I struggled to write about the mundane, every day things, but I did write something, reflecting on the ordinary but also how 'un-ordinary' the atrocities in Palestine are in comparison...
Oh Lisa, thank you for sharing this one. That strange, devastating feeling of the everyday just carrying on in the face of genocide is something I am thinking about a lot too. Writing about it matters, doesn’t it. Thank you x
That was amazing too. Thanks for posting it, Ange. Lisa, your poem captures the preciousness that so many don't have the privilege of these days and we hold all of that.
This is so very beautiful Lisa, thank you so much for sharing. I have been thinking about this so much too and have struggled ever since I wrote my post to find the words and my own response to my own prompt. Thank you so so much for sharing your beautiful work... 'tears filling the bowl'... oh.my.heart. sending you huge love from Cornwall xxx
Oh goodness Lisa I completely relate to this. It all feels so jarring and strange that we are just living our normal lives. Thank you for sharing this ❤️
It’s a fantastic poem. I’m struggling to write about how awful this whole situation is, and this sums it up nicely. How can everything just keep on being the same? I’m so cross with the politicians of this world that won’t condemn it,
So profound and important Lisa. Thank you for writing and sharing. ‘and I turn on the tap to wash my dishes with tears filling the bowl’ - so beautifully captures the dissonance of it all 🫶🏽
Hello!!! Welcome. I’m so glad you’ve found us. Oh I enjoyed this poem so much. The form carried me along beautifully, mirroring the many, many tiny but gorgeous observations. I didn’t want it to end!
All these poems are beautiful ❤️ hope you’re having a lovely camping trip Nelly - hope your weather has been better than ours for half term!
I didn’t make much time for writing what with it being half term this week, and so far I haven’t quite made anything out of the prompt yet, but I really love the concept of writing about the ordinary!
So, if it’s ok I thought I’d share an old poem focusing on the joys of an ordinary day - I wrote this almost 3 years ago, in the style of Wendy Cope’s The Orange, which is one of my favourite ever poems. I’m not at all good at rhyming but I gave it a go for this one.
Sunny side up
This morning I got up and walked Tom to school
The sun shone and it felt good to stretch my legs
We were on time. I chatted to a mum I want to befriend
Then I went to the shops; picking up milk and eggs
Eliza slept in her pram while I went to Boots
I bought things that have been on my list for ages
When we got home I felt relaxed and joyful
I had time to read my book: just a precious few pages
Later I finished vacuuming and Joe asked
me to play with him; we are in a board game phase
We played the Superhero Lotto game for half an hour.
I feel extraordinarily happy; I often do on ordinary days.
‘I feel extraordinarily happy; I often do on ordinary days.’ - these are the best kind of days ✨
I loved this poem, I really love Wendy Cope’s poem too for similar reasons. It’s the recognising that the every day is the gift and the other stuff doesn’t much matter
The underneath sounds!!! I really like the form of this, I felt like the actual poem was pondering the ordinary while it shared the ordinary (not ordinary). Lovely xx
Oh it’s gorgeous, I love the bedspread. I clearly remember my old bedspreads too and one survived at my parents house and feels like a little piece of childhood ❤️
Oh I love the zip and the tap. They are truly the most ordinary things which you have made extraordinary. And the shift from perseverance being a slog. Ooh these poems are slowing everything down for me this morning. Thsnkbyou x
Oh Ange, I love this, from the dripping tap to the soothing hands... Just beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing. Sending huge love from Cornwall xxx
Ahh this is gorgeous Erin, you took me with you on such a warm and comforting journey and made me lift my head towards the window. Thank you so so much for sharing xxx
Have a wonderful time camping this weekend. I loved the poems you posted and your poem is fantastic. I've gotten so lost in my head and work and the world that I missed the ordinary things that are so full of grace in their ordinariness.
I'm still waiting for my chapbooks to arrive so until I get those I feel a bit stuck. I mean I can send out notices to my email list and post about it but I can't really do anything local until I have copies in hand. I think I ordered way too many.
