The Poetry Marathon

small hands

stacking chips

counting cautiously

to twenty-one

nothing to risk

bragging rights to gain

the warrior girls kicking

skirts

taking names

on the playground

baked asphalt

glowing black in the sun

pitter patter

heartbeats

and faded sneakers

charging over

to join the game

I asked my ten year old niece what I should write

my next poem about

she told me to look at the dragonfly

as it flirted by

she hopes that her best friend

Aubrey is in the same

fifth grade class as her

she asked me about motorcycle safety

making sure a dear friend wears a helmet

and a leather jacket

to break the fall

i hope fifth grade is kind to her

effortless

like a dragonfly’s Saturday

if she hits any speed bumps

I’ll be sure to be the leather

to break her fall.

searching

for the address of

the moon

i glanced away from the road

awashed in my headlights

turned my head left

she was there

making the grey clouds shine

unquestioning

i don’t need a map

i can trust my instincts

to find her

upon my return to you

I will ache for sustenance

I will search it out

like a bee to a flower

coaxed by pollen

magic dust

to keep myself going

to keep us all alive

nourished

as we slowly die

we lose nothing by loving

the weight of a heart

the fragility of a feather

both can be a hundred pounds

depending on the handful

regardless

of how our mind weaves regret

if we hold steady

we lose

nothing

when i can’t bear to finish a book

because it’s world will close

disappear

the discovery of fertile ground will be over

it will be a path that i can always return to

but it will never be new again

i pause half way thru a chapter

save the next moment with a little scrap of paper

mark my spot

like a stone pile on a trail

or if i’ve come

prepared

i could draw an arrow on a tree

i’ll come back to it again

piling up half read works

half hiked trails

on the extra pillow beside me

empty

without a partner

a lone traveler

until i turn the pages

once

again

This is my first time doing the poetry marathon. I’m signed up for the full 24 hours. I’m looking forward to seeing how it kick starts my brain waves. Birds are a huge inspiration to my writing so here’s a baby osprey for you. 🙂