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i swear all the birds will live until the end



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Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:26 pm
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alliyah says...



National Poetry Writing Month 2020

Image

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

- Emily Dickinson


Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

- Matthew 6:26-27

I always have associated birds with hope, spring, life, and love. There is hope as long as the birds are singing. I've noticed that in my last NaPo threads, an unintentional recurring theme is that there's at least one poem every year about dead birds in some capacity. I'm trying to break the streak this year!

My poetry is often dramatic, love-in-past-tense, homesick etc. and that's probably not going away, but I'd like there to be hope here too - especially with everything going on in 2020, there needs to be room in poetry for all the birds to live.

And who knows? Maybe I'll make another poem in the shape of a chicken this year too. Thank you for reading and best wishes on your own NaPo journey.
- alliyah


2020 NaPo Pt II - private reflections; cheap cheap software
2019 NaPo - love and complementary colors
2018 NaPo - heavy dreams & lofty responsibilities
2017 NaPo - a collage of mismatched contemplations
Camp NaPo - 2017 logbook, 2020 logbook
you should know i am a time traveler &
there is no season as achingly temporary as now
but i have promised to return
  





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Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:27 pm
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alliyah says...



Poetry Index


1. growing | it's okay 4/1/20
2. i know we can't rest now 4/1/20
3. this isn't going anywhere 4/2/20
4. to love so bold 4/3/20
5. dark cyan tastes like 4/4/20
6. spring in past tense 4/5/20
7. let us write illegibly 4/6/20
8. you have no clue 4/7/20
9. perched on power lines 4/7/20
10. who is your prophet 4/7/20
11. could you tell me 4/8/20
12. when the robins return, i hope i remember4/9/20
13. anxious | breathing 4/10/20
14. the night is enormous, but i know better now 4/11/20
15. we are phonebook fish 4/11/20
16. while it is still dark 4/12/20
17. neighborly concern 4/13/20
18. just fragments 4/14/20
19. God; she is a Mother bird 4/15/20
20. poetry in plain sight 4/16/20
21. i'm still very homesick 4/17/20
22.i'm running away 4/17/20
23. the sky's too far 4/18/20
24. where have we gone | we do not know 4/19/20
25. joy is no virtue 4/20/20
26. ask yourself 4/20/20
27. nothing new 4/21/20
28. familiarity 4/21/20
29. everything i brought from home 4/22/20
30. this winter too will pass 4/23/20

bonus poems
31. birds in walls and other memories 4/24/20 (I really like this one!)
32. truth telling 4/25/20
33. map making 4/25/20
34. good morning 4/26/20
35. isolation 4/27/20
36. and we're back again 4/27/20
37. she knew 4/28/20
38. a preface to my poetry; for my mother 4/29/20
39. i love poetry 4/30/20

love, love, love, and all the other shapes in the sky

Image
you should know i am a time traveler &
there is no season as achingly temporary as now
but i have promised to return
  





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Tue Mar 24, 2020 3:16 am
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PrincessInk says...



Emily Dickinson <3

And good luck @alliyah! I'm sure you'll do EXCELLENTLY <3
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Thu Apr 02, 2020 3:39 am
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alliyah says...



1. growing | it's okay

Image
you should know i am a time traveler &
there is no season as achingly temporary as now
but i have promised to return
  





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Thu Apr 02, 2020 3:40 am
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alliyah says...



2. i know we can't rest now

[img]https://i.ibb.co/zFnJz8v/poem-2-i-know-i-can-not-rest.png[//img]


link removed because this poem was successfully published in 2023!
you should know i am a time traveler &
there is no season as achingly temporary as now
but i have promised to return
  





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Thu Apr 02, 2020 3:54 am
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neptune says...



alliyah, I really like what you did with “growing - it’s okay”. I’m glad you’re playing with the visuals/layouts of your poems even more (they are always so cool), and the way this was set up was clever! my favorite part was: “birds still learning to fly; straining wings against the sky” — loving the bird imagery! :)
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Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:08 am
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niteowl says...



Great start! I love "I know we can't rest now". I can feel the speaker's burden and fear but also their hope at the end. I know I always try to add a bit of hope at the end of my depressing poems, so naturally I'm partial to it when I read.

