Homonyms and Other Funky Words

There are many words that are written the same way but mean different things (a homograph. eg. wind blows, wind the clock). Then there are words that look different but sound the same (homonym. eg. eight and ate). This week we attempted to include examples of homonyms and homographs in our poems. A printed sheet of examples was very useful and the end result at times amusing! 



The Countrie Chicken Show

The latest Great Fowl of the Fair
Ate boar on a stick from his chair
The fare it was foul, it grated his bowel
As the public gave out a fine cheer

A test was made of his genes
at eight of the clock, so it seems
The jeans of the Marker grew darker and darker
as the Cockerel gave way at the seams

I shall not belabour this tale
The fowl is no more, I hear wail
The speech it was coarse
as they cooked him, of course
and that was the end of his tail

-Kate Jenkins


BALLS AND BALLS, AND DATES AND DATES...

She had a ball
at the ball
and then at the ball game.

Her date was polite
and gave her a call
to remind her of the time and date.

He rose to greet her
when she walked in the room
presenting her with a red rose.

He was definitely her type
as the letters he wrote her
were typed impeccably.

They played in the leaves
she knows she'll be sad
when he leaves for good.

- Christine Philp

Miraculous Poetry

This week one we had a guest poet, Vanessa Paton-Myers, lead our group. She brought along two inspirational quotes to inspire us:

The future belongs to those who believe in their dreams

Miracles happen to those who believe in them.



MIRACLES

Extraordinary
In the everyday
Smiles
And takes your breath away

A kind word
An act of grace
Eternity
In time and space

- Pauline




FUTURE

This sense of doom
A fore-shortened future
A long shadow
Falling forward
The sun
Behind

I know
Deep down
I know
And dream
Of something
Different

- Pauline




DREAMS, WHAT ARE THEY?

Dreams,
dreams,
what are they?
Something to aspire to?
Or something that's pointless cos I'll never get there anyway?

I wish I could dream
And hope
And fantasise of a better future,
Of being able to walk along the beach
Of travelling the world
Of making and selling enough art to live comfortably
Of writing a book, having it published, and sold.

Or maybe there's the dream
of being content with myself
with how I am
with who I am
with maybe even believing
that I'm ok as I am
that I'm `gud enuf'
I guess that's my true dream.

- Christine Philp

Stories in Verse

After one of our group attended a play written in verse, we decided to give writing a story in verse a try - with rhymes optional extras depending on the person. We generally used a story that we already knew well. Despite that it was challenging to say the least. Still some great writing was done!



FANTASY WORLD

You live inside a world of the mind
In a fantasy world in which truth is pined

I wish that in your haunted wood
Everything would turn out good

Although I know that in summer there is no snow
Yet still I feel cold and slow

Your world is orbiting round and round
Although I stay here on the ground

Alas what will we ever do
To make this story rich and new

Your mind is a book
Within which we look

I will read your fancies free
And I will always wait to be

The object of your mind
To be truthful and kind.

- M.F.




THE FIRST CUT

You are going away
and I wish you would stay

Although there were no if's and buts
Into your brain they'll be making cuts

I do not know what to say
To keep the men of science away

I know that soon
All will be quiet in the room

In which you walk
We dare not talk

Standing there in the rain
Carrying just half a brain

Yes, a zombie made by men
Your true self immortalised by your pen

A writer yes, a writer good
You never did what you should

Through your brain they dragged a knife
And made you a zombie for the rest of your life.

- M.F.

(the above two poems are inspired by Janet Frame's 'Owls Do Cry')




HERE COMES CHRISTMAS AGAIN

They left Palmerston North Railway on train number 626
All were excited, as the day was on the eve of Christmas

They packed the carriages all full and loaded baggage too
And the logo it did strongly pull, train 626 on through

When Ruapehu came in sight, its beauty was admired
But all aboard then took full fright, as 10:21 expired

The rail bridge, as the lahar crashed, was broken and washed down
And the loco downwards fell and smashed and carriages, six, did drown

So many died that Christmas Eve, one-sixtyone we hear
And Christmas 1953 was spent in grief and despair.

