When the world is eating, singing, celebrating
Tuning into the news can be grating.
Refugees and war are not on theme
But such stories continue to be seen.
 
Christmas is a time of giving
These conflicting images conflicting,
Dominating the current issues
Causing some to reach for tissues.
 
Christmas comes and soon it goes
Resolutions and sometimes snows
Normal life resumes at speed
Drifting away from those in need.
 
Little keeps stark images in your mind
Lasting past the fleeting appeals of kind.
Yet Christmas is a time for thinking of others
From neighbours to global sisters and brothers
 
Remembering the much less fortunates
While we gorge on roasted chestnuts.
Carry these thoughts of injustice and pain
Through January and into the main
 
And spare more than a thought in Christmas cheer
For those children, people, who wish to be here.
Pick out the easy wins, that’s a good start
A tin in the charity box from your shopping cart.
 
Contact your MP for changes in acts
Facebook and Twitter are tools of attacks
Check local press for news of the worthy
Helping those lives topsy-turvy.
 
Monthly donations to your chosen cause
And doing it all for no applause.
So when you pause to think of the many
Who have no food, no home or penny
 
Take it forward from Christmastime
And prove there’s a reason for my rhyme.

Lou x

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Born to be a Tourist

As tweeted on April 24th...



Chilled sun 
Shirts off 
April breeze 
Summer's coming 


#sixwords #micropoetry #poem

It truly feels like British summertime has arrived here in Bristol - enjoy!

What poems has the nicer weather inspired for you?





Lou x

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Born to be a Tourist

This Friday on Miss Write's blog I'm sharing a poem I knocked up at Towcester Writers this week. 

I set the group the task of pulling five random and mystery words from a bowl and writing a poem or piece of prose using all five of them. My five words were:

PIZZA                           YARIS
WEDNESDAY              PURPLE CUSHION
JANICE

Here's what materialised!

Janice the Pizza Lover

Janice was a pizza lover,
Hawaiian was her choice
She never munched while on the move,
Imagining her Yaris as a Rolls Royce.

Janice was looking for a job;
Where else could she work?!
Pizza Express made her a waitress
With responsibilities she couldn't shirk.

Janice started work on a Wednesday,
The quietest day of the week. 
She dropped no plates and spilled now wine, 
And put up with the chef's cheek.

Janice made some friends that night
In her new team of young staff.
A pizza, she was given to take home
To say "welcome and thanks for the graft."

Janice was feeling pleased with herself,
And was looking forward to another slice.
Juggling her car keys and the pizza box
She caught a delectable whiff. 

Janice's car became a kareoke booth -
She sang the whole way home
Oh disaster! She swerved to avoid a cat,
And the pizza took on a life of its own. 

Janice looked at the seat to her left.
A large red stain beamed up at her.
Her precious car no longer a sparkling Rolls -
The old banger now reeked of pizza.

Janice arrived home in quite a different mood;
Her mum knew something was up.
Story told, mum chucked her a pillow.
"Here - this purple cushion will cover it up!"

Janice still dives her little old Yaris,
And she still eats pizza, none to share.
The cushion is a bolster to bottoms -
Passengers of the Yaris, beware!

Lou x

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Born To be A Tourist

Image from Just Eat

Just a quickie - this was my travel blog post for the week... It's on a poetry theme, so I thought I should do some cross-posting.

A Question Of Travel: A Poetry Critique. 

Let me know what you think!

I post on Born to be a Tourist every Monday, so keep checking for more of the good travel stuff!


Until Friday, 

Lou x

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Born To be A Tourist

Image from Travel And Go

This fell onto the page this week, so I thought I'd share. I do not hate Twitter and I do not love it - it's a just a great tool I use to promote my blog, to network, inspire and be inspired. 

LOVE - HATE

Sometimes it's a very fine line between the two!



