Today's prompt for National Poetry Writing Month is to write a poem using a list.
I have chosen part of the ingredients listed in the witches brew described in Shakespeare's Macbeth Act 4 Scene 1 for my poem —
"Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg and owlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."
It is often said, though arguably, that each ingredient in the witches brew is actually a plant, a flower, a seed or herb.
Here's my poem explaining some of those ingredients:
The Witches Brew
Eye of newt and toe of frog
the witches mixed them up
'twas nothing more than mustard seeds
and the yellow buttercup
Wool of bat and tongue of dog
were part of witches creed
The bat wool merely holly leaves
the dog a houndstongue weed
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting
next went into the brew
Neither snake nor worm were boiled,
just a violet, a poppy or two
Then there was a lizard's leg
along with an owlet's wing
— little bits of ivy and garlic
as witches continued to sing
#GloPoWriMo #NaPoWriMo
By Harold B Huang
07Apr23 2121 hrs GMT+8
Edited 2200 hrs
La Paloma (The Dove), originally composed around 1863 by Spanish composer Sebastián Iradier. The first stanza and bridge is reproduced below:
"Una canción me recuerda aquel ayer
Cuando se marchó en silencio un atardecer
Se fue con su canto triste a otro lugar
Dejó como compañera mi soledad
Una paloma blanca me canta al alba
Viejas melancolías, cosas del alma
Llegan con el silencio de la mañana
Y cuando salgo a verla vuela a su casa"
A poem in English using sounds borrowed from the lyrics of the above Spanish song —
The Slayer
An ancient me recruited as a slayer
Marched in silence with Ataxerxes
Consumed by thirst to ambush like a cougar
Day and night accompanied by solitude
Then I turned pale and blank in a battle
A wave of melancholy filled my armour
Trembling in silence 'neath my fierce demeanour
Will I be vanquished by this invincible warrior?
#GloPoWriMo #NaPoWriMo
By Harold B Huang
06Apr23 2006 hrs GMT+8
a triolet consists of eight lines with the rhyme scheme ABaAabAB —
where A, B are repeated lines;
and a, b are rhyming lines with A, B respectively,
with each line written in iambic tetrameter
"A verse in rhyme" — a triolet
It is so hard to write in rhyme
A verse in rhyme I'll try to write
I may not get it done on time
It is so hard to write in rhyme
What seems to me an uphill climb
To make the matching words sound right
It is so hard to write in rhyme
A verse in rhyme I'll try to write
#GloPoWriMo #NaPoWriMo
By Harold B Huang
04Apr23 1920 hrs GMT+8
Today's prompt for National Poetry Writing Month is to write an opposite poem. My poem is based on the following original verse by William Blake —
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour
(by William Blake, in "Auguries of Innocence")
** Opposite **
Ignore the sand that builds our world
and wild flowers that make our heaven
Our finite hands are held by infinity
An hour a captive of eternity
#GloPoWriMo #NaPoWriMo
By Harold B Huang
03Apr23 1707 hrs GMT+8
A book is discovered when
you see its elegant form
with vivid colours and
pretty pictures on its cover
you'd want to take a closer look
A book is uncovered when
you find its meaningful title
clearly written and
boldly printed across its cover
you'd want to get a glimpse within
A book is recovered when
you encounter its profound story
quietly lurking and
patiently waiting beneath its cover
you'd want to wake it up from sleep
and read it through
from cover to cover
#GloPoWriMo #NaPoWriMo
By Harold B Huang
02Apr23 1135 hrs GMT+8
Happiness comes from hearing little words
Spoken from within a sincere heart.
A simple "Thank you" brings a smile when heard
"You're so sweet" does make a good day start.
Happiness comes when someone says "Well done!"
It lifts your spirit; warms your inner soul.
"Awesome" brightens like the morning sun
It drives away self-doubt and makes one whole.
"Glad to meet you" often brings to mind
A pleasant soul we'd like to meet again
"Very nice of you" are words so kind
It says your good deed is not done in vain
Simple little words are good to say
They bring us happiness in many ways.
"Kind words"
by Harold B Huang
Thu 28Apr22 2124 hrs GMT+8
#poetry #poetrybyharold
#heartfelt #sonnet
Day 28 : "love/happiness"
#mpwm22day28
#haroldhuang
Blackie was a little puppy dog
He came into my life when I was ten
He was small but heavy as a log
For want of a name, we called him Blackie then
Blackie was so playful yet endearing
He'd steal my sock and take away my shoe
Up and down the house he'd go a-hunting
It seems there's nothing Blackie wouldn't chew
One day we had to pack our things and move
To a shophouse in another town
A pet dog the landlord would not approve
"No Blackie!" said my father with a frown
Oh how my heart broke on that tearful day
To see my beloved Blackie given away.
"The day I lost Blackie"
by Harold B Huang
Wed 27Apr22 2321 hrs GMT+8
#poetry #poetrybyharold
#heartfelt #journeyinlife #sonnet
Every time you stop to talk with me,
you meet a veneer of my outer skin.
