A concrete abstraction

The challenges are becoming more difficult every day, but I embrace it! Today's challenge is to write a poem about something abstract. However, we need to discuss or describe that abstraction in the form of concrete nouns.

Can you guess what abstract quality I chose to write about?

Feeling the grass beneath my feet

As we eat yoghurt 

And listen to jazz

In the park

Saturday morning grocery shopping

And stopping in the park

To soak up the sun

And catch up

Spanish dancing across the street

On our way home,

Laughing at the company

We keep

Watching fireworks over the castle

As we stand on the North Bridge,

Mocking your silly sayings

And giggling like kids

Coming home to the smell

Of your hubbly bubbly cherry smoke

And joking about how the floor shakes

When anyone does laundry

Staying up late

For dinner parties,

Or nights out

When you take care of me

New York, New York!

There is a particular prompt which caught my eye because it involves including certain 'elements' in one's poetry. The prompt is to write a New York School poem. This type of poem is named for a group of poets who lived in New York during the 1950s and 1960s. Among these poets are Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery and Kenneth Koch.

Many poems of this style are conversational in tone, refer to friends and places in and around New York, display humour, include pop culture, and present a sense of the importance of art its many forms.

We are prompted to follow the 'recipe' for a good New York School poem, found here: http://jacket2.org/commentary/recipe-writing-new-york-school-poem. We may include as many or as few of the listed elements as we wish.

Below is my poem, dedicated to my friends Nicki and Ian who live in Hollywood and Washington DC, respectively.

Until we meet again

We will meet again, my friends,

Nicki Bixler and Ian Reynolds,

On the Brooklyn Bridge,

Or on a bench in Central Park,

Or outside the The Dakota

Where John Lennon died,

Where we’ll will think of our days

In pubs in Scotland,

When we walked The Royal Mile;

Now we’ll walk the sunshiny Broadway

And eat hot dogs,

While dreaming of

How the heck we came to be here,

This ‘halfway point’,

And I’ll wave my farewells

Until we meet again.

            Andrea Vermaak

It's rather... abstract

In my desperate attempt to catch-up, I used a prompt in which we are to replace a common noun with an abstract noun to inspire a poem. Once again, here are my efforts...

 

Love like light

 

Loves makes us blink

In the morning of our lives,

We feel its warmth on our skin

 

Love shines brightly

In the midday of our youth,

We often feel its burn

 

Love glows warmly

On the horizon of our age,

As we contemplate the day

 

Love is dimmed

In the night of our time,

Yet never ceases to exist.

 

Andrea Vermaak

So many questions...

One NaPoWriMo 2014 prompt is to write a poem in which every line, except the last, is in the form of a question. I decided to write a poem last night in which I ask a few questions regarding one of the most mysterious abstract nouns on earth...

 

What is love?

 

What is love?

Is it even real?

 

Is it the comforting sound of your mother's voice?

Her warm embrace?

 

Is it found in your sister's reassuring smile?

Or in her cupcakes?

 

Is love the friendship you would die without?

Or is in the smile of a stranger?

 

Is it the touch of a lover, their gentle kiss?

Or is it in the laughter of your children?

 

Is love the feeling of nostalgia?

Or the longing for what you cannot have?

 

Is it the unconditional loyalty of your pet?

Or the cherished memory of a childhood toy?

 

Is love the warmth of food?

The smell of summer?

 

Is love in music?

In dance?

 

Is love real in the movies?

Or is it deeper, more spiritual?

 

Love, my love, is love.

 

Andrea Vermaak