The Poetry Marathon

#1 – Well Kept Secret

They gawk and gaze and fawn over her,

A famous face, never changing,

They click a million pictures, fly miles to see her,

And she just stares back, frozen in time.

 

She has stories and odes written to her,

There is no one who knows not her name,

She is in books, in songs, in our history,

Yet, she gives away nothing, making people wonder.

 

We speak her name,

Yet, her story remains elusive,

Was she royalty, a peasant,

Or a former lover?

 

She says nothing, sits demure in her frame,

Simple, innocent, a secret, an enigma,

The only clue –

a mysterious smile.

 

-Prachi S

 

Primate Behavior Class

my first time

          seeing

Jane Goodall

          a young thing

making contact

          struck dumb

by her courage

          by her brilliance

											

Prompt 1, influential woman: I had a fairy godmother

Once upon a time

 

I had a fairy godmother.

She rescued me, but I was never

a princess. From my anger she wove

resolve. Despair became strength.

 

Her wings were a jet plane’s:

She rode with me to loneliness

then sent me home to heal.

Once home, I waited for her return.

 

Round of visage, clear of gaze,

she forged for me a lens

through which unhappiness

became only a tree branch in the road.

 

Once upon a time I knew a fairy

who led me through the desert

home. Sometimes I remember

but memory is like fairies ~ ephemeral

 

And wings are only dreams like mist

that fade in morning light. But I am home

and the music of the north country

sometimes fills the air. Like fairy wings.

 

Hour 1 Prompt 1

Why do they fear the fire 
the flame that burns high, then higher 
breaking through the rubbish 
to clear a path for others 

Why do they fear this walk 
over broken glass 
when it was laid by strong hands 
to reflect healing past 

Why do they fear this woman 
head held high through burden 
She has created footsteps to follow 
despite hands grabbing and voice swallowed

Why do they fear what they could be 
as they hide in a place of misery 
timid to walk this path but not to sneer 
as she walks by head held high, without fear 

#1 Chloe

She is striped and small
like a child, a kitten,

a stranger and then
the lights go down. She dominates
stage and scene, her voice a warrior
in layers of fight

wants to be healed
as if I can pull her from
the ashes of centuries
past,
and lovers never
parted.

These are the days

she climbs the speaker, leaps
toward me. I might catch her
so she won’t need me
less.

Her purr an engine
rumbling smooth
under her tongue
over the smoky sway
of our collective
bodies swarming,
warming together like this.

I wonder if she sees me here
wonder if the cry
in her lyric sheds from a single dark wish
to be heard.
I’m at the bar,
shoe soles sticking to the floor
it’s cement, lava,
fire licking my inhibition

alive. If whiskey were goodbye
I’ll never see her again.

Strength Wrapped In A Smile

She’s everything I’ll never be
Strength wrapped in a smile
Every time life knocks her down
She gets up with a growl
“Gimme whatcha got!!!”
She screams at the sky
“You’ll never fucking break me!!!”
Wastes no time on “why”
She’s taught me survival
Unlike any other
Everything I am, today
I owe to my mother.
~Mandy Kocsis©2020~

#poetrymarathon #hour1prompt1

To Julia Cameron

She stalks my doubts

A post of encouragement

Random, simple

A nudge if you will

She knows my dreams

She tells me

I will make them come true

I must give my creative a chance

Smash my inner demons

She gives me hope

A small kick to push me onwards

A small whisper

A loud reverberation in my tired soul

She showed me my critic

She taught me to play

An “Artist’s Way”

To the “Vein of Gold”

Yes I have a “Right to Write”

My Companion for “Walking in This World”

 

Thank you for your honesty Julia

 

Thank you

For changing my life

You were there when I needed you most

You opened me up

Showed me the way

You chopped through my doubts

And revealed my path

You keep me steady

You keep me sane

Poem 1 | {Influence.her}

By Ajanta Judd All Rights Reserved – 11pm Australian EST

Prompt: Write a poem about a famous woman or an influential woman you know personally

 

{Influence.her}

Well I had something else in mind

but as soon as I saw the prompt I thought of you

so uplifting, real and courageous

so knowledgeable and intelligent

it was you that I wanted and no-one else would do

I could listen to you endlessly

your entertaining banter

your humour and quick wit

and all the while the trials you have overcome

where others have attempted to curtail you

but there would be no holding you down

you stand for women’s rights

you stand for everything that is right in this world

with such a prolific output, creative, talented and wise

a writer, comedian, broadcaster, actor, producer, political activist

a mother, a wife, a friend, a colleague

all contained in one neat inspirational package

you are a legend Sandi Toksvig!

Thank the stars above for people like you!

 

 

 

 

Hour 1: [dripping time] (Form: Haiku)

dripping time treasures
memories into future
reminisce the past

Emptiness

Can’t see a soul

My eyes still search

No one to talk, to tell

My lips moving, hearing them laugh

No one to hold,

Can’t hear everything’s right anymore

Thousands walk beside me

Still I walk alone

The emptiness inside, my only companion