Round 2: Next year (and 10 poems I liked writing)

Hello to anyone who's actually adventured this far.

It's been a phenomenal time, and many thanks to those of you that've actually been reading and enjoyed what I wrote. I'm always amazed every time someone's said they've read and enjoyed them. So even if you're only doing it to humour me, thank you :)

Next year, I'm going to be doing something slightly different. I'm still going to be writing a poem a week. The only difference is, this time each month I'm going to have a theme. And, with a one poem a month exception, each poem has to be (at least tenuously) related to that theme. While my writing has got better, I need to get better at being creative with the original idea. So that's what this is for.

Many thanks again, and if you want to find out what it is I've been up to, find a list of ones I liked this year to read. If you liked one then please do let me know. It really does mean a lot.

27: When Science Proposes to Art - Favourite Poem
I don't think there's anything I would do to this poem if I had the chance. I think it's the right length, and it captures my current thinking on why Science and Art are similar (but also different). As a poet/engineer I've had to think about this a lot. There's a lot of doctrine saying if you do this you can't do that. This was me saying that, aside from the whole 'you don't have to do what people tell you' thing, exactly why the two are alike. And why together they are even better.

10: The Beat - Favourite Rhythm/Wordplay
This is my favourite use of wordplay and rhythm. Every time I read this I perform it a different way. While others I love for their imagery and themes, this one I love because it's just so damn fun to say aloud. Go on, give it a go. Somehow it manages to get you comfortable at the right parts and then jarringly change it to make you unseated. I'd love to be able to write stuff with this sort of rhythm the whole time. And I haven't been able to write like this again since March. Ah well.

23: A Gentleman's Rhyming Duel - Favourite to Perform in Future
I can't remember why I thought of this one. But it's use of longer rhymes and the fact it fits with my natural performing style (I know I'm close to rapping anyway) means that it seems to fit very well in my speech. This is certainly one I'd love to perform at some point. Partially because I can do a silly voice. Well, mostly actually. But it's probably the funniest I've done and I reckon it'll get the best reactions.

46: You Are All - Favourite to have Performed
I started out doing poetry as performances. And the reactions of people is why I still do it. I thought up the first 2 lines, and knew this would be one I had to perform. As such, I had a long time (until the next open mic) to try to work out where the poem would go. And, after all that thought, I ended up writing something fairly thematically different (though keeping the main lines). I love the power of this one, and it's one of the ones I've managed to go back and re-write a couple times to improve.

29: Monsters - Favourite Lines
I actually remember strolling down the street when the first couple lines came to me. This happens occasionally, and a basically spent the rest of that trip repeating the lines (so I wouldn't forget them) and then expanding in a few ways on them to find where I wanted the poem to go. I can't remember what the alternatives were, but I'm very happy with how it turned out. It was also very fun to perform, as I did at my college poetry night (meaning it's one of the ones I've sort of got memorised).

13: Don't Look Down! (Up is Far More Interesting) - Favourite Written on the Spot
Written for a friend of mine (hi Aimeé!) this is actually one of my few science related poems. I pretty much wrote this one on the fly writing it as a facebook message (which is why it formated oddly) and then copied and pasted it straight into the blog. I find any poem I'm able to write in a sitting tends to fit together a lot better and finds it's naturally length more naturally. Not being able to edit is both a blessing and a curse though.

34: Roses - Favourite Shouted on the Spot
So, I was at work, and bored. I went for a walk to clear my head. Turns out near where I worked there was quite a nice forest trail. I ended up sitting on a bridge, and performing this one aloud on the spot. I then did so again. A few more times, and I thought I had it. I hurried back to work and typed it up as an email (poems look very different from code, and I kinda didn't want any work people to notice). It's probably the only non-rhyming one I'd ever be happy performing, though currently my only audience have been the trees. Ah well. Also, side note, the initials are a shout-out to a couple friend of mine, but I don't think they read this blog. But they would totally be the type I can imagine writing on trees. I did also have to kinda condense this down from the one I shouted, as I think I was going for a good few minutes before I noticed someone coming in the distance and got embarrassed.

5: The Nod - Favourite Non-Rhyming
I've always wanted to try branching into spoken word. Into just writing a paragraph so powerful it can be said aloud and still works. This is my best attempt at that (so far), though I'm still a little way off. The link actually goes through to a blog by a good friend of mine, where some more of my stuff my get linked to in future. He also managed to improve in a couple of ways the poem. This is why writing to a deadline is a bad idea, but I certainly couldn't have done this year without it.

