The Poetry Marathon

Prompt For Hour Fourteen

Last Thursday, the trees went missing
Every last one of them, roots and all
Search parties were sent out
Distraught environmentalists held candlelight vigils

Tree experts were called in, profiles were made
Protocols were followed. Nothing.
The fugitives are at large, the DA’s office said
We are doing everything we can

Suspects were rounded up and brought in for questioning
A cigar and a table were held back as possible leads
A natural photography book broke down
Meanwhile, a team was sifting soil round the clock looking for roots

A naturalist spending the weekend at a nudist camp
Suddenly noticed it was raining on the moon
Observatories confirmed: The delinquent trees had indeed relocated
And were currently giving us the finger

Prompt for Hour Thirteen

Re: http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/a/abdulfaruq_jamal.html

Ellis had problems
Her heart was in the right place
Her overworked mind seldom was

Back home after a brutal night shift
Forty winks with the blinds down
Seemed like a good idea

In her dreams Ellis found
Basil playing alone
Gushing with affection, she joined him

They played and played
They laughed, they screamed
Ellis left Basil sleeping in her dreams

Prompt for Hour Twelve

Transformers in the dark of the moon
Hang over Lake Placid
Looking to go out in a blaze of glory

Jeepers creepers, fleeters floaters
Chromium breastbones, buffed grills
Spare parts aplenty

A canopy of red, no dark in sight
A panic room with no walls
Happy fear

Prompt for Hour Eleven

For the twenty first time, Mr. Noname,
You are suffering from temporal amnesia,
the kindly doctor had said.
I hadn’t argued, but I knew that.

Nothing to do, nowhere to go
Food tasted strange
The people looked funny
A Turing machine in déjà vu mode

For a while I would stand at busy crossroads
Sit in airport lounges, hang about train platforms
Purposeful strangers, going to meet other purposeful strangers
Knowers and havers of identities

I now travel. Fuck amnesia.
The other day a tree almost recognized me
Last week a dog bit me, and I think I remembered my mother
Life’s good.

Prompt for Hour Ten

The unity of your oneness is maddeningly simple
The wonderful variety and splendor of everything, which is neither you nor i

Before everything was, and after nothing is
Before everywhen and after anyhow

Abstracts that aren’t, and constructs that are
The lies of life, the truth of death

The falling of love, and the rising of pain
The happiness of tears, the expectation of laughter

Your quarks are cheating wheres and whens
The nebulousness of your nebulaes amaze time

Merci

Prompt for Hour Nine

I’ve traveled so far in pursuit of a dainty brook
The forests were friendly
The desert was hospitable
However, the brook, she’s indifferent to me

Notwithstanding, I’ve been walking by her side
The path ahead leads into mountains uncharted
My brook dances gleefully over her bed of pebbles
The hills are singing… the words I’ve never read

Over these hills, a forest lies ahead
Anyhow, I can’t see the brook anymore
In the twilight of my pointless sojourn I wonder
How to go back to where I was before

Prompt for Hour Eight

Her breath tastes of stale apples
Her eyes shine like last night’s moon
When she talks of sweet nothings
The corner of her mouth pulsates playfully

Her eyes shine like last night’s moon
When she dances like a homeless cloud
The corner of her mouth pulsates playfully
Death comes and goes, I’m not home

When she dances like a homeless cloud
The rain sing songs to her dark hair
Death comes and goes, I’m not home
Time stops in heaven

The rain sing songs to her dark hair
Her breath tastes of stale apples
Time stops in heaven
When she talks of sweet nothings

Prompt for Hour Seven

Government agencies have recently started distributing
Bunnies, kittens and hamsters
At retirement homes and infant hospitals
In a bid to promote understanding of furry mammals
And mitigate their suicidal tendencies

Last night it was reported that infant groups had blockaded the streets
Waving banners and screaming undemocratic unhearables
Demanding chocolate crispies and bubble wraps, choking-hazard or otherwise

This evening, reports came in of elderly people breaking into mental health institutions
Taking over exclusive padded cells
Trying out strait jackets
Laughing with manic abandon
Making tea
Slowly shuffling along unauthorized corridors

Sombre spokespeople on the TV grimly contemplate the tense situation
There is talk of a possible recall of the furry mammals program
Some have suggested bringing in reptiles and amphibians
To promote the values of ennui and introspective silence
After all, who cares for marginalized dissent when you can sleep

Prompt for Hour Six

My old friend, Sadness, I don’t recognize him anymore these days. For one thing, he’s been partying too much. I go to his place sometimes, but I don’t know his new friends. The music is strange. The smoke stings my eyes. Screams in the kitchen, strange laughter. Sadness mumbles something garbled, maybe in some exotic language he’s picked up. His friends laugh uproariously. I smile politely… the merry bonhomie leaves me feeling stupid and disconnected. As I go away into the gentle night, I can still hear Sadness’s twisted laughter entertaining strangers.

Your grief is sweet
Your memories are precious
I’m a good listener

Prompt for Hour Five

My internet is a strange beast
A superior intelligence designed
to provoke and harass

With the ability to sense urgency and despair
it waits to pounce..
Signal Disconnected

My internet is a weapon of mass desolation
People in black suits are beginning to show interest
Scientists are working on an antidote, as we speak

People on the streets try to share my sadness
They humbly put away their smartphones
I smile politely, understandingly

My internet sometimes listens to romantic Nazi music
or watches octogenarian porn at half-speed
I’m think I’ll just change my name and run away