The Poetry Marathon

2122
it’s quiet again
the machines quelled
as night falls
we each sit
in silent solitude
looking out over
barren terrain
hopeful
tomorrow may rain
regenerate something
anything
but the forecast
likely disagrees
decades gone by
at least it hasn’t ended
not entirely
not yet

walking along the river
fall sky heavy heaving
clouds gray cast
winter still months away
ochre orange yellow red
leaves flutter fall around me
I quicken my step
rustling through fallen piles
circling in wind eddies
I imagine being home
warm tea nestled in my hands
nowhere to be
joy in the absence
of all responsibility
embracing the autumn of my life

[Prompt 3: Listen to the following song before writing a poem, you can also play it again and write with it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5j1AwBaPtk]

Every day brings new disappointments
It must feel this way for everyone

Who is it that relishes in the conflict and chaos
that fills our daily lives?

There must be some greatest beneficiary
to all the vitriol and violence

At what point will the rest of us
finally decide no one is winning

That in the end, none of this was worth it
That in the end, it wasn’t really about any of us

The warning bells sound daily
to ask if there is some mistake

How should we respond?
Can we, before it is too late?

[Prompt 2: Read Robert Frost’s poem Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, chose one line or phrase, and with credit, write a poem with that line or phrase in it.]

We would walk up
on tippy toes
into the frigid bay
July heat forcing us
to see relief

With each successive ebbing wave
we would rise up
avoid the next higher
line of cold depth
soaking into our suits

until finally
one of us brave enough
would inhale deeply
and submerge
disappear from light and air

the rest of us
fortified by the challenge
each took our turn
until only one remained
how we’d coax and cajole

It’s not that bad once you get used to it
C’mon, it feels great
Just dive in and get it over with

with shivering giggles
the last of us would sink
down below the surface
jump up hooping and hollering
as though birthed anew

[Prompt 1: Write a poem about being in water. It can be about swimming, the shower, a bath, the rain, etc.]

blue petals
folded & pressed
flattened white veined
solar systems all your own
in the center
busha’s face
laughing at
my vision

She trudged through the muck
her gumboots
buried in
slurping filth with each step

a jar of sourdough starter
tucked under her arm
the lifeblood to feed
the next generation

her heart beat
at a mouse’s rate
as she thread the needle
through thick and vine

she longed to see
a single cloud upon the sky
but no such open spread
lay upon her vision

instead she trundled on
through the undergrowth
hoping for the light of dawn
hoping for them all

[Prompt 11: Write a poem using at least 5 of the following 10 words/phrases: Forest Ranger, Skyscaper, Periwinkle, sourdough, Cloud, needle, gumboots, beat, spread, storefront]

While it may not be official
it’s the sweetest holiday to me
the final week of classes
before winter break

The clackity-clack of the keys
as students pound out
their final thoughts
documenting sources MLA

One by one
they shuffle to the printer
as it moans under the workload
hundreds of mediocre pages

The celebratory mini-stapler
my name and office number
inked on its side
clip-pips another masterpiece

Nicely done, I say
with a handshake, hug, high-five
Have a wonderful break
You deserve it!

What surprises me most
is how some hang back
unable to end it all
by walking out the door

They linger, chat about what’s next
simply want to hold timeless
the comfort of the familiar
the known

Get on with your life, I say
Shooing them out the door

The greatest celebration
isn’t that they’re gone
but knowing they have
moved on

[Prompt 10: Write poem about any holiday in December/early January.]

I gave up using textbooks
long ago
Relying instead
on the lives lived
by my students
to fuel their imaginations
and motivations

Allowing them the freedom
to sort through traumas
of the past and explore hope
for their futures
our conversations became
the basis of learning
validating and affirming

We share in teaching
between lines of compound
complex and simple sentences
learning the flexibility
of the comma to add
of the colon to announce
of the semicolon to gently separate

The period draws an end
but also leads to new beginnings
each line shaping their experiences
giving voice to thought & feeling
each line influencing my perceptions
giving insight and understanding

There is no textbook in the world
more informed than the one
we each write of our own lives
each page a revelation
each page a possibility
of what it all could mean

[Prompt 9: Take a common saying like “To get lost is to learn the way” or “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch” or “This too shall pass,” as the basis of writing a poem.]

armless
she stuns at first glance
but looks past rude stares
to allow gawkers the opportunity
to reveal their kinder, gentler selves
it doesn’t always happen

befriending the boy
whose Tourette’s keeps him
alone in a world filled
with ‘others’ who simply
haven’t been separated yet

someday those others
will each be all alone
and maybe remember
what it felt like
when the armless girl smiled
and gave them a second chance

[Prompt 8: Try and condense the plot of a book, any book, into a poem. It can be very direct and recognizable, or abstract and obscured.]

“normal is boring”
the button on my backpack
announced to the world
as I coursed through my youth

spiked red hair
pierced eyebrow
and brooding countenance
confirmed

I wanted nothing to do with
status quo but to prod and dissect it
upend conformity
bend the will of approval

until an unseen force
turned the whole world
inside out
froze us all in a state
of desperation

normal was lost
a thing we didn’t know we wanted
until we didn’t have it
and now the thought
we will never have it again

that button is in a box
in the back of a closet
I dig it out and pin it on
to wear around the house

normal is boring
and I welcome it
back

[Prompt 7: Write a poem exploring the word normal.]