ajanta – The Poetry Marathon

Poem 24 | {The Greatest Gift}

Prompt 24; Hour 24: Write a poem about a gift, real or imagined, fantastical or boring.

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{The Greatest Gift}

The greatest gift I have been given

Is this precious life in which I have striven

to be the best person I possibly can

to enrich and enjoy and be kind to all.

Even when times have been sad

I cherish all that I’ve ever had

and from this life I’ve developed these skills

to play with words and create some form

To express what sometimes cannot be expressed

The ability to envision and invoke

To emotionally move and touch a heart

Merging the internal with the external

All these elements that I so love

When I’m out in nature taking photographs

and writing haiku to merge the spiritual

with the concrete and capture its essence

I’m in my element. What a gift!

But now as I write my twenty-forth poem

I yearn for sleep and struggle for substance

I feel like a marathon runner who has hit the brick wall

at the 20 kilometre mark and I’m all over the place

I’ve got the wobbles but herein lies another gift –

The completion of 24 hours of poetry

and discovering that I can actually survive

on waking up every hour and power napping in between.

I’m feeling empowered and inspired

so thank you my friends. Goodnight xx

Prompt 23; Hour 23: Write a poem about an imaginary pet or person. The poem can be from your perspective, the perspective of a neutral third party, or from the perspective of the imaginary pet or person themselves.

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{The Fool}

In the glade there was a pool

Beneath the depths there dwelt a fool

Who sheltered in the waters deep

To languish there as if asleep

But when the light came overhead

The fool emerged as if from dead

To seek the conscious light of day

And be a liberated soul at play

Poem 22 | {Bliss}

Prompt 22; Hour 22: You are almost there. I’m sorry, this is the hardest part, but I think it’s time for another image prompt. Please choose one of the following images and write a poem inspired by it. All but the second image are from Unsplash (the second one I took), all are free to use however you wish.

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{Bliss}

Infinity under a cosmic umbrella

Where you and I float

In the celestial bathing pool

Merging and drifting

Drifting hand in hand

This glimpse of existence

cast across a thousand skies

with light years of dreaming

in our twinkling eyes

Our imagination is wild

We look back without limitation

and look forward with wonder

See now as an azure sky beckons sweetly

Hear now as the universe hums

We feel our innate connection

The sublime poetics of being

where all roads leading to freedom

and our liberation pulses with the stars

in the supremacy of existence

Poem 21 | {Sleep}

Prompt 21; Hour 21: Write a poem about what you are longing for most right now.

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{Sleep}

Sleep tantalises me

teasing and cajoling

crooning her ancient melodies

once sung by the Sirens

in attempting to lure Ulysses

to his peril on the treacherous rocks

Her voice is tender and sweet

but when I longingly reach for her

she swirls out of my grasp.

Now, hour upon hour

I am compelled to chase her

As between each stolen snippet

of unconscious reverie

I am tormented by a torrent

of evocative words

that swirl and leap

from my weary mind

and plead to be written

lest they are lost

to the watery depths

of the underworld

Poem 20 | {My Flame}

Prompt 20; Hour 20: Because it’s probably very dark out right now for most of the participants, the prompt for this hour is to write a poem involving light of any kind, from the sun to a lamp to a candle.

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{My Flame}

My flame flickering beckoned

Vivid radiant replete

A core of cobalt blue

Intense with simmering heat

Plump moth that you were then

Powdered wings in fragile flight

Engorged with possibility

Attracted to my light

Entranced yet with uncertainty

You glimpsed my molten core

And once encompassed by my heat

you begged and pleaded for more.

But alas it is the way of things

that dark seeks out the bright

and in your haste to engulf me

you managed to dim the light.

It is the nature of coexistence

that light needs dark to thrive

but if either becomes too needy

their love will not survive.

Poem 19 | {Belonging}

Prompt 19; Hour 19: You can use this either as an image prompt, jumping off the image below to write a poem, or you can write about what it’s like to be one small part of something bigger.

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{Belonging}

She dwells within and without

Unnoticed in the forest glade

Her nature is to blend in

A small part of a large whole

The majestic gums are her friends

They nurture and support

She observes the passing seasons

Contemplates the comings and goings

The rising and setting of the sun

The glow of a burgeoning moon through the tree canopy

as silver cloud mountains hover above

Quietly she sits observing

contemplating the nature of things

The enormity of the universe

juxtaposed with the tiny spores

of pungent fungi growing at her feet.

Drinking it in, breathing it out

reflected and reflecting

There is no separation here

She is greater than the sum of her parts

Integral to the interconnectedness

and richness of her environment

Glancing at the stars, she settles in for the night

Comforted by a deep sense of belonging

Poem 18 | {Road Trip} Conjoined Haikus

Prompt 18; Hour 18: Write a narrative poem set during a holiday. It could be a poem based on your own lived experience or it could be an imagined event. A narrative poem is a poem that tells a story, but the story does not have to be compete, nor does it have to be told in a linear way.