48: Refuge - Favourite Message
This was originally written for an Oxfam poetry competition. Apparently it didn't fit the 'theme' they had in mind (though they were naturally very kind about it). This is about a very core belief of mine - that of charity. So I find it quite tough to write about, while giving it the respect it deserves. The fact I think I managed it here is why it's one of my favourites.

3: I Am But An Idea - Favourite Marker
The first poem I did where I was proud of it. It took a few attempts, but even though this one isn't as good as I'd like now, I still remember the satisfaction having written it, and thinking how much I liked it. A nice one to finish this post on. It really does show just how far I've come.

Thanks for reading. Really, I hope you liked it :)

#53 The Adventure

I remember when I started out, I was so naive
It was a seemingly innocent and quiet eve
I set out of my proverbial door
Not knowing the challenges the world had in store

So I braved monsters and demons
Stood toe to toe with the most sinister villains
I developed arch-enemies and other foes
But I also had friends, as is custom I suppose

But every time the challenge came my way
I thought back to that fateful day
I could have just stayed at home
Safe and cosy in a protective dome

I ask myself, why am I out here at all
As I'm being battered down and about to fall
After all, the challenge a was self-imposed risk
There was no need at all for me to do this

And the comfort is alluring, no doubt of that
I could just give up and fall down flat
Accept that the adventure is not my fate
That the danger has been getting too great

But, while all of that is certainly true
I have to look back at what I've gone through
I'm taller now. I have a clearer view
I can see exactly what I was trying to do.

Now, after so long in the wild, a choice appears
One that has filled all my hopes and fears
There's a path that circles back to comfort again
It seems so relaxing and free of pain

I mean, I can still journey out once in a while
Tell myself I can go just one mile
The marathon is just self abuse
It's an offer I find it tough to refuse

But another path branches off to the left
And of comforts it's very much bereft
It requires me to be unique - the monsters have learned
It might best me even with the skills that I've earned

With a sigh and an eye role, I head to the left side
I'm not sure why, it might just be pride
But screw it. What is life but for the battle?
Why do we exist if not to get rattled?

For why comforts are tempting, they're the reward of life
To earn them we have to fight hard and take on the strife
For to have taken on the world and still be able to stand
I can't help but feel that I've emerged a slightly better man

#52 A toast to Adulthood

Ladies and gentlemen. I bid you silence for a second.
Yes, I know, but it'll only take a second.
Come on, please? It's this type of thing I'm going to talk about.
Alright then. Ladies and gentlemen. Fill your glasses and raise them.
As I make a toast to adulthood.
And ignore the fact my glass is filled with milk. Focus.
This is important.

*ahem*

To. Adulthood.
That exact moment when we all became mature.
I hope you all remember where you were when it happened to you.
You were just walking along, jeans round ankles when suddenly, boom.
You pulled up your pants and walked briskly to the nearest store to purchase a pair of slacks.

That exact point where we woke up and realised we needed to apply for a job
Where we all realised there were 'young people' in the world
Where suddenly youth culture stopped making sense
When people instantaneously felt they could rely on us

When we realised how important responsibility was to us all.
When we were able to go to bed at 10 and wake up at 7 every day
When we realised late night parties were silly
And that exact moment when we realised there was nothing we liked better than doing the same thing each and every day, preferably for the next 50 years straight.

Where, just like our parents before us, we suddenly wanted to be sensible
Where, just like our teachers, fun was something that happened to others, and should therefore be squashed
Where you were suddenly aware what taxes were and how much you hated them
Adulthood. Where in an instant you changed into a functioning member of society.

Nah, I'm just kidding ya.

This is a toast to the slow gradual decline of childhood,
And the realisation that it's left adulthood behind for you as a parting gift.
To the slow appreciation that someone actually makes stuff work
That people have been working pretty hard around you your whole life

To understanding this world isn't all fun and games, as much as we'd still like it to be.
To knowing that you have to work a lot of it out yourself, and suddenly being aware that no one anywhere has any clue what they're doing.
To moving away from friends because you don't have time any more, but you'll find time again soon I'm sure.
To wondering how there could ever have been too much time in a day.