My outward behaviour is all you see,
while who I am is hidden deep within.
What I put on is my skin of choice:
the look on my face, gestures of my hand,
with my varied changing tones of voice,
and in the casual posture that I stand.
This skin of mine a scripted play performs,
in which I act out my own chosen drama,
a gripping life-like wayang of shadowy forms
moving together in perfect sandiwara.
Shadows of my skin are all you see,
underneath lurks that which is really me.
"Shadowy play"
by Harold B Huang
Thu 21Apr22 2120 hrs GMT+8
#poetry #poetrybyharold
#daydreams #sonnet
After an eight hour flight from KL
we landed in Sydney
in the evening of a winter day.
It was our first time in the city
without a tour guide,
armed with only some information
gleaned from the internet
and a few photographs
of the train station and
the hotel surroundings.
We bought our first Opal card
boarded a clean and quiet
double decker train
from International Airport
to Townhall station.
Walking out of the station,
we stood at the junction
of Druitt St and York St
feeling somewhat lost
staring anxiously
at the tall imposing
Queen Victoria Building
looming over us.
Thankfully, with some guide
from a friendly helpful stranger
(well, everyone's a stranger then)
we found the way to our
little inconspicuous Hotel
on the west side of QVB.
The next four days
were spent meeting up
with a nephew
and several old classmates.
They took time off
to bring us around the city
on foot,
by train,
on ferries,
and in their cars too.
We walked around The Rocks
and its night market
Up and down the long flights of steps
outside Sydney Opera House.
through the Botanic Gardens we went,
around Circular Quay and its surroundings
Looking at almost every attraction
of Vivid Sydney, a festival of light and sound,
among large crowds of visitors.
Vivid memories indeed
of the colourful lights
imprinted
in heart and mind.
The next day,
on foot around the city,
spent long solemn minutes at
the Lindt Chocolate Cafe, Martin Place
terrorised by a religious extremist
one day five years earlier
holding hostages for many hours
killing three helpless innocent souls.
A web of steel girders beneath the southern end of Sydney
Harbour Bridge
Visited Barangaroo Reserve,
with its Cutaway,
past the wharves and piers at Walsh Bay,
then walking under the southern end
of Sydney Harbour Bridge,
back to the Rocks and Circular Quay.
Went on a ferry ride
across the Paramatta River
to Cockatoo Island
visited the sombre compounds
and buildings of the old Convict Prison.
I bought
a "Fidel Castro" cap like those
worn by the convict labourers
in the old photographs.
We took another ferry to Manly
visited the open air markets
watched a busker perform
on her electric harp.
A classmate fetched us
in his car
to Milson's Point
from there we walked across
the entire length
of Sydney Harbour Bridge
southwards, back to the Rocks
On the final day
we took a long long hike
from Coogee to Bondi beach
on narrow winding footpaths
by green undulating hillsides
passing by beautiful sceneries
deserted lagoons
with foamy waves crashing on rocks
and a sprawling cemetery too.
It was supposed to be winter,
but it was sunny,
a little warm at times
something
I had not expected at all.
Finally
it was time to go home
after a hearty lunch with all my old friends
said lots of Good-byes,
we landed in KL
in the wee hours of the morning.
It was indeed a memorable holiday
of a sunny winter
in Sydney Australia.
"A sunny winter"
by Harold B Huang
Sat 16Apr22 2355 hrs GMT+8
Edited: 17Apr22 0856 hrs
#poetry #poetrybyharold
#sightandsounds #travelogue
Personal name, Surname
House number and road name
Towns and townships
Districts and states,
introduced by the British
Our roads
our roundabouts,
and road junctions,
our traffic lights
brought to us by the British
We drive
on the left side of the road
in right-hand drive cars
the British did it first
Post Office
selling postage stamps,
money orders and postal orders,
air mail and aerogramme,
started by the British
Police Station,
with CID, and ISD,
OCS and OCPD,
Traffic Branch, Special Branch,
and Federal Reserve Unit
first organised by the British
Hospital
Outpatient Department
Accident and Emergency
Admissions,
doctors and nurses
MB,BS. MRCP, FRCS
a legacy of the British
The Army, the Air Force and the Navy
their Regiments,
their Squadrons
and their Fleets
patterned after the British
Our schools
with morning and afternoon sessions
monthly tests and term exams
classrooms and class-teachers
a time-table divided
into forty minute periods,
British.
Our electricity supply
240 volts, 50 Hertz AC
billed in kilowatt-hours,
Our water supply
with its meter and main pipe
just outside our house
That's also British
Everywhere we go
we see British
Our country is shaped
in a British mould
We continue
to live colonial lives
in post-colonial times
"British"
by Harold B Huang
Wed 13Apr22 1950 hrs GMT+8
#poetry #poetrybyharold
#sightandsounds
Day 13 : "post-colonial"
#mpwm22day13
#haroldhuang
