The resplendent cock
Struts and crows, feathers rich red
While the hens scatter
In response to Colleen’s Weekly #Tanka Tuesday #Poetry Challenge, No. 71: Character & Affection, #SnyonymsOnly
#Haiku
The Cock
Poetry
Chunks
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Break it down
Into smaller chunks
The homework
Your daily work task
Your project
Your life
Until it is bits
Digital
And you never see
The whole again
A Spring of Dreams (Words)
Words
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Wherever words roam
Over fantastical lands
The heart rests at home.
Available as
or hardback
from Amazon
Three hundred and sixty-five poems in all shapes and sizes, sprung from dreams and emotion. Published day after day for a year. There are haiku, sonnets, katauta, lanturnes and many other forms – including free form. The moods are as varied as the forms and often reflect my mood on the day. There is sadness and grief, joy and love.
If nothing else – these can provide a small moment in everyone’s stressful lives to stop and contemplate the world in a different way.
Peace
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Peace is the echo
Of the voice of the songbird
Across the still lake
In response to RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #185 Sing&Peace
#Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge
Hiding
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Costume
Armour
Suits
It all hides
What is really inside
In response to the daily prompt Costume
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
River
By Scott Bailey © 2018
River slips quickly
Rolling by under the bridge
Until the freeze falls
In response to RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #188 Quick&Slip
#Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge
Colours
By Scott Bailey © 2018
The colours of the cross
Or the crescent
The sickle or the sun
Or nothing
They bring us together
To tear us apart
Make us belong
To a place
Where thoughts are handed out
With morals
But deeds are discouraged
Where greed is nurtured
And consummation
Perfected
The Bright Interloper
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Darkness abounds
All around
Never-ending
As far as the mind can see
Interspersed with light
Bright, beautiful, enchanting
Far-reaching and inspiring
But
Mostly there is darkness
All enveloping
Mysterious, powerful
Devouring
Darkness
Rambling through Dreams
A random ramble through riotous thoughts channelled through a strict poetic form with strange and unexpected results.
Follow the expanding maze of words and see where it leads you.
In these times of quick gratification and short attention spans, I decided to try and buck the trend and present something not only with greater length but also depth.
The poems in this collection were written over a long period and for different purposes. They are varied but they are all long. And they all represent challenges. Each was a challenge to myself, to sustain a quality of writing for a long period and within tight constraints of form while still telling a story. They also represent and challenge to the reader. The challenge to throw off the pressure of everyday life, the pressure to hurry, hurry, hurry to take the time to read something, absorb it over time.
Such effort needs reward, these poems should not be a one-time quick fix. If the reader is going to put that effort in then there should be a payoff, they should be able to continue to get something from it afterwards. Whether that be from contemplation of what they have digested or from revisiting, rereading and seeing things they missed the first time around. So the final challenge to me was to provide this depth of content – not just quantity.
A Kights Tale or A Life?
A fantasy tale of a Knight’s struggles and adventures that is a veiled allegory for modern life. But what does it tell us? What do you take from it?
In these times of quick gratification and short attention spans, I decided to try and buck the trend and present something not only with greater length but also depth.
The poems in this collection were written over a long period and for different purposes. They are varied but they are all long. And they all represent challenges. Each was a challenge to myself, to sustain a quality of writing for a long period and within tight constraints of form while still telling a story. They also represent and challenge to the reader. The challenge to throw off the pressure of everyday life, the pressure to hurry, hurry, hurry to take the time to read something, absorb it over time.
Such effort needs reward, these poems should not be a one-time quick fix. If the reader is going to put that effort in then there should be a payoff, they should be able to continue to get something from it afterwards. Whether that be from contemplation of what they have digested or from revisiting, rereading and seeing things they missed the first time around. So the final challenge to me was to provide this depth of content – not just quantity.
Fantasy in the Clouds
Fly on clouds with fantastical characters in an escape from the everyday! This poem offers no secrets, no hidden, agenda and presents simply joy and fantasy for the sake of it. This is the child at play spraying words like water splashed from a puddle in ecstasy.
Take time out, enjoy and ease your troubled adult mind – find the child again.
Humble Dreams of Escape
The dream of a farm boy who is not allowed to dream, this epic poem is an allegory of something much deeper and more soul-searching. It appears fantastical and full of mythos and strangeness, but beneath it all are truths of everyday life and one hard reality.
Written in a strict style as a challenge to the author – grab yourself a copy and spend some quality time digging into the symbolism and hidden meanings to see what secrets and philosophies you might find.
This is the archaeology of life in poetic form.
