The Poetry Marathon

End.

At Last, Charlie Finds A Bride

1- 9am A Life in the Day of the Mayfly,
2- 10am The Time is Against Us.

3- 11am Lives only to Breed,
4- 12pm Alone on the Side of the Pond,
5- 1pm Stuck there for Days Unknown,
6- 2pm The Burrow and the Bore.

7- 3pm Cat, Crate and Garden Gate.
8- 4 pm Hail, Rain and Drought,
9- 5pm Another Failed Attempt.
10- 6pm Raccoon Comes to Call.
11- 7pm Licked by A Toad,
12- 8pm Invincible and Ancient
13- 9pm Everyone Wants to Love.

14- 10pm Fish, Enough for You to Fry
15- 11pm In search of a Meaning
16- 12am Nevermind, the World Goes On
17- 1am Darkness All Around
18- 2am Stillness and Serenity

19- 3am And Now, Begin Again Once More

20- 4am Broken Pump and Motor
21- 5am Rivers Flow to the Ocean
22- 6am I Can Make It, I Know I Can
23- 7am Dawn is a Feeling, a Beautiful Ceiling
24- 8am End. At Last, Charlie Finds A Bride

Hour 24, 8 am

(form/ Acrostic of Acrostics/ Acrostic of Titles/series 24 of 24)
Charlie the Mayfly.

v.j.calone

Dawn is a Feeling, A Beautiful Ceiling

Dawn is a feeling, a beautiful ceiling
and I have a feeling that today may be the lucky one.
Welcome along the way the sun’s rays
never do I grow weary, my eye always teary

In welcoming in the day and the morn.
So much in the sunrise is just like a surprise.

Awake! And meet the brand new dawn.

Feel it all around you,
earthen creatures all abound.
Every living thing just yawns,
love the freshly mowed lawn.
In the grass there at home,
never do I grow weary, my eye, alas is teary.
Grounded and surrounded by the dawn.

A beautiful feeling, a much missed sunrise.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,
everyone would surely agree,
at sunrise the chance to be reborn.
Up with the rooster at the crack of dawn.
The darkness lessens and is withdrawn,
inside the old fountain, there on the lawn.
Feeling his new wings Charlie takes flight.
Up to the sky in the blink of an eye the light
lights up the morn. Dawn is a feeling and beautiful

Ceiling. I think today’s the day for our man,
earned his gold star so let’s strike up the band.
In the sun’s early rays in this marshy glade
Look upon his form before he starts to fade.
In the sun’s brilliant haze in this magic grove,
never do I grow weary, my eye, although is teary.
Gold dust sparkling in the misty morning love.

Hour twenty three, 7am
Dawn is a Feeling, A Beautiful Ceiling
(form Acrostic/loose couplets w/ refrain )
Charlie the Mayfly.

v.j.calone

I Can Make It, I Know I Can

I

can make it. At first there was doubt.
And now, I know I can do it.
No fear, for once you get started.

More than a push but now it is done.
A tall task it was, but it was fun.
Key to success
enjoy the ride.

It’s only as hard as you make it.
Truth is, “It’s extremely hard.”

I

know how this sounds and I do
not want to dissuade you.
Only want you to experience
what I just did and feel it.

I

can tell you honestly
and without exaggeration
never doubt your ability to adapt.

Hour twenty two, 6 am
I Can Make It, I Know I Can
(form Acrostic/Drabble)
Charlie the Mayfly.

v.j.calone

Rivers Flow to the Ocean

Rivers.
It flows downstream.
Very near the end of the line.
Every tributary feeds from the source,
Racing along, you can’t slow the course.
So close to the battle we can almost taste it.

Front the lower level there was a stirring.
Left of the dish we saw a signal
Our time had come and we left to mating.
With brilliant wings all marked with pigments,

They were green, yellow and brown
on back and the crown.

The courses that we flew,
heralded the war cries of the few and many,
everyone did their part.

One said they saw us on the radar.
Cause doppler had picked us up that day.
Everyone was happy when we smelled the salt
and felt the sand. We knew we were home.
Now, you know the rest of the story.

Hour twenty one, 5 am
Rivers Flow to the Ocean
(form Acrostic/Free Verse)
Charlie the Mayfly.

v.j.calone

Broken Pump and Motor

Broken and hissing loud and clear,
ruptured leaking
out the side of the pump.

Keep with the pressure and the glue.
Everything dry
neglected now it’s seeping.

Poor Charlie is left high and dry
undone, forlorn,
me and his burrow.

