There’s a prevalence
Of lies
In places
Where truths should be held
Power is held
In such ways
These are our
Troubled days
And the eyes
Are turned away
In response to my daily prompt Prevalence
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The whole kit and kaboodle
Everything you need to get started
You will soon be the expert
In your new chosen hobby/pastime/pursuit
Until the next new thing
The next thing to be seen doing
Then you will need to get
Another whole kit and kaboodle
This is the lifecycle
Of the perfect consumer
Duped into thinking
They are pursuing a perfect life
In response to my daily prompt Innovation
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Be true
To yourself
There is no other
Truth
Follow your dreams
And other such
Platitudes
But
They don’t
Pay the bills
Or
Bear the weight
Of life’s
Burdens
They were
Written
By those
Who
Enjoy the fruit
Of others’ labours
In response to my daily prompt True
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The whole human race
Must transform
Move on
Leave behind the past
The constraints and restraints
Of superstition
Fix the damage
And become new
Become something more
Than the consumers of the earth
In response to my daily prompt Transform
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Deep in the Crevice
No chink of light creeps
Water carved solace
Permanent night
There dwells the one
Who will bring us to the day
When our own cavernous darkness
Will finally hold sway
In response to my daily prompt Crevice
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The most
Harmful
Things
Are the most
Unassuming
Tiny words
From
Tiny minds
Kill
In response to my daily prompt Harmful
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Formulate
Don’t wait for permission
Go
Make the new world
Leave the old
With the dinosaurs
Don’t change the establishment
Ignore it
Make a new one
Reclaim
Everything
In response to my daily prompt Permission
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Formulate
Ruminate
Contemplate
Consult
Insult
Exult
Scan
Plan
Ban
Anything but do
In response to my daily prompt Formulate
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Egg and bacon sandwich
Dripping yolk and ketchup
Steaming tea from an old tin boiler
Condensation frosting the windows
Empty streets, lit by sulphur orange
Solace
In response to my daily prompt Bacon
A tenuous link today but hey!
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The alarm keeps going off
But there’s nothing wrong
The alarm keeps going off
We ignore it
The alarm keeps going off
Keeps going off
In response to my daily prompt Alarm
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Sun traces an arc
Marking the hours and setting
Events in motion
In response to my daily prompt Hour
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Beneath all the drama
All the bluster and the mustering of arms
The blows and the hot hot wind
The shouts and screams
The glory and the tragedy
The dreams and the hopes
Through every act and movement
Every entrance and exit grand and small
After every curtain call and echo of applause
Do not overlook the fact that
Children died
Brothers and sisters remember
In response to my daily prompt Curtain
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
It looks like the arc of the defeated
The hunch of an old and tired man
Worn down by time and routine
Only
The arc is a buttress
Against the burden of life
It is bent, not broken
It serves its purpose well
If not gracefully
In response to my daily prompt Defeated
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Some words
Are neglected
Not forgotten
Still in the lists
Used when absolutely
Necessary
For example
Chimney
When did you last utter it?
Like the object itself
It’s redundant
Only used
When it’s a problem
Sometimes
I feel like a chimney
In response to my daily prompt Chimney
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The cur
Concurred
That his fur was fine
The Dragon
Entwined, sublime
Around the dog
Agreed
As he preened
Sat on the mat.
The rat
Sneered as he neared
A disagreed
With the lead of the cur
While the rooster sided with the worm
His belief in showmanship firm
White he strutted
The tiger tutted
And purred,
Anticipating
Waiting
His chance
The rabbit
Twitched and hopped
Unsure who
To believe
Whether to leave
Or watch
While the snake
Curled around
The ground
Sniffing out
The way ahead
The monkey
Puzzled
And guzzled his beer
Coming near
Without seeing
While the swine
Less divine
Fed
Its stomach, not its head
And the bull
Forged on
Sure and strong
One way forward
The stallion danced
And when they glanced
Gave a show
While the goat’s
Step
Slow and sure
Kept time
And amidst them all
Nothing
That had a clue
In response to my daily prompt Rabbit
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The slight light
Of the dawn
Brings dread
Worry
When it should bring hope
What happened?
