The Poetry Marathon

There is a Firefly in a bottle

Rattling

It wears a strange mask

Of wonder

As it zooms

back and forth

The heat of the cottage

Midsummer

Is unbearable

The tree-line barely visible

against the dark sky

The firefly lands

In the bottle bottom

Looking out into a strange world

Unfamiliar

It grows lethargic, lost

A prisoner of a child

Who will reject it’s porridge

On morning light

Unwilling to let it go

My hair came back

No longer bald, or stubbled

My hair grew in

New and exciting

Gray, curly

Out of control

Cowlicks

Sways this way

Swirls that way

I have eyelashes again

Eyebrows

Nose hair

and a bushy brilliant

Out of control

Crazy hairdo

Bald spots gone

Replaced with

a tangled web

A mess of hair

Shampoo is back

Hair brushes

Hair conditioner

No tossing beanies and hats

No throwing out scarves tho

My hair is back

But it needs hidden

Until it decides to behave

On Maui there are no seasons

Not really

There is hot season, cool season, Christmas season

When the whales are here

And when the aren’t

We are in the hot season now

No whales

Summer they call it

But it looks like every other day

Just a might bit warmer- the days a touch longer

Maui time is real

We forget to use clocks

We forget what day it is

What month

Surrounded by intense beauty

Lackadaisical

Hard to tell the hippies from the business people

Poets are everywhere

Painters and musicians live amongst us

Shoes are optional

The ocean and sand are our constants

Sometimes I miss the falling colors

The first snow

The fresh blooms of spring

Most days I don’t

I am in the season of my life

Twirling in the ocean’s spell

Hypnotized by the palm tree sway

Carried into seasons without any signposts

Drifting, swimming  timeless

l

Your lips gently graze mine

Our hands melded together

Their warmth touching my heart

The ocean mist caresses our cheeks

The sun begins it’s dip

Blazing the sky with soft yellows, soothing pinks

A hint of deep purple

Birds swipe at the sky with their wings

Squawking

Diving for one last morsel before bed

We click our cameras

Trying to hold this moment

for eternity

But no picture can capture the cold wind

The soft sea reflecting it’s partner the sky

The sun leaving

Ending it’s sovereignty for the moon

We only speak to say “I love you”

Knowing those words include the universe

The sky, the ocean, the birds, the colors

The soft sand and the knowing

Moments are fleeting

Time will bring another sunset

But not another day like today

I see you

On a hilltop

Your arms spread

To touch the sky

The milky way above you

Stars misting around you

I  see you

Melting above the sun

Clamoring for brilliance and riches

Defying reality, denying it

A swirling dichotomy

Of delusion and dreamer

Soft

Silky

Spun by stars

I  see you

Soaking up the moonlight

Moonbeams exploding from your fingertips

Shimmering

In the brilliant night sky

Caressing my soul

With your invisible hands

I  see you

Disappearing

A spirit soaring above the trees

Gliding on the gentlest breeze

A memory

A vapor

That never existed

I see you

It’s been a long time

A decade at least

We failed our friendship

Again

I think about you, wonder

But always cautiously

Never willing to reach out

Never able to forgive

Our path together was always divergent

Always caught up in egos and prejudices

I know I can never trust you

Never believe in you

I wonder if our paths will converge again

If I will be ignorant enough

To fall under your spell

What I crave can kill me

What I hate can keep me strong

Our karma too thick

Too murky

Too dangerous

I keep you far away

To keep my heart safe,

My life calm.

You my greatest foe

My soulmate of sorrow

My constant refrain of decay

Wasted, crumbling

Deterioration

So much we could have done

It’s a wonder we survived

My senses

Overloaded by this dark night

Dawn approaching

I can smell it in the sea air

The sweet sounds of quiet

The sweet air of isolation

The birds haven’t woken up yet

The world is still waiting for it’s alarms

I sit transfixed

The dark night sculpted

By a maker I will never understand

For a purpose that awaits me

The Silence whispers

The Quiet sooths

Motionless

Awaiting daylight’s resplendence

and it’s quieting

This crescendo of silence

First grab your courage

Sign up, sign in

Take your pledge to follow through

Stare at the screen, white and pristine

Hear it sing in quiet words

Floating about above your head

Place your fingers

Carefully on the keys

Make them dance around

Pulling words from the air

Light, airy,

Dark, destructive

Entice the muses

Make them your friend

Sit them on your shoulder to watch

Feed them coffee and Cheez-Its

Play with them

Amuse them

Form the poem

Structure

Simile, metaphor

Random musings

Rhythm, rhyme

Freedom to galivant

Bring in heroes, villains

A piece of toast

Edit it

Publish it

Send it out into the world

Your baby into the ethers

Sit back, relax

Until the hour is done

Sip your coffee, pet your muse

Repeat

She stalks my doubts

A post of encouragement

Random, simple

A nudge if you will

She knows my dreams

She tells me

I will make them come true

I must give my creative a chance

Smash my inner demons

She gives me hope

A small kick to push me onwards

A small whisper

A loud reverberation in my tired soul

She showed me my critic

She taught me to play

An “Artist’s Way”

To the “Vein of Gold”

Yes I have a “Right to Write”

My Companion for “Walking in This World”

Thank you for your honesty Julia

Thank you

For changing my life

You were there when I needed you most

You opened me up

Showed me the way

You chopped through my doubts

And revealed my path

You keep me steady

You keep me sane

Looking forward to another great year of being sleep deprived and reading other’s genius work