Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Tag: #livepoetsclub

2019 Poetry Challenge Wrap Up

Hooray! I made it!

I can't believe it's the end of the 2019 Poetry Challenge. There were many times when I wanted to chuck the whole thing. There were times when I thought it would never end. And then towards the end I wanted to slow down time and really get into writing each and every poem. It turns out I didn't want it to end after all! Oh how contrary we humans can be. Not wanting something while it's happening and then desperately wanting it back once it's over.

I am so pleased I stuck with it and so grateful to the 52 people who sent me 260 words between them which I then turned into 52 poems of varying quality. It was great to work with words I normally don't even think about or take for granted or had to look up.

Thank you beautiful friends and folks on Instagram for sending me your words and sharing this project with me. What a ride!

January 6, 2020
Poetry Challenge – Week Fifty-Two

Week 52 words from @ninthwavedesigns: acorn, interpretation, visualise, palpitations and stone.

visualise an acorn

with its elvish hat

deep within that tiny seed

lies a whole tree

waiting to sprout

my heart had hardened

turned to stone

but even granite can weep

first came the palpitations

then a crack in the surface

finally, release

what you make of it

is open to interpretation

~~~~

Here are the words and my poem for the fifty-second week of the 2019 Poetry Challenge.

Week 52. Did someone say week 52? I can't believe it's finally here. I did it people! I haven't hit celebration or nostalgia yet, I'm still at disbelief. Hard to believe it's the last week and this is the last time I'll be posting a poem for the 2019 Poetry Challenge.

Writing this poem, I thought eek! when I read the words. So disparate and not what I would normally use in a poem, which is the whole point of the exercise after all. On the morning I wrote the poem I looked at the words, freaked out again and went to fold papers while listening to a podcast. When I came back to the words this poem began to take shape. The first stanza, then the last and finally the middle.

As I was writing this poem I was also collating the other 52 poems and my thoughts on the process into a single document. It was interesting to chart my journey from start to finish and see where it had taken me. Early on I was naturally full of enthusiasm and thinking a lot about the process, my thoughts and feelings. As time went on, I could see my energy flagging and my involvement with the challenge became perfunctory. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could carry our initial enthusiasm for things right through until the end? Of course everything has its season, even enthusiasm and the other emotions are also valid and part of the process.

It was wonderful to read through the comments because it reminded me of my initial excitement and gave me the cue to really enjoy the process of writing this poem. To focus on the words and the beauty of playing with language. Time to write is a luxury I have eked out for myself. As I write this I am sitting at the kitchen table and the sun has barely risen above the horizon. My daughters are still asleep so I can write uninterrupted.

I am so pleased I have returned to this method of expression, to this craft. Thank you for joining me on this journey and for your encouraging messages.

(I'm not the most subtle person on the planet and have always preferred direct action to navel gazing. That way lies morbidity and depression.)

A huge thanks also goes out to the 52 lovely people who sent me 5 random words and helped me in my quest to become a better poet. You know what they say – it takes a community to grow a poet. Well actually I just made up the saying but I believe every last word of it.

If you want to join the 2019 Poetry Challenge it's your very last chance. Write a poem using this week's words and head on over to Instagram and post it. Be sure to tag me and use the hashtags #2019poetrychallenge and #livepoetsclub.

Happy writing!

January 3, 2020
Poetry Challenge – Week Fifty-One

Week 51 words from @melizarani: lemon, owl, torrent, cower and sting.

the sting of her words

is a lash of raw hide

and the acid of her bile

a torrent of vitriol

flooding my lungs

I cower from their truth

as the lemon seeps

into the cuts

bitter on my tongue

no wing of owl's wisdom

no beat of tree's heart

no kiss of wind's breath

no feathers. no leaves

no air

no, not here

~~~~

Here are the words and my poem for the fifty-first week of the 2019 Poetry Challenge.

This one was easy until I got to the word owl. All the others fit in neatly with what I was trying to say but squeezing in a bird was a bit tricky. I can't believe there's only one week left of the Challenge.

If you want to join the 2019 Poetry Challenge, head on over to my Instagram account (@indraniperera) where I post the words for the week on Mondays (mostly) in my story. Write a poem and post it. Be sure to tag me and use the hashtags #2019poetrychallenge and #livepoetsclub.

If you don't want to write a poem, you can still be part of the 2019 Poetry Challenge. Send me five random words and I'll use them in a poem. Either DM me on Instagram with the words or send me an email (indrani at indraniperera dot com).

Happy writing!

