Francesca Bossert's Blog, page 12

SONG TITLE POETRY: E IS FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA

Sweet Talkin’ Woman

Do ya Shine a Little Love?
Strange Magic Don’t Bring Me Down,

When I was a Boy Confusion

All Over the World, Can’t Get it Out of my Head!

 

Calling America,

Here is the News:

Need Her Love.

Whisper in the Night; Don’t Walk Away

Livin’ Thing.

 

Hold on Tight

My new poetry book, ILLICIT CROISSANTS AT DAWN is available on Amazon.

SONG TITLE POETRY: D IS FOR…DURAN DURAN!

Rio, Is there something I should know?

What happens tomorrow?

Save a Prayer;

All she wants is The chauffeur friends of mine,

The Wild Boys,

Notorious Union of the Snake,

Hungry Like the Wolf,

A View To A Kill.

New Moon on Monday,

Invisible Girls on Film.

My poetry book, ILLICIT CROISSANTS AT DAWN, is available on Amazon and is getting great reviews

SONG TITLE POETRY: D IS FOR…DURAN DURAN!

Rio, Is there something I should know?

What happens tomorrow?

Save a Prayer;

All she wants is The chauffeur friends of mine,

The Wild Boys,

Notorious Union of the Snake,

Hungry Like the Wolf,

A View To A Kill.

New Moon on Monday,

Invisible Girls on Film.

My poetry book, ILLICIT CROISSANTS AT DAWN, is available on Amazon and is getting great reviews

LOCAL BIRDIES: DO BIRDS HAVE ACCENTS?

During my walk out in the woods

I heard something quite weird.

Blackbirds conversed in Schweitzerdeutsch;

I couldn’t believe my ears!

 

“What’s Schweitzerdeutsch?” I hear you ask,

Your eyebrows cocked sky-high,

While your expression convinces me

You’re mega mystified.

 

Schweitzerdeutsch is German Swiss,

It’s Switzerland main speak,

A dialect that’s so guttural

It doesn’t exactly tweet!

 

Nevertheless, these birds I heard

Had Swiss German’s odd lilt,

A sort of up and downy twang,

If you follow my gist.

 

I listened for a while, amused

By their accented tunes,

And wondered whether Swiss French birds

Sound weird to German dudes!

 

And then of course, my thoughts spun out

To other countries too,

Do birds from London sound the same

As birds from Lancashire do?!

My new poetry book, ILLICIT CROISSANTS AT DAWN, is available on Amazon 

 

SONG TITLE CHALLENGE: C is for The Cure!

Charlotte Sometimes

Boys don’t Cry.

I’m a cult hero,

A Fragile Thing,

Alone.

 

Maybe Someday,

In Between Days,

Three Imaginary Boys,

The Love Cats

From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea,

High, Homesick,

Out of this World,

Jumping Someone Else’s Train

Forever,

Doing the Unstuck

Disintegration

Pornography

Freakshow

Close to Me,

Catch Prayers for Rain.

 

So What!

Friday I’m in Love,

Let’s Go To Bed,

Sleep When I’m Dead.

 

Wrong Number!

It’s Not You…

 

My brand new poetry book, ILLICIT CROISSANTS AT DAWN, is now available on all the Amazons, and comes with its very own, perfectly curated playlist on Spotify. This book is the perfect gift for Mother's Day (or any other day!) as the cover and illustrations were designed by my daughter, Olivia Bossert, a fashion photographer and mixed-media artist.

Just in: a new review for ILLICIT CROISSANTS AT DAWN

 

Illicit croissants at dawn are poems written for women who not only dream of the late night snack but actually endorse it. The initial poem “My body wants to be Spanish” is a drive by and being comfortable in one’s own body and finding your element. Its playful nature and humoristic approach is instant. Mature women can be playful girls and this is what this collection is about. Permission to be you. Permission to have fun.  

Another favourite is “Hidden” as a poet’s process compressed together with the thoughts that may circle in ones mind as to why we write or don’t and what we think and don’t. A philosophical question poets ponder about.

“Palazzo Palaver” a divorce poem, channelling a woman’s power into creativity rather than hate where kitsch replacements express freedom, individuality and standing your ground. 

