The Poetry Marathon

What is a poem

But a four lettered word

Structured just so

By the poets of the world 

What is a poem 

But a beckoning mistress

Calling and calling 

To write words of distress 

What is a poem

But an unstructured sonnet

Beckoning young women

To loosen their bonnets

What is a poem

But a peculiar Haiku 

Completely confusing 

To the likes of me and you 

What is a poem

But a tangle of lies

It’s web can bring pain

It holds our souls when we cry

When first I saw your gleaming white hair, laid along

the pink expanse of your

skin,

with your lovely long nose and sweet little ears,

‘twas then I decided you would be mine.

For long I had to wait, not to rush the nurturing of

nature and

time,

but oh did it pain me to leave you inside, that cold

and uncaring place with no name but you knew

upon my return, with me you would

go.

The ache it grew stronger, each night an agonizing

torture knowing what gift waited for

me,

but the vestige of time nearly wore me down and

thrice I near threw caution to the wind and claimed

you as my very

own. This road to you was treacherous, odorous, no

arduous, perhaps odorous and

onerous.

Yet here I stand before you, your papers in my

hand. Place the sweet pink collar around your neck

with a steady hand and steadfast

love,

The matching leash clicks into place, you stand

proudly by my side. It’s you I beckon with a smile,

“Come on girl, let’s go home!”

Walking at night without a sound,
Stepping so lightly
Over the cool ground.

What do I see looking up at me?
Two little peepers
Darting faster than I could see.

Around the corner I go
Until up under my nose
A firefly buzzed setting it all aglow.

What else did I meet
Walking down that street
A mean old bear with two left feet.

I said to the bear,
Tell me why is it so,
You’re wearing your shoes without any toes.

On further I walked
My shoes did clip-clop
Until I met a donkey and boy did he balk.

Oh my said I frightened out of my wits
No worries said he
Inviting me to sit.

So I sat down right there
With my nose all aglow
And shared this silly story about the shoes with no toes.

I look into the mirror fair
And wonder at the white hair there.
Just a short day or two ago
My hair was brown with flecks of gold.

And these little crinkles around my eyes
Remind me of how fast time flies.
Around my lips my skin so soft
Just now feels like a sanding cloth.

These eyes now cloudy and indistinct
Were once the color of deepest mink.
On further down, I dare to look
The end of my nose has got a crook.

This little old lady I’ve become
The physical beauty long time gone.
What’s left is now for all to see
My name’s not Ami, it’s now Granny.

Be it morning time
When sun does rise
Across the golden plains
And ducks and doves and hawk alike
Take flight unto the sky
Just be still, and listen

Or noontime when
the lunch bell rings
Singing a happy tune
Of food to come and a
Sated tongue
Just be still, and listen

And on the eve of the brightest day
As Ladybugs and June bugs scurry
Away to find a place their heads
To rest for tomorrow’s day is longer still
The day a life to a whippoorwill
Just be still, and listen

Into the night the creatures call
To find their one true love
Archaic voices fill the dark
The owl does hoot and the raven it caws
From forested hill to city park
Just be still, and listen

So when the morning light returns
Again to bathe the Earth in glory
Remind yourself and those you love
Don’t rush, don’t fret let’s
Take a breath and
Just be still, and listen

“I am begging: Let me be lonely but not invisible.” – Natalie Diaz

To be alone

Can be lonely

To be invisible

Is to be nothing at all

The sounds so muffled for so long
Are now becoming clearer
Distant voices unheard before
Echo coming nearer

I hear the sound but have no sight
No voice no movement can I make
My breath does not come on its own
These breathy sounds are naught but fake

We’ve tried three times I hear them say
You must decide what must be done
Her brain is gone as is her soul
Her battle now can not be won

This strangling thing that’s in my throat
Prevents my voice from crying out
Do not remove this vent just yet
I am still here, please don’t forget

It will be done just as you ask
Tomorrow ‘morn before first shift
She’ll go to sleep she’ll feel no pain
She’ll be adrift before the rain

Before the bell rings in the day
I knew my time would come
At dawns first brilliant shining light
My doomsday bell was rung

She did not die they all proclaimed
The pastor slipped away
And with a fright they all did start
to hear me suddenly say,  I could hear you every day

Fifteen years old and full of life
Full of spice
Full of things not understood
Fifteen years old and wished I had
Just said yes

Eighteen years and feel so old
Decisions made
Time to leave home
College can wait I naively voiced
How I wish I had just said yes

Twenty-two and one marriage down
Not what I expected and now
Not what I want
Come with me and we’ll be fine
I should have just said yes

Twenty-four and wandering, wondering
Which way should I go
Posters say to join up now
See the world and learn a skill
Why oh why didn’t I just say yes

Come home for a bit
They said to me
Figure things out and then you’ll see
A happier person you could be
And still I didn’t say yes

Forty years later and all alone
Mistakes I’ve made do not compare
To living with a person who just couldn’t care
Who wanted me to be a person I was not meant to be
Why couldn’t he have just said yes to me

Purple eggs laid on large fern leaves
Sunlight dapples across their shells
Tiny wings of gossamer gold
Emerge just right, just when they’re told

When the sun is high and the sky is blue
Little fairies chip through
Fragile shells of porcelain
Broken through by dorsal fins

Into this world of black and white
They call to me with joyful voices
Happy to see me they are
I could never traverse too far

One, two, three and four
five, six, seven, eight
Oh my, two more and we have ten
Wherever will we put them and when

Come my children, let us fly
Through these woods and to the hills
There you will find the pink unicorns
I assure you they are quite norm

We circle, we glide upon a rainbow cloud
See how the turtle shells glow and the robins egg sounds
Look there and you will see
Our beautiful home, waiting for you and for me

So when next you see upon the ground
Purple spheres with no known name
Place them carefully back upon the stem
So they will come back and stay with you again

Come to me is what they told me
My crush my love my fate
He wanted me
Let us meet is what they told me
My young heart floundered

I went to him
They told me to come
He wanted me
He sat holding reign
In the courtyard waiting

Trembling legs bade me forward
Past columns of ivy riddled balustrades
He wanted me
Approaching him as he stood
A young man’s lithe athletic form

A few feet more to go
I would go to him because
He wanted me
His laughter thundered in my brain
His discipled parasites followed him

Disembodied voice in my ear
Pain too heavy to bear
He wanted me
His eyes wide as I stood there
In his courtyard holding court

Surrounded by those who’d jeered
Their laughter silenced now
He wanted me
The gun lay heavy in my hand
Where I lay beside him on the ground
I wanted him