Cheers for that. I'll try DM you a PDF by the end of the weekend. It will only have placeholder images as I'm planning on making lino cut lithographs for it just after Christmas.

Yup. For a small town they seem to come fairly regularly.

Just a small hual today. But an interesting one.

I have ordered my proof copy to check over everything. Estimated delivery is 24 October.

I have created myself a template in canva based on the publishing standard of picture books at 32 pages. It has blocks for margins so I can visually see them, a tip I got from YouTube. I have six pages yet to fill as I finish my uncompleted poems from the month. I wanted to go with this so future chapbook all can match up on the shelf and compile to a bigger idea I have that I talked briefly on in the other forum tabs. I plan on doing this via PoD due to New Zealand having less than ideal shipping and exorbitant costs. I will use the Kindle Create software for making the ebook version optimised for e-readers. So far so good with no issues.

Yes that was meant to be clamber. Thanks

Just because the event ends doesn't mean the community does. Many of us are active in the forums all year round.

I'm glad to see golden shovels on there. I've been working on one for months. And monostiches I think need more structure, like a rhymed caesura and even syllabic either side of it.

The first hot weekend of spring we took the kids put to the park today. I jotted down these five senryu many monsters clamber over colored metal and plastic green ribbed beast drapped in ropey sinue over which kids climb sky to ground with slantways speed children slide to earth with pendulum ease and a kick of legs her swing reaches space water splashes out with every fountain drink making small rainbows

I'm starting to feel the time pressure crunch now. I have 12 poems 'complete' but some being short I want to add more for my chapbook to fill in the white space. I deffintally want to spend the next two days on senryu and haiku. I also have 16 poems in half finsihed states. Either in first draft or outline stages. My days are spent looking back at the clock watching that hand tick by now.

I'm always open to feed back. More so too when I'm on the fence with a poem like this.

I prompted myself with the duel prompts 'betrayal' and 'rewrite a nursery rhyme'. in this case Humpty Dumpty. I'm not sure I need the last stanza, or if I should move it to be the seconds one. Shattered Commitments of a Fallen Royal A chill breeze of unforgiveness blows in through a door left open by your retreat. My cardinal sins of the past I did repeat, our trust I pulled and stretched to thin. That last time would be the only time. A promise made earnest to do my best, now in hindsight seems was all just jest. Upon your heart I pulled a dreadful crime. My own lies pushed you out the door. I thought myself a king high on a wall, free from judgement up above it all. My paper crown lies torn on the floor. My shell of honour cracked and broken. The times of betrayal I did not keep score. All the king's men, and all the kings whores could not repair the vows that were spoken. Quiet and empty is the house we share. Alone I sit, Our relationship now spoiled. For breakfast, two hot eggs, hard boiled,  and a glass of self loathing and despair.

I doubt this one will make this months chapbook, but is a true story of events that happened a couple hours ago at work today. Stuck in the machine Hell fires scorch unhindered, waves of heat beat down. Hydration a far off dream. Only one coin left, hand trembling over the slot, tink tink, it drops in. The numbers sticky to push light up as I press. A whir and the coil moves. Clash clang thud, silence. A perspex view shows the can locked in place mid air. The can taunts me from safety behind its window of perspex and red stickers. A groan and a shake prove a fruitless endeavour helping it gain freedom.

Day? Photo Prompt; Winding forest path. In my country our native forests are evergreen so they don't change colour no matter the time of year. The benefit of living in a sub-tropical country. Only the sound of crickets Dark shadows fall upon the path, winding its way through thickets. Path overgrown with heavy brush swallows wayward hikers in minutes. Brush so dense and luscious green from the feast of bodies left serene.

Grief comes in waves Washed out colours of sun faded plastic flowers are all that welcome me here at your grave. Flowers once full of life and lustre now wilt lacking in the freshness of the life you gave. Wilted Memories reach through time to smile stirring bittersweet emotions not felt for awhile. 

Today when work became quiet I went for a jaunt. Or at least that is what I am calling them; Jaunts, because they were a journey to make. Still with the ballad rhyme scheme in my head, and the refrained words from sestinas, I came up with a small form to challenge myself.  Jaunts; * ABCB DD rhyme, also rhyming the B with the title * Line ones last word becomes line threes first word * Line threes last word becomes line fives first word * Anything else is up to the author.  Here are the three examples I wrote today. I may have cheated a little with a homophone in the third. =o= To beach buzzards give heed Seagulls circle above when weather is hot. Swarming over those with a takeout feed. Hot chips thrown from within grease paper, an offering to meet starved beasts greed. Paper planes rain down pelting the sand in search of scraps left behind on dry land. =o= My Health Campaign I started on a new diet today. Well, it is the same diet again. Today it will work, I will stick to it.  I know I can learn how to abstain. It has to succeed, I have to try to stick to it, or to life say goodbye. =o= With morning light you depart I hunger for your scent left upon my blankets. Our night together, a reunion of bodies apart. Blankets of sweat cling on like a musky mist. On waking an absence of my stolen heart. Missed you I have since the sun broke in waking me up alone in this holiday inn.

Again is a terrible word. When I read it off the page it rhymes with 'maintain'. If I use it in a conversation the 'ai' is ditched for an 'e' and it rhymes with 'when'. I don't know if this is a New Zealand thing or not but I asked co-workers and they all do it too.

Love to see more haiku coming in. I recommend at least three a page to save white space. I'm a big fan of haiku, senru, simplex, and tanka and will have some in mine also

This is a very rough first draft/mind dump. It will be twice this long but I wanted to share how far I got thus far. Spawned from this mornings live stream, this poem is dedicated to @nicki, A long time member of the Cove and someone who always brings warmth and humour to the Sunday streams. Thanks for the inspiration. Letter Lock - Untitled For Nicki WIP  In an era before emails and digital convenience  When contacting someone was held heartfelt  by the action and effort it took to send ones words  long distance To stroke upon the emotions And Warm the hearts of recipients  Mail was the king of communication  Queen Elizabeth The first Kept her secrets well Within pages of parchment with ink and quill Romancing of Robert, declarations of war  Letters of state, Messages to her cousin with Letter locks Her Secrets she kept secure intricate folded paper slotted and  A measure of secure keeping thoughts Hidden away and private After you left me in pieces I picked up the pieces Staples and duct tape holding together my heart  In a misshapen form the closest I could remember To that shape it was before you clawed it apart  I coated it in tissue paper, gently put it in an envelope And posted my own heart back to myself with a note sealed up with an origami letter lock to keep others  From breaking the seal and shattering it again

I appreciate the thought and feed back, thank you. I did end up dropping 'final' from the finished poem