Orchestra #NaPoWriMo

^{_{Orchestra, Erasure Poem #101, gel pen & watercolour on paper, Sketchbooks 2023, © N Nazir 2023 / Text Source: Indigo by Marina Warner}}

We are sunfish
and stargazers

creatures who
shake and billow

humming,
we sashay
like joy spreading

_{^{© N Nazir 2024}}

First published at Unlost Journal, Issue #31: My World Spins on This Final Point, Summer 2023

NaPoWriMo Prompt 7: to write a poem titled “Wish You Were Here” that takes its inspiration from the idea of a postcard. Consistent with the abbreviated format of a postcard, your poem should be short, and should play with the idea of travel, distance, or sightseeing. If you’re having trouble getting started, perhaps you’ll find some inspiration in these images of vintage postcards.

My poem is a little off-prompt though it does have a tenuous link to today’s prompt in that it’s short, it’s got a picture postcard element and it does feature the sea. However, it was created about a year ago so in that way, it is a cheat! Sharing also for Thought Purge’s poem-a-day challenge, prompt 6: Freedom.

Monsterful

_{^{Inktober Prompt #1: Dream, Erasure Poem #124, acrylic & gel pen on paper, © N. Nazir 2023 / Text source: The Freedom Artist by Ben Okri, p.64}}

writing deep into strange night
I discover my dream

_{^{Inktober Prompt #2: Spiders, brush pen, gel pen & biro on paper, © N. Nazir, Sketchbooks 2023}}

^{_{Inktober Prompt #7: Drip, ink & gel pen on paper, © N. Nazir, Sketchbooks 2023}}

For me, October means many things. Mainly, it’s the month of Inktober, a drawing challenge I’ve been doing for the past three years now. Artists are given a daily prompt throughout the month which they’re free to interpret any way they want. Materials traditionally used are ink and paper but you can use any medium you fancy. A friend of mine on Instagram who plays the trumpet shares short musical compositions in response and his results are usually wonderful.

I’ve been really getting into the challenge lately though it’s never easy. Drawing daily does help sharpen my skills but the prompts often take me out of my comfort zone. You can’t overthink it. You should probably go with the first idea. There isn’t time to dawdle. I get caught up in detail and definition but I can’t help it, I love detail and definition. Luckily, the prompt list is given a month in advance so we can get a head start. Where possible, I use my own photos to reference imagery, or experimentation through imagination, but I also like to work from screen shots of films.

It looks like I’m going through my blue period but I’m not. If anything, I’m going through a green period.

In the UK, October is also Black History Month (why isn’t it taught as part of mainstream history?) and National Book Month, plus all manner of eccentric commemorations which you can check out here. My favourites are National Kick Butt Day (9th), National Hug a Drummer Day (10th), National No Bra Day (13th), and Worldwide Howl at the Moon Night (26th), to name a few.

Oh, it’s also mating season for house spiders.

I love that it’s the height of autumn and ends with Halloween. I love the bright sun – chill wind days we get around this time. I love all the pumpkins that start appearing here and there, and the scent of cinnamon and gingerbread in the air. October is my jam.

_{^{© N. Nazir 2023}}

^{_{Inktober Prompt #6: Golden, watercolour, ink & gel pen on paper, © N. Nazir, Sketchbooks 2023}}

*Shared for Poets and Storytellers Limited, where Rommy invites us to share what October means to us (369 words or less).

*I may share more of my Inktober journey soon.

Because Imagination Becomes Reality

^{_{Erasure Poem #46, ink on paper, © N. Nazir 2022
(sourced from Tales from the Afterlife by David Eagleman)}}

The magnitude
of your imagination
thunders and shakes.

You conquer fears
with confidence.

You are the maker
of a great masterpiece.

You question the moon’s orbit
the power of the ocean
the grace of strangers.

Hypnotised, you laugh
into the great horizon.

^{_{© N Nazir 2022}}

Shared for dVerse Open Link Night, hosted by Linda.

A Double Whammy Poem #Caboodle #Portmanteau

Tone it Down

You tempted me
hanging there coolly.
Casting shade just the way I liked
in a way that made me want you. 
I filled my eyes
pretended distraction elsewhere
but I kept coming back to you. 
And yet so many others
charmed me too. 
It became harder to choose.
Moments passed.
You like…? asked the man
holding out
cerulean blue
inkwells of ultra-violet
emerald, crimson.
Hues so true my heart sighed.
Just give me the whole caboodle, I said.

^{_{© N Nazir 2021}}

Written for Sammi Scribbles Weekend Writing Prompt: Caboodle, 78 words.

Please also check out my response to last weekend’s Sammi prompt below. I would have posted it earlier but it was fiddly af and I only just got round to finishing it. I have numbered each sentence so it’s easier to follow, and also included the verse below.

^{_{Erasure Poem #37, ink on photocopy paper, © N Nazir 2021}}

The rightful owner of this portmanteau
is nimbly devouring
the hopes we find so comforting.

He made an ass of me.
What ist thou doing now
we must go and ponder on the mountain,
how to bring him to heel.

He is a master of misdemeanour.
The goatherd knows it too.
By the way,
have you seen my mule?

^{_{© N Nazir 2021}}

Written for Sammi Scribbles Weekend Writing Prompt: Portmanteau, 59 words (25-26 Sept 2021)

Him (vi)

^{Erasure Poem 16 detail, gel pen on photocopy paper, © N Nazir 2021}

Shared for dVerse Open Link Night, hosted by Bjorn.