Thank you so very much to Nelly for sharing these beautiful poems and for the invitation to write for Poetry Pals..... What a joy it is to read through all these beautiful responses... I am so late to the party and so sorry for not sharing mine sooner. To echo Lisa's words, I've found it hard to find the words recently and it has felt somehow wrong to write about the ordinary in the context of what is happening right now but here is my poem.... (also shared here: https://open.substack.com/pub/lucybeckley/p/small-acts-of-attention)
Small acts of attention
Held up by a backbone of to dos
In erasure she finds joy
In the clean wipe of a kitchen table
In the fold and flick of a pile of clothes
In the the final kiss before lights out
In the last tick off her long list
Hers is a quiet world
One with short-term horizons and long nights
Yet it sparkles like dust particles at first light
In the creases of her dress
She carries hope and despair
Pockets lined with emergency snacks
And treasure collected by small hands
The weight of awe is another load she bears
For it is in the small acts of attention
Both monotonous and persistent
Upon which her world is built
Those daily occurrences
That are often overlooked
The way the light falls on a day in May
The smell of rain on hot ground
The care she takes to wipe away the tears
The strawberry scented kisses from tiny lips
The comfort of a warm cup of tea drunk in time
And the reassurance of unexpected laughter from the room next door
Hers is a quiet world
One with short-term horizons and long nights
Full of the essential yet often invisible
Full of the ordinary and generosity of the everyday
I struggled to write about the mundane, every day things, but I did write something, reflecting on the ordinary but also how 'un-ordinary' the atrocities in Palestine are in comparison...
it is also posted here https://lisaandradez.substack.com/p/just-an-ordinary-day
Just an ordinary day
I am sprawled across my sofa in the conservatory
It has just started raining
the warmth of the day, now cooler and breezy
My cup of tea, now empty
the washing which was drying on the line
now warming on the radiators
I wonder if May knows it is meant to be warm?
I look up at the sky and I think
of all the Palestinian children in Gaza right now
Do they know that they are precious and loved
when the bombs rain down upon them
and the sky turns red
when their families are destroyed, ripped apart
when pain hits and blood stained streets surround them
homes and hospitals now rubble, safe places, gone.
I wonder if they will ever know that we love them
that they didn't deserve this
that we pray for it to stop
that we will not give up on them
that our hearts are broken for them
and I turn on the tap to wash my dishes with tears filling the bowl
as the genocide rages on, living hell on earth..
while we keep going about our business, like it's just an ordinary day!
Oh Lisa, thank you for sharing this one. That strange, devastating feeling of the everyday just carrying on in the face of genocide is something I am thinking about a lot too. Writing about it matters, doesn’t it. Thank you x
‘I wonder if May knows it is meant to be warm?’
This line 😭 when followed by the rest of your powerful words 🙏🏼 the news has broken me this week. Thank you for sharing
Lisa, yours reminded me of this little beauty too…
https://open.substack.com/pub/ambatakazi/p/wishes-for-mothers?r=2qii2&utm_medium=ios
That was amazing too. Thanks for posting it, Ange. Lisa, your poem captures the preciousness that so many don't have the privilege of these days and we hold all of that.
That's beautiful x
This is so very beautiful Lisa, thank you so much for sharing. I have been thinking about this so much too and have struggled ever since I wrote my post to find the words and my own response to my own prompt. Thank you so so much for sharing your beautiful work... 'tears filling the bowl'... oh.my.heart. sending you huge love from Cornwall xxx
thank you Lucy :) x
Powerful, Lisa. You’ve captured the dichotomy and internal struggle so many of us feel.
Oh goodness Lisa I completely relate to this. It all feels so jarring and strange that we are just living our normal lives. Thank you for sharing this ❤️
It’s a fantastic poem. I’m struggling to write about how awful this whole situation is, and this sums it up nicely. How can everything just keep on being the same? I’m so cross with the politicians of this world that won’t condemn it,
So profound and important Lisa. Thank you for writing and sharing. ‘and I turn on the tap to wash my dishes with tears filling the bowl’ - so beautifully captures the dissonance of it all 🫶🏽
I'm so delighted to have found this space thanks to a few other writers I follow here. This prompt is such a lovely one to start with.
I am enamoured
by the ordinary, like
.
half-drunk cups of
long-cooled tea, and
.
my lover's warm hand
as it rests on my knee,
.
the rise-fall repeating of
my kids as they breathe,
.
the yawning stretch
of growing seeds, or
.
the freckles on my skin,
soft-baked in beneath
.
the late day sun, while
clearing brush and weeds,
.
hearing familiar calls
from nearby trees, and
.
the wholesome hum
of bumblebees, and
.
sitting in silence (except
all of these), with
.
that ache in my heart
that never quite leaves.
