NaPoWriMo Day One: Patrick Widdess – Birds

Welcome to this year’s NaPoWriMo podcast. This is the first of 30 daily podcasts coming throughout April with poems and prompts from me and other poets. I hope you will be inspired to write lots of new poems. So here’s today’s prompt:

Birds

Let your imagination take flight with a poem about or involving birds. It might be one particular bird or a whole flock. It could be the main subject of your poem or just flit through the background. Here’s a poem about capturing the beauty of birds and putting it on the page.

Bird of paradise

Where? I hear you ask.
See among those leaves?
That dark green one is its head.
See how its beak snips the air
like a pair of kitchen scissors.
Now you see its wings: Great fans of fire,
each feather a flaming arrow.
Its body cools and evaporates
into a white waterfall of tail feathers.
You’re probably flinching at the way
it wields its dinosaur claws as it takes flight.
See how it fills the sky, like an exploding firework,
yet fits on the page, hidden among
delicate strokes of black on white.

Patrick Widdess

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Event: Monuments – Art and Poetry at Norwich Historic Churches Trust October 22 2022

I’m excited to be reading at this art and poetry event on Saturday, October 22, having been invited by former podcast guest Alex Russell. It’s being held in one of Norwich’s many ancient churches from 10am to 8pm with performance and poetry from 3-6pm.

Monuments is an exhibition of art, performance, and poetry at Norwich Historic Churches Trust headquarters, St Martin-at-Palace Church. As the church is listed we are unable to attach anything to the walls, so artists involved will have to think outside the box about how to utilise the space. The exhibition is interested in how things persist through time, how the way we interact with them changes, and how they may last far into the future. We are looking for work that considers the passage of time, decay, and restoration. The pasts in our future, and the futures in our past.

Art –
Lauren Richeda
Ken Hurst
Niki Medlik
Tori Ames
Ian Chapman & Jon Page & Tim Sillence
Jazz Owen
Chloe Lees
Cara Lees
Jessica Copping
Jonathan Trayner & Jamie Dyson
Jo Morton
Stevie Maguire
Alicia Rodriguez
James Kessell & Joe Hedinger

Readings and Performances from –
Annie | Angus Brown
Nick Ward
Honor Ash
Alex Russell
Jakob Millard
Patrick Widdess

www.placeholderpress.co.uk/monuments

If you have any spoken word events in Norwich or nearby you’d like to share please send the details here.

NaPoWriMo Day Two: Patrick Widdess – How to…

Welcome to the second day of NaPoWriMo. Today’s prompt is to complete the title How to… in any way you like. Start by brainstorming different titles for 10 minutes: How to fly, how to bake cookies, how to build a time machine… . Don’t think about writing a poem at this stage just keep the pen moving and write as many titles as possible. Once you’ve finished you may find that one of the titles gives you an idea for a poem. If not, carry on with your day and something might inspire you when you least expect it.

When you write your poem be precise in your instructions, add specific details. As the poem develops move on from simple list of instructions to take the reader somewhere unexpected.

When I wrote the poem below I was living in Japan. I saw some octopus in a restaurant and the title came to me. I don’t know how to catch an octopus but that doesn’t mean I can’t write a poem about it. This was first published on the Guardian website.

How to catch an octopus

Familiarise yourself with salt water.
Bathe and brush your teeth with it.
Use it as perfume.
Drink a little at meal times.
Keep an ice cold tank
and submerge your hand for one hour daily.
Do not clench your fist.
Let your hand float free beneath the water.
Over time your fingers will become blubbery
flex the joints so they move with any current.
When you can lift a dinner plate using only your flat palm
find a rock or take a boat out
and wait for your five-legged octopus to find a companion.
Do not grab too soon or resist the draw of the ocean.
Wait till you forget you are waiting
and your hand swims deeper.

Patrick Widdess

Please share your responses to today’s prompt either in the comments or via email. The best submissions will be featured in future podcasts.

If you’ve enjoyed this podcast please consider showing your support with a donation via ko-fi.com

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Books by many of the poets featured on the podcast are available from the Poetry Non-Stop bookshop here. All books purchased via this link help to raise money to keep this podcast going.