Tuesday 1 June 2010

I am driving next week's Poetry Bus!

Yes folks, next Monday I shall be behind the wheel. Don't bother to dress up - we shall just be meandering through the beautiful Yorkshire countryside - at a slow pace - going nowhere in particular. Don't even bother to wait at the bus stop - stand on the side of the road and we shall stop for you. The farmer will be on hand (in his flat cap of course) to hand out home--made blackberry whisky and/or sloe vodka and there will be heaps of Yorkshire Puddings (with onion gravy of course) for those who get a bit peckish.
We shall meander down lanes lined with cow parsley; the fields will be heart-breakingly yellow with buttercups; calves, lambs and foals will frolic in the fields and there will not be a muck-spreader in sight. The air will be full of little flying creatures and swallows, house martins and swifts trying to catch them. There will be bird song aplenty (if our resident blackbird has not sung himself hoarse by then).
Get the picture? So here is the challenge - a new one by bus-standards methinks.
You can write a poem about anything which roughly falls into the category of flora/fauna. Even the humble midge is included, and the earthworm and the tiniest wild flower. Take your pick, so to speak.
If that idea doesn't appeal to you - if you are a city-type and not keen on the countryside, then here is the alternative:- Still use the flora/fauna title but write using it as a metaphor (think Larkin's toad, Blake's rose and Plath's blackberry thorns for inspiration.
The world's your oyster (yes, even they are included).

I have had my first lesson in how to link - still a bit hazy but I shall try. If I can't do it then Dominic has promised to do it for me.
So - next Monday or sooner if you like - post your poem on your blog and send me a comment so that I know it is there - send me a link too if you can and then I will sort out a list.
PS The weather forecast is good so don't bother to bring your wellies.

19 comments:

Dave King said...

Blackberry whisky for me, please -you sure know how make an offer a fellow can't refuse, don 't you?

Arija said...

That does sound like great fun and I'd dearly love to enhance my hips with some Yorkshire pud. but my brain has turned to cotton wool from all the anti-biotics and finding two, let alone more, cohesive thoughts is still a worry.

Gook luck and hope your bus is over crowded like those in the sub-continent.

Titus said...

Weaver, that's a record for the earliest prompt ever! Love the challenge, and concrete thanks for the alternative.
Can I have whisky and vodka and pudding please. I'm going to need them after today (double birthday celebration here).

Heather said...

Blackberry whisky and proper Yorkshire pudding with onion gravy - what delights! I like the sound of your poetry challenge and will do my best to get back on the bus this week. My brain has turned to mush recently and the thoughts wouldn't be turned into words. It is such a lovely time of year that anyone should be able to write a poem about its flora/fauna.

Gwil W said...

Ding! ding! Twice for go. Once for stop. Sometimes it was three rings. But that was the conductor showing off.

My goodness, how the times have changed.

Ding! Ding! "Hold tight"

Tess Kincaid said...

Ooo, a bus ride through the glorious English countryside! I might just have to hop aboard for this one.

Jenn Jilks said...

Great idea. I'm not sure, as things were topsy-turvy last month. Bit I like the challenge!

Kat Mortensen said...

Thanks for the visit, Weaver and I will surely be here on Monday.
I like the sloe vodka, straight up.

Kat

Cloudia said...

jolly post & prospect!








Aloha from Waikiki, Friend

Comfort Spiral

@ctors Business said...

Oh yorkshire puds and onion gravy, but have to have some sloe vodka mmmm

MarmaladeRose said...

Just wanted to say 'hello'.

ChrisJ said...

Hope you get some good photos of Yorkshire. They're my old stomping grounds and I miss them a lot -- (the wolds and the moors)until I hear about the bad weather. I'm not much of a poet, but I might just try this one since it's my area and my subject.

Elizabeth said...

I'm with the Farmer on food choices below. (Don't know how I missed yesterday's post until today.
Loved the description of wandering about as a child.
Very much as my brother and I did with TheBoysNextDoor --I remember the yew bows very well.
I let my children wander quite a lot but not as much as we did.
I hope the grandson gets SOME freedom!
Will let you know about the poetry. Want to but am feeling a bit uninspired.....

Enchanted Oak said...

I'll be thumbing a ride on the bus but are you serving espresso? I gots to have a nonalcoholic drink, so I'll pack a Perrier.

The Bug said...

Well, I'm hopelessly early - sorry! Not only that, I didn't exactly write about NATURE, per se. Oh well - here it is: http://danabugseyeview.blogspot.com/2010/06/nature-bus-and-magpie.html

Dominic Rivron said...

I'm having a go... Worms? Woodlice?

Dominic Rivron said...

Indeed, the gramersow. My poem is here...

http://dominicrivron.blogspot.com/2010/06/gramersow.html

Did you know it's a crustacean, has 14 legs and carries it's eggs around under its legs, so when they hatch it appears to give birth? The baby ones are minute.

BT said...

What a marvellous challenge and how can anyone resist. I think I'm too late but hey ho, I'll read the others and enjoy.

Bubba said...

I just recently found out about Poetry Bus and I'd like to come along for the ride. And I just happened to have written a flora/fauna poem already:
Earth Mother’s Song