My buggy to places far away is nothing more than ears that hear the rat-a-tat-tat like a gentle snore of a woodpecker that moved in right next door each morning he chooses a tree ever closer to the wide-open window above my dresser. Over the metronome tick of the clocks cupboards slam above my head in counterpoint to the fire alarm beep warning of bacon left far too long the creamer slides with a gentle splash of spoon chimes and dings on the side of the mug. Next door ricochets the giggles and shrieks of a gaggle of geese kept penned inside while past the shelter of too-small decks robins sing of spring delights the aging beagle peeks through deck rails beats the air with his helicopter tail. Old toad croaks below the moon high above while the evening breeze rattles the shades my ears so free they long to hear the song of the stars before they fade into the beat of the wings of a gnat and the chirping call of a hunting cat. **************************************
Tag: NaPoWriMo
Don’t feed the troll!
It never fails to amaze
how fact is kept under lock and key. In the face of rabid fancy
snowflakes should grow into snow balls and landslips.
It never fails to amaze
how one microphone can hold such glacial sleet
only to melt underneath the glare of the camera’s red stare.
It never fails to amaze
how fact is kept under lock and key in the face of rabid fancy.
Day 12’s NaPoWriMo prompt was to write a triolet which has a very fixed structure.
trillium
The Day 11 prompt from National Poetry Writing Month challenged us to write a poem in which one or more flowers take on specific meanings. And for inspiration directed us to the Language of Flowers, a glossary of flower meanings. My favorite flower since my childhood days running wild and free in the forests around our home is the Trillium. How lovely to learn it means “modest beauty.”
modest beauty –
flawless bud peeks through lashes
at a globe in tears
A boy and his dog
Day 10 NaPoWriMo’s prompt was a curious one: write a hay(na)ku, which is a variant on the haiku. A hay(na)ku is a three-line stanza, with one word for line one, two wors for line two, and three words for line three.Several can be chained together in one poem.
chaos is a friend of mine
NaPoWriMo’s day 5 prompt was a doozy. Thank heavens it came on the weekend. Y’all should check it out. It has 20 components. I tried to use all of them, but there are a few missing. A couple of key things inspired this piece: a 1965 Bob Dylan interview, his biography, and a curious article on on Siri’s spread of Bob’s demise.
****************************************************************
“Chaos is a friend of mine,” it’s said Bob Dylan did opine.
For daring to taste electric nectar, adoring fans began to hector --
which caused no end to our folk hero’s lecture
on monkey wrenches, sellout jackets and rosy Hollywood air.
She sips her coffee with slow regret
and surfs the wily ethernet
unable to find a credible mention
of how this man lived his life.
Oh, Siri, thou font of all-knowing wisdom
what brought this man back from his piece of heaven?
Perhaps you channeled his neglected vision,
a country’s hope for changing times.
She sips her coffee with slow regret
and surfs the wily ethernet
and stumbles across a hidden message
that answers all unanswered questions:
“Music was a pipedream . . . There are no more escapes.”
She sips her coffee with slow regret
and surfs the wily ethernet
the sleeveless mouse of make-believe
bait to her frozen hand.
Would Dylan use music and word and rhyme
to throw some shade on epic, thirsty times
where cool cats aren’t hip, just sick,
and chaos no longer divine?
She sips her coffee with slow regret
and surfs the wily ethernet
and ponders the butterfly logic
of making friends with mayhem and mess.
If truth is chaos -- maybe beauty, too --
then hope is free to soar and sing.
Gather manna as you can.
Vires acquirit eundo.
don’t talk turkey
The Day3 NaPoWriMo prompt: make a list of ten words and then use Rhymezone to identify two to four similar-sounding or rhyming words. Write a poem using your “word bank” play with sound, repeating sounds and echo.
Why so quiet?
Does it take riots
to make them supply it?
Whist, Ms. Perky, don’t talk turkey.
Bide your time and stay in your aerie!
With stoic grace step away from the rat race!
Sip red wine. Nibble on toffee. Avoid strong coffee.
Spirits will save you from becoming blind.
Recall the recipe for mustard plaster,
Gramma’s answer to this unfolding disaster.
Scribble notes for posterity, the lessons learned
on civility, agility and utility. Have you done all you can?
Have you reached out your hand?
Don’t harden your heart or come apart
at the seams. Pray for pardon before
you enter the Garden
lest the end days
be brutal and
spartan.
where I long to be . . .
On a winding trail
lined with ragged pine trees,
I paused to watch the unfurling of spring.
Fiddlehead ferns sprang upright
under mid-day sun that cast no heat
as a too-early wakened bumble bee
tried to shake hidden pollen from me.
(I’m told this is complimentary – I quite disagree!)
Red-winged blackbirds looking for mates
laid claim to cattails round the still pond,
a built-in early warning system
for the snoozing beaver clan.
I drew in great gulps
of fresh spring air
and thought how blessed I was to be there.
Day 2 NaPaWriMo challenged us to write a poem about a specific place with lots of detail. I’m missing being out on the hiking trails during this time of COVID close-down. Stay safe and healthy out there folks. Only let the bumble bees invade your space.
all in season
My word! We’re closing in on NaPoWriMo 2019! Today’s prompt was to write a poem that was specific to a season, engaged all five senses, and included a rhetorical question. I played with the Japanese tanka and dodoitsu form with this one, but it just needs more work! My time is up for the day, however, so there’s the offering. Enjoy!
it’s just a game
state policy and numbers’ games go hand in hand straight to the grave peer ahead and peek behind protect your bum from prick-n-grind and keep to the code for fond acclaim!
to feed our soul
I let a copper penny lie
on my picnic bench
next to jam and breads so sweet
but what think you caught his eye?
The gleam of unspent currency
a siren song to trap his fancy!
He lands and hops and jabs his beak
alights and soars — uncommon thief!
I spooned some jam onto my bread,
my lunch hour nearly over;
from afar, I heard him croak:
“Dear heart, you kept the better part.”
And let to us this lesson be,
our treasure is in what we share.
While shiny objects come and go
it matters more to feed our soul.
in memory of . . .
I’ve had a few days off from the NaPoWriMo game: some for gramma time and others for work travel. The day 22 prompt immediately brought to mind a friend I lost track of long ago, an aspiring pianist who gave me a glimpse into the highs and lows of true musicianship, and her grief at losing the physical capacity to play to that standard. I tried to capture some of that fragmentation in the combined imagery and poem, but also include the poem below as the JPEG is not necessarily readable.
In Memory Of . . .
Early days was laughter —
her fingers dancing lightly and without care:
a spill of giggles in F# major
a belly-laugh in pentatonic triplets
a gurgle of Lydian pleasure.
Middle days was fear —
her fingers driving contact through skeletal pain:
in blitzkrieg counterpoint
with diminished Locrian scale
a true Neapolitan spectacle.
Final days were tears —
her fingers twitching with wordless nightmares:
a tone-dead arpeggio sinks beneath
it’s relative minor in harmonic enigma
and she finds no tonic, no promised rest.
epistles of love
circle of life
Regret in Bullet-Point Formatting
if only