December 27, 2019
Poetry Challenge – Week Fifty

Week 50 words from @jus.warner: necessary, hands, naive, true and daydream.

she hands me a daydream

a world in which we can be kind

where what is true

and what is necessary

don't have to be

on opposite sides

is it naive of me

to believe in the dream?

~~~~

Here are the words and my poem for the fiftieth week of the 2019 Poetry Challenge.

When I receive the words for the week on Instagram, I write them down at the top of a piece of paper along with the number of the week and the sender's name. Underneath is where I begin to scratch out what will become the poem for the week. After a while it gets to the stage where the paper is all messy with crossed out bits, arrows all over the place and scribbles in the margins. At this stage, I transfer the whole mess to the computer so I can see it all clearly again. Rarely, I will write the whole poem on my phone.

As I was writing down the words for this week I was struck by their order. I'm not sure what goes through the sender's mind or if they already have an association that affects the order. But the order in which they come definitely affects the associations that begin to occur in my mind as I write the words down on paper. Similar words pair together and the poem starts to take shape.

If you want to join the 2019 Poetry Challenge, head on over to my Instagram account (@indraniperera) where I post the words for the week on Mondays (mostly) in my story. Write a poem and post it. Be sure to tag me and use the hashtags #2019poetrychallenge and #livepoetsclub. If you're not on Instagram, post your finished poem in the comments below so we can all read your masterpiece.

If you don't want to write a poem, you can still be part of the 2019 Poetry Challenge. Send me five random words and I'll use them in a poem. Either DM me on Instagram with the words or send me an email (indrani at indraniperera dot com).

Happy writing!

December 20, 2019
Poetry Challenge – Week Forty-Nine

Week 49 words from @jennifer_atyrrell: smoke, tears, gum, grey and golden.

the bush is alight

the gum trees are on fire

the animals are fleeing

their paws burning on scorched earth

their feathers melting in molten sky

the sun is no longer golden

the mountain wears a shawl of smoke

a choking mist of grey

ash falls from the heavens

a hundred miles away

our hands are burning

our tears are falling

our world is burning

we are burning

and in our hands –

the match we struck

~~~~

Here are the words and my poem for the forty-ninth week of the 2019 Poetry Challenge.

This is my first attempt at writing this poem. When I say first attempt I mean this is the result of the first idea I had for this poem. There were lots of scribbles and false starts to get to this point.

After writing it I had another idea, inspired by this piece by Emilie Collyer. I was very drawn to the way in which she juxtaposed her cancer with a political figure. Unfortunately I'm still figuring out how to make the idea work.

If you want to join the 2019 Poetry Challenge, head on over to my Instagram account (@indraniperera) where I post the words for the week on Mondays (mostly) in my story. Write a poem and post it. Be sure to tag me and use the hashtags #livepoetsclub and #2019poetrychallenge.

If you don't want to write a poem, you can still be part of the 2019 Poetry Challenge. Send me five random words and I'll use them in a poem. Either DM me on Instagram with the words or send me an email (indrani at indraniperera dot com).

Happy writing!

December 13, 2019
Poetry Challenge – Week Forty-Eight

Week 48 words from @jcsangil00: wood, spoon, beach, drift and knife.

with knife carve words from wood

with spoon eke joy from pain

with knife and spoon

with joy and pain

eke and carve

carve and eke

swirl with the eddies

drift with the current

beach on the shore

spent

~~~~

Here are the words and my poem for the forty-eighth week of the 2019 Poetry Challenge.

The words are from a talented spoon carver and the challenge I set myself was to come up with something fresh and original. To take the poem somewhere surprising and unexpected. I'm not entirely sure if I succeeded but it was certainly fun trying!

If you want to join the 2019 Poetry Challenge, head on over to my Instagram account (@indraniperera) where I post the words for the week on Mondays (mostly) in my story. Write a poem and post it. Be sure to tag me and use the hashtags #2019poetrychallenge and #livepoetsclub.

If you don't want to write a poem, you can still be part of the 2019 Poetry Challenge. Send me five random words and I'll use them in a poem. Either DM me on Instagram with the words or send me an email (indrani at indraniperera dot com).

Happy writing!

December 6, 2019
Poetry Challenge – Week Forty-Seven

Week 47 words from @green_woodsmith: integrity, electric, celebrate, joy and sage.

welcome joy

celebrate life

sing off key

dance in public

be a flash mob of one

it's electric

and contagious

you don't need a sage

preaching from the stage

all you need to do

is set your inner child free

trust me, your integrity is fine

and who needs dignity anyway?

