The Poetry Marathon

When I was five, I loved to ride my skateboard
when I was six, it was my bike
when I was seven it was roller skates.

I loved to mow yards and make money
My friends and I used to put on plays
My dad would hag blankets around the porch
and set up chairs in the yard
We charged a nickel admission
and my mom made Kool-Aid and cookies
for an intermission snack

We had two olive trees in the front yard
I loved to climb them. My dad
had to rescue me once.

We had lemon and lime trees,
orange trees and an avocado orchard behind us
It wasn’t ours, but I used to sneak over the wall
and get some.

I remember the elderly man down the street
used to come pick our figs and bring me and my brother
candy for letting him pick them. I think his wife
made fig preserves.

We lived in Los Angeles a block away
from the Los Angeles River.
We weren’t supposed to ride our bikes
in the river beds…but we did.

The rain softly fell and soaked into the ground
though there wasn’t much soil to soak.

The trees were so green and full
the grass so lush and green

A Robin Redbreast hopped around and found
breakfast for his family

Dogs in the park frolicking in the mist
enjoying each other’s company

In the background,buses and cars and big trucks huffing and puffing
along the highways without regard to the
tiny bit of country set in the middle of the big city

Her soft red fur shimmers in the sunlight

Her eyes lock into mine to show her trust

She is mine and I am hers

and when we part one day

I will be sad

She’s my dog, my best friend.

The first paragraph comes from T.S. Eliot’s Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Tell human voices wake us, and we drown.

The sea is my comfort of present and past
the sea creatures, the mermaids come sing to me at last

The tell tales of old fisherman
tell tales of lost sons
trying not to fall in love because humans are forbidden
forever out of reach why can’t they learn this
what secrets they keep

I’m not sick
I feel fine

I’m not sad
I’m happy inside

I’m not hated
‘fore i still love most

I’m not lonely
Even though I’m alone.

You think you are still 35
You are not
At least you don’t shop at aeropostale
Or try to sport a belly piercing
Or faddish tattoos
And what’s with the cleavage??
Your body is stretched out
Your face sags, along with the
Other parts
You limp from hip surgery and get stiff when you don’t move around
Two-piece,I think not
socks with sandals, NO!
Just be your conservative old self and no one will care.
25-year old girl

Dent-de-lion or taraxacum
boasts a beautiful yellow flower

but watch it closely and you’ll see
it turns into its power

the yellow “teeth” begin to dry
and then they turn to fluff

a seed that flies with wind and then
they float to needy spots

to plant themselves within the dirt
and boast how quick they’ll grow

just watch and see the lion’s tooth
And soon you’ll have to mow.

Arrival to a destination unknown,
departure from the familiar comforts of home
we see many unfamiliar aspects
of other people’s lives
yet we tarry onward
to experience new things.

Passage into unfamiliar territory
is exhilarating, new destinations bring high expectations without disappointment.

Reaching the highest form of satisfaction upon arrival is key to a successful jaunt wherever you may go.

The darkness came a little at a time
But once the world was destroyed it was void of all light.

Half-dead roamed what used to be the streets. Their vision obscured by once was bright flashes of light.

Vegetation, gone.

Animals, gone.

No sun, no moon, no clouds.
Gray haze, gasses most likely fill the air making it difficult to breathe.

No shelter, no warmth, acid rain
Falling
onto
the
barren
ground.

The world was without form, everything floating around space as we know it now.

No rhyme or reason to this massive blackness, swirls of matter, light years away.

One big black hole, no planets, no sun, just dark matter as if the galaxy’s eyes were close tightly.