When did the light
Seep
In response to the daily prompt Slight
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
When the oppressors
Flaunt
Their power
When they laugh
Not in their sleeves
But in your face
As they take
And cut
And take some more
Chuckling
On their beds of gold
And thrones of power
When their hands are tightest
On the flow
Of information
Disinformation
And lies
They feel the safest
The strongest
That
Is
The time
To strike
In response to the daily prompt Flaunt
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Sleeves
Hide mystery
Sleek and smooth inside
Be that
Skin
Or vinyl
In response to the daily prompt Sleeve
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Come the hiding of the sun
And the rising of the dust
Dark Kings will reign over the land
Seas will bleed
Come the hiding of the moon
Rivers will falter
Weeds will claim the land
Towers will fall
Come the hiding of the stars
The ice bears will rend
Thunder will rule the air
Mountains will weep
Come the dying of the fire
The turning will end
The scattered will fail
Nothing more
In response to my daily prompt Hide
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The mallet
Ancient tool
Held by many hands
Down through the ages
Hands of skill and experience
Worn and hardened
By labour and care
Now
Resigned to
Tent pegs and vampires
In response to the daily prompt Mallet
I have to say – what a rubbish word today!
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
What is
Authentic
What is
Truth
In the sea
Of information
Might we drown
Before we find the
Pearl
In response to the daily prompt Authentic
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The arguments go on and on
Side by side
On and on
Both sides sticking
Faithfully
To their course
The problem is
Parallel lines
Never meet
In response to the daily prompt Parallel
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Firewater genie
It lures you with promises
The bottle snaps shut
In response to the daily prompt Genie
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Fingers fly on frets
Sliding, screeching, sighing
And magic emanates
Transporting us
Away
In response to the daily prompt Fret
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Come on you loons
You warrior poets
You insane ranters
Crank it up!
Give us your ideas!
Give us your brains!
Break the mould
Break the world
So it can be remade
Better
In response to the daily prompt Crank
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Rockets fly
In the face of reason
And humanity
Again
Depleted hope
Is as dangerous
And toxic
As depleted uranium
In response to the daily prompt Deplete
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
A glimmer of hope
Magically holds our eye
While life passes by
In response to the daily prompt Glimmer
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
In the shallows
Small fish dart
Disturbing the sand
Splashing
In the deep
Sharks swim silent
Passing
Unseen
In response to the daily prompt Disrupt
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Life is a haul
Not a journey
Or a mystery
No heaven to aim for
No rules but survival
Just a haul
Knowing
Is enlightenment
Pull where you need to
Concentrate your energy
Focus
Be keen
In response to the daily prompt Haul
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
We brave explorers together
Wearing imitation leather
And as silent as a feather
We toiled through the darkest weather onto our prize
Through mountains and valleys, we walked
By tigers and lions were stalked
And as brave as we always talked
There came a time when we just baulked against the size
Of the hunger in our bellies
Off with our explorer wellies
Broke out the ice cream and jellies
And retreated to the telly’s noisy comfort
In response to the daily prompt Explore
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Radiance
Shining across the galaxy
Shimmering
Around the darkest of places
From darkness
Light is born
To darkness
Returns
In response to the daily prompt Radiant
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
I am conversant
In…
Um
Well, I am quite good at….
Hey
What the hell
Why does it matter?