Bossert’s shorter poems are my favourites in this collection like “Hidden” and “Stoned Ballerina” because they open doors to stories that are not just on her page, but in the frame of your own mind.

Bossert has captured the essence, the spontaneity and finding back to being comfortable in one’s own skin mixed with humour and with like “Froggies in Love” and sensual like “Sepia Secrets”

“All the way” is my favourite. The letting go and liberation when you find back to the true you, your dreams get another chance. While some poems are playful, this collection is a journey where each poem is a layer removed or added to find the person who is there waiting to be found, waiting to be.

 

Writer Pilgrim by So Elite

ILLICIT CROISSANTS AT DAWN is now available on Amazon, and comes with its very own, perfectly curated playlist on Spotify. This book is the perfect gift for Mother's Day (or any other day!) as the cover and illustrations were designed by my daughter, Olivia Bossert, who is a fashion photographer and mixed-media artist.

SONG TITLE POEM CHALLENGE! B is for…GARY BARLOW (of course it is!)

I missed the letter A yesterday, so I may come back to it later…

Here we go!

*****

So Help me Girl,

Are you Ready now ?

Why Can’t I Wake Up With You?

Love Won’t Wait!

Never Forget,

Babe,

The Flood.

Before We Get Too Old,

Hold Up A Light,

Pray,

Stronger,

Arms Around Me,

This is the Time,

Lay Down for Love.

My brand new poetry book, ILLICIT CROISSANTS AT DAWN, is now available on all the Amazons, and comes with its very own, perfectly curated playlist on Spotify. This book is the perfect gift for Mother's Day (or any other day!) as the cover and illustrations were designed by my daughter, Olivia Bossert, a fashion photographer and mixed-media artist.

MEET THE WRITER: WHY I LOVE WRITING

This is the first pieces from a series of prompts offered by Beth Kempton, who is the person who got me hooked on poetry last year with her tiny seasonal poem prompts. My very first poem was WOLF, and there will always be a soft spot in my heart for Beth because of what she sparked in me.

When I was very small, my mother and I moved from England to Switzerland to live with my father in Geneva. I had always had a very close relationship with my grandmother, so as soon as I learned to write, I wrote letters to her.

I soon discovered that I loved writing and began to write stories and then plays. What I loved most about writing was entertaining people, knowing they would have a reaction to my words. I also just loved writing down my thoughts and ideas, escaping to other places, and living all sorts of other lives in my imagination.

I discovered that I was far funnier on the page than I was in real life. I have always been shy and tend to freeze when I need to speak in public or if I’m in a big group, so my sense of humour doesn’t always shine through. When I found that I could make people laugh through my words, I felt as though I’d discovered my superpower.

In the late ’90s, I wrote my romantic comedy to entertain myself when life became rather bleak due to all sorts of family problems. I shared the book, Just Like a Movie, chapter by chapter with some close girlfriends as I wrote it, and they loved it so much that, when it was finished, I sent it to some literary agents in London and immediately got an offer. Sadly, the book failed to sell to a big publishing house but was eventually picked up by a small press in the US, where it did relatively well.

There followed a long period when I didn’t write at all and spent my time deeply involved in my other passion: horses. I rode dressage to a high level until I had to give it all up almost overnight due to health problems, which was hard on me mentally.

I retrieved the rights and republished Just Like a Movie myself in 2023 after doing some light editing. The work rekindled my love for writing at a time when my health took an even more serious nosedive, and I couldn’t leave the house for weeks at a time. While putting together ideas for another novel, a friend told me about Beth Kempton’s poetry prompts for her tiny seasonal poems, and I decided to give it a go, just for fun, because I’d never really read poetry, and I certainly hadn’t written any. I felt lost and very depressed at the time, and I will never forget how fired up I felt after finishing my very first prompt, which, by some wild coincidence, came from the word WOLF.

I loved the process so much that I continued doing Beth’s prompts, and once again discovered that I could entertain myself and others through my writing, although this time with poetry. I have written approximately a poem a day ever since!

Now, a year later, I have published a book of poetry, Illicit Croissants at Dawn, for which my daughter designed the cover and the illustrations. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the process, and having a project with my daughter, Olivia Bossert, has been a true gift.

I view writing as a gift: a gift to myself and to others. If I can raise someone’s spirits or make someone smile when they read my writing, along with giggling at my own words, then surely this is the best occupation in the world!

