24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
I grew up in Southern Colorado's San Luis Valley, positioned between the beautiful San Juan Mountains to the west and the breath-taking Sangre De Christo Mountains to the east. I am currently living in Utah. I am a father of four amazing children. My wife and I have two of my children with granddaughters living at home with us. I am now, the proud grandpa of three beautiful granddaughters. The two oldest call me Papa. A name that is more endearing than any other. I enjoy late evening swims, reading books, gardening, painting with the assistance of computer technology (GIMP) and taking hikes in the Utah and Colorado mountains and foothills. And of course, I also enjoy writing poetry and sharing it with my friends and family. I have had my personal struggles in life and poetry has helped me come out victorious over them.
Text Prompt
Write a poem set a hundred years ago, or a hundred years from now.
Grandpa Lafayette
~willjxn~
My father’s Dad was born to life
In 1876.
The era of Monet
The Music of Debussy.
The painting of the stary nights.
The trench wars of the world.
The dying of Monet,
The death of Claude Debussy
The death of Grandpa Lafayette
when dad was only one.
And life was only 19 hundred.
Image Prompt
Not exactly a text prompt
Listen to the following song before writing a poem, you can also play it again and write with it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5j1AwBaPtk
Night time drive
Through the city of stars.
How is it so
that it floats above the cars.
Would that I could
Make this roadway, to incline.
Drive through the clouds,
and with their street align.
I’m confident
There’ll be a light for me.
Where I can see,
the retrospective part of me.
Prompt 2: Read Robert Frost’s poem Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, chose one line or phrase, and with credit, write a poem with that line or phrase in it. Prompt partially contributed by Se Johnson.
Before I Sleep
~willjxn~
Before I sleep I’ll make a list
of things to do but to resist:
The garden needs some flowering,
The office needs un-towering.
The kitchen sink needs dishes washed,
The table needs the bread crumbs tossed.
The toilet needs a good scrubbing
My wife’s sore back— a soft rubbing,
The book at hand needs me to read.
Now add to this, I’ll write this screed.
Dogs need their walking
Granddaughters un-squawking
I’ve miles to go before my need,
for good night’s sleep, my conscience heed.
First Prompt: Write a poem about being in water. It can be about swimming, the shower, a bath, the rain, etc.
Hose
~willjxn~
Raise a hose upon the land.
Lift it up with waters grand.
Mountain waters stored for me,
to rejuvenate each tree.
Raise a hose upon each child,
lift it up with waters mild.
Sparling spring in hand made wild.
Summer’s sun with yard hose bridled.
Raise a hose upon my conscience,
lift it up with fluid pliants.
Liquid wand of life reliant,
freshly wake my wit compliant.
I am home inside myself,
In the early sky.
When the glory of the sun
Peaks o’re mountains high.
Glowing light upon the grass.
Turning every surface gold.
On my porch, the mornings pass.
Joyfully behold!
I am home inside myself.
In the evening sky.
When the sun takes a descent,
Waving its goodbye.
When the shadows lengthen out,
Vibrant life explodes.
I am home inside myself
Walking gilded roads.
Text Prompt
Write about the place you feel most at home in.
Droplets of seraphic light
the camera froze up time for you.
Glowing abdomens so bright,
dance around the tall bamboo.
I would like to join in play,
dapple light along my way.
Little seraphs tipped with light,
see me through this pitch dark night.
Salvidor Dali
where is your paranoiac-critical mind
I need your method more than ever.
that state between sleep and consciences.
where abstractions grow like Van Gogh’s poplar trees.
Let me slip into your sleep-walking journey.
where reality fails to solidify.
and dreaming finds dimension.
just a few more hours of mental babbling on.
I am nearing the end of this daydreamer’s trail.
a road, never taken, to end well
and stretching, stretching beautifully,
In a grove of poet-trees.
Text Prompt
Write a poem to wake yourself up.
You bridge a pipeline to each tree,
and flower patch and unpulled weed.
You’re more than just a plastic snake
as water shoots out from your neck.
You are my staff my scepter sleek
when I into my garden sneak.
I need not build a grand canal,
Or carry water in a pale.
My aqueduct— three-quarter hose,
Small waterfalls feed from your nose.
With you, I travel back in time,
to Eden’s watered river prime.
Oh, flowing sapphire staff made clear,
A snake, like you, is welcomed here.
Text Prompt
An ode is a formal address to a person, place, or thing, not present. An irregular ode does not have a traditional form but the manner largely retains the tone and thematic elements of the classical odes. There’s a wonderful example poem here, called an Ode to Shea Butter by Angel Nafis.
Water sheathes a newly field
in glistening rippled light revealed.
The silver moon rides o’re the sea.
If I could, I’d voyage with thee.
As the wind picks up the sail.
My silhouette falls on the dale.
The water bellows up the dam
and pours itself upon the land.
Tending water like its sheep.
As though, they graze on oceans deep.
It’s the homestretch/hardest part. Keep going!
Text Prompt
Write a poem about walking at night.
Image Prompt
If it were me I would be;
The northwest side of a house.
Where I could shade
From the intensity of a noonday south
And the guard myself from the
overly dogmatic eastern past.
If it were me I would be:
a tree on top of a mountain.
Where I could stand alone and see
The city encroaching
But know it will never reach my deep-seated roots.
If it were me, I would be.
An ancient Sanskrit encyclopedia.
Where I could store for young people
All the lost secrets of the past, the prophetic visions of the future,
And how to live life best in the present moment.
If it were me, I would be.
The moment in time when it all began.
When everything was new.
And there were no old secrets.
No need to lie or hide the truth from the light of day.