The People We Left Behind
The world has changed and that change has been for the better. People who were hidden are now seen. Inclusion is the way forward and we embrace all.
But some have been forgotten. Worse they have been labelled the instigators of the old ways, the bad ways. So they have been left behind – tarred with the brush of a small, powerful group of oppressors.
This collection partly examines this issue. It is not a complaint, not a wish for the old ways to return, but a way to start the conversation about what it means in the modern world to be white, male and middle-aged and how we need to come together with the rest of society again.
On another level, “The Well of Sunken Dreams” is a look at the betrayal of dreams that everyone of all creeds, sexes and colours feels these days. It asks what happened to the dreams we were promised?
Pick up a copy – join the conversation no one is having.
This collection of poems is a reflection of my thoughts about this and other darker aspects of modern life. In my other collections I like to balance this side of my ruminations with more optimistic explorations. This did not seem appropriate here. This is my equivalent of a grunge phase.
It also contains largely previously unpublished works that have not appeared anywhere else.
So, stick on those goth tunes and wallow in the well of sunken dreams.
Colourful World! Colourful Mind!
The world is colours! There are sparks in raindrops that outshine any gems. Stars sparkle with greens and blues and reds! Light hums through stained glass. Flowers and butterflies dance in an ebullience of shades. The spectrum sings through our souls.
“The Colour of Dreams” is a collection of poetry that celebrates the colourfulness of life in all its glory. Pick up a copy in your favourite form and join in the revelry.
Immerse yourself in a poetic tapestry that weaves together a myriad of emotions and experiences, all connected by the vibrant thread of colour. This collection invites readers to explore the kaleidoscope of thoughts and moments that mirror the endless hues and diversity of our cosmic existence.
Mental Respite Through Poetry
Our minds need respite. They need distraction but not mindless, not trash. They need feeding. We all know this. We all forget it.
There have been many times I have been stuck in the deep, cloying pool of stress or simply stuck on a problem I cannot solve. The resolution has most often been to do something else. Something that engages the mind differently. This frees your subconscious to solve the issues for you. So often after such a period, the solution presents itself.
Many great thinkers and creatives have employed this method. Both Darwin and Einstein for example took walks in the country and let their minds be engorged with its beauty. For others, it has been music.
I present here another option. Poetry. A whole collection in fact – one for each day of the year.
So when you’re stuck, or just in a fuzz that you need to shake – pick up “A Spring of Dreams”, read one poem – contemplate it. Give your mind the break it deserves.
Three hundred and sixty-five poems in all shapes and sizes, sprung from dreams and emotion. Published day after day for a year. There are haiku, sonnets, katauta, lanturnes and many other forms – including free form. The moods are as varied as the forms and often reflect my mood on the day. There is sadness and grief, joy and love.
If nothing else – these can provide a small moment in everyone’s stressful lives to stop and contemplate the world in a different way.
Conversation
By Scott Bailey © 2018
The end of the conversation
Is the end of the line
The rising of the fires
Of hostility and ire
So keep talking
Keep talking
In response to the daily prompt Conversation
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The Calling
By Scott Bailey © 2017
Hear the music
Of the spheres
Calling
Feel
The irresistible
Attraction
Of the singularities
Pulling
See the twinkle
The burst of life
Shrouded in the
Nebulous mists
Here the roar
Of the silent yaw
Of space
Here the call
The dare
Will we share
In the song
Or crack
Our own end
In response to the daily prompt Calling
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The Scarlet Mountain
By Scott Bailey © 2016
The scarlet mountain
Hangs in the sky
The scarlet mountain
Lies
Through the blood
Of the mountain
All of us
Relate
This is the place
Dreams instantiate
Where the scarlet mountain
Dwells in the clouds
That is where
Hope flies
In response to the daily prompt Relate
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Compass
By Scott Bailey © 2017
The compass has no compassion
The waves care not
The road goes on forever
Whatever your feet yearn
Rest is not an option
For the currents will always win
Only those that fly
Will win
In response to the daily prompt Compass
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Giant
By Scott Bailey © 2017
The giant sun burns slow
Swells red and bloated, gassing
It’s life into space
In response to RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #180 Slow&Burn
#Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge
Elegance
By Scott Bailey © 2017
From the unimaginable
Power
Of supermassive black holes
To the delicate
Dance of quarks
It all contains
Elegance
Beautiful and precise
In the conclusion of horror