Francesca Bossert
JUST FOR FUN

 

Those initial prompts led to me writing ILLICT CROISSANTS AT DAWN, which is now available on Amazon. If you are in Switzerland and wish to buy either of my books, do it via Amazon.de, as the English site will not ship my books to Switzerland.

TUTUS AND THUNDER: SHOWDOWN AT DAWN

Dawn flutters on the horizon in a dainty corps de ballet, swathed in pink and lavender tulle. They begin their daily routine to rouse Sol, the sun-god, from his pristine Alpine chambers.

Amid the usual, well-rehearsed reverential chorus of birdsong, the almighty’s red-orange yawn widens as he emits groan-puffs of “do-I-have-to’s” in dangerous shades of purple.

Intimidated, one of the less-experienced ballerinas trips over a purple-puff. The poor soul plummets head-first into sun-spittle, ruining her powder-pink headdress and staining her freshly pressed lavender tutu.

A horrified gasp dominoes along the line of dancers as the sun-god growls his discontent, his core flaming magenta.

“You’re all fired!” he kerpows, reaching down the mountainside for a clap of thunder, and slamming it against an icy peak.

Aurora, dawn’s eternal Prima Ballerina, whose patience with Sol’s toxic masculinity has worn wafer-thin after a few too many centuries of solar sulking over the last bazillion years, hears a dull crack deep inside her chest. Before she even realizes it, she’s in the air, long, strong, sinewy legs outstretched, one scuffed, shell-pink satin pointe ballet shoe aiming straight at Sol’s solar plexus.

“Grumph,” he grunts, bullseyed.

The birdsong goes silent. A sparrow titters, and a robin with a guilty conscience turns bright red.

“Get up and sort yourself out, you lazy bugger,” Aurora hisses, hovering above him, her slim silhouette glowing rose-gold in his light.

Sol squints up at her, his pride slightly singed. “Was that absolutely necessary?” he groans, nursing a sore rib.

Aurora doesn’t bat an eyelash extension. “Would you rather I improve my record-breaking number of fouettés on the tip of your bright pink nose?”

“Fine, fine, I’m up,” he grumbles, exhaling whisps of copper mist that wrap around the Alpine peaks as he heaves himself skywards.

Below, the ballerinas pull themselves together, readjusting their tutus, checking the criss-cross placement of their satin laces. The poor girl who fell over bobs an apologetic bow at Aurora, then rubs at a spot of spittle on her bodice.

The birds clear their throats in a cautious twitter. A hawk tests a low squawk, a pigeon checks his coo.

“Take your places,” orders Aurora, clapping her hands three times. Feet turned out in first position, the dancers gracefully raise their arms above their heads.

Sol sails above the mountain range, his face taking on a hue usually reserved for his bedtime. Truth be told, the dude’s embarrassed.

He attempts a half-hearted pas-de-chat.

Aurora rolls her eyes.

The sky blushes.

***

My brand new poetry book, ILLICIT CROISSANTS AT DAWN, is now available on all the Amazons, and comes with its very own, perfectly curated playlist on Spotify. This book is the perfect gift for Mother's Day (or any other day!) as the cover and illustrations were designed by my daughter, Olivia Bossert, who is a fashion photographer and mixed-media artist.

WORLD PEACE: A HYMN TO HARMONY

 

On this perfect day

I wish to believe that

The world is eager to please.

Because,

When crickets’ keep the beat

To birdsong

And bees provide the bass line,

How can anything possibly go amiss?

 

When in the field beyond the fence,

Tiny animals with brave hearts

Rustle in freshly cut hay,

And horses snuffle deliciously among buttercups and daisies

While relishing the lilac breeze,

And all around us,

Every tree proudly presents its new baby greens,

I want to believe

That the Brill-Creamed crows and magpies

Solemnly providing Peace Patrol

Will prevail,

And we shall all enjoy

 

WORLD PEACE.

 ****

My brand new poetry book, ILLICIT CROISSANTS AT DAWN, is now available on all the Amazons, and comes with its very own, perfectly curated playlist on Spotify. This book is the perfect gift for Mother's Day (or any other day!) as the cover and illustrations were designed by my daughter, Olivia Bossert, who is a fashion photographer and mixed-media artist.