The Poetry Marathon

Dreams, sleep and adulting

My joy in this brilliant morning
Is tempered by many things
The earliness of my waking
My eyes folding shut
Even while my fingers
Find
Each
Key…stroke
The heat of a summer
Come on too early
Burnt leaves on a plum tree
(how can that be?)
An idea of the light
Sparkling off the lake
Licking ice cream
Tempered by more adult responsibilities
A promise to do this
Go here
Do that
Most of all
Stifled
By the threat of toxic heat

So
Instead, I lay down my head
Go back to bed
And dream of the clean blue lake
That really exists only now in my dreams
The truth a sadly diminished comparison
To the one of my memory
And get a few more hours sleep

The Dog – Hour 2

He showed up one morning in my front yard.

You could tell from his looks life had been hard.

He was a hairless pup that was naked and afraid.

His skin was weathered, no attention was paid.

A sweater I took from my own dog’s collection.

He looked up at me with canine affection.

After food and water his tail did start.

Wagging away and stealing my heart.

He licked my hand and curled up at my feet.

It was time for him to lay there and sleep.

He slept on the porch in the rays of the sun.

I went inside to get some work done.

I checked on him throughout the day.

Curled up in his sweater he did stay.

I decided to place a notice on Facebook.

Just in case his owner would look.

A picture was needed so I got my phone.

I went to the porch, but I was alone!

Off he had gone; he was on his way.

I truly thought he was here to stay.

I hope he enjoyed our time together.

I’m sure he looked cute in his new sweater!

Island

Island

 

I think I never saw anything else, I mean,

I only saw islands,

 

Until I saw the sea.

 

(The dividing-definer of islands;

Does an island exist w/o its definition?

Does a sound exist if no one hears a tree fall in the forest?)

 

a 360-degree aquatic surround

and a certain geological dimension.

 

(Curtail the efforts to undo the importance of islands,

As in,

No man is an island, and so on…)

Islands are important.

 

Islands require hard work to understand, I think,

(there’s the hurdle of the first person plural)

since

We are,

were,

always separate,

With a surround defining us,

Us needing it to be otherwise, while its not,

for this: The bell tolls for thee and so on….

And other reasons.

 

For example, without Islands, what use Love?

No. 6

zephyr
turns leaves
to face heavenward

supplicating
the god
to be gentle

Prompts Hour Three

Text Prompt

Write a poem that repeats the same line three times, and then end on a variation of the repeated line. It could be a little different, or vary different, depending on what serves the poem best.

Image Prompt

Prompt Two (Love how this prompt flowed from my first poem)

The Joy of Unseen Things

Scouring the Northern Lights for a sleigh full of toys
and sleeping with assurances of things to come even
though no reindeer were spotted

Upturning stones to glean their treasures:
Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Orthoptera and rolly-pollies;
the ground, full cities; insect-dotted

Being the kite – dragon-wings unfurled,
knowing the full
lay of the land

Star-riders, hopping between planets –
three-quarter time of the stellar dancer
taking your hand

Aurora-borealis, the night-painter, unseen;
like the artist of Morpho-Menelaus – patterns
etched onto Nature’s palate, exquistely drawn

The lightness of hope – stead-fast, stalwart
and always at your side,
carrying you to each new dawn

Sunday Fefe

The communion starts soon

Sunday fefe long- lasting hours

The sunlight at eve still we rise again

A praise shouting evening on this night grace Dawn’s

Blueberries muffins

Glazes on the table tops

Soft whispering into her ear like soft cotton candy

Angel speaks

In tongue hallelujah

Supper faithfulness

Here’s your wine

Morning stars

Brings love and happiness

Engagements and dancing to celebrate his wedding day

Bread breaking they serve well done

 

My Eyes Play Trick

Something moves just outside my field of vision,
and the ghost of a shadow flits by me.
I don’t even believe in ghosts.

There’s that stump on our dirt road.
Every time I approach the hill,
I have to remind myself
it isn’t an animal perched there,
ready to run in front of me.

Clouds come alive. Dragons,
pale ocean liners,
the faces of ancient gods.

In the fan of leaves
I see a bird,
in the rustle of grass
a rabbit.

I can’t blame poor eyesight,
but my imagination
that a flitter, a flutter,
a limb, a leaf,
a cloud shadow,
almost anything at all
can set in motion.

2.

“mens sana in corpore sano”

Coffee comfort upper
Register my complaints
In the downstairs office
no light switch on walls of black paint
You have to feel your way

“Could you become your own comfort?”
she asks, I lean
legs crossed on the black couch
covered with a white bottom sheet
the appearance of COVID safety

It may not do anything
But it makes us feel better
I feel along the walls and floors
For the hidden scarlet letter
force stillness on the go getter

2 SIBLINGS AND COUSINS

An eternal friendship,

chosen for you, not by you!

Siblings and cousins,

in your life to add a colorful hue.

 

Immature n irrelevant fights in childhood,

developing in adulthood into strong loyal bond,

bound by blood and sealed with love,

in troubled times, they will always respond.

 

Even though separated by roads rivers n seas,

we are still able to constantly keep in contact, via social media chats and videos

So that our family love will not divide or subtract.

 

My sibling n all my cousins are great, in deed,

a thumbs up for proposing this topic, Cousin Fareed!!!