This week, I fell in Love!

Wednesday morning
You arrived right on schedule
Your life began And so did we

With new roles to play
You’ve Broken all our hearts wide open

It was Love at first sight
No questions or analysis
I knew exactly what to do and how to be

No one gets a handbook on this stuff
But the answer is simple
Just Love
No need to run or fight or hide
Just Love
The world looks friendlier
Now that you’re in it

2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Nine - Work

Today's prompt for the Writer's Digest April 2015 Poem A Day Challenge   is work.

Jobs

If we ever meet
Don’t ask me what I do

Potential employers have gazed at my schizophrenic C.V. with one eyebrow arched
But what they won’t see
is that I’ve tried the 9 to 5 in gloomy London
and ended up interviewing my colleagues about their dreams

Flew half away around the world because of love and ended up with heart break

Ran away to the ocean to play videographer at a Shark Cage Diving company for the sum total of One.Whole.Day (A Great White Ate My Camera)

I’ve seen that the rich can’t buy happiness while singing Happy Birthday Dressed As Snow White For A One Year Old’s Birthday

Heard the woes of the lonely, the ignored and the outraged at 3am on late night radio

I felt insane playing a cheetah for Chinese tourists at an African convention as they posed and took photos

I’ve listened to the stories of what it’s like to be Jewish and Irish in Dublin

And made sure that the drunk Dutch Rock ‘n Rollers could sit up straight for their interviews

I’ve helped clear the clutter in people’s homes while they told me all their secrets

And I still don’t have a Degree

So If we ever meet
Don’t ask me what I do

Like it’s supposed to mean something

Writer's Digest 2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Eight

Today's prompt for the Poem A Day Challenge is: Write A Dare Poem.

Truth Or Dare?

I Dare You To Get Out Of Your Head.
To stop living in shame of ghosts from your past
I Dare You To Face Your Shadows
To Tell The World Exactly Who You Are
I Dare You To Stop Trying To Prove
How Happy you are to false friends and acquaintances
No amount of Likes will ever be enough
I Dare You To Be Present
Just With the Silence that envelops you
I Dare You To Spend Time Alone
Without A Phone Or A Friend To Distract You from You
I Dare You To Love
Love the world, love your enemies, love the monsters within
I Dare You To Not Shrink From Your Power
To Stand Tall when they try and cut you down
I Dare You To Stop Aiming For Perfect
To Stop Comparing Your Joy Away
I Dare You To Not Just Read These Words But Live Them.

The Truth?
We all want to be loved but we’re just so terrified.
Let go of your fear.

Go on, I Dare You!

2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Seven - First Week Complete!

Today's prompt for the Writer's Digest 2015 April Poem A Day Challenge is: A Love Poem or an Anti-Love Poem. As you can see below, I decided to write about Love. I can't believe I finished the first week and that I've managed to write something daily despite myself. Here's to the next 23 days!


Countdown

A family borne from ice
Isn’t one for loving words
Or grand displays of affection
But the thought of you makes me grin
In the Darkness

I find this world
To be one of complications and cruelty
But with you
None of the rules apply

Though we have yet to meet
I know you by heart
It has been a lifetime of longing
And the dragons have started to circle the skies

The wolves are calling your name
Sweet one
It is time
Come home
And take your place

My guarded gates are standing wide open
As I await
Your Arrival

2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Six

Today's prompt for the Writer's Digest 2015 Poem A Day Challenge is: A-things-not-as-they-appear poem.

Viral 
 
Your life pops with a Hollywood Sheen
As you live the Instagram Dream
But what you don't see
Is how much careful planning it took
To create that nonchalant I-Don't-Care shot
How your 'natural' beauty cost you more than your self respect
Your best friend who smiles at you so sweetly
Will squeeze you tighter while spreading rumours

You dumb yourself down, giggle and grin
To play this Game of  Photographic Happiness
But without any names to drop
Or exotic locations to tag

All that you would be left with is

Your Self (ie) 


And finally
You would have something
Worth sharing

2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Five

Today's prompt for the Writer's Digest Poem A Day Challenge is: Vegetables

Eat Your Vegetables

I don’t know at what age
That I decided that you were not to be trusted
I don’t know why you make me Squirm
You stare at me
With healthy promises
And warnings from my mother ring in my ears
As I pretend that you aren’t on the menu or on my plate
I’m sorry but veggies? You can keep them
Nobody ever looks ecstatic when eating a salad

2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Four

This is today's poem for the April 2015 Poem A Day Challenge by Writer's Digest.
Today's prompt is Departure.

