The Poetry Marathon

Same Same but Different

Prompt 18 (Half Marathon 2 Hour 6)

Eighteen months later, I was back
I walked through the deceptively thick forest
A smile on my face for what was to come
As we emerged onto the stunning blue coast
I turned to him
And his face mimicked what I had first felt
Eighteen months ago

Eighteen months ago, I came on my own
Not alone, but on my own
Now, I tug at his sleeve to go faster
As I try to catch up with my memories
Everything is the same
The sky. The sea. The trees. The cliffs.
The horizontal branch extending into the sky that I had posed on
Eighteen months ago

Eighteen months later, we reach the coastal rocks
A pair of seals frolicking in the distance
Not unlike their human counterparts
As we dip our feet in the lagoon
I realize we have reached the end of the trail
I had ended eighteen months ago
Little did I know I would be back
I look up at the coast, and then, down, at our hands, intertwined
Same same but different

20~12

My skin

Your skin

Where do you start

Where do I begin

 

My lips

Your lips

Hunger

Near and Far

 

Your skin

Under my fingers

Flickers by candlelight

Like the fire in your eyes

 

Your skin

Against mine

ffeeeeelllsss

So right

 

I

Always

Want

More

Of

You

Loss

Hour 19 : Poem on Loss

 

These lies we tell

about who we are

dilute our reality

make our living subpar

 

lesser versions of who

we are meant to be

neither caged

nor are we free

 

No accomplishments can fill

the spaces on the shelf

left vacant by this loss

this loss of our self

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black Lives Always Matter (hour 19, prompt 19)

We’re far too many to be silenced
Though we only need one voice
We’re going to make a difference
We’re not giving them a choice
Black lives always matter
Each and every one
And we’ll never stop our movement
Until real change is being done.
~Mandy Kocsis©2020~

What If Alice…?

Always paid attention to her studies?
Never had time for white rabbits carrying pocket-watches and white kid gloves?
Never knew that Dinah was more than just a cat?

What if Alice never wondered what might be down rabbit-holes or beyond mirrors?
Would the Kings and Queens be any happier?
Would the Mad Hatter and March Hare have lost their hallowed heads?

I wonder if she would have wound up marrying a troll
And, if she married one, would not-curious Alice even know?

I can’t help but wonder if she might have wound up like I:
Curious still, but curiously-held by absolutely-nothing in our minds

Hour 19, Perchance to Dream

My husband and I first met in high school,
two gawky teens that wordlessly yearned
for each other, until graduation and youthful
dreams placed our feet on parallel
but separate paths.

Dreams became nightmares as divorces
came about for us both.
By chance, we connected online one day,
thousands of miles and an ocean apart.

For two years before marriage, we wooed
one another online, long, deep conversations
becoming shared movies, gaming, and finally
sleeping, connected round the clock.

His snores were a strange lullaby, until
I noticed the stops.
Sleep was trying to kill my love.
I would wake him through his headphones
and he’d roll over and breathe once again.

We finally united once more, youthful
dreams coming to fruition.
We lay side by side,
my now masked bear and I,
and sleep without fear or separation.

A Burden too Heavy for a Human is Grief

A Burden too Heavy for a Human is Grief

The only way to nail your demon to Golgotha
without resurrecting is to have a friend close,
to bear your burden with you. No complaints.
No fears. I felt grief is too heavy for you alone.
And I sacrificed my body for you; whichever way,
I’m with you because what we fight is no human.
No bodies. No spirit. Just a haunting look
in the dark. This way, I understand what it means
to be a fragment of something bigger than the world.
Do not say I’m too young to be here in spirit.
There’s a way spirits hold themselves together.
Hold hands with me. Close your eyes and hum a song.
Or Rest on me. Listen to what the angels are singing,
a song which you’ve never heard before.
‘Don’t you know how precious you are to us?
Stay alive with us. There are so many years unfought. ‘

20~11

I’ve never been

To the land down under

Where the grey bears slept in trees

Before the bunnies burned.

 

I’ve never been

To the land where I hear

They carve up kitty mothers

Counting babies by the arrow.

 

I’ve never been

To the land where such blue water

Teems with sharks with bitey teeth

And the coral might be dying.

 

I’ve never been

Where the gunshots

Have been stifled

Because the people gave up their guns.

Link

Ancestor continuity soften fluctuating wisp shaping smoke,
curling curating and carting itself back home,
replicated genome building medieval lived material,
consumption becoming believing in what went before.

Side step translucent symbolic branches,
sweeping out to sea rescue my individual,
treating as outer markings link me,
freer than most and yet still contained.

Joining limbs bigger Hobbsian state
brutish inflicted alone in hospital rooms,
lapsed fantasy immortality in imaginary games,
throwing lots in distraction alleviation.

Festering process unknown to its parts,
woeful inauthentic alienation abounds,
worthiness hobby involvement bourgeois,
chain stand, lemming last-link, choice?

Holiday Trip

Holiday Trip

An idea to take a holiday trip
Sprouted in the mind…
Soon things got rolling
Co-travellers check, packing check, tickets check, hotels check
Check, check, check
Last minute items too
Everything is in jeopardy it seemed
The next thing
We know in Rajasthan we are
Absorbed the hospitality, local cuisines, exotic places
A vortex of sight-seeing lapped up our bodies and minds
Local markets ever lively, and gifts are for all
City hopping from Pink City Jaipur, to Ajmer, to Blue City Jodhpur
From Lake City Udaipur to deep deserts of Jaisalmer
The gods of Rajasthan, a lifetime isn’t enough to see
To fill you up whole is the secret promise of the land
The sands of time acted very fast to end our fantasy

Hour 18

@varenyas