Who am I trying to
Impress
In response to the daily prompt Conversant
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Permit me to speak
Permit me to say
The truth of our lives
Maybe if we shared
The healing could begin
We could escape
The electronic cage
If we listened
If we did
In response to the daily prompt Permit
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The fox prowls the woods
Hot on the scent of dinner
The body is close
In response to the daily prompt Creature
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Sunny
She was
And the shadows she cast were long
We long for her
Now the winter is here
And the long long night descends
Bright was her smile
White and bright her smile
Deep and black her skin
And we wanted in
From afar
Memories of sun
In the dusk
In response to the daily prompt Sunny
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting
Dreaming
Alone
Is not enough
Dreaming together
Greatly to be desired
But
Giving dreams substance
That is what’s required
Be yourself
Be true
Be uncompromising
We are told
Be open-minded
Listen to others
Find the common ground
We are told
Find the path
Through those
And you will be sorted
Or go mad
Trying
Simple
In response to the daily prompt Uncompromising
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Bird on a branch
Are you resting
Are you watching
The world below
The people rushing here
And there
Along their crowded roads
With all their forks and cul de sacs
Fly on little bird
Fly on
In response to the daily prompt Branch
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Oh
For a restart button
A ctrl-alt-del
For some days
Some situations
Sometimes
For life
Must be the geek in me
I want to switch it all off
And back on again
In response to the daily prompt Restart
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Astral light guides
Cold and passionless
Cargos through the ages
Wood and steel
Fruit and bread
Flesh
To be sold
Along with the souls
Of the seller
In response to the daily prompt Astral
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Plainsong
Rolling, chanting
Granting the air a form
Bestow shadow and light purpose
Singing
The crafting of ancient wisdom
To bear us something new
Brightly shining
Lyric
In response to my daily prompt Craft
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
The King of the West
With his golden crown
Encrusted with jewels and finery
Refuses to let it go
When the waters rise
So he is dragged
To the deep
In response to the daily prompt Encrusted
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Where is the litmus test?
The assay
Of our leaders
Mettle
Why must I strive
To prove
My worth
When they
Enjoy
No scrutiny
In their ancient
Empty halls
With their ancient
Empty way
In response to the daily prompt Assay
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Stars sparkle
Planets shine
Celestial bodies far from reach
The solars tantalise
Go for the shiners
Whose light is constant
The stars will ever taunt you
In response to the daily prompt Constant
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
What lies beneath the surface of our waking lives? What secrets does the unconscious hold? These are the questions I explore in my poetry collection, The Well of Sunken Dreams. Writing this collection has been a journey through verses and a descent into the layers of human emotion, memory, and imagination.
Each poem in this collection represents a fragment of a greater whole, a shard of a mirror reflecting dreams both vivid and forgotten. Through these words, I’ve delved into universal themes of love, loss, and the passage of time, while striving to offer unique perspectives that challenge and inspire readers.
In a world dominated by fast-paced content and fleeting moments, I wanted to create something that invites readers to pause and reflect. The Well of Sunken Dreams isn’t meant to be hurried through; it’s designed to linger, to be reread, and to offer new discoveries with each visit.
My goal was to craft poetry that feels both accessible and profound, connecting deeply personal themes with universal resonance. For anyone seeking an emotional or intellectual escape, I hope this collection becomes a source of inspiration.
While every poem holds its own meaning, here are some of the aspects I’m particularly proud of:
Writing The Well of Sunken Dreams has been one of the most rewarding creative experiences of my life. Through my website, scottandrewbailey.com, I’ve shared this collection and other works that reflect my passion for exploring the depths of the human experience.
For me, poetry isn’t just about words on a page; it’s about the emotions and thoughts they evoke in the reader. With The Well of Sunken Dreams, I invite you to join me in exploring a world shaped by imagination and insight.
Are you ready to take the plunge? Visit scottandrewbailey.com to order your copy today and let yourself sink into the depths of my dreams.
The past is hazy but warm
The present cold, hard and discontented
The future unsure
The goal
The route
Hidden
In response to the daily prompt Present
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
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
Costume
Armour
Suits
It all hides
What is really inside
In response to the daily prompt Costume
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
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 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.
Scott Andrew Bailey - Author 
