The Poetry Marathon

Hour 14 (a haiku)

THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS

Awesome volunteers

Giving their talent and time

We reap their kindness

THE TIME IS AT HAND

A wrote a poem

Verse by verse.

The first lined sucked

The second was worse.

Could not connect

With a thought or a notion.

Maybe a drink from

My magical potion.

One drink leads to two

Before you know it, its four.

And you discover its hard

To type on the floor.

You jump in the shower

Hope to come to your senses.

And get back to writing

Using all the right tenses.

Now that we’re reaching

The thirteenth hour.

Out of nowhere I’m getting

A feeling of power.

I hope I can make it

Beyond last years’ time.

I think I can make it

If I stop with this rhyme.

And get back to attempting

Some quality prose.

And complete this great marathon

Cross your fingers, here goes!!

Hour 12 (Marathon Prompt – Pick a random book from the shelf.  Read the first line and the last line.  Pick one and use every word of that line somewhere in your poem.)

The Book:  A Million Little Pieces

First Line:  I wake to the drone of an airplane engine and the feeling of something warm dripping down my chin.

ABOVE THE CLOUDS

Airplane engine sputters, starts

Adrenaline rush soon fills our hearts.

Accelerated upward climb

Above the clouds in record time

Final instructions drone on and on

We’ll soon jump out and then be gone

I’m at the edge and looking down

It’s just white fluff, can’t see the ground

And the feeling of something going wrong

Which once was not, but now seems strong

I closed my eyes and felt a push

Plummeting down I felt a swoosh

My eyes now open staring up

To discover my chute was not hooked up

Desperately I tried to yell

I’m ‘bout to die…oh my what hell

Something warm came dripping down

As I came closer to the ground

I wake to find myself a fool

My chin was wet from sleeping drool

Just a dream, a nightmare really

Man oh man do I feel silly

Hour 11 (Marathon Prompt – write about a place, real or fictional, that you have never been. I am using the acrostic poem style)

KINDNESS CORNER

K    Kindness found here day and night

I      Individuals see no need to fight

N    Never a disparaging word is spoken

D    Dreams are real here, no hearts broken

N     Nice and neighborly together we

E     Erase the hate and let peace be

S     Second nature for one, for all

S     Seize each day and heed its call

C   Cause when we act for the better good

O    Our lives seem happier as they should

R    Rewarded for our better ways

N    Nurtured in us every day

E    Equality reigns and love’s no foreigner

R    Replenish your soul at Kindness Corner

Hour 10 (Marathon Prompt – listen to the song Moon Shadow by Cat Stevens and start writing as soon as the song is over.  Some of you know, maybe not all of you, that we have a dog that we named Cat Stevens.  Second ironic twist of the day!!)

Our Cat Stevens

You came to us humbled and blessed

Rescued by Shauna and readied for your new home.

“Did it take long to find me, I asked the faithful light.”

Out of the Christmas box you popped

Greeting your new family

Unique spots, cuddly fur, and puppy breath!

Like a moon shadow, your towered over Charlie

But he would not relinquish his dominance.

You would always be second while he was around.

“But I won’t moan, and I won’t beg.”

For those who are grateful, the journey is a kinder reward.  Let us learn from them.

PITY

The heat of midday faded

as the brilliant summer sun

settled below the tree line.

Strange seemed the firefly

who earlier zoomed about the cottage

now looking lethargic and spent.

Had he succumbed from the heat of the day

or did he drink too much of the sweet nectar

thick like porridge, placed about in bottles

for our visiting hummingbirds?

Masked in his gluttony

his attempt to entertain us with dance and flight

landed him in the campfire.

Pity!

LOLLY THE CLOWN COMES TO TOWN

(Disclaimer:  I performed as Lolly the Clown for over 20 years.  My friend Kim said this would be a good topic to write about.  Oddly enough today, our neighbor gave my husband a ceramic clown to give to me.  His wife had collected them when she was living.  When the universe gives you a sign, you gotta’ go with it!  So humor me on this one……lots of silliness!)

The assignment from Mr. Daniels

Seemed like a daunting feat.

To write about our futures

He thought it might be neat.

But we were barely teenagers

Voices changing, pimples too.

Oh what was I to write about

I didn’t have a clue.

Writing something colorful

Would fill up pages fast

I thought and thought and thought so more

An idea had came at last.

I would write about a professional

That once a year would come to town

As a performer in the circus….that’s right

I am going to be a clown!!

I wrote about my floppy shoes,

And whoopee cushions too.

I wrote about my big red nose

And all the magic I would do.

The words were flowing easily

Each page was quickly filled.

Before I knew it, I was done

Which had me really thrilled.

I kept the paper, got an A

Then years later down the road.

I found the paper, and thought about

This seed I must have sowed.

I took a class at OSU

Clowning 101.

Needless to say, a lot of play

I really had some fun.

I learned some tricks and make-up skills

And how to twist balloons.

Learned all about the types of clowns

From white face to ole buffoons.

Created costumes, bought a wig

Purple was my shade.

When all the work was said and done

I liked what I had made.

Never thought a class assignment

Would impact my life for years.

Lolly the Clown had come to town

Bringing laughter and sometimes tears.

Though my floppy shoes and sponge ball nose

Are now all packed away.

Lolly will be, a part of me

Until my dying day.

On a side note:  I decided to be buried in my clown make up so it will be easier for the funeral home to get the make up right!!

SEASON OF THE UNCERTAINTIES

Life ever changing, with its ups and downs

Unpredictable and often unnerving.

Taking us down a path of our choosing

And sometimes down a path we wish not to travel.

We can try to predict our outcomes,

But we must anticipate the proverbial fork in the road.

Can we plan for the unknown

If the unknown, is unknown?  I really don’t know.

What you CAN plan for is knowing there WILL be uncertainties,

ups and downs, bad times when you least expect them.

What you CAN plan for is how you will react to those times

when the path is chosen for you.

What you CAN plan for is knowing that each day we have is a gift,

even when life takes us down the path not chosen.

Choose to learn and live and love each day for soon will come

the changing of the season of uncertainties.

Hour 6  (a haiku)

A GREAT DAY

Nothing scheduled

Endless possibilities

Or peace doing zilch

I THANK YOU EARTH MOTHER  (PICTURE OF BOAT ON WATER)

Glorious earth, of heavens and streams

A place in my heart, my soul and my dreams.

You continually share your beauty, your wonder

In the caress of the rain drops through boisterous thunder.

Your majesty proudly displayed in each tree

With arms outreached over land, by the sea.

Blessed with each journey, I am lucky to make

As I breath in the goodness you allow me to take.

Like all mothers you share, your bounty, your all

Starry skies of each summer,  brilliant colors of fall.

You beckon me with a whippoorwills cry

To witness the sunset as the day says goodbye.

The new day presents your new canvas creation

And I’ll give thanks, dear Mother, for my undying elation.