The Poetry Marathon

The last light of the day,

Before my last words.

I close the blinds from behind,

And can’t even fathom how I get here.

Amid losing all the balance,

There’s hope. A glimpse of it.

Pushing me towards the precipice

To finish what I started.

Am I finished?

Is this the end?

The end to start anew,

A glimpse of hope for you too.

In the world where we can be wordless around people,

I gain words around here,

Or probably, the moved me.

Control me to be good,

I am their slave,

A happy one.

A happy participant of the magic,

I’m here sticking around,

Coz, I can see it.

I can feel it.

There’s hope here.

Text Prompt : Write a poem about HOPE

#POETRYMARATHON2023 #HOUR24 #24HRSCATEGORY

No religion, no country, no territorial boundary,

This world can be a place like no other.

No rule parts to play,

No currencies, no need for a job.

We are not humans here,

We are like an orbiting species taking its role as it is.

Part of nature, equal to all the species yet to live.

What else can we give?

To a world who has it all?

God moves in mystery, they say.

But there’s no Gods here,

There’s no one for us to pray,

We all are preys,

Rotating towards who’s the next to eat,

And what would be our meal.

No police to keep it in order,

There isn’t any border.

This is our home,

The sky is the limit.

A kindred spirit bustling around,

And where we left to die

Will be our holy ground.

Text Prompt

Write a poem about a world that is not this one.

#POETRYMARATHON2023 #HOUR23 #24HRSCATEGORY

There’s no energy remains,

Just a drop of blood that taste like coffee,

I’m in the hour of silence, madness.

Or maybe silence sounds like weakness,

A few breads to eat,

My rice cooker not yet meeting its red mark.

I’m yet in the dark.

A little spark still clamoring,

Behind my desk, behind my words,

Silence, silence as the music speaks.

The only words that I hear on this hour.

Its not sadness,

Just in pure possession with the words.

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Running to escape.

I am hiding to catch myself.

In a dream, I am my own enemy,

I am my own defenses, curses and weaknesses,

I am the monster under my bed.

My eyes turn red when I see myself in the mirror.

Am I you? Who are you?

Are my human self? Or somebody else’s doppelganger

Acting like me in my head.

No responses, just silence.

A clutch on my chest,

I don’t remember the rest.

You appeared behind my back,

Am I under attack?

By a monster who looks like me?

Or I am the monster?  How this supposed to be?

I am no monster, I know.

But who are you?

Who am I?

Between us, who is the monster?

Your eyes are way darker,

You’re a lie from the sky.

You’re an abomination.

Created by my Imagination,

Maybe a thing in my head,

Or a reality instead.

So, I kept running,

Catching my breath still,

As I heard you speaks.

Keep running.

Text Prompt

Write a poem that starts and ends with the word running.

#POETRYMARATHON2023 #HOUR21 #24HRSCATEGORY

Every weekend, before the world wakes up,

I grab my running shoes and head out for a jog.

In the University of The Philippines near my place,

It’s no race, I felt like grace,

And the feeling of being in a good place,

Starting my day right for the first time.

Silence, silence I can hear,

I am the only person in the oval running this hour.

No people around, something I prefer.

I love it here.

The world speaks to me like a friend,

I can hear it telling stories.

As If I am an old friend whom he sees once a week.

I don’t feel weak at all.

I gain power,

In this hour of total darkness

I see the first light of the world,

Sharing its blessed wisdom to me

Before I go on busking back

To my usual city state.

Text Prompt:

Write a poem about a routine or ritual that is part of your life. It can be something like making coffee every morning, or something like attending religious services once a week.

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Speaking mumble yet still maintaining a will,

The quietness of the early night saying hello.

Things are not quite right around,

I’m acting like on a drug but just a drop of coffee running on my blood.

I’m good, I guess I still am.

Pillows below but flying above,

My books on shelves are running back down.

Foods looks like on a mess which I can’t reach,

Am I on a beach?

Nope, I’m in a room full of fool,

And I’m one of those.

Text prompt

Write a poem describing your surroundings as inarticulately as possible but maintaining just a tiny bit of the truth.

#POETRYMARATHON2023 #HOUR19 #24HRSCATEGORY

I run across an abandoned place,
On a signed erased by rain across the road.
The house stand still despite it aged,
The squeaking sounds and random cracks
Breaks the silence.
The old house speaks its language.
It tells a story of an orhpanage
On how this place used to be a saving grace
Of kids who’s been abandoned by life
Or people’s escspe from a knife.
One day, they said one burned the
And all this place was burn down.
Some kids were trapped
Their screams and shouts
Remains in an eerie quietness of the place.
People whelve on the story
But i kept it as a mystery.
An unforgotten memory
Haunting me,
Once more.

Text Prompt : Write a poem about a haunting, real or imagined, detailed, abstract.

#POETRYMARATHON2023 #HOUR18 #24HRSCATEGORY

You and I are part of this kaleidoscope life.

An arrangement of pattern within the palm of our hands,

Simultaneously connected towards each other.

Strangers across the street that I bump along the way,

Or some kids on the street playing.

Wondering what will happen next,

What situations connects the dots.

That drag my life towards other’s lives.

We are part of the balance.

Like taking random chances,

That affects you and me.

One day.

Text Prompt : Write a poem either titled or centered around a ‘Kaleidoscope’.

#POETRYMARATHON2023 #HOUR17 #24HRSCATEGORY

I love your lips and your hips,

And the way it sways when you walk,

I love how you speak,

And your freak-mind bending ideas that keep me thinking,

Where on earth you get them.

I love your songs and your voice,

And your imitation that you are a professional singer even you’re not.

I am your only arena,

And you’re loving it every time we made-up a pretend concert.

I love your touch and smirks,

Your quirks and little remarks.

I love everything that you’re not.

Yes! These are not you.

I’m a hoax, and so are you.

Text Prompt

Write a poem that is pretending to be something else, a set of instructions, a recipe, an letter, a news report, etc.

(Why yes, this prompt was inspired by This is Just to Say, which is a poem pretending to be an apology)

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I was a reverie.

You always think I am.

I am selfishly alone in my thoughts,

I always left you.

Lost and confused.

In my world I am the king.

I am the first smile of spring.

Power is for me to gain,

It’s worth every pain.

Your aesthete character left me in awe,

I know you tried to drag me back now,

To the reality that I wasn’t part of,

You’re rain, I am the aftermath of it all.

I live and die here,

I exist even then, just exist.

My colostomy is not an operational mistake,

Its part of me, It’s me.

I am never accepted here,

I am no king.

I’m a peasant, not something pleasant.

I’m a mistake of life.

My pills, potassium intakes and health monitoring,

Is not worthy at all.

I just wish to be lost, out of space.

Probably, I can restart my race.

I was a reverie.

You always think I am.

I am selfishly alone in my thoughts,

I always left you.

Lost and confused.

I’m sorry for all the unexplained reasons,

The changing seasons of me.

I scream and shout and smile back again.

It wasn’t me; it was my disease, It’s part of me.

I was always left.

Lost and confused too.

Text Prompt

Write a poem about an experience, but from the perspective of another. For example you could write a poem about your wedding from the experience of your spouse, or you could write a poem about an argument with a stranger from the perspective of the stranger.

#POETRYMARATHON2023 #HOUR15 #24HRSCATEGORY