skimming the surface

I.
Bronx baby
switched at birth
not really but so it seemed
and so she wished
as father said she’d never been happy from the day I was born

II.
Long braids
and onion rye
and the teacher who never
should have been leaning against the
gym wall.
I wasn’t aiming for her head.
No…really.
I wasn’t!

III
I made four
which dropped to three
then back to four…
then back to three.
Forever after, I’d say.
But she might tell another story

hollow doors really are hollow
and objects in motion
tend to stay in motion
and when it doubt, keep your head
down, pillow up, shutters ready,
and wait for the light of day.

IV
Ma nom est MADAME GERRRRRRR Ton
the voice said it, but the bulging red veins
served as punctuation.
So I skipped along…
and French and gym and science and all things that weren’t taught
by the teacher who thought i wasn’t good enough for her son.
I showed her.
Balance has never been my strong suit.
1980 may have provided the best early clues

V
we moved to Mars, perhaps in the nick of time
but the travel has hard on 16 year old who just couldn’t
understand why half needed to carry their saucers in their
back pockets and spit in a bucket they were allowed to keep under their desks,
while the other half wore little skirts and love standing on the sidelines.
Mysterious place. Though my 16 year old self would probably use a different adjective.

Now what is it you know about me, really, that you didn’t know before –
before you had 5 stanzas about my childhood. What is it you think you know or thought you’d know if you asked me the question and obliged with a response? or was this really a gift for me?

I Think We’re Alone Now

Didn’t you hear?
The world is ending.
Humans lost the race
against the Gods, again.
They’re the hare
with the exception
of us two tortoises.
As the inferno consumes
the rest of them
let’s lie on the grass
gaze upon the burning sky
and look for shapes in the clouds of fire.
Relinquish our ties
their destruction is our creation.

We’re Adam and Eve
with no drawback to temptation.
Roam the continents
and claim them as ours
there’s no one to dispute.
I’ll rename the lands old bands
Greenland is Greenday
Though, America and Asia can stay.
You can renovate the landmarks
carve our faces onto Rushmore
straighten the Leaning Tower.
We don’t need to give in
to Ozymandian sentiments.
The war did that already.

Look on our Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing can touch us here.

The Bottom Line (A Non-Traditional Minute Poem, Hour Twenty-Four)

The Bottom Line

 

Twenty-four hours have come to pass

I sit and stare

Through bloodshot eyes

Put pen to page

 

This adventure in expression

Has shown me much

About myself

And how I think

 

Losing sleep, forced isolation

In conclusion,

Was it worth it?

Bottom line, YEP.

 

(How appropriate to wind down a timed challenge with a minute poem! Minute poems feature exactly sixty syllables split among three stanzas. Each stanza follows a syllabic count of 8/4/4/4. A traditional minute poem has a specific rhyme scheme of aabb, ccdd, eeff and must be written in strict iambic pentameter. I chose the tired person’s non-traditional version, which releases me from those requirements.)

22. Sorrow

Sorrow takes us by surprise.

We are not ever prepared of how it can take our breath away.

It hurts to hear a mother cry or a brother at a loss.

We fly from miles away to bring solace to those who we love the most.

My heart can not feel the depth of the pain you feel today.

Please take care as you rest tonight.

I know daylight will come soon.

Just as the sun will eclipse the moon.

Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring

Will remind you of all the beautiful moments

You may think you have lost.

Unveil each memory with a gentle hand and tender heart.

Love lost will be renewed.

 

All rights reserved copyright (c) 2019 Natasha Vanover

(Hour 24) 21.30pm-22.30pm. PROMPT, 70s or 80s pop song 

all night long (all night)

Well, my friends, the time has come
Lower the roof and no more fun
Throw away all the words to be wrung
Let the music be turned low
Everybody rest, everybody entrance
Lose yourself in bed romance, we going to
Depart-y, varooma, siesta, forever
Come on and snore along
We’re going to depart-y, varooma, siesta, forever
Come on and snore along

All night long (all night), all night (all night)
All night long (all night), all night (all night)
All night long (all night), all night (all night)
All night long (all night), ooh yeah (all night)

People sleepwalking in the street
See the shuffling in their feet
Life is calm, mild and discrete
Let the lullaby play on
Feel it in your eyelids and in your bedroll
Let the lullaby take control, we going to
Depart-y, varooma, fiesta, forever
Come on and snore my song

All night long (all night) oh (all night)
All night long (all night) yeah (all night)
All night long (all night) yeah (all night)
All night long (all night) (all night)

Yeah, once you get destarted you stay downed
Come join the fun, it’s a merry-no-round
Everyone’s snoozing their troubles away
Come join our slumberparty, see how we lay
Tom bo li de say de moi ya, yeah, jambo jumbo
Way to depart-y o we goin’ oh, jambali
Tom bo li de say de moi ya, yeah, jumbo jumbo

Oh, oh, oh, oh, yes
We’re gonna have a slumberparty, yeah, ugh
All night long (all night), all night (all night)
All night long (all night), yeah (all night)
All night long (all night), all night (all night)
All night long (all night)

Everyone you meet, they’re pj-amming under the sheets, all night long (all night)
Yeah, I said, everyone you meet, they’re pj-amming under the sheets (all night)
All night long (all night)
Feel good, feel good (all night)

I DID IT!

I did it

I knew that I could

There was no doubt in me

When I decided this is the path for me

The way I wanted to take

A part of my Life’s Mission

As I Am walking and living in

My Soul’s Purpose

I did it

Completed and done

I have won

Time to celebrate

Put on some Raja Kumari

https://youtu.be/8hExJgYB_pY

And do or have a dance break

So grateful to have been able to partake

And rekindle this flame that Poetry and I have made

BOO-YA!!!

And damn I am good

This reminder that I needed

And if I should ever forget

Or doubt myself again

I can add to my list of Remembrance

This 2019 Poetry Marathon

As a 24 Hour Participant

No longer do I need to be hesitant

About BEing Who I Am

And walking in MY SOUL’S PURPOSE

Because MY LIFE is MY MISSION

I DID IT!!!!

Peace In My Blood

Fo Sho!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2019 by Angelica Stevenson

All Rights Reserved

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waiting for love

True love avoided me until now,

I hope this won’t happen in the future.

Shared love is a welcome guest in my house,

I only hope that this guest is punctual!

25. Gemini : I and Me (Bonus 1) Diamante

 

I

Confident, Hopeful

Caring, Working, Trying

I, Strong…Me, Transmuted

Crying, Fading, Breaking

Mercurial, Curious

Me

 

All rights reserved copyright (c) 2019 Natasha Vanover

Dirt

Fragile pill-bug,
rolly poly round.
Loosened carapace
crumbling under
rotting log. Black
soil vibrates with
grubs. Settlers in
a settled plot.
Hungry chomps,
gushy squirms,
chitinous chitinous
chitinous. Pill-bug.
Rolly poly friend.

24

There’s a lady whose time

Marks in rhythm and rhyme,

And she’s writing a stairway to heaven.

 

When she gets there, she knows,

If the bookstores are closed,

With the right word, she can get what she came for.

 

But today’s not that day.

All the words are put away.

And the staircase is littered with poets.

 

All in slumber and sleep,

Their quills gathered in heaps

And their parchment strewn to the heavens.

 

Oh, oh,oh, oh, and she’s writing a stairway to heaven.

 

 

 

Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin, 1971