Rowing Down a River – NaPoWriMo 2017 – Day fifteen – prompt: a poem about middles

Rowing Down a River

.

I find myself in the middle of incredible

joy. I find myself in the middle of passion.

I have at times, found myself in the middle

of arguments. And at times I have been

in the middle of making difficult decisions.

.

I am neither above or below.

My mother was an only child.

Of her nine children, I was the one

in the middle. My middle name

belongs to my mother. My first

to my Dad.

.

I take the middle slice of cake, the middle

fruit from the tree. My house is neither

top or bottom of the street. I have rowed

a raft down the middle of the river. I have

oft’ times found myself in the middle of love,

hope and peace. I know there will be other times

when I am in the middle of great sadness.

.

I think this is not the middle of the poem;

it is the end. I find myself in the middle

of a whole month writing poems. I find

myself in the middle of true passion.

Benita H. Kape © 15.4.2017

Last, but not least, here’s our prompt for the day (optional, as always!). Because we’re halfway through NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that reflects on the nature of being in the middle of something. The poem could be about being on a journey and stopping for a break, or the gap between something half-done and all-done. Half a loaf is supposedly better than none, but what’s the difference between half of a very large loaf and all of a very small one? Let your mind wander into the middle distance, betwixt the beginning of things and the end. Hopefully, you will find some poetry there!

Advertisement

NaPoWriMo 2015 – Day 26 – Write a persona poem – Forthright Candour

Forthright Candour . I have laboured long and hard, and I’ll thank you not to say my legs are not perfect; as if that matters a jot.        Not to them my fame. I play the Iron Lady and the Queen with no thought of such trivia. And Ladies, let me remind you, the only female to have won the role as our Prime Minister. Therefore an excellent role model for your daughters. The Iron Lady and I, who knew the trades, the Baroness in groceries and on Mummy’s side of the family, Grandpa, butcher to Victoria. But, I am no royalist. I believe in fairies and leprechaun, but not God. . I was a girl for  Doing Her Own Thing, mainly Shakespeare at the time, for such would stand a girl like me in good stead. . To Africa then, and back to Shakespeare, that period of rest in the eighties and the book, and back to treading the boards, changing faces with each new role. Calendar Girls, Her Majesty the Queen, three queens have I played in my time: Jane Tenison, detective. Oh, flawed humanity. I have laboured long and hard, won the roles and played with all my strength and passion. I speak for my profession; We English are not afraid of the open expression of large emotions.

  Benita H. Kape © 27.4.2015

Notes: I have always held Helen Mirren in high regard. As she said of her role as the Iron Lady, she may not have followed her political leaning but ‘she was an excellent role model for your daughters.’