Hey there everyone.
Today’s poem for Day 14 of NaPoWriMo was inspired by a word list provided by napowrimo.net HQ.
The challenge with the word list itself was to take any number of the following items and apply our own interpretations that we would find in our own dream dictionary:-
Teacup, Hammer, Seagull, Ballet slipper, Shark, Wobbly table, Dentist and Rowboat.
I also tried to write this piece in such a way that you wouldn’t need the original word list to get something out of the poem and its associations. I will let you all be the judge of this and hope you enjoy it 🙂
Photo by pixel2013 from Pixabay
“Swimming Against The Tide” by David Ellis
Toasting a refreshing change of pace, pinkies raised
When you nail it first time, you feel as if you can do anything
Curious in nature, soaring to unexpected giddy heights
Grace under pressure, elegance, comfortable wooing a big crowd
If we are not to play the role of victim, we must learn to swim against the tide
To be part of something bigger furnishes our fundamental cores and decency principles with firmer foundations
Growing deeper roots of understanding bridges the gaps in any relationships
Set sail as soon as possible, seize opportunities through hard work and you will never fail
Still want more? Well then, why not try on these other Day 14 entries for size from other very talented poets from the NaPoWriMo community 🙂
1. Scrambled, Not Fried – In The Beginning
2. Ladyleemanila – M is for Memento
3. KATIE STATEN – NaPoWriMo #14 – The Kiln
4. ORDINARY AVERAGE THOUGHTS – National Poetry Writing Month 2018, Day 14 – Broken dream dictionary
5. Playing with words – Tea can wait
6. JIM’S LITTLE PHOTO AND POEM PLACE – NaPoWriMo 2018-14 — Day 14, a Poem, dreams to be concerned
7. PAUL SCRIBBLES – IT’S NOT YOU IT’S ME
8. Unassorted stories – Restatement
9. erbiage – Teacups and hammers
10. Yesterday and today: Merril’s historical musings – A Dream Whispers, NaPoWriMo, Day 14
11. My Author-itis – Seagulls, Sharks, & Rowboats
12. Nupur Maskara – Mann ki See, Mann ki Do- The Bhagvad Gita, Chapter 13
13. method two madness – Tea with the Oracle
14. Jane Dougherty Writes – Dreaming of gulls
15. LILLIAN THE HOME POET – Grant Me Peace
16. Gloria D. Gonsalves – NA/GLOPOWRIMO DAY 14: DRINKING FROM A BLUE TEACUP
17. lifelessons – a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown – A Dreaming Vocabulary: NaPoWriMo, Apr 14, 2018
18. 1st Non-Manuscript – Charlene Delfin’s second blog – Day 14: Silly Dream Dictionary
19. MY FEELINGS MY FREEDOM – NaPoWriMo Day 14: My Dream Dictionary
20. WHAT LIFE SAID TO ME – NaPoWriMO 2018: Day 14- Dreamed of a Dentist? This is what it means
21. Zouxzoux – On the Lake
22. RIVRVLOGR – no need for warm stones
23. napowrimo – Ned – ezekielsdaughter
24. Flutterby’s NaPoWriMo – 2018 DAY 14 (BONUS) – DREAMED
25. Voyage des mots – Seagull?
26. Tidbits by Shannon – insomnia always has a reason
27. Poetic Pixels – Those Rhomboids
28. THOUGHTS OF WORDS – Siesta
29. Flutterby’s NaPoWriMo – 2018 DAY 14 – FROM THE DREAM DICTIONARY
30. barbaraturneywielandpoetess – Cause of Deaths
31. What Rhymes with Stanza? – 50 First Dates (2004)
32. Experience Writing – M is for Mawkish
33. The Great Unknown – NaPoWriMo 2018 Day 14: Sir James Frazer Editing the Dictionary Of Mythology
34. MY OWN GARDEN OF VERSE – MEIN GARTEN DER GEDICHTE – NAPOWRIMO 14: RECURSION
35. Frank J. Tassone – HAIKAI POETRY MATTERS – “Perchance, to dream…”: A #Senryu Saturday #haibun
36. Woody & Johnny – In Your Dreams
37. revivedwriter – Ballet Dreams
38. grapeling – it could be that – Egloo / 13
39. QUEST FOR WHIRLED PEAS – NAPOWRIMO 2018 – DAY 14 – FRACTURED SONNET
40. inktuition – NaPoWriMo 2018 day 14: dreaming of ballet
41. Poetry by Hasen – Dream of Rowboat And A Shark
42. Summer Blues – A Poetry Blog – A Wrong Kind of Dream
43. ORIENTATION::QUILTER – Day Fourteen, NaPoWriMo
44. kavyastream – Wild
45. Orangepeel – Poetry and Miscellany by Bruce Niedt – PAD Day 14: The Stuff (and Nonsense) of Dreams – Spectral Analysis
46. SOUL STRUCTURED LINES – NAPOWRIMO DAY 14: SHARK DREAMS
47. lifelessons – a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown – Haibun Reblog: Dianne Hicks Morrow
48. Purple Mountain Poetry – DAY 14: YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT
49. CLAIREVETICA – SLIPPER’D DREAMS
50. clayandbranches – NaPoWriMo, Day 14: The Other Side
51. Oaks to Acorns – The Rowboat
52. HOSKING’S BLOG – #NaPoWriMo 2018 Day Fourteen – Teapot
53. S.T. Marie – NaPoWriMo – Poem #14 – The Rowboat of Your Dreams
toofulltowrite (I've started so I'll finish) 
Thank you, David, and I don’t think I’ve thanked you for providing this wonderful listing. It’s a great way to visit other poems 🙂
It is my pleasure Jane. I’m going to have to start a 2nd project after NaPoWriMo to feature all of the poems that I didn’t include. Right now I’m manually capturing about fifty per day from the main NaPoWriMo website but if my calculations are correct, I will be increasing that number after April has finished to 200-300 poems per post. It will take a few days but once it is done, I will then send out an update letting everyone know that there are a ton of new poems available to read. It will be a wonderful experience for everyone because even with NaPoWriMo finished they will then be able to read so much new poetry and get to know many more amazing poets 🙂
200-300!!!! I don’t want to dampen your enthusiasm but it’ll take you ages! Why not settle for just a handful a day. I never read the 50 that you post every day, just a few. It takes too long, especially if I leave a comment as well. I’d have thought very few people would want to click through 300 poems. Just a thought. You might be giving yourself a lot of hard work that won’t be appreciated (except by the chosen poets 🙂 )
I was a little bit worried about the time sink but I have most of the information to hand and it shouldn’t take too long to arrange some more links, since most of them should be copying over poems where people did not submit their links to the official website every day. I’m more hoping that the pingbacks and other external links will lead people back to my website in the long run. I also hope that the poets involved also read my work and comment but if they don’t then I’ll settle for a boost in my website stats as my reward! 😉 I’m thinking about rearranging the links into alphabetical blog names rather than numbers and as you say, if people feel there are too many to read, they can just pick a handful of blogs that they like the sound of. At some point after in May I will put the exercise to bed and focus on my publishing my latest poetry collection but first I’ve got to catch up on the poetry days that I have missed. That will teach me for being ill at the start of the month rather than the end of the month now that I’m in a permanent state of catch-up! 🙂
I hope you’re better now! As for website stats, it seems to me that since the beginning of NaPo my stats have slackened off. Everybody writing poetry rather than reading it 🙂