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 :)
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