Tweeting is a thing I do not need
To Tweet all day and tweet all night
Is obsession beyond reprieve

Yet tweet I do and tweets I write
Carefully constructed on a creative bent
But you can be sure it never keeps me up at night

Lou x

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Born to be a Tourist

Image courtesy of Leading Women

It's Halloween - some folks are scared by thunderstorms, so this is a poem I've written about a huge thunderstorm. It hit my previous home town of Towcester ("Toe-ster") with a strong fist and I felt inspired. Yep, I'm a proud hippy. #NatureInspires 

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Humbled and Rumbled

First a rumble
A flash, a pause
I’ve seen heavier rain
But these drops sound weighted 

It’s a wonder
How rain eases
In anticipation
Of foreboding anger

Stuck in a bowl
Towcester’s storms hang
Over grey cloudy skies
Loudly voicing their thoughts

Rain falls harder
Hail storms partner
Celestial thunder
Follows a splitting sky

Photographic
Blinding lightening
Catch it in the corner
Of your eye – instant light

Flashes light rooms
Excitement builds
Electricity’s loose
On a regional scale

Lou x

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Born to be a Tourist

Image courtesy of Wunderground

SUCCESS!!!! I DID IT!!!

In case you didn't realise, April was a month of blogging A-Z for 26 days. I kept to my general writing theme (as with my normal weekly posts), with a few other random ones thrown in. I've had some wonderful feedback and great support from the A-Z community, so thanks for all of that. It really encouraged me to keep going, which was key; I didn't think I'd make it far past a week trying to keep up at the start!

I'm now returning to posting on Miss Write on Thursdays... and slightly missing the A-Z Challenge! Weird, huh? 

My first post post-A-Z Challenge is a summary of my ... A-Z posts. Did you miss any?!

A - 5 ways to survive film ADAPTATIONS
B - Robinson Crusoe - BOOK Review
C - Could you COPE without social media?
D - The DEVIL in me
E - How ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY is being a writer?
F - FIVE books which inspired me
G - 'G' is for GOAL
H - 'H' is for the colour of HUNGER
I - 'I' is for IDEAS
J - Unusual words beginning with 'J'
K - 'K' is for (Stephen) KING
L - 'L' is for LIPSTICK
M - MY CHILDREN will do it differently
N - NAUGHTY & NICE
O - OWNING UP - Three things I hate about being a writer
P - How to write a PRESS RELEASE
Q - Best Scrabble words beginning with 'Q'
R - RENTING a room? 20 tips to protect yourself
S - If I were a SUPERHERO...
T - 'T' is for TIARA
U - I'm taking to U!
V - Very Short Fiction
W - 'W' is for W*llies - A cautionary tale
X - 'X' is for EX
Y - 'Y' is for (never) YIELD
Z - Zzz... How much sleep does a writer need?

Take a look on Twitter #AprilBlogChallenge to find other A-Z blogs worth checking in on. 

Thanks for reading through April. I hope you found some of the posts useful - even the random one about baking!

See you next week, 

Lou x

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Born To Be A Tourist

April is month of blogging A-Z for 26 days (excluding Sundays). 
#AprilBlogChallenge Check it out! 

** S is for SUPERHERO **

---------------------------------






































IF I WERE A SUPERHERO

If I were a superhero, I wouldn’t want invisibility
Super-powered strength or shapeshifter ability.
Some people crave being perpetually youthful
But X-Ray vision’s not so useful. 
I know exactly what superpower I’d love,
And it would fit me like a glove.  

If I were a superhero, I’d be able to fly.
I’d jump off a building and soar into the sky.
Just how I’d get up to the roof,
I’ll suggest no evidence or proof.
Because that skill would most likely
Have HR here fire me less than politely.

If I were a superhero, I’d fly around the world,
And around my waist my cloak would furl.
A face mask would be inconvenient
As a method of concealment
Uncomfortable, klunky and awkward on the nose
As any spectacles wearer knows.

If I were a superhero, I’d jet off this morning.
That makes Monday much less boring!
First stop, Costa Rica to see a mate or two,
Off to a beach no one else could get to.
Follow that with India, the Taj Mahal,
Polar bears in the Artic and the Panama Canal.

