The Poetry Marathon

Cancer

cancer is everywhere you can’t help but find
seems unavoidable at least to me
every week more friends succumb to the spree

others i know are not so blind
symptoms are there in those they see
cancer is everywhere you can’t help but find
every week more friends succumb to the spree

views of the sick are much maligned
the sick and their friends feel crappy
and seek for way to set spirit free
cancer is everywhere you can’t help but find
seems unavoidable at least to me
every week more friends succumb to the spree

Prompt 17: The Land Knows You: An Adaptation to 1 Corinthians 13

“The land knows you, even when you are lost.”

Even if you speak with many learned words,

but know not the land.   

You are just a homeless noise maker.

 

Perhaps you know the secrets of the future,

Or understand the mysteries of science.

You may know the hymns of man’s religions;

but if you know not the land;

you are short of knowing anything. 

 

You may give all that you have,

but if you give for your own self

and you know not to give to the land.

You give for nothing. 

 

The land is a patient place,

The land is a kind retreat.

It does not envy anything,

it does not boast of itself,

it is not proud.  

 

It does not dishonor others,

is not self-seeking, 

is not even angered,

it keeps no record of wrongs.

 

The Land does not know there are evils.

But it knows you.   

 

It always protects,

always inspires trust,

always instills hope,

always perseveres for its own.

 

The land never fails.

But where there are people,

They will fail.

Where there is human pride,

there will be a return to earth learned humility.

 

We only know in part—

but the land knows us in full.

There are these— three:

the sea, the sky, and the land,

but the most giving of these is the land.

 

 

Hour 15 GREAT GRANDMOTHER

Tell me the story of Great Grandmother.

Again? I think you only like the farting part.

It’s funny. Pleeeese. Tell me.

OK. Great Grandmother is very beautiful.
She is not young or old. She is not big or small.
Her clothing is completely made of numbers
and it is see-through.
And even Great Grandmother is see-through.
One day…
One day…

Yes…?

She didn’t do it on purpose.
It just happened.
One day she…

She farted!
Was it loud?

Probably.
You’d have to ask the gods.
They were the only ones around to hear it
because they were in the fart.
And so were all the tiny grains of everything.
The gods started putting all those grains together,
playing with them the way you play with sand and mud.
And they made the stars and planets and Earth and sun,
everything, even the animals.

Even me.

Even you.

Tell it again!

FIFTEEN (3 stanzas of quatrains)

A learner’s license is the goal

Of any typical fifteen year-old.

Though I had a car the year before,

I could only drive to the corner store.

 

Thank heavens for a small rural town

Where the price of a misdemeanor was just a frown.

Everyone knows who you are

And whether or not you can drive that car.

 

Sadly, I miss that kind of life

Where mere existence was not filled with strife.

I’d turn the clock back if I could

To show my daughter when the world was good.

Life in a hot air balloon

What does it take to hold
hot air, to carry the weight
of people and perhaps one dog?
Could I stitch together
silken scarves (hundreds!) by hand
and still float away like
dandelion seed, round and
pregnant question?
There is a shortage of helium,
you see, and these things must
be learned. Would dental floss
be a stronger thread; it’s strong
enough for teeth if pulled
correctly. I would pull it
correctly. I would try.
I would fill bags with sand
to weight, heavy as nursing breasts,
cold as the bottle of Sprite
that burst in the freezer forgotten.
Make of it what you will— there is
work to be done.

Dismembered (H14)

“The land knows you, even when you are lost.”

Lost in my tracks
I track back to where
I last remember
Being from where
I started thinking
Down this road
ahead of my feet
leaving my feet behind
unawares

The earth called up to
my mind, whispered
‘wait up’ and I thought it said
“wake up” and so i did
stop in my tracks and after
my feet reached mind
or perhaps my mind reached back
to my feet
and once again we stood together
on the spot of land that knows
where i am
and who i am
and where i’m headed

Before

We call this meeting to order, the council of the stars.

Leave your galaxies behind, we have a serious matter to discuss.

A proposal, a new planet, Earth. 

“What will they give us, what’ll be its purpose?”

A warning. 

There will be war, famine, global warming.

Smaller injustices, rape, pillaging, genocide, murder, robbery.

They will be our test.

“A test for what?”

To see how long they last before they eventually become their own undoing.

“But sir, isn’t that cruel? What did they do to us?”

They’ve done nothing, they’re not real. I want to send a message for the rest of the universe, that in order to survive, one must not be like them.

“I see.”

“How long will this test run?”

7.79 billion years, unless they prove me wrong.

If they somehow work together, admit their wrongdoings, they can stay.

“Is it likely?”

No.

15 Apocalyptic Cryptic

“Let there be light” and it was so…

And with a flash, it will all go

Back to darkness on the face of the deep,

And those that slumber, those that sleep,

Shall rise through the clouds, to heavenly morn,

Where only light will crown the dawn,

And darkness no more shall reign or shall shadow

And light, alone, will cover all matter.

Leaving darkness below, and lightness above.

One filled with fear; one filled with love.

Clay Maker

As a child you played in the dirt

making mud pies for your daddy,

teasin’ momma with the wigglin’ worms

you were a mighty dinosaur, eating trees made of broccoli

growing like a weed

in the dirt

Helping your grandma pick the berries,

one for the bucket and one for your sugar stained tongue

even the sweet peas and tomatoes tasted better, fresh from the garden,

the dirt rubbed off on your jeans

 

You happily roamed through the labyrinth rows

pretending to be the lost princess of The Great Beyond

no goblins, no bears to catch you unawares

because your dog patrolled this patch of land

he marked it as his which in turn made it yours

the sunshine warmed ground was the best place in town

for a nap with your best friend

suddenly you found a tougher go -round

and “dirt nap” took on a different meaning

but you were tough and you didn’t cry

when they put grandpa to sleep

his watch, yours now, forever to keep

Daddy got lost, he and momma split up

your world whorled wholly out of your control

you left your farm home, decided to roam and find more meanings in life

you found the grass wasn’t grass, but a hoe was still a hoe

and it raked at your soul, you found the dirt

you dug in and smiled ’cause after a while you just couldn’t stay clean

sleeping in laundry rooms, eating the trash

selling your body

’cause you needed the cash

you dug deeper for dragons and fairies in green

purposely dulling your senses ’cause the streets were too mean

Then one day you saw her, or maybe not

looked like your momma, through your head full of snot

the body was older, the figure was lean

but the eyes when they lighted on you, what a gleam!

she knew it was you from the very first glance

she grabbed at your hand and she pulled you away

said you’re coming home, you’re coming to stay

grandma was gone, daddy’d died too

so much had happened while you weren’t you

away from your friends, mostly guilt dragged you through

but as the days wore on she got through to you

This land she said, this land is our land

yours and mine too 

we’ll work it together just like before

but this place is our homeland, it deserves your respect

you love it, protect it or get out the door

I been here now twenty years, maybe more

This land is my home, I’ve opened it to you

The dirt’s a lot cleaner than cities or towns

you’ll understand the magic if we’ve children around

for no matter where,

how far, or how long

the lands filled with sirens

forever singing their song

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, Crazycracy!

We’ve had one of those for decades,

A feeble attempt by feeble minds

Seeking greatness over duty,

As the wealth trickles down

Into their accounts, not ours.

And we, such fools, sit idly by

A lighted box and learn to fight

For what they say is right.

School for the gullible these days.

Has it ever been otherwise?

Not in my lifetime.

This life in a kakistocracy.