Category: National Poetry Day 2021

Posted in National Poetry Day 2021

National Poetry Day: Animal Choices

Posted on by Liz Brownlee

Many creatures show amazing discernment choosing nesting sites for safety, or choosing between food sources for superior protein content, or choosing their mate for health, according to their brighter feathers and louder song.

This is the Vogelkop Bowerbird – from Indonesia. He is an unremarkable male, with his plain, brown feathers. A female might disregard him entirely for his attire. But he attracts his mate by dazzling her. He builds the most remarkable bower of all – and decorates by choosing adornments by colour, and shine. He places them just so – stands back and re-adjusts, tries another arrangement and starts all over again until he is satisfied. He is an artist.

Vogelkop Bowerbird

Before his bower,

a pyramid of orchid stems

supported by pillars,

appointed by

blue and plum berries

plucked with delicate precision

and displayed precisely

beside sprays

of pink blossom,

a shiny pile pf

purple-grey beetle wings

and one perfect

crimson petal,

the plainest bowerbird

proudly places

himself.

Liz Brownlee

This poem is in Animal Magic, IRON PRESS, 2012

Posted in National Poetry Day 2021

National Poetry Day: I Choose Puppy

Posted on by Liz Brownlee

I Choose Puppy

The shiniest, sparkly, jewel glitzes

champagne bubbles’ tickly fizzes

all the fireworks’ bangs and hisses –

I’ve got the best of all the wishes

‘cos nothing’s like a puppy’s kisses

Liz Brownlee

This is Paddy – if he passes all his exams he will, one day, take over Lola’s role as my assistance dog. He’s doing ok at the minute!

And he is very loving and cuddly.

Posted in National Poetry Day 2021

National Poetry Day: I Choose Poetry!

Posted on by Liz Brownlee

It’s National Poetry Day today – the most exciting day in the poetry calendar, and I’m so proud to be a National Poetry Day ambassador, to let everyone possible in on the secrets of poetry. This is the poem I have given NPD this year on the theme of ‘CHOICE’.

I Choose Poetry

The softness of the lemon in a primrose

the nodding of a bluebell from a bee

the silence in the gaps of a bird’s song

the library of the creatures in a tree

the plumping of a plum in the sunshine

the crazy path an ant left in the grass

the fleeting blue-pink-orange evening

the moment when the sky darks for the stars

the tingle in the thrill of the music

the bounce of the branch as bird flies free

the smell of the earth rise in the rainfall

the things I keep by choosing poetry  

Liz Brownlee

Posted in National Poetry Day 2021

National Poetry Day: Choose to be You

Posted on by Liz Brownlee

Sometimes we don’t have a choice – we have to get up and go to school or work to learn or earn money, we have to eat each day to stay healthy, and we need to clean our teeth every day to keep our smiles in working order.

And sometimes it feels as if we don’t have any choice – perhaps we feel we need to say we like something we don’t because most people do like that thing, or we must behave in a certain way because we will be thought uncool if we don’t.

This poem is about choosing to be you – are there things about yourself that you feel others might not approve of? Do you care? Do you worry about it? How does that make you feel?

Here’s the poem in words instead of the shape of the nightingale:

The Nightingale

Liz

hidden in the heart

of darkling leaves

he sings

notes flow

in rivers

and rapids

and falls

he doesn’t care

for being

the same

as all the

other birds

with their

repeating calls

he sings to the sky

at night

sings alone

the loveliest

song of them all

Liz Brownlee

Posted in National Poetry Day 2021

National Poetry Day: Choosing Books

Posted on by Liz Brownlee
Image: Victoria Jane Wheeler, from Being Me, by Liz Brownlee, Matt Goodfellow and Laura Mucha

How do you choose your books?

Do you read the back, and choose something that sounds exciting, soothing, or interesting?

Do you look for books on a certain genre you enjoy, such as mystery, humour, adventure, detective, or horror?

Do you go by the cover, and choose a book which you want to pick up, which makes you glad or excited just by the illustration or design?

Do you open books at the first page and see if they grab you?

There are as many ways to choose a book as there are types of book to read, and no way is incorrect. But perhaps one day you could try a different way of choosing – take a recommendation from someone, pick up the first book you see with a cover you love, even if it isn’t one you’d normally read, or try a mystery if you mainly pick romance.

Here’s my poem about what you might find in a book – can you think of any books you have read that fit one of the verses?

In the Heart of a Book

I found myself a story

with a place in me to store it

I found myself a wide, new world

so set off to explore it

I found a scary monster

plus the way to banish it

I found a pool of sadness

and the strength to manage it

I found the dragon in my soul

learned the way to tame it

I found a new ambition

a path to take and aim it

I found a way to rest my head

while my worries all unplug

I found a curl of comfort

where each word was a hug

I found a web of wonders

things I dream about at night

I found a pair of magic wings

and flew into the light

Liz Brownlee

From Being Me, Poems Abut Poems About Thoughts, Worries and Feelings, Liz Brownlee, Matt Goodfellow and Laura Mucha, May 2021

Posted in National Poetry Day 2021

National Poetry Day: Choosing Words

Posted on by Liz Brownlee
Emanuele Comotti

National Poetry Day is on Thursday this week – the theme is CHOICE. Today I have a poem about choosing words!

How do you choose just the right word for a poem? Do you use the one you first think of? Sometimes that IS the correct word – poem lines should be easy to read and use direct language.

But if you read the poem as a whole, and notice a repeat, or realise a word doesn’t express precisely what you were trying to say – or think of another word that is alliterative and makes the poem more interesting to say out loud – then it can be changed.

Here’s my poem about choosing words for a poem!

Choosing Words

Place to match the pattern with no seams

Or to clash with a dissonance that pleases

Use no jam that sits stickily on the tongue

Slice them with a scalpel, make them bleed

Hurl them, leave an outline on the paper

Breathe them gently into being to goose-bump skin

Keep some grounded but pin others to the sky

Feather all so together they form wings 

Then read your poem out, and let it fly

Liz Brownlee