To adulthood being the realisation we are all alone.
And this toast is to adulthood. But it's a toast by many. For we have become alone together.
Which just might make it that much more bearable after all.

To adulthood.

#51 Planning

You can spend a lifetime planning
Where your lifetime's gonna go
You can spend a lifetime planning
All the things you're gonna know
You can spend a lifetime planning
Trying to decide just one decision
You can spend a lifetime planning
Finalising your grand life vision

And I know you

You're the sort of perfectionist
For whom the devil's in all details
For whom every plan has a plan
And plans for what those plans then entail

When your lifetime plan is done
And has been checked over twice
Then you can really start to be someone
Which I guess will be nice

But new surprises will come through
For all plans have their flaws
What then will you do
You who planned 'til you could plan no more

So here's what's up

Everything in life is a balance
And plans do indeed help life run by
But, there will always exist chance
On that you can rely

Sure the future is scary and unknown
And planning can help to that end
But no matter what fate has sewn
You still have to live in the present, my friend.

#50 Rebellion

He sits in his room and plots the world's demise

Through this musky gloom comes all light to his eyes

This darkened vision, this darkened sight

Unwelcome decisions taken in perpetual night

And this propagates, spawning new dilemmas and questions

But he's started this class and is determined to learn the lesson

There is a grandeur, and a certain amount of style

To dark this pure, as he sits and ponders a while

As he sees himself, stood on top of it all

Standing on the back of the world that he made fall

His plans have come to fruition, come to an end

He's a king with ambition, no more need now to pretend

He's been hiding himself so long, and his true potential

But now power courses through him in a manner almost sensual

And he can see everything else, stood in awe finally aware

Or exactly who it is they see standing there

They finally notice, they finally recognise

Too late the mist has been drawn from all their eyes

He can see himself now, finally who he deserves to be

This vision he sees through the dark with such clarity

Ah even the manic, the megalomaniac and king

Can be drawn asunder by even the simplest of things

He so focussed on his vision of being Lord of all

He's forgotten he needs a plan to make the Earth fall

He sees so far ahead he can't take a single step forward

He's stuck in the present, but if he can't help himself then who would

The grandest ambitions can lay waste to the greatest of men

As he sits forgets that life is an 'if' not a 'when'.

#49 Teaching Parallax

One of the sad facts about life is that you have to get older

One of the good facts in life is that we progress
When balanced together, it can seem irritating.
I'm turning it through in my head 'til my mind is a mess

Yet as I grow up and older, I'm forced a new angle on life
I can witness my perspectives slowly shift
So while sometimes this change can be truly devastating
Other times it can't help but be a gift

See, I remember back when I were a lad.
How I thought about education and about learning
And through the forced nostalgia of age
For that time again I'm initially yearning

Then I remember how I behaved. How I acted.
I remember all the embarrassing things that I've done
About yelling and screaming. About bullying and demeaning.
Oh, what it was to be young

See life was clearer back then.
It was binary, Boolean, in black and white
Good and evil were clearly determined
By who you'd got along with that night

And there was one evil clearer than any other
Standing clearly in front of us all
The teacher, controller of our fate and destiny
The teacher, standing so tall

That one who was forcing us to learn against our will
That one who couldn't understand who we were
That person who seemed heartless and cruel
That villain. That scoundrel. That cur.

And yet. And yet. The teacher isn't so tall these days
I'm starting to see life from that view
Looking back, I'll admit, I'm almost amazed,
At what we put our teachers through.

They're trying their best, in a thankless job,
The outsider just doing what they can
And to still impart knowledge, and lessons of life
Ain't an easy job for a man

So now I can see clearer, or at least in a different way
From how it was way back when
First, I want to firstly apologise
For how difficult I can't help but have made it back then

Second, be grateful, that this realisation
Came while I was still learning
Since the way I'm treating those trying to educate me in life
Is slowly but surely turning

And finally I give thanks
And gratitude most sincere, of that make no mistakes
To those who fought through
To teach and educate, for mine and for other's sakes

Who went the extra mile, to show me
That the teacher in class was a person too
And by that I mean, they're tired and flawed
A person like me or you

Yet still they show strength,
Trying to do their best each and every day
For their own reasons
Helping the tomorrow before they become today

So a repeated thanks to my teachers
And to my friends who are bravely choosing this as their career
It may have taken a while, but I assure you at last
You'll find gratitude and sympathy here.