poetry

Close-up of a pair of hands typing on a typewriter.

Sonnet No.1 implies the existence of further sonnets

I haven’t written many sonnets. I mean, they’re often poems about love and I hate everyone. Just kidding. I’ve just traditionally been more of a free verse and blank verse girl, I guess.

But I did pen my first ever sonnet earlier this year, creatively titled “Sonnet No.1”. (Hey, it’s good enough for Shakespeare, it’s good enough for me.)

Front cover of The Other Side of Pain: poetry, art, and photos by members of the poetry club. The cover features a black and white close-up of a woman holding a lit match in front of her face.
The Other Side of Pain: poetry, art, and photos by members of the poetry club.
November 2023 member magazine.

You can find “Sonnet No.1” in the official 2023 Poetry Club member magazine. The theme was healing and the collection is called The Other Side of Pain. It’s available as a free downloadable ebook so go check it out! You might even discover your new favourite poet/artist (probably not me, but I’ll be flattered if it’s me, lol).

Read The Other Side of Pain by the Poetry Club.

I’m planning to release a poetry book at some point… but first I need to sculpt my scraps into a reasonably coherent collection. 😉

Text reads: The thermogenic effect of driving. Background contains a road leading into a dark forest.

The thermogenic effect of driving

in my throat
I feel
my heart
rising
my Fitbit thinks
I’m exercising
but I’m just
scared
still.

Just a little instant poem to go with my instant noodles, lol. Definitely won’t win any awards… but it’s based on a true story.

You see, my beloved Fitbit detected 43 minutes of moderate activity from me on Thursday afternoon – due to my heart rate hitting 133 beats per minute.

I was not doing any exercise, moderate or otherwise. I was, in fact, sitting in a car taking my practical driving assessment, hoping to get my manual driver’s licence.

Yeah, I was hella nervous. 😅

Fitbit screenshot shows Moderate activity from 1:52pm-2:34pm (39 active zone minutes, 219 calories burned) and from 1:33pm-1:37pm (4 active zone minutes, 19 calories burned).
Screenshot of the “Moderate activity” recorded by Fitbit during Lee-Ann’s driving test.

I already had an automatic licence. I passed that test on the first go, which I still say was a massive fluke. My therapist says I need to have more confidence in my abilities. I mean, those things are not mutually exclusive…

Anyway, I’d already failed a manual test earlier this year. Let’s just say I’m a very anxious person, and panicking in a manual car is a lot more obvious than in an auto.

But I passed my second attempt! Despite Fitbit confusing it for a workout.

It wasn’t a perfect drive, but it was solid and I demonstrated to a neutral stranger that I can drive without endangering myself and others. Which is obviously what you want.

I used to hate driving any class of vehicle with a passion, but over the course of learning to drive a manual, this driving thing has grown on me.

Though if I ever become rich and important enough to have a limo and a personal chauffeur deal with the whole gamut of road users for me, I may well take that option. 😛

Text reads: I want to write a poem. Background contains ink pot and quill.

I want to write a poem

I want to write a poem –
the kind that inspires
the kind that lights a fire in your soul
the kind that speaks every word
of your heart’s desires
the kind you’ll want to quote
so that I won’t even care that I peaked
with this poem.

But –
I can’t find the words
and I don’t know what needs to be heard
and when I try to write a rhyme
it sounds absurd.

So –
I start to search for the perfect

the perfect pen
the perfect notebook
the perfect desk
the perfect ergonomic chair

the perfect procrastination.

Maybe –
the clothes make the poet
so I search for “poet outfit” with a flourish
but in my fervent fingering I slip slight right
and hit a p instead of an o.

My thumbs get as far as “poet put”
before the little engine that could
(that does)
predicts my next words.

“poet put head in oven”

And I think –
Sylvia Plath could find the words
Sylvia Plath needed to be heard
but on this absurd day
she is reduced

to a head
in an oven.

And I wonder –
will anyone remember
me?

© Lee-Ann Khoh

It’s still National Poetry Month for a few more days so I thought I’d share something I wrote after one of Shelby Leigh’s poetry club workshops. (If you join the poetry club and check out the workshop replays, it’s the April 2023 one with Sierra DeMulder.)

Feel free to let me know what you think of the poem, even if what you think is “This is super wanky.” (But if you can articulate something more constructive than that, I’d appreciate it, lol.)

A woman sits on a rock, looking out towards the ocean.

Amateur poetry readings in lockdown

Much of Australia has recently been in, or are still in, lockdown — including me in Perth. I was directed to work from home on Monday (it’s now Sunday again as I write this) when initial restrictions were reintroduced. And I managed to get a masked gym session in just before Premier Mark McGowan called an 8pm press conference (never a good sign) to announce that Perth and Peel would enter a four-day lockdown. Which we’re now out of, albeit with some restrictions in place.

Sydney, on the other hand, is still in the middle of their lockdown. 😦 That city owns a piece of my heart, so I decided to read “To Sydney”, a poem by Louise Mack, for LibriVox.

Listen to Short Poetry Collection 217 on LibriVox.

My oral interpretation of “The West” by Francis S. Borton is also in that collection, which is made up of 44 poems read by various volunteers.

Black headphones on a black surface.

My speaking voice and Henry Newbolt

Those who know me in person know I don’t really say much. Which means hearing my speaking voice is a genuine rarity. 😀

But I recently joined LibriVox, where volunteers from around the world record audio versions of public domain texts. For funsies, I decided to take part in LibriVox’s Weekly Poetry project, which on this occasion consisted of 25 readers recording a Henry Newbolt poem.

Listen to “Outward Bound” by Sir Henry Newbolt at LibriVox.

I’m number 16 😉 — but you should totally check out how everyone else interpreted the same poem.

Obviously I sound different in a conversation than I do when reciting a poem. Or do I? Who even knows? 😛

Anyway, this and any future recordings I might do for LibriVox can be found on my LibriVox page.