(I’m attempting to produce this blog post using the new editor. I’ll let you know how it goes – ie: whether I give up and revert to the old one, as I did last time.)
12 poems in a year
I’ve joined a challenge to write twelve poems in twelve months on https://12shortstories.com/poetry/
This is an offshoot of the Twelve Short Stories challenge which has been running for some time, organised by Amanda Patterson of Writers Write website at https://writerswrite.co.za/
It’s free to join, and isn’t a competition. The challenge is to post a new poem of your own on a given theme on a specific day each month. Members are asked to comment on a minimum of four poems posted by other writers
As you will know if you’ve read any of my verse on here, I don’t have a poetic bone in my body, but I can rhyme and count syllables. Perhaps after a year of consorting with proper poets online, something will rub off.
The theme for February was ‘My Call’ and this was my entry…
My Call
I’m heading home down Turpin Street when out steps Billy James:
a shambling hulk who’s in our class and trips me up in Games.
I’ve tossed my ball into the air and now it’s heading down.
His paw deflects it from above to catch on the rebound.
“That’s mine,” I shout, and then his mum appears in their front hall.
“I’ll toss you for it,”Billy says.
“But…” I say, “it’s my ball.”
Eyes narrow and he whispers, “It’s my street.”
I back away
and look towards his mum, who smiles.
She thinks it’s all child’s play.
I take my lucky penny out; it shines like hope renewed.
“I’ll toss,” says Billy. “No,” says I, though shaking in my shoes.
“You wouldn’t give it back,” I say avoiding his hard stare.
I call out, “Heads or tails?” and send it spinning in the air.
My nervous fumbling nearly drops it – that would be disaster.
It’s sandwiched now between my hands. My heart is beating faster.
“Heads,” he calls, dispelling my last fear – it never fails.
Slow thinkers opt for heads.
My double-penny has two tails.
Comments were very kind.
So, you see, you don’t have to be a Wordsworth nor yet a Pam Ayres to contribute.
Styles on the website are very mixed. The challenge for April is to write a sonnet.
Entries must be posted on 3rd of April – not before or after – so you have plenty of time to work on your poem.
Let me know if you take up the 12 poems challenge and I’ll look out for you next month.
~~~
I completed this post on the Gutenberg editor, but to do what I wanted I had to resort to the Classic block that offers the toolbar from the old editor. Which begs the question, why change – but what do I know?
I couldn’t add my pictures where I wanted them, but that’s always been a challenge. With luck it will all take less time at my next attempt.
Writing Wrinkles, and Random Ramblings 
Hahaha…two tails. A good one!
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I thoroughly enjoyed this poem and the unexpected ending! Nicely done!
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Glad you enjoyed it. Brain over brawn every time (if only…)
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Very fun poem. I have stuck with the old WordPress. I decided not to bother with Gutenberg at the moment.
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Glad you enjoyed it.
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I love your piece for February, very different & intriguing. An interesting challenge, too – looking forward to see your entry for next month! 😀
Caz xx
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Glad you liked it. I’ll probably post them all after they’ve been up for the month on 12 poems – but don’t expect anything poetic.
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I like the poem–clever! The only thing that throws me with this new editor is inserting a picture gallery. The gallery will look fine on my website, but the pictures are 1. too big and 2. filed into a bullet point list when viewing my post with a gallery in the WordPress reader. Ugh! Who put images in a bullet point list!
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That’s something I haven’t needed to try. I haven’t tried inserting pictures into a Classic block either, come to that. I wonder if that would work?
I’ve noticed that if I insert two Classic blocks, one after the other, WordPress will merge them into a single block, even if one line was a new header (You can’t just change colour of a Header Block. I tried with the colour control in the RH panel, but couldn’t get the same shade twice – perhaps I could if I copied and pasted that reference it gives)
Would Gutenberg allow more than one image together in one Classic block, I wonder? or both text and image? Something else I’ll have to find time to try before the old version gets turned off.
I can see my future posts all being composed in a single Classic block – just like the old editor.
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Reblogged this on LIVING THE DREAM.
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HI CTHY, I HOPE YOU ARE WELL. I HAVE FOUND THE AMOUNT OF IDEAS I WRITE COMES TO ME IN THE EARLY HOURS AND I HAVE NO CONTROL ON THE AMOUNT OF WORK I TURN OUT. MY NEW BOOK ‘BRITAIN IN ITS DARKEST HOURS’ IS AVAILABLE NOW AND I COULD SEND YOU A FRR COPY.
I GAVE UP ON WRITING CRIME DRAMA AND COMEDY BOOKS AS THEY DIDN’T SELL AND SO NOW CONCENTRATE ON SCRIPTS FOR THE BBC.
I ENJOYED READING YOUR WORK, WELL DONE, CHINA
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Thanks for the plug. I’d be happy to read your book. I tried scriptwriting but found it hard to fill enough minutes. In contrast, I find it equally challenging to edit short stories down to conform to competition wordcounts. There must be a happy medium somewhere.
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KEEP DANCING CATHY, CHINA
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