The Poetry Marathon

2023 Full Marathon: Hour 19

It is midnight now – the witching hour

I am drinking honeyed whiskey and writing

in something other then obsidian ink –

so clearly whatever is haunting me now

is not you is not cinnamon or orange juice.

 

I am not sobbing about the cities we did

not get to visit or the poems you chose not

to read so process of elimination –

this is NOT about you. It will be the

storm’s prime time soon – with more

flooding and too much unnoticed magic

 

.Shortly after that it will be the

artists hour and even the things that

have never made sense to anyone

gardless of their mental state or

abilities will be crystal and powerful.

 

People will gather and revel and you –

you will realize just how much there was

to miss. You will understand the haunting

of a lingering poem and the way the

computer eats thoughts from us all.

 

And time will continue to fly by

because I have conditioned myself

to this and for all the right reasons –

no one would ever notice the cracks.

 

-M. Rene’

Hour 18: Ode to Ghosts

If there is nothing 

Of the past left alive, please 

Become eternal.  

Hour 19 – A Writer’s Cup

This machine keeps me company

I often walk up to it

I find the drip drip drip musical

The fluffy brown rises

Jiggling, filling my cup

Unconsciously finching, taking a sip

It is bitter sweet and I have a burnt tongue

‘Ther’ are bigger things to consider

But ‘ther’ are smaller ones too

And I am in the midst of all

Am I feeling any different?

The intricate fantasies shock me

I see and feel in slow mo

I am unlucky to recognize this

Maybe I am overthinking

My coffee is finished

The brown drops have left a smile

On the bottom of a writer’s cup

I am lucky enough to notice this.

©️ Divya Venkateswaran

Kaleidoscope

The sun-kissed my cheeks.

Imaginations filled my heart,

the first day of college,

was a mighty experience,

a kaleidoscope of lessons,

I’ve learned about Chemicals:

it is everything on earth.

Hour 10 prompt

MOTHERS LOVE IS SPECIAL

When God decided to descend on Earth,
He wondered how people will know His worth.
When He could not think any further
He realised; a perfect creation could only be the Mother.

Mother is the creator of the universe
Without her, life would be a curse
Mother keeps us safe in her womb
Will always love us, even after she reaches her tomb

Her breasts are always filled with love and milk
Her warm hugs are even softer than silk.
She always cooks tasty food
And is always ready to give us advice for our good.

Mother can be called by any name,
But her affection for us will always be the same
Theoretically, there is no special Mother’s Day
Mothers are to be loved and celebrated in every way.

BY SHREYA SURAJ

FIELD ON FIRE

Large open field,
Leaves color of fire,
Crisp cold air.

Hour 17

A kaleidescope of butterflies signals the awakening of Spring,  

the typhoon formed from the flapping of its wing’s flirting with my hair  

The sun’s rays not yet hot enough to burn my skin  

With memories of that which will die again with time.  

The First Escape

cw: none

When you leave open a door,
eventually it will be used.
And when the air sang too sweet,
and all the canary’s feathers healed,
it found itself slipping
from one small world into
the bigger, beautifuller one.
It flew for the first time,
and the flight was hard,
but it felt so right.
Still, shelter came a-callin’;
the canary came back.
And in the room,
it no longer hated
the truth the window had revealed.

Hour 9 prompt

LIFE
Life is like mathematics,
We can add our friends,
Subtract our enemies
Multiply our happiness
Divide our love

Life is like food
It is sometimes sweet,
It is sometimes sour
Life is always full of spice,
It is up to us to make it nice

Life is like drama
It has a lot of characters
It is full of ups and downs
It has a lot of emotions
Leading a happy or sad life depends on our actions

BY SHREYA SURAJ

Hour 19

In the gathering room we gather for everything

even though it might seem crowded sometimes

and it gets too warm in the summer afternoon

because of the windows that point to the south

although I could put up awnings or blinds

but then why have windows, am I right?

Even the pictures on the shelf I have to reposition all the time

so they don’t get faded by the strong sun

Because everything is crowded in the gathering room

and the sun is strong