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{Road Trip} Conjoined Haikus

We traced her thick skin
Skimming a flat miraged plain
Trees tantalising

As our eyes squinted
A shimmering horizon
Taunted and deceived

The vast nothingness
Was strewn with wheat and lucerne
Grass parrots rejoiced

Above the skyline
Foliage danced and cavorted
Hanging in mid-air

Birds with not a care
Fighting over fresh roadkill
Bitumen graveyard

Occasional rise
Terrain and conversation
Punctuates silence

Wheat wheat forever
Farmers and eagles harvest
Grain. Marsupial.

In the far distance
Faint rocky outcrops emerge
Bringing aesthetic relief

A nondescript creek
Meandering with intent
Welcome to tired minds

Blink of an eye towns
Solitary general store
Bain Marie delights

The Newell Highway
Can’t wait to get to this place
Coonabarabran

Poem 17 | {Not that Pedestal}

Prompt 17; Hour 17: Write a poem about a form of technology that is obsolete or is headed that way. The technology could just be referred to in passing, like a telephone booth, or it could be a CD that is the focal point of the poem. The degree of focus on obsolete technology is up to you.

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{Not that Pedestal}

As Patti la Belle belted out from the old CD player,

She said to me, “You take my breath away, Ajanta”

I replied, “It’s important to breathe

Removing someone’s breath from their body is a concern for me

A heavy responsibility

Will I be too much. Am I too much?

Will that person be enough for me?

Am I already on a pedestal?

Goddesses forbid that for sentient beings

I might be elevated beyond my status as a mere mortal

with all my foibles and idiosyncrasies

which will no doubt emerge over time

personality traits – nuances – nagging little behaviours

The CD will be scratched – the song will stutter and splutter

You will assume and apply judgement

destabilising to a damsel on a pedestal

It could build up quite a wobble and down I’ll crash in your estimation.

This thing we might share – a tenuous possibility

as the beat struggles to play through the flaws

Always the concern in the beginning and after all,

it has been said by others that I am too much for them

and when all was said and done

I was too much for them.

Poem 16 | {Our Haven}

Prompt 16; Hour 16: Write a poem about love, without ever using the word love in it.

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{Our Haven}

Random specks within this vastness

We are

bound by a commonality rare amongst the hoards

Significant and endearing

Meaningful and promising

Sharing an oasis of mutuality in the midst of solitary experience

To be nurtured

Protected

Harvested

We must not become a threatened species

We must not allow the incessant tug of obligation

and the demands of ordinary, everyday existence pale our significance.

Let’s forestall this eventuality

May we rejoice

May we expand

May we be uplifted

Let the power of our feelings for each other

be like a glue that flows between separateness

so that we are immersed in the current of this treasure’s gentle flow

Sacred is this bond

Two hearts in wait throughout eons

Together we shall worship this communion.

Poem 15 | {Gravity}

Prompt 15: There are very few poems about air travel, even though there are a lot about driving, train travel, and subway commuting. Your prompt this hour is to write a poem about a plane trip.

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{Gravity}

This time gravity went straight to the heart.

Imagine that!

The private passion touched my cortex

which, pre-erupted a skin dive sitting on that plane.

That ecstatic connection, the richness of us

flying over the hinterland all lush and fecund – just like you.

Step by step passion boogied down through the onion skin layers

in the expectation and hesitation I was swept away in fantasy.

You little lion tamer you!

Did you think you could get away with it? Playing catch me if you can?

Lulling me into a false sense of security? Not this time baby!

When I’m on solid ground surrounded by my heartlands

My equilibrium will return. Am I deluding myself?

I need you to know that you won’t get your wicked way.

I’m not straightening up for your coquettishness.

My weakness is a space between who I am and who you want me to be

but you won’t snare me this time!

Yet when I really look, what do I see?

The glistening ocean from the plane window – the deep green meandering rivers flashing by

Is it the illusion of sky reflected in the water

or, the illusion of water appearing in the sky?

A giant mirage with you the disappearing oasis.

We are fooled by these games of hide and seek, lost between reality, reverie and dream.

My thoughts scramble for order as we prepare for landing

I ready myself for my favourite treat – reverse thrust

I could ride the exhilaration of reverse thrust forever

But with you? I’m not so sure.

But you’re so so beguiling in your persistence.

The Poetry Marathon

Ajanta Judd
ajanta

Poem 24 | {The Greatest Gift}

Poem 23 | {The Fool }

Poem 22 | {Bliss}

Poem 21 | {Sleep}

Poem 20 | {My Flame}

Poem 19 | {Belonging}

Poem 18 | {Road Trip} Conjoined Haikus

Poem 17 | {Not that Pedestal}

Poem 16 | {Our Haven}

Poem 15 | {Gravity}