What Do You Think

“What do you think?” 4 stanza
© A. Potter ~2021
Hour 4 : The Poetry Marathon
Book chosen: Erma Bombeck “Family- the Ties that bind and gag” [last line: what do you think]

What do you think
Oh, interrogatory
the mind endlessly spinning
Calmly creating art

Oh, interrogatory
Where does this one lead
Calmly creating art
Pen in hand, she marks

Where does this one lead
Page by page fill with ink
Pen in hand, she marks
Between the lines, she’s free

Page by page fill with ink
What do you think
Between the lines, she’s free
the mind endlessly spinning

The Lawnmower/Computer Relationship

The Lawnmower/Computer Relationship

 

I do not kill computers.

I merely overtax their tiny chips

with unusual attempts to work around glitches,

until they shut down and wish for death.

No animosity, really.

They simply don’t understand my thought processes.

Computers are simple, not creative,

unable to appreciate my artistic nature.

Although never friends, we work together

like incompatible co-workers

forced to sit at adjacent desks.

 

My husband kills lawnmowers.

He doesn’t hate them,

but never met a small engine

he couldn’t destroy.

A matter of expectations, really.

Expects them to mow down

3-foot-tall prairie grass

in 100-degree weather,

while sucking in dust.

Theirs is an employer/employee relationship,

like Ebenezer Scrooge and Bob Cratchit.

Hour Five 2021

He soaked in a tub of hot water, 
lavender essence, ginger root shavings, 
and a few drops of rosemary oil. 

He closed his eyes listening 
to the soft music of Ravi Shankar—
sitar and a female voice, and some flute.

His mind wandered back to Thailand, and Vietnam. 
The monasteries, people, and street food. 
His heart broken, his savings spent, his soul replenished.

Buried Letters

Hidden in my uncle’s house

A time capsule of a hundred letters, cards, postcards.

I wrote them all to Grandma.

 

Each one began with an apology:

I’m sorry I haven’t written.

Regret–12pm

I can’t stay here
I want to-
I want to see where life
takes you
But I can’t

Sounds so final
but you’ve made up
your mind
I can’t change it
But you can
Please, there’s still time

It’s not my choice this time
There’s no other way
It’s a fact of life
I don’t get a vote

I GET A VOTE YOU KNOW!
And I vote you stay
I demand you stay
Please
You’re going to be ok

Save your breath
I’ll get you anything you need
Just be patient ok?

Hello?
I’m calling you
answer me,
you there?

I’m here
I was just resting
I’m pretty tired today
Where were we?

I was scared a bit
You didn’t answer me
That bothers me.

I know it does
I can’t help it
You’re strong
You’ll be ok,

No, I’m not
Don’t say that-
Anything else is ok

I’m dying
and you need
to understand
what that means

I know what it means!
I’m not dumb ya know.
PROVOLONE!

Eh, Mozzerella.

I don’t want you to go
I want you to stay here
Here, please stay

I’m sorry for snapping at you
I just hurt so much right
now

It’s ok-
I understand
you’re tired Why don’t I let
you rest.
Love you

How could it still hurt
almost 3 years later
this bad?
Guess I’m not as over it
as I thought

I told people that I didn’t
understand and honestly
I guess I just didn’t want
to accept it

#5- T (cr) ime Capsule

A new house,

A new beginning, I think.

New memories to make,

New stories to tell.

My toe hits an uprooted tile,

Bending down, I look to see what that is.

A little hiding place,

From when the house was someone else’s home.

A tin can,

My hand closes upon the lid,

The rust brushing onto my fingers,

As the tin sits opened again.

A little locket,

A little note,

A little knife,

A little vial.

My heart skips a beat,

As I take in what was someone else’s memories,

A smile stretching across my face,

I roll open the note.

“I did it”, it reads,

“I killed him.”, he confessed.

“My little secret”

Now not just yours I thought.

A little locket that was around someone’s neck,

A little knife that was around their neck,

A little vial filled with the blood from their neck,

I stand shook with the tin in my hand…

~thryaksha

It’s not like I Love to fall Sick,

But that’s what imperfection gives me.
And lately, the weather has been unfair to me
than the mosquitoes in my room.
Shocking, how my body rejects what it once accepted.
This I called a reminder that I am still here,
in the old world, that this poem is a paradise,
this paradise is an imagined world in my poem,
and I live here in, that this poem is a therapy.
A wall gecko climbed my father’s hut more than
the number of falls recorded.
The truth is: for as needful as prayer is to survival,
doggedness is another quality God searches for
in his creations. Did I tell you
that for as long as this poem continues,
I’ll continue to imagine. Imagine that I find a time capsule in the backyard of my new home, I’d remember that it was written
that no resident will confess of sickness.

Repressed Water Pipe

Burst water pipe,

I never liked water. 

Dig down 

Clink clink 

I stumble on a time capsule; its origins are unknown. 

There is a lone photo inside 

And a poem 

I read the poem first. 

“Dear…” 

The rest of the top line has been smudged. 

“I’m sorry. You were the light of my life, you gave me life as I gave you yours. I took it away. Maybe we’ll meet some other day, but not too soon.” 

I unravel the faded photo. 

There must have been a leak in the capsule. 

A mother sits with her young daughter on a swing, 

It seems familiar. 

I didn’t keep many photos following… It was too hard. 

They tell me it’s unhealthy to repress memories. 

The water was shallow; I turned for only a brief moment 

She was gone. 

The poem should have read “Dear Margaret, my loving daughter.” 

Time to fix the water pipe. 

I never liked water. 

HOUR 6 The Necrotizing Nocturne

The Necrotizing Nocturne

 

Within our inner subterranean sanctum our victim lies.

Without the comfort afforded a man of stature such as he.

My Valkyrie observes on in stoic regard of that which we created,

The protagonist of our undisclosed retribution rouses in suspicion.

Pulses of uncontrollable tremor wrack the would-be leaders bound limbs.

Beginnings of sublime blood emanate from the ocular orifice’.

 

Within our own devoid existences, we revel in the carnage commenced.

Without the pleasure of anesthesia, the subject of our dark desires descends.

My Valkyrie continues her silent rapture as the scene continues to unfold.

The protagonist continues his exsanguination and at our murderous intent.

Pulses of never escalating in crimson ascent of madness inducting agony.

Beginnings of the euphoric finality that lies in tortured death begin.

 

Within our twinned souls, our hands meet, the labors or our torment bearing fruit.

Without the unrewarding reprieve, our victim writhes in terror.

My Valkyrie trembles and the sight unfolding in a theatrical display of gore.

The protagonist increases his cries in escalating crescendo of pain.

Pulses behind his eyes giving way to the satisfactory detonation of ocular discharge.

Beginnings of the overture in suffering that rings delectable to our ears.

 

Suffering not yet peaked.

Satisfaction commencing.

Twin souls becoming one.

The Merging of bodily Mayhem.