24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
Hot Day
Hard Rock Cafe
Jesus is trying to find
someone to grind.
He’s very pale, wearing
red shorts.
In the pool he’s trying
water sports.
In the corner
girls are twerking.
I wonder how his salvation
is working.
He’s rather dry
and orders a beer.
Good thing there’s
no crucifixion here.
J. Pratt-Walter
6/22/2019
‘
2019 – 11th Hour
In response to the Prompt ©️ H.J
~ Dear Self ~
You sit by the window,
Blue;
Unsure of what is to come for you.
For now,
You’ve been a martyr.
Each took their piece,
That’s true,
But we still fall in love with you.
Brave, bright and beautiful!
Chants everyone who
Can see through the fog
to the light that is you.
So sit by the window;
Unafraid to let go –
For there is more gold
than you’ve ever been told,
Freedom! –
Uncontrolled;
And distant plans,
So bold.
And the purest love
That you’ll have ever known!
I love to eat my thelery
In the thenter of my houth
But thertainly not with peanutbutter
That thtickth it to my mouth
I don’t like the words you want me to use –
at least not now, not now when I’m writing
under the gun and atop a concrete table
which under the best of circumstances I find too hard,
albeit less messy than a fir table with coffee fog and moonbeam trim
despite its built in shelf where you’d think you could readily dock your cup or canteen while you pen your prose or poems.
Hush now.
I have to write this damn poem.
Coffee in the pot
You laying at my side
Your hair all messy and wild
The hush of the morning muting the early sounds
Sunlight creeping in through the fog of the Midwest dawn
Too warm for sweaters, yet much too cold for bare feet
But, I’m sure you’d walk on the concrete anyway
Chill be damned
It is common knowledge that otters sleep on their backs on the surface of the water, holding one another’s hands so they don’t drift off and get lost or worse.
It is also known that bees snuggle together when they sleep, often intertwining their legs, curled into the soft bellies of flowers, maybe to protect one another.
I do not sleep holding another’s hand, or intertwining myself around any person intertwining themselves around me. I do not sleep swaddled in anything, and much prefer an open space in front of me as I drift off.
I suppose on some carnal level I am a predator’s dream, on the outside of the outside of the outside, completely untethered.
But, that doesn’tbother me nearly as much as knowing I hope someday to be as good a person as an otter or a bee.
Damn...That night was extra ordinary, A stunning thick blanket of stars.... The night called in a hush A somber reverie, A settling fog that intended to stay. Moonbeam poured a pale milky white ray like lights of pearls accompanying the stars. I cradled my warm coffee I knew not which way led to my destination my heart only followed the docks. And the fir trees that lined my horizon in the distance. -Janice Raquela Mendonca
She let the sway of the workday move her
as people all around dictated where she went,
what she did there, and for how long.
She followed the crowd of “friends” to a bar
in which she had no interest, and made
small talk while snacking on chips.
She rushed herself back to the car,
counting on both hands the errands she
had yet to complete, while calculating
how long she might be able to sleep tonight.
She did it all, then she barreled through her
bedroom door, collapsed on the bed,
and took the deepest breath she might have
ever taken.
She felt it in her chest, her brain, her fingertips,
and all the way in the soles of her feet.
She let the relief flood her body as,
for the first time all day,
she was still.
.
I can’t churn out wind like a windmill. I can’t
run from the warmth to the cold then back
again. The sun looks different every morning,
and everything has changed sinced the day before –
the birdcalls, the blades of grass, the stones
beneath the earthbound feet, the clay heart, the
hands that knead bread dough at dawn.
You saw me, and then you saw me again, and
then again seventeen years later, and you said
I was the same. That can’t be true. I thought
I knew you, but it appears now that I did not.
Did you think otherwise? Yesterday, you were
fearful, today you are sceptical, tomorrow you
will be senile and toothless, and very stubborn.
Let’s not try too hard. Let’s not get ahead too
far. Give me time to memorize the creases on
your forehead, the cracks in your voice, the shelf
where you store your precious blue-egg china.
Tell me where the spoons are, the kettle, the
pills for the morning and tablets for the night.
Tell me how you want your tea, the order of
your books, how you swim in the precious sea.
.
why
do you
fear so much
what led to this
in your life what was so bad that fear rules you
it is time to change that old paradigm
you feel it too
not later
do it
now