Lazy – Poem #3
Lazy
Tables to the left of me
Tables to the right
Sitting in my LazyBoy
Lazy day and night
Hour 2 — Recipe for a Lover
Beth A. Fleisher
Hour 2
Prompt: Create a Recipe not related to food on any topic. List 5 ingredients. One must be an emotion. The first item is the star attraction, mix it throughout. Add 2-4. Sparingly use 5. 10 minute timed write.
Recipe for a Lover
- Laughter
- Interruption
- Attitude
- Recovery
- Broken bed
A perfect lover, who can find?
Is he a figment of my mind?
I’ll make my own and you will see
this lover’s perfect, just for me.
First ingredient, Lots of Laughter,
that’s the heart song I am after.
No matter what the night may bring,
the laughing heart can always sing.
Interruptions, yes they come,
sometimes many, sometimes one,
reaction to them makes the mood,
so add in an accepting attitude.
When in the throes, the bed frame breaks,
how long does the recovery take?
A laughing heart is quick to smile,
and strongly goes the extra mile.
Property value
There’s a collective mind-shifting,
like my two feet impatiently
standing in line at the bank.
Now we take baby’s first steps
of thinking of ourselves
as a race, as something other than:
Unique,
Neutral,
America.
As children we played with blocks,
practiced building houses
and occupying them.
Now our defenses are knocked down,
but we gather the blocks back,
trying to return to the house
we were building
on the backs of people we won’t see.
Lifetime Itinerary
The Forbidden City,
Where an Empress
Laughed,loved and lost
The Summer Palace
Where a Jade ship stands
Strong, imposing and aloof
In Barcelona, a cobbled street,
Where a vendor has something
Just for you
In Rome, a street cafe,
Where we sip strong cappuccino
Resting well worn feet
The child of Prague,
Where we took a wrong turn
An unexpected find
Where you are by my side.
Smiles Behind a Mask
Tyra taught me Smize
now it’s the only way I show you
the smile
trapped
between fabric and face.
I smile behind my mask
I pray the energy reaches you.
I laugh and giggle inside my bubble of breath.
The Mona Lisa lives behind 5 inches of face covering.
Hour 3, Prompt 3
The Bop is one of my favorite poetry forms. It’s something I discovered last year during the poetry marathon, although I’m going to warn you, it’s on the longer side.
This is the only formal poetry prompt that is part of the Marathon. We always do one per year.
The Bop was developed by Afaa Michael Weaver at a Cave Canem summer retreat a number of years ago.
There are three stanzas. Each stanza is followed by a refrain (so the same statement is repeated three times).
The first stanza is 6 lines long and presents a problem. The second stanza is eight lines long, and can explore or expand the problem. The third stanza is 6 lines long, and can either present a solution or document a failed attempt to resolve the issue.
School Of Fish
Swimming is not my favorite thing.
Cold to get in, wet to get out.
Feet and legs do their job on land.
I am a human, not a trout.
The more you work at it, swimming,
The harder it gets to improve.
Body fat down, body sinks down.
It’s not a sustainable groove.
People feel like swimming to me:
The more I meet, the more I fear.
More people to fail and let down.
But I need some friends around here.
She swims with a green mermaid tail.
Quirky and difficult and cool.
Introverted like me, but she
navigates with ease at this school.
I see her at clubs, church and dance.
We go for a hike in the night.
My words are stunted, splashing feet,
But I think I’m swimming alright.
I’ve dipped my toes in the water.
No shark teeth have bitten me yet.
Maybe next year, I’ll take the dive
Make friends of the people I’ve met.
Prompt Two
Recipe for Mondays
1. Coffee
2. Denial
3. Silence
4. Luck
5. Friday Focus
Mix four parts coffee with three parts denial
and stir frequently. Often this recipe requires
an additional dose of the first ingredient to
ensure a sufficiently stable outcome. Item one
may be added liberally, as needed, due to the
overpowering redolence of denial.
A third of the third ingredient is the easiest one
to remember; but forget it and the whole recipe
turns sour. Without silence, there can be no Mondays.
Unless you add more coffee.
Luck is up to you. A pinch, is often all that is
required but if you are doing Mondays after
a holiday, a great event, or
Daylight Savings Time,
it will be a key ingredient
for the success of this dish –
any amount greater than coffee will do.
Friday Focus is hard to find when making Mondays
but if you don’t include it, the recipe is doomed.
Mix items well and let sit for an hour.
Even though you may only have minutes to spare,
Mondays must have time to properly cool
before being consumed. The longer they sit,
the easier they are to manage.
2) Having a Bath
Gonna pour me some lavender,
thick dried globs,
a little oil,
and try out that new bath tub.
Brass ceramic handles,
black etched cold and hot
watch the steam lift from
tub to handles
sniff the gentle air,
and I’ll be thinking of you
my dear
my darling husband
And remember how I took
every last bottle,
with dust and grime on neck and
bottle stem,
took those bottles and smashed
each, against the limestone,
tinkling glass, whack and thump
of thick glass
with the last dregs bleeding out from
every curvature of the bottles
Do you think you’ll miss the 80 Proof,
or 100, or even the poiteen?
instead I’ll be laying soaking up the bubbles,
my toes above the bubble line,
enjoying my herbal tea, my drink of choice.
Slainte
Holy, Holy, Holy
Holy, holy, holy.
Holy, holy, holy.
Set the table
visitors
over hills now show themselvess
the trees do not have leaves
so we see whoever comes.
Whoever comes
holy, holy, holy.
Whoever comes holy, holy, holy.
Unlock the door,
holy, holy, holy
Unlock the door
and seem busy
seem like fate sneaked up
fate
holy, holy, holy.