I don’t usually post poems on a Saturday,  but yesterday as I did the Poetry Friday rounds, I came across Laura Shovan’s  February Poetry Project prompts and  decided that it was time I had a go at some.

The project offers a different prompt each day for the month, and the idea is to try to create a daily writing habit, even if only for the month, and of course to be inspired or challenged by the prompts.

The prompt for February First was ‘Bodies Dance’ and included three youtube dance clips.  I was especially inspired by the third of these, a scene from the movie White Nights. What I noticed was the way the two characters start to dance, a bit out of synch and then, gradually, their timing comes together.  That led to this poem:

Partners

I move this way

You do too

I do me

and you do you

and as we dance

and our eyes link

our movements meld

till they’re in synch.

We dance in tune

we dance in time

like a song we’re singing

like a poem we rhyme.

No one here

to stop and see

as you do you

and I do me.

(Poem copyright Sally Murphy 2021)

 

The February 2 prompt, provided by Tricia Stohr Hunt was ‘Hands’ and, almost without having to stop and think, I started writing about my mum’s hands. I hope she doesn’t mind.

Hands

My mother’s hands

show signs of age

as if the years

of care

of toil

of wisdom

are written

on skin folds

and spots

and scars.

My granddaughter’s hands

show no such signs

instead

smooth

and plump

and kissable

but I hope

that they, too,

will one day

show signs

of a life well lived.

(Poem copyright Sally Murphy 2021)

Thanks Laura for the prompts. If you want to have a go, you can head to Laura’s blog, and you’ll see the other prompts added each day over the month.  I’m off to see if I can catch up on the other prompts.