The Poetry Marathon

When we bend

instead of break

we can withstand

a quake.

We show strength

when we bend

we are flexible

through the end.

Our courage reveals

we are agile

when we bend

we are adaptable.

All can feel

our powers mend

the inner soul

when we bend.

WORD SALAD POETRY

Timed Writing: 20 minutes

Rules: 1) Write a poem using all twenty (20) words in the salad. 20 words for 20 minutes.

2) Make the poem as short as possible (meaning, add as few extra words as possible).

3) Underline the salad words in the poem.

4) You are allowed to modify the form/tense of a word.

Earth                             planet                    stand                   battle                     play

pure                                indigo                   trio                       grace                     glass

wine                               wings                    shine                    Heaven                 struggle

beautiful                      defeat                    lullaby                 moon                     butterfly

Finding My Wings

The most beautiful place on earth

is a bay shaped like a wineglass,

pure indigo, battling with moon shine

for the planet’s grace in Heaven.

We struggle, we stand, we triumph over defeat.

we play, we fly –

Our wings sound like a trio of butterfly lullabies

serenading our dreams.

To my darling

My dearest sleep

Dear Sleep

To Sleep –

I hope this note finds you well. I believe it is time for us

to be on the same page regarding our needs and desires.

It is my goal that this note better communicates to you

my part in our relationship, and how I respond to your

part of our relationship.

Our conflict began early, when you gave me my first

hypnogogic hallucination when I was five years old.

It was in the afternoon, I was tired. I saw the kitchen

erupt into fire! Terrified, I ran through the flames for

my mother’s help, not noticing that I felt no heat from

the conflagration. Upon our return, the flames were gone!

Nothing was on fire. I was confused. Mom scolded me

for lying. I needed a nap.

The cataplexy erupted ten years later. I was trying to live

with severe insomnia, nightmares and night terrors,

sleepwalking, sleep talking, automatic behavior and more.

Suddenly I was collapsing at the knees with laughter or tears.

Then I fell out of the shower, hit my head on the toilet,

knocked myself unconscious. I know you remember that!

I would soon learn that I was a perpetual “FALL RISK.”

DIAGNOSIS: Type 1 Narcolepsy, aka Narcolepsy with Cataplexy

A neurologically based sleep disorder, autoimmune in nature

So! Here we are, Sleep, my deeply disordered life partner…

I must be honest with you. I am frustrated. I am often angry!

I have been cheated by you; cheated out of childhood, education,

friends, love, travel, career, family… You have cheated me

so many times! I did not consent to this relationship with you.

I am forever chained to you, freedom never wholly mine.

I am at your mercy. You have stolen from me.

You have made me undesirable…

My Disordered Sleep,

you are the worst bedfellow a girl would never ask for!

Could we please discuss a separation?

It has been decades and I really need a break.

Thank you.

Sincerely

Respectfully

Talk soon

I hate you

From,

Your Life Partner (me)

They were told they were subhuman, part of this group of people they wanted to erase. To live and to love were acts of defiance… They hid to save their lives, they hid their children to save their love. Discovered, arrested – lovers separated in the crowd of deportation, then arrival, at Westerbork Transit Camp in 1943… left alone in the midst of earthly upheaval… People dressed smartly wearing hats and coats in July, each carrying a bag of personal belongings, their requisite “Stars of David” sewn visibly onto their coats identifying them as Jewish…

He sees her! His wife, his life… He hurries to her as she approaches. She sees him! He wraps his arms around her in embrace, they look into each other’s eyes. They kiss. A long kiss as a guard looks on…  A kiss of love, safety, protection, of parents being sent to their deaths after leaving their children in hiding. A last moment of bold affection, a moment of humane defiance in the face of the storm.

I saw my future in you in a picture I drew

of my dreams when I was a child.

Steady goes as my belly grows,

a boy and a girl the image shows!

My heart was always waiting for you.

Singing my favorite song

as steam curls up around the tune.

Gently massaging a scrub over my skin.

Granules of coffee, chocolate, sugar

mixed with coconut and shea

shed the remainder of the day.

Steam filling the shower smells like

swimming in a coffee pot.

Inhaling deeply, lungs filling

with caffeinated vigor.