The Poetry Marathon

EIGHT

Ah, young love is an amazing thing!

His name was Dennis and he was so smart.

He said I was his queen and he was my king.

I didn’t know what I was feeling but he had won my heart.

 

This year, our town was hit by a storm,

I had never known such disaster.

Dennis lived in a trailer, I was afraid for that was my norm.

My mother drove me there but I begged her to go faster.

 

His trailer was damaged but he was unhurt.

That was a lot to feel when you’re small.

Our own backporch was blown away, leaving nothing but dirt.

It took the roof, the rails, the steps and all.

 

I don’t know what happened to my Dennis Dear,

His family moved away the following year.

The paradox pair

He is a good musician,
a great cook,
and a passionate traveler.

She is a bad speaker,
a highly unromantic partner,
and hate thrillers.

He is loving her for the past seven years.

Floating on the pond
are the dabbling mallards and woods ducks
with the diving golden-eyes

The birds are always alert
for children, parents
and grandparents with bread crumbs

The devolution of the animal world

Hour eight: Apology: My breasts

I only felt like you belonged to me

when that girl caressed you while
calling me “sir.” Regardless, you really

are quite lovely. I’m sorry that I cannot

appreciate you the way others do,
cannot make peace with the way

you bounce when I run, gathering

sweat in the cotton moat of my bra.
The sand in your hourglass runs

faster than the rest of this body,

though I wonder who will still manage
to touch you— your presence so large,

so dirty, so obvious that I keep you
bound against me. If I let the doctors

carve apart your softness, will lovers

lay closer to the heart? Who will love
this hollowed body, shape my manhood

into more than a kink?

Halfway: Between the Prompts

Between the prompts,

Between the lines,

Marking time with the rhythm

And lacing the rhyme,

Are all the emotions

 

I’ll try not to find.

Atlanta Rainstorm

The smell of iron-rich, clay soil,
the clatter of droplets on the ground and roof,
and the splash of cars driving through waterlogged streets.

I once took a bike down the street in the rain.
The slick pavement was not kind to me.
I fell and scrapped my knees.

Simply Summer in the South.

Grandma’s Trees

Grandma’s Trees

 

Two pears for the sisters

A crab for the boy

Three purples for the triplets

And a maple for Leroy

 

The pear trees flowered early

The crab tree not so much

All purples were together

But the maple had the touch

 

The crab tree was in trouble

Pears’ blooms were first rate

The purples lasted longest

Leroy’s maple looked just great

 

August leaves peaked true green

All but crab enjoyed the look

Leroy’s maple hinted orange

The first season in the book

 

Grandma ever hopeful

She would wait another year

And give the crab a special brew

And pray the leaves appear

 

Over years the trees grew taller

When the cousins gathered here

To sit beneath the crab’s deep shade

And feel their Grandma near

 

TobeTT  #7

A Cog in the Wheel

I’d rake my words across her skin
spit gum in her hair
and forgive myself because she
did the same and worse to me

when you’re a child, logic
is the enemy of pleasure
and age changes only the word
from “just” to “cruel”

this is the wheel I’m helpless
to break even when I know
to do better, be better, think better
even when time keeps turning

because in the end the pattern just repeats

My Grandpa loved three things:

Wading boots, fishing,

And Catalpa worms for bait.

He hated Grandchildren running through his garden,

Being told he couldn’t have ice cream for breakfast,

And Stepping on slippery stones.

—-It is not wise to fish in the Eel River Alone!

 

Rainer Ep: 8

The woman made it to the mines in an unknown haste,

She carried on with her everyday scraping of the lichen growing on buildings

She quickly realized how she could harm someone with her tool,

She waited until the day dwindled from the sky

And the soldiers grew lazier,

She watched as one of them left the group walking along the outer rim of the mine’s ravine

In the blink of an eye, the blade met the soldier’s neck,

And she kept puncturing his neck as her energy allowed her

As he fell bloodied and dead, the woman took apart his armor and attached it to herself,

The woman believed that she could walk amongst the others as she wore the armor

But she forgot about the blood soaked into the polyester and cotton garments,

She did everything she could, from hiding the body to wiping off some of the grey blood

But as she walked towards the elevator towards the lower levels, she heard someone call out to her,

A guard had yelled at the woman but she didn’t understand what he was saying

It was only mumbling to her,

Fear clung to her chest, something she hadn’t felt in a long time

The woman inched her hand towards the pistol in the holster.

She unbuckled the holster, uncocked the pistol and fired at the incoming soldier,

In one fell swoop she had killed another one

More were coming her way and she had no time to waste,

Without hesitation the woman ran with determination and caution in her feet

Without thinking, she jumped off of the rim and into the grey waters below.