~~~~

Here are the words and my poem for the forty-seventh week of the 2019 Poetry Challenge.

I usually get to the end of the week and start dreading the poem I have to write. It's my impatience talking. It wants me to churn out the perfect poem, first time, every time. This week I had a little chat to my impatience and told it to pull its head in. It'll about the process I said. We're going to enjoy the process of creating a poem this week so back in your box.

If you want to join the 2019 Poetry Challenge, head on over to my Instagram account (@indraniperera) where I post the words for the week on Mondays (mostly) in my story. Write a poem and post it. Be sure to tag me and use the hashtags #2019poetrychallenge and #livepoetsclub.

If you don't want to write a poem, you can still be part of the 2019 Poetry Challenge. Send me five random words and I'll use them in a poem. Either DM me on Instagram with the words or send me an email (indrani at indraniperera dot com).

Happy writing!

November 29, 2019
Poetry Challenge – Week Forty-Six

Week 46 words from @haiku_cats: soft, deception, coy, shrewd and compassion.

there's no sleight of hand

or conjurer's trick

with the soft, silk scarves

or a coy assistant

being sawn in half

no, the only deception

being practiced here

is self delusion

watched with shrewd eyes

and a twinge of compassion

~~~~

Here are the words and my poem for the forty-sixth week of the 2019 Poetry Challenge.

The poem is my second attempt at this week's words. Sometimes I can get it in one go if I've had time to think about the words. Other times it takes agonising days of squeezing words out of stone. The process wasn't too bad this week although I have a nagging thought that I could do better if I gave myself time. No matter – publish before you're ready and all that so here it is.

If you want to join the 2019 Poetry Challenge, head on over to my Instagram account (@indraniperera) where I post the words for the week on Mondays (mostly) in my story. Write a poem and post it. Be sure to tag me and use the hashtags #2019poetrychallenge and #livepoetsclub.

If you don't want to write a poem, you can still be part of the 2019 Poetry Challenge. Send me five random words and I'll use them in a poem. Either DM me on Instagram with the words or send me an email (indrani at indraniperera dot com).

Happy writing!

November 22, 2019
Poetry Challenge – Week Forty-Five

Week 45 words from @smart_graphy: orange, newspaper, cold, wasteland and suicide.

suicide has never been an option

not when the newspaper is filled

with cataclysmic catastrophes

and despair dogs my steps

not even when the cold wind blows

though the wasteland

littered with my bones

no suicide has never been an option

because there is always

the magnificent

orange, pink, purple

of dawn's new day

~~~~

Here are the words and my poem for the forty-fifth week of the 2019 Poetry Challenge.

The writing of this week's poem was somewhat overshadowed by technical issues I was having in getting my online graphic design program to work. Luckily while my conscious mind was trying to jump through all the technical hoops, the lovely old subconscious was working away on the important stuff. Hooray for the subconscious!

If you want to join the 2019 Poetry Challenge, head on over to my Instagram account (@indraniperera) where I post the words for the week on Mondays (mostly) in my story. Write a poem and post it. Be sure to tag me and use the hashtags #2019poetrychallenge and #livepoetsclub.

If you don't want to write a poem, you can still be part of the 2019 Poetry Challenge. Send me five random words and I'll use them in a poem. Either DM me on Instagram with the words or send me an email (indrani at indraniperera dot com).

Happy writing!

November 15, 2019
Poetry Challenge – Week Forty-Four

Week 44 words from @stephaniegotzepoetry: clover, font, mesmerise, collapse and pine.

I want to make a font

I'm going to call it clover

I'll collapse the serifs

emphasise the downstroke

add a waft of pine

voila!

designed to mesmerise

~~~~

Here are the words and my poem for the forty-fourth week of the 2019 Poetry Challenge.

It was hard to come back home from my fabulous road trip and knuckle down to the daily routine. Making time to write this poem was particularly challenging with all my other competing priorities. The ones like washing the dishes and cleaning the house that I didn't have to worry about while I was travelling. But write it I did although I have doubts people. Many doubts about this one.

If you want to join the 2019 Poetry Challenge, head on over to my Instagram account (@indraniperera) where I post the words for the week on Mondays (mostly) in my story. Write a poem and post it. Be sure to tag me and use the hashtags #2019poetrychallenge and #livepoetsclub.

If you don't want to write a poem, you can still be part of the 2019 Poetry Challenge. Send me five random words and I'll use them in a poem. Either DM me on Instagram with the words or send me an email (indrani at indraniperera dot com).

Happy writing!

November 8, 2019