The mountain warning is now in place to protect the downstream travelers
But we remember Tangiwai as each Christmas Day approaches.

- Kate Jenkins

A narrowing field

What we write on can sometimes change what we write. At least that was the plan at today's writing session which involved decreasing widths of paper, forcing us to write in shorter sentences until we were writing only one or two per line. Each paper had a different topic. First was about Dunedin/Otepoti; second was about a character, person or statue; and third was about what made us feel good and gave us a sense of wellbeing. Big thanks to Karen for the concept!


Dunedin - Best Place to Live

I think of students down the north end.
Dunedin comes alive when they are here.
Quiet at Christmas holidays.
Then we get visitors who enjoy the beaches with the locals.
Depending on weather, sports teams play on Oval.
Scottish, Irish and English are Dunedin's heritage.
Now we have people living here
from all parts of the world.
Best place to live.

Gail


Feeling Good

Weather - seeing sun, smelling flowers.
View from top of hill anywhere,
Breathing fresh air.
Visiting with friends.
Animals love me no matter what I do.
Going to Artsenta.
Having an aqua jog at Moana Pool then hot shower.
Heaven

Gail

I Feel Good

Sunshine
Ocean
Splashing
Hills
Trees
Flowers
People
Animals
Love
Friendship
Family
Walking
Out
Food
Music

Gail

Peter Pan

Young boy stands proud in the gardens.
Children climb on him,
Birds sit on him.
Peter Pan
Friend to all
Story book friend
Saves Wendy from Captain Hook.
Looks after the lost boys,
Our hero.

The Unexpected

Life often throws up unexpected situations. A weather event, a trip, a gift or old friend. It can be positive or negative and sometimes what appears a negative at first can become a positive once we settle down to dealing with the situation. And so it turned out at Writer's Group, with the usual staff member away, the group turned to their own resources to keep the session going. Hence the theme for this session - the unexpected!

THE UNEXPECTED

The unexpected

Takes you

By surprise

It turns around and

Spits directly 

In your eyes

It says ha ha!

I fooled you again!

Not once, but twice

See how you like that

It's not very nice!

The unexpected 

Seems to say

Not your will but mine

Will be done today!

The unexpected

Can leave you feeling

Lost, abandoned

And somewhat reeling

The unexpected

Leaves you knowing

Nothing is certain...

- Pauline

THE EXPECTED

Sinister

Invisibly

Colouring everything

Enemy of the moment

Unadorned

By the past

Ghosts of childhood 

Revisited

- Pauline

THE UNEXPECTED

I was going along nicely,
- Washing done
- Job application in
- Paper read
- Phone calls answered
All points bulleted and ticked off,

when the door bell rang
    Missionaries?
    Real estate agents?
    Fundraising school kids?
    Politicians?
    ... family??

I open slowly the sticking door
Hello.
  Hello?
    HELLO?

No.
  No one
    Nobody, nil, nada
      Nothing to see
 No one to talk to

- Kate Jenkins




THE EXPECTED

I thought I had time planned
not Life itself, but bits and pieces
job, retirement, popping off
all bits of Being on life's horizon
but formatted, calculated, analysed
and endlessly (endlessly) thought about
pondered, cogitated, ruminated

So I'm told I over think things
that I should just jump in...
...but what if there's a hard landing?
a trip, a fall, a mental blip?
Should I take a leap of faith...
...but where did God go?
Should I float on a wind...
...that could become a gale?

I like the expected, it's warmth, comfort
with occasional planned excursions
Because every now and then I like to
ride the gale, commune with God
and follow a thought less spoken

- Kate Jenkins

Vertical Word Play

Today Christine led our writing group, choosing to revisit a session on acrostic poems. These use words written vertically down a page with the poem flowing from, or dictated by, each letter. We started out with the most obvious word, Artsenta, and then moved on to random words chosen from a box. Ideally the poem would explore or reflect the word that we chose in some way. As always it is interesting to see the way different people tackle it. There's no one right way to do this (or anything?).



