24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
I’ve been on a journey of rediscovery the past decade or so, trying to remember, relearn, and even reinvent myself. Just who the heck did I think I was? Better yet, who did I want to be? Although the answers have evolved over the past few years — like I truly believe I have done — one thing has always remained the same: my love of writing. This is the one day every year that I am totally selfish and make things literally ALL ABOUT ME. And I do that unapologetically! So here I am, toes on the starting line, heart pounding, mind racing, anxious to embark on my fourth consecutive Poetry Marathon. It may not be easy, but it will always be worth it. Hope to see you at the finish line! “Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and in the end, it’s only with yourself.” — Sunscreen, Baz Luhrmann
Got paid today, got me a pocket
full of change. Ding dong, dang doorbell
rings. Landlord’s got his hand held
out. Crank my truck, tank’s on
E. Gut growls, FEED ME
SEYMOUR! No more
money, still
too much
month.
(A nonet is composed of nine lines, beginning with nine syllables in line one, eight syllables in line two, and so forth, until the final line is only one syllable, giving off the visual appearance that the poem is slowly disappearing.)
sleep deprived
body drained
agenda full
only choice
crystal clear
this she nose
she inhales
living life
on thin ice
(A tricube is composed of three stanzas of three lines each, where each line is made up of three syllables.)
Coke Zero,
You are my hero,
here to save
this damsel
from distress, disorder, and
dozing. Praise the Lord!
(A shadorma is a six line poem with a syllable count of 3/5/3/3/7/5, respectively. As a diabetic, at my doctor’s orders, I have essentially sworn off drinking anything other than plain water or unsweetened tea, as even artificial sweeteners are a problem healthwise. However, with this being my fifth consecutive Poetry Marathon, I know full well there is absolutely ZERO CHANCE of me surviving the next 24 hours without some caffeine flooding my veins. Yeah, it’s gonna be one of THOSE kinda days!)
vast
barren
nothingness
reaches beyond
blue lined horizons,
beckoning, beseeching,
pleading for purpose, begging
for beginning. Pen to paper,
my words breathe life; a poem is born.
(A netno poem is another one of my infamous format perversions, a nonet poem, only in reverse. A nonet poem is made of nine lines with a descending syllable count beginning with nine syllables in line one, eight syllables in line two, on down to one syllable for the final line, making it visually appear that the poem is slowly vanishing. A netno poem is also composed of nine lines, but with a reversed syllabic count, where the first line is only one syllable, the second line is composed of two, and so on until the last line, which has nine syllables. This creates an illusion of something appearing out of almost nothing.)
Number 5 Is Aliiiiive
I finally crossed the finish line.
Looks like I got here right on time.
Woohoo, I made it! I survived!
Can’t wait til next year, as it’ll be my #5!
I’m ’bout to go crawl in my bed
As stanzas bounce around inside my head.
I’ve written all I had to write,
And so I bid you all goodnight…. err, maybe make that morning.
Another awesome artistic adventure is added to the books. Thanks for joining me on this journey. Here’s hoping I’ll see you soon!
Gentle Giant (Goobah Loobah)
Loading up our luggage, ready
to hit the road,
detouring south
down your driveway.
This precious, perfect pup, Dottie,
sat shotgun back
to Dallas. We
welcomed her home.
My dear dorky DotDot, ’til the
day we met, I
never knew how
much I’d need you.
****A traditional minute poem is composed of 60 syllables split among three stanzas, with each stanza having four lines where the syllabic count is 8/4/4/4. Traditional minute poems are written in iambic pentameter with the rhyme scheme of aabb, ccdd, eeff. I couldn’t put a true traditional minute poem together in a day, let alone an hour. So for the sake of saving time as well as what remains of my so-called sanity, I eliminated the constraints of rhyme and meter, devolving into the nontraditional minute format seen above. Our dog, DotDot, was a detour, taking us about two hours out of the way. But she’s brought such joy and love and laughter to our lives, the drive was definitely worth it!****
Attack of An Apple
‘Twas
two days
left ’til Christmas
when he dropped
me at
the
door,
leaving me
lost and lonesome,
a stranger in
an even
stranger
land.
People packed
like standing sardines,
trapped tightly in
a tin.
Panic
overcame
me, incapacitating.
Sweating, shaking, sobbing,
anxiety attacking inside
Apple Store.
As
we
left, he
asked would I
ever return on
my own?
“NEVERMORE!”
****A hay(na)ku is a three line poem where the first line consists of one word, the second line has two, and the third line is composed of three words. A reverse hay(na)ku is three lines composed in the opposite fashion, of three words, then two, and one word for the final line. In the 2019 Poetry Marathon, I created the “Mirror hay(na)ku” by combining a hay(na)ku with a reverse hay(na)ku. In 2020, I took things a step further by compiling five mirror hay(na)ku stanzas and calling it a Hall of Mirrors Hay(na)ku.****
Descent
Addicted
Obsessed
Compulsive
Possessed
Despairing
Deceiving
Despondent
Disbelieving
Terrified
Traumatized
Irrational
Immobilized
Panicked
Paralyzed
Imprisoned
Institutionalized
****A four square poem consists of four verses comprised of four lines, where each line is expressed with just one word.****
Put a Sock(et) in It!
The mere sight of spark
plug sockets
irks me to my core.
****A lune poem is an Americanized version of a haiku, featuring a syllabic count of 5/3/5. And as irrational and illogical and utterly ridiculous as it sounds, I really do shudder and cringe and roll my eyes in annoyance at the sight of spark plug sockets. Go figure!****
The End or Something Like It
The clock’s incessant ticking
resonates loudly
in my ears. The end is near.
****I literally just invented the lowku by exhausted inattention. While I had planned to pen a haiku, my muddled mind mistakenly reversed the syllabic count of each line. So rather than the syllabically structured 5/7/5 composition of traditional haiku, the lovely lowku is made up of three lines, where lines one and three contain 7 syllables and line two has only five syllables.****