NaPoMo NZ Day 1 (October 1) GOLD

[just mercedes]

 (I'm posting this a day early, so if anyone isn't clear or has questions, PM me. Otherwise just post your poem as a reply. The next prompt will be posted on October 2. Remember NZ gets the day first, so you may become confuzzled. That's a good state to be in, for a writer.   )
 
 
Your prompt is Gold.
 
Bright, fine gold.
 
Start with the gold of the Otago Gold Rush, 1861
 
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/first-maj...ago-starts
 
and the luminous story told in NZ author Ruth Park’s 1957 novel ab0ut the Otago gold rush, ‘One-a-pecker, two-a-pecker’,
 
http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writer/park-ruth/
 
or the history of the song
 
http://folksong.org.nz/bright_fine_gold/brfigold1.html
 
or the song itself https://youtu.be/ycesI2VCvJo
 
or maybe just the sounds of the names Wangapeka, Tuapeka
 
or the fact that although gold was found all over Aotearoa New Zealand, Maori had never used or valued it - too soft for tools, and not attractive to them. They wore feathers, stones, shells, and bones, for decoration.
 
 
 
Minimum number of lines: 8
No maximum


Form: Free verse


Any other requirement: Have fun!

It's about having fun, encouraging each other, and writing. These are first drafts; finished poems not expected.

Poets are welcome to enter posts on any or all of the days, post catch-ups later, or just come and read through what others are doing. (Hopefully that will make you want to join in!)
 
 
 
 

---

Knock knock


Great-grandad's sister Agnes
ran away to the goldfields (the shock!)
where she gave birth to Ada Fann (a bastard!)
father rumoured to be (in hushed voices)
an American miner who died in the snow
before they could wed. Luckily
she met and married a Stitchbury, moved
to America with him, and took our genes
and stories with her, if not our name.