Artistic awareness
Reels you in
Tremoring with colour
Seductively
Enticing
Never dull
Triumphantly shouting
Art




Arriving at an art space
Ready to make and create
Thinking about transforming matter
Sort of like a mad scientist or magician
Except it's about beauty and it's
Not always easy
There's practice and patience
And lot's of artistic license!




Artistic creativity will become the
Recognition of your activity, it is
There but disguised before your eye of detail
Sensing pride within your
Emotional sensations to your own pathway of exploring your
Neutral self-esteem of expressions, your
Thoughts can show significant exposure within your own
Artistic world




Artistically created
Rough edges
Tenderly smoothed
Stumped
Empty of ideas
Nothing coming
Turmoil
Aaargh!!




A
Rough
Time
Smoothing
Edges
Noting
The
Aesthetic

Pet Loves

Almost everyone has had a pet, had one in the family, or encountered one in their wider whanau circle. They often generate strong emotions, to the point where tears almost smudge the writing (for one of our writers at least!). But joy is ever present when it comes to pets which was the topic of our writing today.


A WALKING CARPET

From the corner of my eye I see ...
movement, on the floor
grey shadow
tapering 10 inch length
wool fibre curling, waving
lint and dusty debris walking
swiveling, swirling

1 right foot swivels forward
toes extended, grip the carpet
body flexing
2 left foot swivels forward
toes extended, grip the carpet
and somewhere under fibre and dust
3 left foot follows 1 right and
4 right foot follows jerkily with 2 left
wide mouth opens with two fat lips
tiny teeth
dinosaur-like tail follows S-bending
Migrating from your pool
should not be over carpet!
I put you back in the tank Axolotl.

- Kate Jenkins




BIRTHDAY BOX

my eleventh birthday
I tell my parents that if they really loved me
they would get me a  dog

walking towards a paper carton
my heart thumping in my chest

suddenly the black object in the box yelps
I turn and run
the next few months are terror

you chase me and my sister along the carpet
while we stand screaming
on the couch

then you got bigger
and you jumped up beside me
and so we became friends

I remember your quirks
20 x bigger than our guinea pigs
and you still reacted with terror

I still remember the day the cat
swiped your nose
and won the fight

dragging me through the streets
I spent hours with you whilst you
pulled me uphill and down dale

the night you protected me in north east valley
saving me from a person
who might not have had the best intentions

of all my pets
rats, mice, guinea pigs, cats and dogs

you were my protector and friend
always love you
missing you heaps

- M.F.




MR RIGGINS

He’s a ginger furry cat
I met him when I visited my Aunty
He is fun to be around
He is named Mr Riggins
He loves to follow everyone around
He never likes being left alone
He likes to take naps on a fluffy pillow
He meows a lot meaning he loves his food
When you’re around Mr. Riggins
It's like you’ve gone to another world of happiness and fun
Even if you leave for a few minutes then come back
Mr Riggins comes crawling back to you
Meowing madly
Mr Riggins is a very cute cat
Every time I am with him
He makes me wish that I had
A cute kitty cat just like
Mr Riggins


- Julia Godfrey

GERI

I don't own you!

Terror drove you to my door

Or rather, to the loft above

A safe place

A haven

From the neighbour's dog

Hunted

Time and time again

You sought refuge.

One day

Miaowing plaintively

You let me know!

How thin you were!

Too afraid to eat from your usual place

Caught between two worlds

Danger and safety

Now I feed you

And love has grown

Slowly

Imperceptibly

You found me.

 - Pauline

DIXIE

Cocker Spaniel

Brown and black

Floppy ears

- a target for Ted!

Slowly plodding

Up the hill

Not fast

Not slow

Just constant

And constantly beguiling

Accepting

Philosophical even

Confident

She was loved.

Pretending somnolence

When night-time

Call-to-kennel came

Huge paws

Sliding forwards

In resistance

Farewell!

- Pauline