24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
in those so-long-ago days
oh. how felt born to dance with you
i know none of those dance-dreams
jiggled in you nor loosened arms
in tingling wingling circles
about your hips
nor tilted the slight quiver
of a mouth alight with unspeakable
savor briefly smoky then
buttery with honey on the side
and all the way
down
it all begins with
the dance damn it
j. pratt-walter
6/22/2019
Dear sweet sixteen,
It’s a lovely age, but a poor context.
It’s not your fault that life can be a bitch!
But it is and it will be in the next two years.
So prepare to shed some tears and to grow up!
I know that you still watch Disney and that life
would be more bearable if it were a fairytale,
but that’s not possible I’m afraid. Sorry to disapoint you,
but a cold shower is useful from time to time!
Stop being so shy and sweet! Stop being stupid
if you don’t want to be bullied until the end of highschool!
I know that your life means only learning and music,
but defend your rights before the symphony of regrets starts!
Half Marathoners this is your last prompt! Full marathoners you are now half way there! Either way, congratulations on getting this far!
The prompt for this hour is to write an erasure.
Erasures are a form of poetry where you create a poem using existing text. You take that text and by blacking out or erasing terms you can create a new poem.
Source material for this can be anything. Lots of people do this with the New York Times but you can also use pages from classic novels or letters or anything that has enough text. Some poets do erasures on other authors poems, but they do have to be long ones.
You can pick out a page to print online, use a page from one of your magazines around the house or you can use the handy erasure app over at Wave Poetry.
Spirit
A history heavy burden
For the act of breathing
Religion drew lines in the invisible
Filled with prescriptions
Too harsh to swallow
Faith made it good and evils spoils
Each life choice the movement
Of a chess piece
I set down the weight
Of centuries dyed red
with conflict of definition
Find my relief
In giving it no name
Only description
The movement of being
Current
The waveform
That moves through
All the elements
That sculpt me
The slipstream of animation
Infusing
Surrounding
Carrying
I remember laughing
At the idea of falling in love
Never happen to me
I said over and over
Then you came along
And I changed my mind
You took away the hurt
The pain
I left it behind
Now I’ve learned to take a chance
Go somewhere I swore
I’d never go again
Holding your hand
I know
I can conquer the world.
Dear Queen
Stand tall you’re seen
Head up
We know where you’ve been
Heart open
You can love again
Eyes wide
They’ll see you win
Dear Queen
Speak loud until heard
Voice raised
World needs your words
Mind sharp
Your ideas deserve
Hands busy
Your creations preferred
Dear Queen
Walk steady in stride
Feet forward
With God as your guide
Serve others
Trailblaze with your light
Stay humble
You’re our people’s pride
Hour 7
Secret meetings, arranged in hushed whispers,
Windows creak and our bodies slide through
into the night
into the secret illumined by the midnight sun.
Secret meetings created our path
in the night
in the shadows.
Dear Me,
Oh how I wish we could be two at once –
fully embodied at the same time.
How I’d love to be your friend, your playmate, your confidant.
How’d I’d love to laugh and play with you.
My sides ache just imagining how we’d crack each other up,
how we’d sit and talk for hours.
If we could be two at once,
I’d always listen when you wanted to talk,
and tell you what I think only when you wanted to know.
I’d encourage all your fanciful thoughts and dreams and visions and yes, even your silly inventions for how to open your dresser and get clothes to dress without ever leaving your bed on a cold winter morning.
If we could be two at once,
I’d hold the pillow over your ears when voice on the other side of the door got loud and it made you feel sick and scared and lonely.
I’d lay beside you and try to find a way to distract you until all things quieted.
I’d sleep in the bed across your room, and wrap my arms around half your stuffed animals so there’d still be room in your bed for you and no-one would feel left out.
If we could be two at once…
But we can’t.
So the best I can do dear self, is to tell you that I love you.
And encourage you to remember all that you know right now – in this minute.
It’s not what we don’t or didn’t know that would change things our lives for the better, but remembering what we forgot.
Pay attention.
Learn.
Laugh.
Play.
There is nothing you need to know that you don’t in each moment as it arises.
Be still. Listen. That’s all.
You are all the ‘magic’ you need – all the ‘magic’ there is.
How I wish we were two at on this end.
I sure could use you right about now.
Rain
cascades from the
sky
creating thunder as
it splatters
on the tin
Roof
I stand
in the sky’s
Tears
letting the cold
water
drip the shampoo
from my strands.