Writers Tip - "Be your own editor/critic. Sympathetic but merciless!" — Joyce Carol Oates

SYMPATHETIC BUT MERCILESS - POEM

I can understand your sadness

I could sympathise with your stress

But rules are rules you know, sirs

And writ for lords as well as curs

You may weep, whimper and regret -

Or spend time getting in a fret

But the law lays down what I must do

To the likes of sinners such as you.

A crime that started as a joke

Now puts your necks right in the yoke

So I must with heavy heart and soul

Ignore your pleas as you cajole.

As a man I sorrow at your deeds

Such sin that truly my heart bleeds

The rules say I must be merciless

That you got yourselves into this mess

And so with such a sorrowing heart

I condemn you to a life apart

A penal colony on Mars

A hard life but – no prison bars.

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THAT PIGEON!!

A pigeon glares down balefully

From his lofty perch

on the conservatory roof.

He’s not a happy little chap I fear

Because I chase him away from his desires!

He wants to perch on the delicate frame

Of the plastic window feeder

Designed for robins and blue tits and such.

That pigeon can feed on the big garden feeder

But this little plastic frame

sticks on the window so I can watch close-up

the beady eyes and fluttering wings

of tiny, hungry birds who watch me

just as I watch them.

This big pigeon weighs a lot more

His heavy feet knock the feeder askew

And makes him flap –

Then the feeder slips more and the seeds

Drop down to the window sill

(where he still can’t get at them!)

So there am I – receiving solemn looks

From a bird who thinks I ‘m mean.

The garden feeder’s like a house –

Loads of room for him there!

Will he go there – no, not he!

He prefers to ruffle his feathers in a sulk

As he glares at me and grumbles

He’ll preen his feathers and walk on the roof

With his claws making a ticky-clacky sound

But always he watches – and peers down his beak

As if I’m doing him wrong!

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This is a peculiar creature I came across in The Fantasy Encyclopedia by Judy Allen, and it is a lesser-known part of English mythology. They say that a certain crossroads are a door to another world, the world of the faeries and the gods and demons that act in ways that we don’t usually see. Every now and then, these crossroads will have a peculiar occupant—the faerie dog. These aren’t the puppies you and I know—these dogs are bright green and will bark once or twice as a warning. But upon the third bark, the listener is doomed. Perhaps throwing a bone might help?

CROSSROADS - VILLANELLE

Take care my friend take care this night

Near the woods, at some crossroads

Will the green dog bark tonight?

Another world door might come in sight

Faeries and demons obeying their codes

Take care my friend take care this night

A warning bark but it won’t bite

This faerie door misfortune bodes

Will the green dog bark tonight?

A second bark warns you must take flight

A crossroads to fear, or demon toads,

Take care my friend take care this night

A third and your fate is sealed up tight

The faeries and demons tempt you loads

Will the green dog bark tonight?

These faeries and demons of which I write

They will tempt you to try their abodes

Take care my friend take care this night

Will the green dog bark tonight?

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(day 3) A CHARM

Eidetic, eidetic, please come to me

So I remember all that I see

Eidetic, eidetic, whate’er I read

On words and pictures my mind will feed

Eidetic, eidetic, my memory use

Always for others this knowledge transfuse

Eidetic, eidetic, their need is so great

My needs are small and their needs won’t wait

(Eidetic memory commonly referred to as photographic memory or total recall, is the ability to recall images, sounds or objects in memory with great precision)

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LUNE (3 words, five words, three words)

April spring month,

Blossoms, buds, sunshine,

Bursting forth anew.

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