And the breaking of joy
The shining of rain
And the sweep of the dune
From the swell of the tide
And the retreat
Elegance
Rules
In response to the daily prompt Elegance
#DailyPrompt #iamwriting, #postaday
Dancing
By Scott Bailey © 2014
Defying downing gravity
To delight in dazzling dance
Shimmering, shining sparkles
Showering tiny tears
In response to the daily prompt Sparkle
#DailyPrompt #iamwriting, #postaday
Days of Steam
By Scott Bailey © 2017
Brass gleams, drips with steam
Flaring in a beam of light
Driving on the wheel
In response to RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #179 Flare&Steam
#Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge
Eagle High
By Scott Bailey © 2017
Daring the currents
Of the rare higher airways
Bold the eagle flies
In response to RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #178 Bold&Daring
#Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge
Jenga Man
By Scott Bailey © 2017
A piece of me is demanded
Every waking moment of my life
One day the critical piece
Will be withdrawn
And the inevitable
Tumble will come
The final fall
The end of the game
In response to the daily prompt Tenterhooks
#DailyPrompt #iamwriting, #postaday
Age
By Scott Bailey © 2017
Age is the revealer
It strips away the lies
And wears us down
With harsh reality
Pares us to the bone
In response to the daily prompt Age
#DailyPrompt #iamwriting, #postaday
Tenterhooks
By Scott Bailey © 2017
Waiting on tenterhooks
For the next Big Idea
The next Winner
The next Wedding
The next Divorce
The next Leader
The next Messiah
For some
Just
The Next Sale
In the meantime
We are bled
And the fruits of our labours
Snuck out of the back door
In response to the daily prompt Tenterhooks
#DailyPrompt #iamwriting, #postaday
The Age of Reason
By Scott Bailey © 2017
This is the age of reason
Apparently
What reason then
Behind the starving child
Tortured by hunger pains
What reason
Behind the women
Sold as toys
What reason
The stockpiling and use
Of weapons of blood
One reason
One alone
That pounds every moment
Of our lives
In response to the daily prompt Age
#DailyPrompt #iamwriting, #postaday
Snippet
By Scott Bailey © 2017
Snippet
Clip it
Crimp it
Crumpets
Strumpets
Trumpets
The clear, pure note of a trumpet
Filling expectant silence
With celebration
In response to the daily prompt Snippet
#DailyPrompt #iamwriting
Rambling
By Scott Bailey © 2017
The sparrows scatter the pine cones
Down the valley and down
The salmon are jumping the ladders
The bears are shiny and brown
The river digs through the mountain
Too deep to hold any sin
The current rolls over and over
As ruins come tumbling in
Deep in the widening desert
Rumbles mistakes from the past
Mad birds scatter their debris
The light is shattered and cast
The stars shine high in the nighttime
Burning the rocks bare below
Melting resolve of the greatest
Like newly laid snow
Darkness pushes the light
Further and further apart
Stillness covers the chaos
Silence claims every heart
#iamwriting
No Turn
By Scott Bailey © 2017
Time is a one way street
There is no going back
A Saturday now is not a Saturday then
Monday morning comes again
Time drips
Dreams trip
Words will see us through
In response to the daily prompt One Way
#DailyPrompt #iamwriting
Husks
By Scott Bailey © 2017
The scrabble for the dream
Prevents the dream
As we fill every moment
Chasing here and there
To get things done!
We never stop to ask
Why
The things we are chasing
We will never have time for
As we are too busy
Chasing
Mankind and I
Have become
Empty husks of purpose
#iamwriting
The Hunt
By Scott Bailey © 2017
The percussive beat
Of a heart pounding with life
Stilled by quick, sharp teeth
In response to the daily prompt Percussive
#DailyPrompt #iamwriting
Underdogs
By Scott Bailey © 2017
The underdogs are many
Trampled underfoot
While they fetch and roll
And play dead
Until the day
They remember
They are
Wolves
And the pack arises
In response to the daily prompt Underdog
#DailyPrompt #iamwriting
Bridge
By Scott Bailey © 2017
White swan flies over
Broken, crumbling, old stone bridge
River rolls on by
In response to RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #176 Broken&Over
#Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge
Madness
By Scott Bailey © 2017
A touch of madness
In the powerful is wrong
But in the writer…
In response to RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #172 Wrong&Touch
#Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge
Mirror
By Scott Bailey © 2017
The lake’s smooth surface
Is as calm and still as glass
Perfect winter’s ice
In response to RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #171 Lake&Calm
#Ronovan Writes Haiku Challenge
Crumbs
By Scott Bailey © 2017
The smallest of crumbs
Of hope keep us all trying
Generating cash
In response to the daily prompt Crumb
#DailyPrompt #iamwriting
The Gate
By Scott Bailey 2017
The gate swings
Welcoming those who have come
Waving to those who have gone
The wear on the paint
Remembrance
Painting it over
Will not erase the memory
In response to the daily prompt Gate
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting
Outside `The Daffodil and Pen’
By Scott Bailey © 1999
I wandered lonely as a brick
That sinks and dives in stream and lake,
When all at once I was so sick,
And an awful mess I did make.
