The Poetry Marathon

Hello fellow poets.

Summer is finally here and that means it’s poetry marathon time!! My name is Julianne (MacKenzie) Abend and I reside on Long Island in the state of New York within the country of the United States of America.  My household consists of my lovely husband and my dog aka “my sidekick”, Batman!

As this year progresses, so does the process of completing the many aspects of publishing a book – my first book of poetry. This continues to be a very exciting process for me.

Earlier this month, I was featured at an in-person poetry reading. The time before that, I was featured in an in-person poetry reading event in 2018. A lot had changed within me since then. I have learned (not mastered) the craft of reading poetry out loud to an audience. It’s a bit different than writing poetry for me. I write poems, as though they will never be read by me out loud. Now they are.

I am looking forward to writing poems hourly for the Poetry Marathan again. The first time that I was part of this event was in 2020. Honored, I had my last poem of the marathan published in the 2020 Poetry Marathon Anthology.

Good luck in your own writing ventures on Saturday.  Sending peace, love and good health to all who are participating. You got this!

😊

COVID19 blur

Wish I bought Zoom stock in March

Still not over yet

Fourth grade school teacher corrected our work in green – color of hope.

Hope found fear in time, they duked it out – hope ended up winning.

Winning isn’t always about the prize, but it’s about knowing the process was a good one.

One time in D.C., I met a guy names James, he designs amazing landscapes now.

Now I am giving space to give credit to my parents – thank you!

You mean more than you know.

Sleep is beautiful in and of itself,

then come along dreams.

fearful,

fairy tale,

factious false truths,

famous television stars,

from that summer back in 1999

 – all wrapped up in one night’s sleep.

Codes divert entry.

Electric fences, a bit more.

Layering the simple coffee date with war stories of the past,

seemed both genuine and informative.

Ring charm, enter uninvited touch.

Who said it wasn’t invited?

Certainly not he,

or she,

or they.

Karaoke (on video) is worth the screen time;

he’s up – Brittney on the scene.

Motivation thick, ready………………go.

Walking on the boardwalk (next to the waves in Long Beach, NY) is worth the sneaker wear;

he’s ahead of me – naturally.

Motivation thick, ready…………….go.

Marco Polo (in the lake at the mountain house) is worth the body freeze;

he’s up – Marco gonna get Polo, again.

Motivation thick, ready…………….go.

Walking down that aisle (with my parents at my side) is worth the glory;

he’s ahead of me – as we rehearsed.

Motivation thick, steady………….go.

Your heart will remain full and unstressed.

Your closets, full of stuff – organized perfectly.

Your admirers, when you’re a young adult and still underage, will remain at bay.

Your brain will not malfunction and you won’t need to manage the process – every day.

Your life is going to be easy,

said no one.

Why did you expect differently?

Oh, TV.

Never liked the way you said “bye”

Always so arrogant and simultaneously breathtaking.

But you were you and the red flags were there,

Just barely visible to my closed eyes.

Tear wells – a go.

And now I’m sure it’s a go –

“Bye.”

Imagine nothing made sense to you anymore.

All that you knew to be true was false and vice versa.

How many homemade Nutella peanut butter cookies would you eat?

Definitely leaving my options open, but I’d down at least five.

Doesn’t seem like enough now that I consider nothing makes sense.

I’ll have one for me, and the rest of the batch for my love.