Hello!!! Welcome. I’m so glad you’ve found us. Oh I enjoyed this poem so much. The form carried me along beautifully, mirroring the many, many tiny but gorgeous observations. I didn’t want it to end!
Thank you so much! What a lovely space you've created here.
I love absolutely this, what a beautiful array of images. Thank you so much for sharing. Sending you huge love from Cornwall xxx
Thank you!!
This is really beautiful, I love the poignancy which balances the sweetness ❤️
So glad you are here! This poem is a beauty 🤩.
‘the yawning stretch
of growing seeds’ is one of (many of) my favourite lines. Just lovely 🙏
I'll be so glad to see more of your work here, too!
Oh wow 🤩 it’s so good to have you hear and what a first share. I love how lyrical it is. And the silence that isn’t really silence. It’s wonderful
Thank you! Your last share is what spurred me to explore this space and I'm so glad!
I love how you capture the beauty and sorrow all at once.
Thank you!
All these poems are beautiful ❤️ hope you’re having a lovely camping trip Nelly - hope your weather has been better than ours for half term!
I didn’t make much time for writing what with it being half term this week, and so far I haven’t quite made anything out of the prompt yet, but I really love the concept of writing about the ordinary!
So, if it’s ok I thought I’d share an old poem focusing on the joys of an ordinary day - I wrote this almost 3 years ago, in the style of Wendy Cope’s The Orange, which is one of my favourite ever poems. I’m not at all good at rhyming but I gave it a go for this one.
Sunny side up
This morning I got up and walked Tom to school
The sun shone and it felt good to stretch my legs
We were on time. I chatted to a mum I want to befriend
Then I went to the shops; picking up milk and eggs
Eliza slept in her pram while I went to Boots
I bought things that have been on my list for ages
When we got home I felt relaxed and joyful
I had time to read my book: just a precious few pages
Later I finished vacuuming and Joe asked
me to play with him; we are in a board game phase
We played the Superhero Lotto game for half an hour.
I feel extraordinarily happy; I often do on ordinary days.
Just delightfully ‘everyday’ and so very worth capturing. Really great x
I love days like this. Ordinary and filled to the brim with loveliness. Beautiful, Ellen.
Thank you, Erin ❤️ it was a really lovely way of marking that very specific period of time 😍
Oh this is so beautiful Ellen, such precious moments and filled with gorgeousness xxx huge love from Cornwall xxx
Gorgeous Ellen! How good pottering and gentle routine are for the soul 🤍
‘I feel extraordinarily happy; I often do on ordinary days.’ - these are the best kind of days ✨
I loved this poem, I really love Wendy Cope’s poem too for similar reasons. It’s the recognising that the every day is the gift and the other stuff doesn’t much matter
I know, Wendy Cope’s poem always brings me such delight 😍
Oo, this is great. I love the little moments recorded. They are what make life remembered.
Thank you, Tamsin ❤️
I can’t rhyme well either, and these are good rhymes.
What wonderful poems, I loved the first one especially. Here’s my wee offering, already published with my usual waffle on my Substack as mine too was scheduled. Not that I’m on holiday (enjoy Nelly) or anything just mind busy. https://tamchennell.substack.com/p/poetry-pals-week-19-the-persistence?r=2mh4vu
.
A Delightful Fruit!
.
I only have to reach out in a very particular way, one
he recognises immediately, my index finger and thumb
each side of his jaw, resting gently on his stubbly
cheeks, the palm of my hand near his chin,
the other fingers redundant. A signal given,
.
amuse me!
.
I only have to wait a fraction of a second, no more,
for him to follow my request, before he begins
pumping air into his cheeks like a crazed hamster
pouching oxygen like peanuts until he threatens to burst.
I get the timing just right and then slowly, steadily, carefully
.
I push
.
I only have to press gently, the resounding
raspberry issuing from his lips, long, and round,
and deep, cracks me up, laughter spilling from me
like ripe berries splitting their skin,
until the air is all gone and we are both happy and
.
smiling.
.
I only have to silently ask with finger and thumb,
and he always obliges. It never ceases to tickle me,
this simple child’s entertainment.