Poor Charlie, poor solider.
And then he’s gone
neglected now he’s sweeping.

Down in the dust pit, planning
meet there. Inside
over the fountain by the rocks.

The farmer unstuck it and set it
on top of the
river bank and left if it to dry.

Hour twenty, 4 am
Broken Pump and Motor
(form Acrostic/Triversen )
Charlie the Mayfly.

v.j.calone

And Now, Begin again Once More

At Dawn, be first out–
nimble, light and fast alone.
Dawn is the drop off.
Now we’re given our orders,
our orders to procreate.

We sat and waited.
Before sun up the earth smelled
easy, alive and like home.
Grunts were all prepped one last time
I knew they would not come home.

Nests among the ranks
all thrown together, shabby,
gaudy, purposeful….
all stuck together, drabby,
I’m willing to die, of course.

Next of kin, we hope
only to see them survive
next in line, is key
cause we’re fighting for the cause.
Everyone’s on the same team.

Mayflies assemble.
Orders straight from the front lines
Read aloud it’s time to pack,
everyone’s in the same stream.

Hour nineteen, 3 am
And Now, Begin again Once More
(form Acrostic/ Somonka variation)
Charlie the Mayfly.

v.j.calone

Stillness and Serenity

Still, there’s a sadness in the stillness of the night.
Trapped there in the blackness under wraps,
inspect the perimeter and watch out for the traps.
Lonely is the night, in the solitude you delight,

love to be left alone. There’s a desperate fight
nightly raging before they ever drew up the maps,
even before the west as we know it collapsed.
Still, we tried as we could, but it was all in spite.

Still we still tried, tried with all of our power.
All of our struggle and all of our strife
never amounted to anything more than band aid.
Dejected, defected against the ivory tower.

So, as the Beatles’ sung, “Run for your life.”
“Everybody has something to hide it’s a charade.”
reads the headline outside the arcade.
Every little creature dims down the bulb,
neatly planted in rows and creased at the fold.
Individually packaged and then underlined in bold,

The time for action is now, let me show you how.
You only have to listen and give me your vow.

Hour eighteen, 2 am
Stillness and Serenity
(form Acrostic/ Caudated Sonnet)
Charlie the Mayfly.

v.j.calone

Darkness All Around

Darkness all around.
All around me is blackness,
rich compacted soil.
Kindness in the burrow,
nowhere in the darkness.
Even leave room for another
so tomorrow we may die,
so tomorrow we shall die.

All around us blackness and grayness.
Look for the swarm at first light
look to the east to the mulch pile in the corner.

All is dark and quiet and all is calm
Round up the troops and let’s hum a song.
Our day is upon us, and
unto the course we will rush.
Next to the strawberry patch,
down in the dirt, there it will end.

Hour seventeen, 1am
Darkness All Around
(form Acrostic/ found verse)
Charlie the Mayfly.

v.j.calone

Never mind, the World Goes On

Never mind the world goes on without you.
Even you can’t stop the tide or keep the wave from crashing.
Vex and question, but, you’ll never find the answer.
Even if you knew the answer would it stop the coming season?
Reason and logic would be of no use

my friend, when you try to understand nature.
In my opinion, if it mattered, I’d say, “We
need the Mayfly as much as we need to save the whales.
Do unto other’s as you would have them do unto you,

that is the golden rule. All you really need to know.
He who is without sin go ahead and throw the first stone.
Each one is unique and no man is an island for sure.

We are the world. Yet the world will go on without us.
Only man can end the Mayfly and this I know is true.
Reach for the stars and at worst you’ll hit the back fence.
Look, “At least you’ll get off the ground.”
“Do unto others has you would have them done unto themselves.”

Goes the Platinum Rule. But, never forget the world rolls
on with or without you. “You are nothing special.” says one’s self.
Everyday another species is born and dies before our very eyes.
Sad, mother nature just laughs.

Only the gardener knows of the garden.
Never mind, the world goes on without me.

Hour sixteen, 12am
Never mind, the World Goes On
(form Acrostic/ prose)
Charlie the Mayfly.

v.j.calone

In Search of a Meaning

In search of meaning.
No one told me,

so I never knew.
Each morning
anger grew,
racing through,
Carotid arteries,
Heavy the heart.

Of mice men,
focuses me,

a meaning

meant for purpose.
Ending doubt
and brought boil.
None one told me,
I never knew.
Now I
Got to go.

Hour fifteen, 11pm
In search of a Meaning
(form Acrostic/ *Dribble)
Charlie the Mayfly.

*Dribble form created by J.R. Turek

v.j.calone