What Once Was by Amy Kaye

Lost and Broken
You Hypnotised Me
Like A Magnet
Your Sad Story
Pulled Me In
The Loss In Your Eyes
Reached Out
And Enveloped me in your Pain

It was like I was returning
To a familiar place of destruction
All the signs were there
Warning me of the Danger! Danger! Danger!
But I was hooked

Together We dove Deep
Into the grey pools of pain
Like a Blanket
You wrapped me in the comforts of loss

I Held On
Even though your words
Became sharp like shattered glass

You told me that Love wasn’t easy
And I stupidly wanted to believe
This heart break meant something

But the manipulation continued
As you whispered empty lies to me at night

With nothing to cling to
But a tiny voice that once was my beating heart
I left not knowing how I would go on
I left not knowing who I was

And as the last words were said
It was finally over

And slowly I will return to myself like an old friend

2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Three

Today's prompt as part of Writer's Digest 2015 April Poem A Day Challenge is: A Machine Poem

The Thought Machine
Instructions:
1. Open and Turn On Your Mind
2. Insert Daily Gratitude For Optimum Results
3. Check Feeling Centre – Standard Options apply.
4. Choose To Increase Or Decrease Feeling For Desired Effect
5. Your Machine Should Produce in Excess of 60 000 thoughts per day regardless of Feeling Centre.
6. You May Find Yourself Drifting Between Your Thoughts and Feeling Centre, Check Your Settings.
7. Be Aware of coming in contact with External Stimuli in your environment. This Will Greatly Affect Your Thinking Machine as well as your Feeling Centre.
8. If your Feeling Centre gets stuck, check in with your body settings.
9. If Thinking Centre Shuts Down, Reconnect Your Body.
10. Choose the Breathing Function.
11. You May Find That Your Thoughts Will Slow Down – Give Your Thought Machine A Chance To Reboot.
12. Go Back To Step 1.

2015 April PAD Challenge - Day Two - Secret

This poem is part of the 2014 Writer's Digest April PAD Challenge  in which every day of this month there will be a poetry prompt. It's an opportunity for those of you wanting to get your poetry published (although there are no guarantees) and also to have your poetry seen by other poets which is always interesting in terms of feedback. Here's to a month of poetry!

Today's prompt is: Secret

Girl Code

In unison they giggle
And it might as well be High School all over again
Time has moved on but the subject matter is still the same
They squeal in delight at in jokes about pop culture that I don’t find funny
We share the same age and gender but that’s where it ends
I play along with a passive aggressive smile
They have no idea what world I’m from
The never ending small talk
And the constant competition makes me weak
They ooh and aah at the sparkly ring on her finger
Like it’s supposed to mean something
And as they contemplate the right hashtag for their latest selfie
I secretly disappear into the silence
Safely tucked away in my mind,
I can breathe.

2015 April PAD (Poem A Day) Challenge - Day One

After much procrastinating, I'm back. I've been writing in other contexts, just not for my blog. I find it's easier to write for myself in a personal capacity when I have some sort of a structure or goal. I also love creative challenges so therefore I've signed up for the Writer's Digest April PAD Challenge (You can too!) in which every day there will be a poetry prompt. It's an opportunity for those of you wanting to get your poetry published (although there are no guarantees) and also to have your poetry seen by other poets which is always interesting in terms of feedback.

Day One's Prompt: Resistance

As I wait for a sign that isn’t coming
I’ve become an expert in resistance
If I was better I would
If I stopped making excuses then sure
If I could hear my inner voice rather than my inner critic
Just. One. Damn.Time.
Maybe
But I’m not perfect
So the words stay dormant
And I stay stuck
As I watch life
As it passes me by