We’ve been playing this game for 34 years,
And still neither of us tires of it.
.
(Again dots to format only - they have a meaningless existence) Right off to read everyone else’s offerings.
Oh I love a poem that leaves me smiling 🙂
I really love this! It really made me smile. Thank you so much for sharing. Sending love from Cornwall xxx
Oo, I love Cornwall, and thank you
How lovely Tamsin!
This was so fun, I’m off to do this with my own children 😆🙏🏼❤️
Your poetry teaches me, Tamsin. I want to return to it time and again.
Wow, what an amazing thing to say - I’m so chuffed ☺️😊 thank you.
Ahhh I love this! What a gorgeous, joyous poem 😍
Thank you
I hope you have a wonderful camping trip Nelly 😊❤️
Here’s mine from this week, I enjoyed writing it -
#19 Ordinary Thing:
The feel of the mug
In my hand - perfectly shaped -
Not too small as to prevent the full
Experience of holding it and
Not too big as to make the tea
Too cold at the bottom -
I want to feel it.
The feel of my bare feet
On cold concrete or
Slightly damp grass
Or cold or warm or any sand
Especially when the sea is there
Also, to wrap around my feet
Like shoes that don’t scream.
The feel of silence in my ears
Not silence like the absence
Of all sound but silence like
You can hear the underneath
Sounds better, not all crashing
At once but see here, that’s
The wind and the air and your breath.
To feel the ordinary things
Without the traffic or the overheated
Room and especially not the burning
Overhead lights - no, but to feel
All that in my body as separate things
Well - wouldn’t that be glorious wonder?
No ordinary thing.
The underneath sounds!!! I really like the form of this, I felt like the actual poem was pondering the ordinary while it shared the ordinary (not ordinary). Lovely xx
Oh Zoe, I love this, such a gorgeous shape to this and you brought me right with you. Thank you so so much for sharing. Sending love from Cornwall xxx
“Not silence like the absence
Of all sound but silence like
You can hear the underneath”
Wooo… yes, Zoe, yes.
This is so beautiful, Zoe ❤️ I especially love the feet stanza. Gorgeous!
I loved the sand, I could feel it in my toes, and the silence of the underneath sounds was brilliant. Sand, sea, sun, air, breathe, wind = perfection
Gorgeous Zoe. The silence verse is 🤍🤍. Felt calmer after reading this x
I struggled with this one, even though the prompt is lovely. I think it's been a hard week to appreciate small things, since everything feels like an emergency lately ("feels" being the operative word; we're all fine, it's just been a lot). https://open.substack.com/pub/margaretannsilver/p/for-pleasures-that-speak-softly?r=2ghube&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Oh but you did 🥰
This is just beautiful xxx
Thank you, Lucy! 😊
Oh it’s gorgeous, I love the bedspread. I clearly remember my old bedspreads too and one survived at my parents house and feels like a little piece of childhood ❤️
What beautiful poems! And what a prompt. A lovely, grounding springboard 🤍 Thank you Lucy & Nelly. Here’s my offering…
*The Gentle Perseverance of Ordinary Things*
Perseverance can be a gentle thing.
It doesn’t have to be about striving and grit.
Like how the dawn chorus serenades in faithful, daily devotion,
How the dripping tap plods on with steady, measured pauses,
And grass extends its neck so subtly and collectively that no one strand can claim the credit for growth.
I’ve been thinking about the gentle perseverance of ordinary things,
The quiet, rhythmic, gift of breath after breath, so vital but unassuming,
The small, jagged teeth of a zip, each playing their faithful micro parts in beautifully binding together two edges,
And the patient, soothing hand of sleep that holds on through the night, unhurried.
Oh I love the zip and the tap. They are truly the most ordinary things which you have made extraordinary. And the shift from perseverance being a slog. Ooh these poems are slowing everything down for me this morning. Thsnkbyou x
Oh Ange, I love this, from the dripping tap to the soothing hands... Just beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing. Sending huge love from Cornwall xxx
I could hear this and I loved it 🙏🏼❤️
Ooo, I love your approach, Ange! “Like how the dawn chorus serenades in faithful, daily devotion”. *chef’s kiss*
*chef’s kiss* 😆 love it!
This is stunning Ange, I really love it. You’ve approached the prompt in such a gorgeous way!
