the hope trap

1.
I hope I’m smart enough
That next year I remember
Nay, I decide not to sign up
For another poeting marathon
I’m getting waaay too old for this claptrap 

2.
Except of course I won’t
I’ll be here again with bells
Revelling in the subliminal
Fugue state at the end of a day
Built on but a few scattered 12 minute naps

3.
Because the beauty of Marathon:
Poet-style is the hope that in
This heteroclitic haze of exhaustion
Gold is struck & I just step out
The way, let the shine glow : then — snap!

this is not the prompt i was looking for

almost every poem I’ve written
over the past 22.5 hours
has been in a world not this one
as I continue to flesh out
my Young Adult Novel in Verse
manuscript Dropped the Sky —
a beyond dystopian alternearth
where seemingly 99.9% of earth’s
biomass has been exterminated
converted to fine orange dust
via an invasion force of intergalactic
end-of-lease style AI/cyborg crustaceans
& follows teenaged survivors
Stella & Ryan as they seek ways
on how to stay alive

that said it seems fair
I write this poem about me
… in this world as an inverse
to the prompt above — given
every previous prompt today
I’ve endeavoured to filter
through Ryan or Stella’s eyes
— even if it’s not okay

… I’m too tired to care 🤩

sour cheese

“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.”
G.K. Chesterton

Well might English
writer, philosopher, critic
& Father of Brown

bemoan cheese’s woeful
under-representation
in the annals of poetics

as he himself
being a descendent
of Clerihew Chesterton 

aka the 1st Lord Chester ;
the name Chesterton
is an Elizabethan corruption

of Cheeses’ Town
from Latin Jesus’ Town
— & if cheese is good enough

for our Lord
surely it’s worthy of
more diverse versification 

a small piece of peace

given : we’ve all : only known each other : less than a week : it’s pretty remarkable : how well we all : get along : the most conflict : i guess unsurprisingly : given they’re sister & brother : is between Stella & Rueben : who you can tell : though they love each other : since that first day of truce : reunited : do also : know which buttons : to push

we’re all spread around : a small fire : singing sparks : into the dark sky : discussing : what we miss most : no one can agree : & weirdly : it’s not so much : the tablets : & internet : as uniquely : personal : things : but then : Ben says : pizza

& suddenly : for the first time : there’s a beat : of genuine : silence : as we all remember : piping hot : pizza : greasy fresh : from the box : till Rueben breaks : the ceasefire : gotta be Hawaiian : & Priya screech-shouts : pineapple : on piz-zah! : please tell me you’re kidding

& that moment : just before : Margherita : & BBQ chicken : & supreme with anchovies : pepper the air : is one of the happiest : of my life : so far

running problems

i.
Running
From a lion-sized
Yawn I’m caught

Exhausted keeping
This misfit mishmash
Of survivors running 

ii.
Running argument
With Ryan ongoing
Never resolved

& as for this year’s
Nobel Prize nomination
Definitely out of the running

iii.
Running nose
Dribbling onto a shirt
Worn 9 days running

embers in the dark

He’s walked right round
the town twice now taking
Rueben & Ben with him

(Did you know
I’ve only just realised
The double Ben)

Priya & I have been
In & out of kitchens
& the supermarket

Gathering supplies
Of anything everything
Might be useful

& bringing it back to Base
Camp Fig Leaf
As Ruby named it Day 1 here

Tells me he’s almost done
& we’ll be on our way
South. Soon, so very soon

Been exhausted so long
But his eyes in the dark
like red embers    glowing

exhausted

we’re lost high on some tiny hills
somewhere in a valley of paradise
overlooking a misspelt ancient
Spanish warfield dripping olives

Ryan snoring at my feet
wishing i was out under sun
with dead (but now second
life) wood baby in hand

three ravens

somehow : out of the shadows : three black birds : hover : the first we have seen : if indeed they are even there : for they float : on air : without sound : almost without movement : & do not caw or cry out : at our approach

Milky is the first : to protest : with a gentle whine : then Ben : by stopping : then Priya : till we all stand still : no one knows why : but no one wants : to go closer : something about : those three ravens : screeches : silence

Stella shatters our spell : by croaking : although I see no crustaceans : i can think of better places : to picnic 

& we wander on : away : wondering : what calamity occurred here : worse than elsewhere : to flaunt its : torment so brazenly 

Thank you Poetry Marathon gods … this is exactly what I needed.

ATTENTION

unfortunately
this poem factory
is currently 

CLOSED
FOR LUNCH

We will reopen again
at 2.30 ACT
after a bite to eat
& possibly a quick
lie down