Assorted Shorts 1

A selection of assorted short poems, mostly about poetry and writing. @mairipoetry

One little Haiku
Thinking about what to write
I ran out of space

Haiku – in the strict sense, comprised of three lines, with 5-7-5 syllables. Bit challenging to say much in that amount of space.

When I don’t know what to say
I try to make words rhyme
It’s sometimes easier that way
(When I can find the time)

Increasingly I find the lines between poetry and quotations becoming rather blurred. Here I’ve attempted a rough definition:

What is the difference
Between a poem and a quote?

Poem: the author said it was
Quote: part of what they wrote

Palindromes can be read the same forwards and backwards. In honour of the second of February 2020, I attempted a palindromic sentence, although defining this as a poem is a bit of a stretch.

02/02/2020 – palindrome day

“Perhaps,” thought you, “-what is that word, for word-reflectable poetry? Palindromic!”
Palindromic poetry: reflectable word-for-word. That is what you thought (perhaps).

02/02/2020 is palindromic in both DD/MM/YYYY and MM/DD/YYYY formats – the first such day since 11/11/1111 and the last one until 12/12/2121.
So someone born on 02/02/2020 alive on 12/12/2121 would also have the palindromic age 101 years.

#First Post

I was too scared to use my voice
I was afraid of being heard
But I knew I had a choice
To share this my written word

What if you get online hate?
What if you receive abuse?
That’s a risk I’m willing to take,
To put these words to good use

Yet I waited for too long
To finally share my first post.
Just in case something went wrong,
Or what I then was scared of most:

What if no-one reads or cares?
What if they think I’m a joke?
The thought sent me into despair
Being afraid of other folk

What if then nobody likes me?
Will they notice I exist?
Will they see my poetry,
Or is it lost to the abyss?

What if the text is too long?
Will anybody read it all?
For although my words are strong,
I’m weaker with the visual.

The only way to know for sure
Is to go and try it out
Keeping my words true and pure
Let’s see what this world’s all about

Mairi Wallace

One of my first public poems on Instagram @mairipoetry
Starting out on this journey of making my poetry public, I found myself almost equally anxious about people’s reactions and getting no reactions. So to relieve some of these feelings, I will not put pressure on myself and will simply give this a go.

Brexit Day

After forty-seven years
There’ll be some tears
As we proceed to break up
Although we may cry
As we say goodbye 
Soon we will surely make up

This was a divorce 
That felt taken by force
In fact it was rather half-hearted.
Voting leave only just
It seemed that we must
Continue, and find ourselves parted.

We’ve left the EU
Technically overdue
Although nothing changed overnight
Just wait one more year
There are changes I fear
Some people already took flight.

Though a hole we will leave
In peace we believe
Not in messages shown on a bus
But in one sent afar
“This is our star,
Please look after it for us.”

Mairi Wallace

Some thoughts on Brexit, a poem to mark the UK leaving the EU.
This poem became my first instagram post @mairipoetry .