So if I were a superhero, I wouldn’t save the planet.
You know I’m already itching to plan it! 
What use to the world is a flying woman
To deal with the world's problems common.
I’d definitely enjoy myself and you’re invited too,
Until they lock me up and exhibit me in a zoo!


Thanks for reading - if you liked this poem, why not share it on Facebook or Twitter?

Lou x

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Born To Be A Tourist - new content coming today!


Image courtesy of TV Tropes

April is month of blogging A-Z for 26 days. #AprilBlogChallenge Check it out! 

** H is for HUNGER **

---------------------------------

The Colour of Hunger

The colour of hunger is YELLOW.

It’s African, it’s dry. It’s the sunshine when you need rain.

It speaks volumes on politics, inequality and of being ignored. 


The colour of hunger is RED. 

It's the first colour newborn spring lambs are aware of,

Thirsty, starving, with stomachs craving milk. 


The colour of hunger is corporate MAUVE.

Progression driven enthusiasm, the determination to achieve. 

Confidence, planning, striving to succeed. 


The colour of hunger is RED, WHITE, BLUE. 

Watching the clock, working at my desk waiting for noon

I don't know how lucky I am. 


The colour of hunger deepens and fades... 

The colour of hunger is wanting and needing. 

What is the difference, when it's not about food?

-------------

And now it's lunch time!

Lou x

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Born To Be A Tourist 

Image courtesy of Hungry Native

I'm posting something a little different this week... I am a big advocate for entering writing competitions with carefully constructed sentences and paragraphs, and I'm regularly posting details of competitions on my Facebook page. 

However, one of my blog readers this week said she wasn't on Facebook, but would still like to know about some competitions she could try her hand in. So, as requested, here are some writing competitions which have April closing dates. Good luck all, let me know how you get on.

-----

Worgle Flomp Humour Poetry Contest
For funny and spoof poetry
Prizes $100 x 10 and 1 x $1000
Free entry
Closing date 1st April (no joke!)

BBC Nature Wildlife Writer of the Year
For short nature writing up to 800 words - no fiction or poetry
Prizes often include a conservation themed trip abroad
Free entry
www.discoverwildlife.com
Email wildlifemagazine@immediate.co.uk 

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
Free entryDeliberately bad opening lines to novels
www.bulwer-lytton.com
Closing date 15th April

Deddington Writing Competition
Short stories up to 2,000 words and poetry up to 36 lines
Prizes: £100, £50, £25 in each category, web publication
Entry fee TBC
Email hughm34@btinternet.com for more details

Divine Chocolate Poetry Competition
Poems on the theme of 'chocolate is something to cherish'
Three age categories: 7-11, 12-16 and 17-adult
Deadline 30th April
Entries can be emailed to poetry@christian-aid.org
www.divinechocolate.com/poetry

Grey Hen Poetry Competition
For poems up to 40 lines by women over 60 years old
Prizes £100, £50, £25, web publication
Entry fee: £3 or £10 for 3
Closing date 30th April
www.greyhenpress.com 

Tom Howard / John H Reid Short Story Contest
Short stories, essays or other prose up to 5000 words
Prizes are $150-$3000
Entry fee is a little higher but could be worth it! $16
Closing date 30th April
Email: JohnReid@37.com
www.winningwriters.com/tomstory

Bristol Short Story Prize
There is no set theme or subject
Stories should be a max of 4000 words
Entry fee is £8
Closing date 30th April
www.bristolprize.co.uk

Limnisa Bluethumbnail Short Story Competition
First prize is a week's retreat in Greece!!!
Any theme or subject - max 3000 words
Entry fee is £6
Closing date 1st April
Blue Thumbnail

Good luck - go for it! Let me know how you get on...

Until next week... when I start the April Blog Challenge! I'd better get planning...

Lou x

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Born To Be A Tourist

Image courtesy of Kaarc