The Poetry Marathon

“Whether Weather Report”

Hour Sixteen

They mentioned a tornado arriving home soon, and the (approximate) areas affected.

The tornado didn’t have a direct route, propelling so many establishments and families lives sacrificing and disrupted.

Rebuilding is a must.

So, when your grades arrived, like a sacrifice through a storm, naturally you’re not one, We have always spun around careful to cause you no harm, and although the winds have died down, the debris you will salvage alone, and work on campus from now on. DMW

16 Special

I was told chosen was special

No mention of given away

My younger sister also chosen

Opted out at thirty-one

Checked out without a word

Apparently not feeling special

 

New sibs appeared with DNA

To discover that my generous

Mother had kept her first

Sent me off to be chosen

And had another child to keep

I continue to look for special

 

As my youngest granddaughter

Announced to all that she

Was from another planet

I soon realized that this must

Be my true origin and reason

To finally believe I’m special

SNIFF SNIFF – #15

She stands beside me

I gather the daily news

Every single day

2023 Poem Two

CW: misgendering (mention); parental estrangement

Getting What You Want Isn’t Always Getting What You Want

It’s funny how putting 2,218 miles between

me and her and her words and

their ability to nag at at my will to exist

Doesn’t actually put space between

me and her words.

A new phone number doesn’t stop me from

wondering how she took it all.

Trying to squeeze out every last drop of will to

not unblock her on Facebook to see.

Only to fail and realize you can’t block the same person again for 48 hours.

 

It turns out 4 months is

the space I needed to miss her for once.

Actually, 4 months to have what I know is false hope that

she could be a better mother;

One who uses the right pronouns;

One who tries to work within my boundaries.

Funny how those months and those miles, somehow,

got her to listen and to fit into my boundaries.

how many hours left?

Today i started something

I’ve never done this before

i am determined to finish it

I can’t expect the quality to be there

But i know that the quantity will be there

sometimes the muse is there

sometimes they have left me behind

i feel like a sponge

extracted of all of its juice

left with nothing the last vestiges

of whatever was soaking in the sink

i am determined to finish

 

It’s All About Her (Poem 15)

 

 

 

How is it

That we walked down the same aisle

But I came alone

And no one batted an eyelid

But when she came

There was a procession,

Everyone’s breaths hitched

I felt a slight twitch of jealousy

At all the grandeur

It was my day too after all

And then…

I saw her

The radiant smile

The waving out to the guests

The little dance she because why not?

We wore the same colours

Yet she looked better

Better than I’d ever seen her before

More beautiful than I’d ever had time to notice

That’s when I realised

No, today isn’t about both of us

It’s all about her

And always will be

And I didn’t mind anymore

My envy was replaced by fulfillment

That I was the one making her feel and look this way

That I was the reason behind her radiance

And I swore there and then

To always be that source

To always keep that radiance intact

To always make her feel this important

 

 

 

 

In response to text prompt number 15

IRL (Poem 14)

 

Here

I can be better than IRL

 

Here

I can be someone I’m not in IRL

 

Here

People talk to me unlike IRL

 

Here

I’m not the loser people say I’m IRL

 

Here

Life is virtually better than IRL

 

Here

I’m happier than IRL

 

Here

I’m more real than I’m IRL

 

 

 

In response to image prompt number 14

Cookbook

Hour 4

Life would have been so much simple

If there was a cookbook for life

No mistakes will be committed

No blunders would be made

 

Exact how much time should be put on each relation

How much should your friendship simmer

How much efforts to be put on pleasing others

For how long the trust be marinated

 

How much heat should be put while raising children

How much spice added in your marital life

How much sweetness to be added for your in-laws

How salty should you be with your colleagues

 

A life with no mistakes is impossible

A life with no blunders unimaginable

You can’t please everybody

But I’m still waiting for that cookbook

 

Rashmi S Kurup

Flat Earth (2 nonets) – Hour 6, Prompt 6

Flat

peeked down

discovered

layers below

each one under, oh

Earth, here I peer in fear

flat discs of planets, far, near

colors, and fiery warmth now sears

closer planets, Venus and Mars, red

Jupiter, Neptune, blue instead

now, suddenly in my view

cylindrical portals

appear thus anew

happy, I slide

new worlds guide

me to

space.

 

– Sandra Johnson, 9-2-2023

 

 

 

 

 

Hour 16 – Advertisement

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Unless you got a better car you’d like to take in trade?