sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Poems that Make Me Tingle #3

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When I was a child, we had a set of World Book Encyclopaedias which had a matching set of books for children, called Childcraft,   about all kinds of things. One of these was a collection of poetry, and I spent a lot of time reading and rereading this volume.  Not only can I still picture it, but I can still smell that book whenever I think of it.

Anyway, there were many poems in that book which I loved, but possibly my absolute favourite was this one:

 

The Purple Cow

by Gelett Burgess

I never saw a purple cow

I never hope to see one

But I can tell you, anyhow

I’d rather see than be one.

 

Why did this poem make me tingle? I suspect it was a combination of things – the absurdity, the ease with which I could remember it, and the illustration which accompanied it, a photo of a stunningly purple cow.

Apparently this poem, first published in 1895 went on to become the most quoted poem of the twentieth century. So obviously I wasn’t alone in loving this poem.

Another zeno

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Earlier this week I posted a zeno about my sore back. (If you don’t know what a zeno is, read this post over at Today’s Little Ditty, but the chief characteristics are the syllable count (8,4,2,1,4,2,1,4,2,1 and the way the one syllable lines must all rhyme).

I said at the time that once I’d written one I would probably write more, and I was right.  Here’s another.

 

The Puppy

We have a new pup, Theodore.

He’s a little

Murphpup

Murphpup, who is NOT the dog in the poem.

ball of

fluff.

We all love his

tiny

wuff

but not the way

he chews

stuff.

(Sally Murphy, 2014)

 

When was the last time you tried your hand at writing a poem? Why not try a zeno, for Michelle’s challenge, or just for yourself?

Poems can come from anywhere

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I’m sitting in my chair, with a heat pack on my shoulder, ruing the fact that something as simple as send my back into a spasm. But all is not lost! See, not only did I already have a physio appointment for today, meaning the shoulder will get worked on nice and quickly, but the yawn injury also, magically, gave me an idea for a poem.

Ever since I read an interview with J. Patrick Lewis on a blog called Today’s Little Ditty, I’ve been wanting to try my hand at writing a Zeno, a deceptively simple poetic from, the rules of which are also explained in that post.

So, while my heat pack warmed, I picked up my notebook, and when I sat down with the pack on my back, waiting for it to work, I decided it was time to draft that poem. What came out what this:

 

Ouch

I put my back out when I yawned

Now I’m feeling

Really

Sore.

I wish I knew

Some way

For

Never yawning

Any

More.

 

Okay, it’s not the world’s best poem (or, more specifically, Zeno), but it’s a start. And my back is feeling better already. And I suspect that now that I’ve written one. I’ll be writing more.

 

Have a great day.

 

Tag – Rebecca’s It

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I may be about to head off to Canberra, but I managed to find this morning to tag my lovely friend Rebecca Newman in out game of Poetry Tag.

How it works is I give Rebecca some random words, chosen from my magnetic poetry kit, and challenge her to use them all in a poem. It can be any form, length and topic, but she must include the words I’ve given her. The words I’ve given her today are:

DSCF2682

I can’t wait to see what she comes up with. Then, when she’s posted her result, it will be her turn to give me a set of words to incorporate into a poem of my own. Last time she gave me:

 

Words for Sally

The poem I wrote using these three words was this:

Sing

I sing

of a courageous tree

which struggles on

beside the sea

in spite of wind

and waves

and sand

perched

betwixt ocean and land.

 

I sing

of snail

that battles on

though winter’s rains

are so long gone

and shelters

waiting

in fragile shell.

How long

till rain

he cannot tell.

 

I sing

of you

embattled child

whose land

and life

have been defiled.

Who seeks new home

new hope

new place

Yet languish now

in no-man-s space.

 

I sing

to tell the world you’re there.

I sing

to let you know I care.

And like that tree

and like that snail

I sing in hopes

you will prevail.

 

I sing for you

young refugee

in hopes one day

you will be free.

 

I really enjoy this challenge – it’s a fun way to get writing and to share the poetry  journey with a friend.

Poetree

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The theme for this week’s 52-week Illustration Challenge is trees. I found this one a little easier than last week, but took a while to figure out how to present it. Hope you like the finished product.

 

 

A Poem: The Machine

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The topic for  for this week’s  52-week Illustration Challenge is Machinery. SO here’s my picture-in-words for the topic.

 

The Machine

 

It is big

It is exciting

Captivating and inviting

But I just have to ask

What is it for?

 

It’s got bits

Clicking and whirring

Go so fast my vision’s blurring

But once again I ask

What is it for?

 

There are crowds

Starting to gather

All a-blither and – blather

And they’re all wanting to know

What is it for?

 

Then it belches

Out some smoke

Clunks and bangs and it has broke

And now we’ll never know

What was it for?

 

Sally Murphy, 2014

sallymurphy.com.au