An excellent birthday gift!

It's my birthday today and my sister bought me this set of "Haikubes" - essentially, role the dice, pick your words, et voila!

The red words give your direction and theme (these are 2 dice), the rest are words.

A great tool for writer's block or just something to spark imagination.

Anyhoo, here's today's roll/cube pick:

Between dreaming, a

precious moonlight quickly calls

into which she rides

Not sure where she got them from but found a place that sells them if you wanted to read more about them.

Walking through town with a dolphin by Suzie Pearson

No-one bats an eye

One kid,
ONE!
calls out “nice dolphin”
We look at each other,
laugh at the moment

Should I be surprised?
This is a town where we’ve seen
        a coati on a lead,
        a ferret on a string,
        and an eight foot green dragon running the streets

Nowt as queer as folks, I guess

First appeared: https://wordsfromanotebook.com/walking-through-town-with-a-dolphin/

-----

I wrote this after carrying a large toy dolphin from low town to high town to donate to one of the charity shops, and the absurdity of the visual stuck with me. You need to have lived in Bridgnorth to know!

Person with beard by Suzie Pearson

A love poem

believe it or not.

To ‘person with beard’

(or so alt text says).

A solid presence

A grumpy sod

A giggling school boy

(at least when cartoons are on)

A great cook

A being much tidier than me

A considerate soul.

Our child named you Beard Face.

And why not?

Love you, Beard Face

First appeared on my website: https://wordsfromanotebook.com/person-with-beard/

Cinders and cinnamon

Pic: Pixabay

Sounds like the perfect scent of a candle
Except, all I can think about is that time I tried a new Paul Hollywood recipe,
promising the most luscious bake witnessed this side of the ocean.
Following the steps
Religiously
Studiously
Not veering off course
Letting it rest and chill, and rise, and all that baking goodness
At the precise moment, delivering the tray to the oven

With as much reverence as one might deliver a tray of jewels
With the same care as a brand new parent with their new child

Carefully, slowly.

Repetitive strain endured to set the appropriate minutes on the timer.
Miss it, and you go round again
By the time you get the right number, you question…
How long has it been in the oven now?

So you wait a bit longer, and a bit longer, just for luck
You peer through the glass, that you forgot to clean
Impossible to tell from here

At last, the time has arrived
The shrill beeps herald insistently

Approaching the oven, very much as a
bomb disposal team might approach their target
I gingerly lift out the tray

Knowing somewhere I got it wrong
as I’m faced with a tray of cinders and cinnamon




First published on: https://wordsfromanotebook.com/cinders-and-cinnamon/

It’s just a barn by Suzie Pearson

The building looms ominously

It’s just a barn

Locked

Peer through pale blue curtains

Straining to hear whispers, see hints of movement

Trying to make sense of it

A puzzle made of smoke and mirrors

Grasping at meaning

Needing a key to unlock it

But it’s just a barn

=======

I wrote this after the 'I met a psychic once' poem.

The pale blue curtains are a reference to her penchant for wearing that colour. I was trying to convey a sense of how we try and interpret what we see /hear with deeper meaning...but maybe sometimes it IS what is says in the tin.

It really IS just a barn.

https://wordsfromanotebook.com/its-just-a-barn/

Plaza Prizes : Various competion

Plaza Prizes - Various writing competitions

Web /details: https://theplazaprizes.com/ 

Competitions:

• First Chapters
• Short story (2500 words)
• Short story (5000 words)
• Audio story
• Poetry (20 lines max)
• Poetry (40 lines max)
• Poetry (60 lines max)
• Prose poetry
• Audio poetry

Various closing dates, so check it's not passed yet.

Check the rules too, as some of these allow poems that have been put online and/or self published.

Poetry competition

Cafe Writers Poetry competition - now open

Web / info: https://www.cafewriters.co.uk/home/poetry-competition/

Deadline for entries 30th November.

Usual type of rules - 40 lines (exc stanza breaks etc), not previously published (on or offline)

(photo from https://www.pexels.com/@pixabay/ )

Ironbridge Poetry Competition

Photo by Judit Peter on pexels.com

After seeing the email from Liz / John about the Wenlock Olympian Short Story Competition, I thought I'd share another local competition - this time, it's Ironbridge
https://pandemonialists.co.uk/ironbridge-poetry-competition-2024/

Make note of the rules, including the not published elsewhere bit (print or online), so if you write a good 'un, don't post it on here!!

Sounds of Summer by Suzie Pearson

It’s here at last Time to tilt up the chin Close the eyes Breathe in scents of freshly cut grass, the fragrance of an emerging bloom, lunches taken outside The auditory canal waiting  for the sweet song of Mother Nature

The roar and buzz of the mower The whine and crackle of the strimmer The clanking and crashing of plates Shouts and screams of the kids next door Shouts and screams of their parents Their argument captivating a neighbourhood.  An incessant cacophony of engines, out to impress Pumping, bass heavy tunes Not my choice of a soundtrack for summer

Desperately jamming in the earphones Finding a soothing track with bird song, and babbling brooks, and a gentle breeze

Hoping that underneath it all, there is a still the whisper of summer

first published on wordsfromanotebook.com/sounds-of-summer

Congratulations Suzie!

See page 53 for Suzie's poem selected for this anthology celebrating 2024's National Poetry Month.

Congratulations from us all and well done!!

Copies are available on Amazon:

https://amzn.eu/d/5VFSrCv

and more of Suzie's poetry can be found on Instagram at

Suzie Pearson (@wordsfromanotebook) • Instagram photos and videos

If I named a star for you by Suzie Pearson

If I named a star for you

What would it be?

Would it be right …

… significant enough?

What’s in a name.

Celestial grandeur

A literal beacon of light

Guiding those below

 

A name to inspire

A name with gravitas

Probably why Latin is popular

We point excitedly to the sky

“Look dear, can you see that new star?

It’s called Bobus Smithus.”