The Poetry Marathon

The Race – Hour #1

Anxious participants gather at the starting line.

The marathon begins with fervor.

Fingers posed, minds a flutter,

ideas spinning, twisting, swirling,

words clashing and smashing and coalescing,

mental muscles flexing, stretching,

drawing on every ounce of creative energy.

 

The minutes tick by

60, 59, 58, 57 . . .

Thoughts begin to take shape

then dissipate into the ether

30, 29, 28 , 27 . . .

Hour one drawing closer to an end

with only a disjointed collection of letters on a page.

 

15, 14, 13, 12  . . .

But there are yet 11 hours to go!

Can I entice a Muse to visit and inspire?

Who will join me in this chase to the finish line?

Calliope?

Erato?

Polyhymnia?

 

4, 3, 2, 1 . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Empowering Woman: Michelle Murray

Michelle Murray’s very full heart
fights for a better world
cleaner, wiser, kinder, Earth-mates.

Speaking to a church basement crowd
describing the Cosmos glory
explaining interdependence.

Challenges us to learn and share
and most of all care
dare to protect; dare to join her fight.

Michelle reminds us, every one of us
to see our connection, our duty,
change the Sisyphean effort
to the realm united for all.

 

by Nancy Ann Smith, Amherst, Ohio

June 27, 2020

#1

Today,
As I wade through
the boxes packed with memories,
I watch as my life gets packed
into a 26 foot truck—-

I wonder where the other memories will go
that I didn’t carefully wrap to take.

Will they also make their way with me
even if I left them behind
Intentionally.

prompt # 1

Women

in History

So many that gave themselves to change, to freedom in careers

to fly

to care for other humans

to amplify mother nature.

Shine the light

Spotlight

on lady liberty.

a gift from France

a symbol even now

we can idolize.

a woman representing liberation of slavery

abolish slavery.

2020 the world is together

in this fight against disease

in this century old power

we call racism.

as emma lazarus words resonate toward immigrants

Lady Liberty was brought to the NY Harbor

before Ellis island opened.

Lady Liberty

holds the shackles of slavery

originally she was bound with chains

Her history is lost among other immigrants to the new America.

Another important title for a woman:

First Lady

One first lady to hold it

Eleanor Roosevelt

First lady of the world

for her establishment in the value of human rights

civil rights.

“A woman is like a tea bag,

you can’t tell how strong she is,

until you put her in hot water.”

Takes a lot for a woman to break down.

Biologically

Historically

suffer more than

their patriarchal counterparts.

Will Lady Liberty allow

in 2020

to “enlightening the world”?

The flame she lights

to see

to witness

to throw.

to pass on

generation to generation

century to century.

 

 

 

 

 

Hour 1: Maya Angelou: Inspiration in Dark Times

Maya Angelou: Inspiration in Dark Times

 

Her words spoke inclusivity, rebuked racism 

amidst savage intolerance 

a black woman in a white man’s world 

 knew why the “caged bird sings”

stood with confidence, challenged authority

inspired protest against injustice

the color of her skin would not hold her back

she called for change, “On the Pulse of morning”

standing beside a President as equal

freedom, evolution, hope

embodied in her words

Skay Hour 1

Hour 1

 

“Don’t run around the around while 

I’m oiling your straggly hair!”

“Which of these goodies do you want to eat?”

“Which story would you like to hear today?”

 

Time drew deep lines into her face and life

And her wrinkles grew deeper

And she grew more beautiful

As I watched year after year

 

Time smoothed out razor sharp memories

And she slipped slowly by

Into a cloud of happy oblivion

As I watched year after year

She said

 She said, stick to your voice

Don’t let anyone tell you neither

They will come as they go

As life as always let me behind

 

She said, fear the friends

Of the ostrich and the vultures

They have wings

And they will fly

And their legs will leave you behind

 

She said, walk by the path

For the sun is yet to go down

When it does the lamp comes on

So that old age won’t be a waste

 

She said,  run now that you can

Your muscled feet will puff

And scram the forest

For there, the meat lies

So that you won’t grow up hungry

 

She said, be selfish once to thyself

But give to others, learn to give

Giving is seed

The flower is the blessing

So that your hands  won’t be folded

 

She said, lead the way

Because no one will want to

But they will follow you

When you are not static

 

She said, don’t be afraid

Fear is just a friend

So that when death comes kicking

You won’t be caught unaware.

 

My Momma said.

Hour 1: The Music is Enough

Hour 1: The Music is Enough

 

Riding the Coltrane highway through an almost midnight snow,

driving with you

into an inked-out sky laced

with snow, its blanketing white beauty

potentially fatal

when the head is turned.

 

The dim dashboard lights barely skim

your face in my peripheral vision.

Open closed, your eyes see

 

other times

other places

their faces

 

pounding the blacks and blues

out of their souls.

A sigh.

A low hum of appreciation punctuates the night

rhythmic interruptions of my struggle

to translate an aural narrative

played in a language I don’t speak.

 

Framed by silence between us,

the music is enough.

Poem 1 Influential Women

Personally, I know of no one personally. Still uncovering my own self. Still poking around corners, searching for the parts of me that went into hiding. Parts lingering in secret passageways, looking through windows at herself. The lost parts, that were spooked out of myself. The parts I am praying to return with each painful breath.

I imagine its hard to know of anyone personally. In a world where people lose parts of themselves. In a world where encounters with other humans leave you dismembered and discarded. When your own brain starts to rot, from all the toxins of life. You start learning the wrong stories. You start poisoning your own self. You begin detaching from the pain in your body. You do this, not recognizing all you truly know in life, is that you don’t know. All you truly have in life is yourself.

People only show you what they want you to know about them. All of us are just here, living around other infected people, being influenced by other lifers in this dimension, searching for lost soul parts until we die.

Life is full of influential women, but you are the most important one. You are the only one you have and the only person given to you to learn personally.

Bonsai

Bonsai

 

Old friends met.

An outing.

Lunch and bonsai.

 

Prepared azaleas for

a new way of life.

Scissors slashed,

raked off soil,

exposed roots

to fit new, smaller pots.

Need to get rooted

in new soil.

Trimmed back

leaves, branches

to the shape, scale of

full-sized bushes.

Need to adapt to

smaller surroundings.

 

We ate and talked,

more awkward now

in company of others.

Took our newly planted bonsai.

Returned home to

adapt to our new,

smaller lives.