NaPoWriMo: Day 25

Poetry prompt: Going sideways for boosting creativity

Write a poem using kennings. The word ‘kenning’ comes from the Old Norse verb að kenna, which means ‘to describe’ or ‘to understand’.

Bed of fish, smooth path of ships, island-ring, realm of lobsters, slopes of the sea-king, whale-house, land of the ocean-noise, blood of the earth, frothing beer of the coastline…

These are some of the terms and phrases used by the Viking and Anglo-Saxon poets to name/describe the sea.

Poetry asks us to think and view the world from the different perspective. And kennings question our habitual way of thinking and are an excellent ice-breaker for writing block.

Poetry (list of kennings)

A lost ’n’ found companion,
Words, making different unions,

language of the beauty and emotion
captured moment, written in ocean

Ongoing play of syllables,
Ambiguity, sign of mutables

Expression of non existent
Perspective of all existent

Illusions coming true
A saviour when I’m feeling blue

A rhyme worth any dime

Fastest creativity
Life’s ingenuity

Post-it note in lover’s pocket
A heart flying to the moon on the rocket

Who I am

Who I am not

Who I might be

Who I am becoming.

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