The Poetry Marathon

Vikings Fly (15th hour 2020) prompt

When surpassing security and embarking the plane

I tend to ruminate a scene in my head.

I have packed my carry-on with all the essentials for my anxieties

and downloaded songs like “Thunderstruck” and “Immigrant Song” to inspire bravery.

I instill courage to my heart as I locate my seat.

And hope to whichever God is listening, to grant me serenity and safety.

The plane takes off and leaves the runway

I chew minty gum so the pressure won’t disturb me.

Smooth sailing but not for long

as turbulence hits, making cowards of us all.

I could have done without this form of travel

But at this point, in the air, it’s victory or Valhalla.

Hour 18 – Our World Tonight

Our World Tonight

It’s our world
It’s our world
It’s our world tonight!

These streets are ours!
The trees are ours!
The fences, porches, and yards are ours!
It’s our world tonight!

These masks are ours!
The disguises, ours!
The shrieks and howls and growls are ours!
It’s our world tonight!

All pumpkins – ours!
All skeletons – ours!
All bats and cats and rats are ours!
It’s our world tonight!

These sacks are ours!
Those treats are ours!
All the candy in the world is ours!
It’s our world tonight!

The bright moon is ours!
The black night is ours!
All spooky things of fright are ours!
It’s our world tonight!

It’s our world
It’s our world
It’s our world tonight!

Prompt 11 Onward Bound

Sometimes life shifts
and regardless we float forward
either holding on or letting go
but still time moves
with or without us

I drift to places with beautiful views I would rather be in pictures with
Gearing up to drink water from mountain tops
turning a lens on life
having a crucial conversation with nature

Oh, how I want to be in that place
of beauty rather than struggle
a place of one of a kind delights
feeling the warmth of adventures
shine over amethyst colored volcanic stones

Breathing in the thin air
as I mail myself away in postcards
to loved ones
who were too afraid
feeling there are no sweet spots to life

I would escape fast, leaving my past behind me
and walk forward down roads covered in tropical flowers
while I taste the clouds

I need to go away
cause the sun feels good there

Sister-Hour 18

She came in

All eyes on her

I cringed

The conversation stopped

She had to be center

Every Christmas

Every Thanksgiving

It was always the same

I watched them

They all laughed at her jokes

Someone took her coat

They loved her laugh

I hated it

Too loud, too fake

She was the fun one

I was the serious one

I could not get a word in edgewise,

sideways or upside down.

Her stories had all been told before

Spoken with a loud laugh

Embellished way past the actual facts.

She didn’t tell lies exactly

The truth just evaded her

Like I did.

Her children cringed too

Her oldest disappeared

Her youngest tried to be like her

I went outside where it was quiet

I watched the smaller kids dodge and duck

Here was real laughter

I took some pictures

I zoomed in on faces

I wasn’t the only one

Lost in a crowd

Overshadowed by shadows.

She was always the sunshine

I was always the shadow

Later she left

The room sighed in relief

The conversations resumed

The room more quiet

More subdued

More relaxed

She was hard to keep up with

I never understood why they tried

Fire Feet, Floating Soul

Dance

Dance

Dance

Gasp

Five, six, seven, eight,

Mirror, mirror on the wall,

From the tippy top – do it all,

Turn

Twist

Heads

Flick

Boom-boom-cha

Take a water break

Let’s recap

Has everyone got that?

Two groups

We’re filming for the video

200% this time

Take it home

Make it your own

Practice

Practice

Practice

Walk to work with a jerky gait

Along the corridor in four counts of eight

Home again – that count was late

Sweat

Tears

Fire

Soul

Dance

Dance

Dance

Passion

Goal

Dance

Dance

Dance

Gasp

 

 

Whose Place is it Anyways?

Whose Place is it Anyways?

A wren wakes me up at five with her strident call

I see she has made a messy nest in my shed

and she is feeding nestlings in my market basket

I guess I could use a bag instead-

Whose place is it anyways? 

 

The monarchs have found the milkweed on the edge of the drive

I need to mow along there but

I see her perfect jewel box eggs on the leaves

I love to see butterflies dancing over the field

I guess I won’t mow there this summer

Whose place is it anyways?

 

I pull back the tarp to add to the winter’s woodpile

And find the chipmunks’ careful hoard

Imagine the labor of finding all these acorns?

I guess I can start a new woodpile nearby

Whose place is it anyways?

 

The ground hog has made a hole under the garden fence

She eats all the green beans, kale and brocholi in one night

I block up the hole and follow her trail to the burrow

I see her young creep out to eat clover

I guess they can keep the clover patch

Whose place is it anyways?

 

A deer has left her spotty fawn under my elderberry bush

I need to fix the hole in the fence there but

I am not sure how they both got in

The foal looks at me with huge watchful eyes

I guess I can put off the fencing for a while

Whose place is this anyways?

 

I am walking the dog down our woods road

She finds a pile of coyote poop 

I know my neighbors would be out here with a shotgun but

We walk here by day but leave it to them at night 

Whose place is it anyways?

 

The registry at the courthouse 

has a walls full of files of deeds

One names our farm and my name is listed there but

Whose place is it anyways?

 

Bette Low 2020

(Hour 17) 14.30pm-15.30pm. PROMPT: obsolete technology

losing our licenses

after watching the AI pod
efficiently blast the 4WDs
into every one of their
respective particles
& constituent molecules
i realised our ute
was obsolete;

petroleum-based technology
had been redinosaured
(& yes i know the bulk
of petrochemicals come
from plant matter not dead
angry pre-birds, but a little
poetic license please)

Stella sounded as low as she’s been
so what are we going to do?
easy, i replied smiling
go old school. pedal power.
what about the little ones?
don’t worry, my plan
is both cunning & stunning.

i drew her a quick sketch
for the first time i feel
i’m seeing Stella really smile

20~4

Affairs of the Heart

Rarely end in much good.

Foolish to think

Somehow that ours would.

Point of Order

lineage of heritage

finding the roots

illusive spirit for new path

much rooted in the ways of life

 

pointing the life challenging times

coining the right of new norm

coining the times within

restoring the riptide of new culture

 

restoring into the point of order

still much given still much to do

featuring the life corners

desires of human spirit enriching anew

 

Poem #16

 

Hellish Beauty

I wish I were pretty

With long eyelashes

Dark as a hellhound’s eye

Long as Hell’s longest tunnel

And red ruby lips

Flaming like hellfire.

If only my eyes glimmered

Like a sinner’s while sinning

And my skin glowed

Like the riches of the dead-

Forbidden to men

Cursed with woes.