The Poetry Marathon

1.
Through transit windows
burst blood, sweat, and paint of those
just making a name
with a circus-act canvas
turn concrete to gallery

2.
No city permit
As we implement our own
“urban renewal”
with a neighborhood blessing
on buildings they just condemn

3.
“Vandalism” is
their only way of saying
they cannot decode
the secret of our freedom
from behind crumbling walls

4.
Most museums are
stolen artifacts sheltered
in glass, concrete, steel
We simply ripped the roof off
and don’t charge admission

Spend your money
on tithe and lecture
on ink and paper

Debate a billion convinced
with philosophy and ritual
and best-sellers

The best way to mess with
their fragile heads is
to exist in nature
while daring the sanctuary
to tear down itself

Running so fast that you feel
shoes slipping off
Look down to see
no ground beneath you
Close eyes tight and hear
wind tunnel as you trip on the void
Taking gravity’s orders
and tumble through the tree tops
only knocking loose enough fruit for the village
As your theme music plays
And the crowd of dandelions goes wild

With my crappy mood
ginally finally out of its shell,
it is breakfast time

[Due to time constraints, this post is raw and unedited. All typos, free. 😀 ]

So, I am a big fan of literary games. From Scrabble to poetry slam, I have enjoyed friendly competition as well as self-challenges for decades and 24-hour writer-thons, 30 poems in 30 days, the challenge of new performance work written collaboratively; all of it gets me wired but always with a purpose.

I am wrapping my 3rd collection of poems but also exploring topics for new projects. The way that I have prepped in the past remains largely the same: with short verse and micropoems every other day for a week or so, but also editing recent work left aside to settle in my brain for a few weeks or months just to get the ideas moving around again.

I have not moved into “cheat-mode”; only in the last day have I began making mental notes of topics and styles to tackle. If anyone needs any encouragement, you are the encouragement. If you get one decent piece out of it, you wrote this weekend and probably went hard at it.

I have completed a half; I have build my own based on haiku and micropoetry and wrote 102 haiku, senryu, tanka and one limerick [happened to be St Pat’s Day]; multiple times have I done 30 poems in 30 days (twice 60 for 60; once 90 for 90) and work from those sessions/sprees went on to be published and/or recorded. Mostly just enjoy the wave and the endorphins or creativity.