And the first poem is such a good introduction to a NaPo thread. It kind of feels like a warm-up. I know that sounds kind of negative, but warm-ups are important (I was a swimmer, and even though I wasn't very good, I know warm-ups are crucial).
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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Thu Apr 02, 2020 1:10 pm
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Liminality says...



Hi, alliyah! The voice in 'growing - it's okay' stood out to me. Somehow the way you've used commas and line breaks - like taking a breath to pause in conversation - seems to add to this sincere rush of feeling and acceptance. I also enjoyed how the sound effects towards the end and the decreasing line length reflect the feeling of 'flight'.

Then in 'i know we can't rest now', this image: "a feather twisted 'round the neck of a bird" caught my attention. It's ominous, and really compelling.

Cheers!
Liminality
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Fri Apr 03, 2020 4:50 am
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alliyah says...



Spoiler! :

@neptune thank you! I'm hoping to try out some more interesting ones this month for formatting - this one wasn't too crazy, but hopefully we'll get some good shape poems in here by the end of the month.

@niteowl Thanks nite! And I definitely get what you're saying - last year I kind of did the same thing where my first poem was about "low expectations" just so that I don't psyche myself out about making my poetry a certain way - let's just get that imperfect perfectionism out right at the front so I can write whatever. And yeah the tone of the second one I think is definitely coming from the whole corona stuff going on and some insomnia I've been dealing with lately - that just feels heavy but also there's a light at the end of this tunnel!

@Liminality Thank you, I'm really glad you liked it! And I think that line is my favorite too - especially the kinda dramatic line break between "still / flying" which is maybe too gimmicky, but I still loved the idea of thinking the bird was dead... but wait! :) Thank you for commenting!


3. this isn't going anywhere

Image
you should know i am a time traveler &
there is no season as achingly temporary as now
but i have promised to return
  





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Fri Apr 03, 2020 7:03 pm
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alliyah says...



4. to love so bold

Image

Spoiler! :

text version in case some people's computers have trouble with images - I drew a pair of pigeons to go along with the poem too~

While making coffee in my morning ritual,
I saw a pair of pigeons from my window
silver winged, nesting close in a rain gutter.

I turned, embarrassed to intrude their intimacy,
and wondered at what they might be saying
in their respective daylight waking. Was she
asking about how he slept, straightening
his feathers smooth? Did he offer to catch
breakfast for her - a favorite treat, or would
they compose a song about the sunrise?

And perhaps for a moment I coveted
their conspicuous affection. How beautiful
to be so boldly, so unashamedly in love.
you should know i am a time traveler &
there is no season as achingly temporary as now
but i have promised to return
  





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Fri Apr 03, 2020 11:17 pm
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Lavvie says...



I love the last poem about the pigeons, particularly the last three lines. I'm also a fan on the visuals you're making along with your poems :)


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Fri Apr 03, 2020 11:54 pm
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Elfboy says...



Oh, I love that last line of poem 4! Also, great illustrations!
"What is grief, if not love persevering?"

--Vision
  





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Sat Apr 04, 2020 7:07 pm
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alliyah says...



Spoiler! :
Thank you @Lavvie and @EthanHoover! I really appreciate it - I have a bunch of little bird doodles I've made saved, so hopefully can utilize some more throughout the month, because they're fun.


5. dark cyan tastes like
Image

Spoiler! :
was using the prompt: Taste the Rainbow: What does your favorite color taste like?

disclaimer: These poems are a little silly & imaginative - don't read into it too much as being autobiographically reflective on me! XD Also part ii is fictional, my mom has never put soap in my mouth for swearing.


5b. i'm trying to diversify my writing
bonus collaborative poem written with @BluesClues & @CaptainJack

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you should know i am a time traveler &
there is no season as achingly temporary as now
but i have promised to return
  





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Sat Apr 04, 2020 8:05 pm
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Elfboy says...



Two more good poems! But... isn't dark cyan the same color as teal?
"What is grief, if not love persevering?"

--Vision
  





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Sat Apr 04, 2020 11:05 pm
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trashykawa says...



@alliyah i love all of these! so much! my favourite is part iii of dark cyan tastes like - absolutely beautiful.
I was eleven years old
and I'd lost my mother,
and my soul.
And the crucible
gave me you.

mA
  








This is a house of homes, a sacred place, by human passion made divinely sweet.
— Alfred Joyce Kilmer