A List of Things That Make a Perfect Day

Being woken by birdsong is a good start to a perfect day, with sunbeams breaching the slatted blind, falling on my face and tickling my nose, one of the cats patting my face with the velvet pads of a paw. A mug of steaming cranberry and raspberry tea is next, followed by fruit of the forest, no-fat Greek style yogurt and low sugar granola, and a quick look at the NaPoWriMo prompt for the day. I wait at leisure for inspiration, take my time composing a draft of a poem to share on my blog, and then I have poems to read and comments to type. On a perfect day, I have time to read the next stave of a Pigeonhole novel before making the bed, taking a shower and getting dressed, all in my own time, no haste, no pressure. A chat with my daughter and grandson is followed by an early lunch and a walk, up the road and over the bridge, where I greet the horses and watch the rabbits gambolling in the meadow. They are often joined by pheasants and magpies – two for joy is a bonus. On a perfect day, I ignore housework and settle down to enjoy a television programme or film I’ve recorded. After one of my favourite meals, aubergine parmigiana and salad, and knitting several rows of a cardigan for myself, I’m ready to continue reading my current book, the new one by Elly Griffiths or the latest in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith (also known as J.K. Rowling). A bedtime read before I fall asleep after a perfect day.

Kim M. Russell, 7^th April 2023

Image by Artem Miltonian on Unsplash

On Day 7 of NaPoWriMo, we start by reading James Tate’s poem ‘The List of Famous Hats’, which we can use as inspiration for writing a poem that plays with the idea of a list. Tate’s poem is a list that isn’t – he never gets beyond the first entry. We could try to write a non-list, a list of ingredients, a list of entries in an index, a self-portrait or a portrait of someone else in the form of a list, or even a list of instructions.