Oh so, nicely observed. The zip! I wouldn’t have thought of that. Each little thing so wonderfully noticed. 🤌
Hello all! I wrote three poems in this week of “quiet, untold pleasures” and here is my favourite:
I wonder if anyone else
notices
the mottled pattern
of a spruce bow’s shadow
dancing
on their painted interiors walls
if it makes them pause
and watch
for a little while
as we are called out
of ourselves
for a little while
to lift our heads and hearts
to watch
for a long while
and see
the sky comes in to greet us
along with the sun
and the breeze.
Ahh that gentle invitation for us to join you in the ‘ordinary’. So much warmth ❤️ (plus three poems this week 👏) x
I’m delighted you felt a warm invitation 💛
This is gorgeous Erin, it felt like a little bit of peace ❤️❤️
Oh, I’m so delighted to hear that, Ellen!
Ahh this is gorgeous Erin, you took me with you on such a warm and comforting journey and made me lift my head towards the window. Thank you so so much for sharing xxx
Oh, I love that! Thank you so much, Lucy!
‘I wonder…’ Your words really *do* nudge me towards wonder Erin - such a beautiful theme of your writing!
‘to lift our heads and hearts
to watch
for a long while
and see…’ 😍
Thank you, dear Ange. I fear being monotonous but “I wonder” continually bubbles up out of me 🤷🏻♀️
Keep following the bubbles 🤍
The sky comes in to greet us - what magic ✨ I’d never thought of shadows that way and I love it
Thank you, lovely Zoe.
This makes me want to go outside and pay attention.
I love that! Thank you, LeeAnn.
Oh yes, I am indeed the person that notices, what a stunning poem
Thank you, Tamsin!
Have a wonderful time camping this weekend. I loved the poems you posted and your poem is fantastic. I've gotten so lost in my head and work and the world that I missed the ordinary things that are so full of grace in their ordinariness.
I’m not surprised, you’ve had a lot going on. How has the book launch gone? I’ve been meaning to ask xxx
I'm still waiting for my chapbooks to arrive so until I get those I feel a bit stuck. I mean I can send out notices to my email list and post about it but I can't really do anything local until I have copies in hand. I think I ordered way too many.
Nelly, I love yours the most of all. It distills so many feelings (I share you) about the utter beauty of an ordinary day.
Ann this is so kind, thank you xxx
I wrote this week, and it mostly appeared in puppy form! Lots of ordinary everyday love for the little fox red lab ❤
I also tried what I could see hear, smell etc, which was long, but finished with.....
The stolen kids chocolate egg from Easter
The whisky hiding in my evening decaf
Which, let's be honest, is how most of my days finish!
‘The stolen kids chocolate egg’ - yes! 😆
Thank you so very much to Nelly for sharing these beautiful poems and for the invitation to write for Poetry Pals..... What a joy it is to read through all these beautiful responses... I am so late to the party and so sorry for not sharing mine sooner. To echo Lisa's words, I've found it hard to find the words recently and it has felt somehow wrong to write about the ordinary in the context of what is happening right now but here is my poem.... (also shared here: https://open.substack.com/pub/lucybeckley/p/small-acts-of-attention)
Small acts of attention
Held up by a backbone of to dos
In erasure she finds joy
In the clean wipe of a kitchen table
In the fold and flick of a pile of clothes
In the the final kiss before lights out
In the last tick off her long list
Hers is a quiet world
One with short-term horizons and long nights
Yet it sparkles like dust particles at first light
In the creases of her dress
She carries hope and despair
Pockets lined with emergency snacks
And treasure collected by small hands
The weight of awe is another load she bears
For it is in the small acts of attention
Both monotonous and persistent
Upon which her world is built
Those daily occurrences
That are often overlooked
The way the light falls on a day in May
The smell of rain on hot ground
The care she takes to wipe away the tears
The strawberry scented kisses from tiny lips
The comfort of a warm cup of tea drunk in time
And the reassurance of unexpected laughter from the room next door
Hers is a quiet world
One with short-term horizons and long nights
Full of the essential yet often invisible
Full of the ordinary and generosity of the everyday
Love this Lucy!
‘One with short-term horizons and long nights’ 👌
Thank you for the lovely prompt x
Oh thank you so much Ange ❤️🫶🏻 sending love from Cornwall xxx