Beside the lake, beneath the trees.
Splattering my stomach in the breeze.
It must have been the bread I had
Or maybe that old Milky Way.
This puddle of sick smelt so bad
Along the margin of the bay.
Ten pints I had drunk, at a guess.
Tossing my head, I felt a mess.
The waves in my head danced, and they
Dashed my weak legs from under me.
A poet could not be so gay
As the one who stood over me.
He gazed and gazed and then in glee
Threw up and fell down next to me.
Next morn when on my couch I lay
In vacant and in pensive mood.
I swore I’d give up drink that day.
And swore some more, it was quite rude.
But soon, once more, the cider spills.
I’ll sleep again with daffodils.
In response to the daily prompt Dash
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting
Slurred
By Scott Bailey 2017
Words slurred
Danger
Thoughts blurred
Danger
Moral smudged
Danger
Figures fudged
Danger
Modern life
In response to the daily prompt slur
#DailyPrompt
Rhythym
By Scott Bailey 2017
Let the rhythm of the future
Not be
The rhythm of the past
Let us change it
Though the task be hard
And let it be
Beautiful
Let it be vast
Lest it be elegant
And true
In response to the daily prompt Rhythmic
#DailyPrompt
Glitter
By Scott Bailey 2017
The glitterati glitter
While the paparazzi pack
Lines full of lies and libel
To shore up the moral we lack
The world wide web weaves wonders
Hyperlinks hypnotise
The people they rage and thunder
Swallowing all of the lies
So watch the things that glisten
Watch the lustre and shine
And remember that nobody listens
Any of the time
In response to the daily prompt Glitter
#DailyPrompt
Lukewarm
By Scott Bailey 2017
A lukewarm life
Mine could be considered
Is that a bad thing?
Or maybe
The heat
Is deep and concealed
Who can tell?
In response to the daily prompt Lukewarm
#DailyPrompt
Aware
By Scott Bailey 2017
Futility, the child of awareness
Perhaps ignorance is bliss
Not a choice I would make
Action begins in awareness
Except in rivers and clouds
In response to the daily prompt Aware
#DailyPrompt
The Message
Debt
By Scott Bailey © 1998
Do not lightly discard them
with tales of the foolish bold.
They sat for weeks, for months, for years
in trenches freezing cold.
Sometimes feet simply mouldered
in the sucking mud.
And now and then they’d rise and run
and spill their loyal blood.
Do not belittle the suffering
of soldiers now long dead.
With nothing but talk and songs and bombs
bursting in their head.
Bound together with chains of love
shattered by leaden death.
They ended as they had begun
with cries upon their breath.
Do not lightly remember them
with only paper flowers.
they faced the fear, the pain, the cold,
for hours and hours and hours.
They ran together and fell alone
upon those foreign fields.
Protecting those they loved
those frightened human shields.
Do not read these words and think
that these things are passed.
Do not think you will not hear
that deep and dreadful blast.
Do not sit in decadence
and take for granted peace.
You owe a debt to those who died
and that debt will never cease.
Heard
By Scott Bailey 2017
It’s hard to be heard in the herd
The shared shards of pain shred
The glass glistens but no one listens
To the words of bards and the birds
Yes, it’s hard to be heard
In response to the daily prompt Heard
#DailyPrompt
Clean
By Scott Bailey 2017
Clean sweep
Clean start
Clean up
On a clean page
Clean sheet
Clean bill of health
Don’t they know?
Things grow in dirt.
In response to the daily prompt Clean
#DailyPrompt
Uncovering the Inspiration Behind “The Well of Sunken Dreams”
Behind every poem in “The Well of Sunken Dreams” lies a story, an image, or an idea that has haunted me. Inspiration comes in unexpected forms: fragments of dreams, the fleeting beauty of nature, the aching feeling of memories, and the shadowed corners of the imagination. This collection is as much a reflection of my own inner world as it is an offering to you, the reader, to see where it leads you. If you’re intrigued by the source of inspiration, step into “The Well of Sunken Dreams” and see what stirs.
Scott Andrew Bailey - Author 