Thanksgiving Poems & Prose Pieces: Poetry, #2

By Laura Lyndhurst

I'd just about finished writing and publishing October Poems at the beginning of November 2020 when my friend and mentor, Nancy Bonnington, announced that during the month of November she would be putting up prompts – word prompts, rather than pictures, this time – to inspire short pieces of writing from the members of her Facebook group. In the event, the prompts all centred around the subject of Thanksgiving in the USA, which was to happen on the 26th November. I rose to the challenge, although as I was rather tired from the effort of writing the October Poems it took me a few days to rest up and get my poetic head back on: which is why the first few pieces I wrote were in prose, rather than poetry. I have included them, however, as they form an integral part of the whole (and are referred back to in at least one of the poems which I subsequently wrote).

 

85 pages approx.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Laura Lyndhurst
• Release date: Dec 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9798224051069

Laura Lyndhurst

Laura Lyndhurst was born and grew up in North London, England, before marrying and travelling with her husband in the course of his career. When settled back in the UK she became a mature student and gained Bachelor's and Master's degrees in English and Literature before training and working as a teacher. She started writing in the last few years in the peace and quiet of rural Lincolnshire, and published her debut novel, Fairytales Don't Come True, in May 2020. This book forms the first of a trilogy, Criminal Conversation, of which the second is Degenerate, Regenerate and All That We Are Heir To the third. Innocent, Guilty, the first of another trilogy, continues the story told in these three books and leads on to The Future of Our House, which is followed by Uphill, Downhill, Over, Out as the sixth and final book to end the series. Laura also developed a taste for psychological suspense, which led to the writing and publication of You Know What You Did, to which What Else Did You Do? is the sequel. Laura has also published four small books of poems, October Poems, Thanksgiving Poems and Prose Pieces, Poet-Pourri and Social Climbing and Other Poems.

Book preview

Thanksgiving Poems & Prose Pieces

LAURA LYNDHURST

Copyright © 2020 Laura Lyndhurst

All rights reserved

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Imprint: Independently published

Cover design by Laura Lyndhurst using images from Pixabay:

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To my husband Glen, who read each poem and provided much-needed advice. Thank you.

Introduction

I’d just about finished writing and publishing October Poems at the beginning of November 2020 when my friend and mentor, Nancy Bonnington, announced that during the month of November she would be putting up prompts – word prompts, rather than pictures, this time – to inspire short pieces of writing from the members of her Facebook group.

In the event, the prompts all centred around the subject of Thanksgiving in the USA, which was to happen on the 26th November. I rose to the challenge, although as I was rather tired from the effort of writing the October Poems it took me a few days to rest up and get my poetic head back on: which is why the first few pieces I wrote were in prose, rather than poetry. I have included them, however, as they form an integral part of the whole (and are referred back to in at least one  of the poems which I subsequently wrote).

I have decided to publish this collection, as they chart the next stage in my development as a poet, with the prompts from Nancy which inspired them placed at the head of each poem or prose piece.

I have now begun writing poems which occur to me in the course of my everyday life, without prompts of any kind from Nancy. However, my thanks go to her, as they always will, for having started me out on this journey into poetry which I never expected to take.

Please note that they are written in UK English.

I hope you will enjoy them.

Thanksgiving: From a turkey’s point of view.

The Mission

There’s a tense atmosphere going round the barn, and who can wonder? It’s almost here, the moment we were all born for, the moment we were trained for, the moment we’ve been living for. Some are hyper-energetic, moving around in a state of excitement, they can’t wait to get started. Others sit and brood quietly, you can see their beaks moving, reciting personal mantras; many of these latter have reached a trance-like state, immobile, eyes staring, it’s as if their spirits have moved beyond already, their bodies waiting the summons to follow.

Once each year the Chosen are selected, and set out upon their Mission. The cold weather tells us the time is almost upon