The Poetry Marathon

Woven

I see my life like a string.
It grows with every day.
Each moment that I’m living,
It bends a different way.
My moods, they change its colors:
Red anger, peaceful green.
The colors mix together,
Some ugly and some clean.
My thread will weave together
With others that I meet.
The patterns that we’re making
Compose an awesome sheet.
We swaddle our whole planet,
Wrapped up in all our strings,
Painted by humanity
And all Earth’s living things.
And, oh, the picture woven
By our community
Every faith, color, gender…
A rainbow tapestry.

But Wait!!

Hottest hot of Summer Days
As upon my breast, my lover lays
Blanket, barely thick enough to shield the heat
Above the sand that coats our feet
Far from water’s edge

Swirling currents of air rise
To hide encroaching surf
Blinding whiteness, thundering turf
Cold wind blowing by our heads

Perceive I now, rushing horses
Nature’s forces
Bellowing “Move, move now”
Arching back and lover’s hips
Heavy breathing meets my lips.

But, wait!

What gurgling forth comes from my mouth?
What pain racks through my chest?
Spewing salted water through my teeth
Suddenly squinting from beneath
Broad shoulders,
Shock of gray

To my dismay,
It’s not the beach,
It’s not my Love,
Tis but a medic perched above.

 

Random Prompt/2014

Hunky armed men in heavy boots
Carried their shovels like rifles.

They were the finest workers
The municipality could afford.

Through the dust could be seen
The outline of the last ’70s piano bar,
The dusty ferns and jars of outdated antipasta
Waiting secondary demolishment.

At night, their lanterns
Were viewable for up to five city blocks.

And, next morning, the day crew returned
To clear more detritus of a decade
Of how politics got done.

(Note: this is my fifth hour poem, but my phone got wacky and I had to restart.)

Every, if I could, if only

Every, if I could, if only,
Virginia Carraway Stark

Every muscle is slow and straining
On this saturdau morn
If I could stretch just a little bit further
I could poke through my skin
bird wings would spring free
From gashed skin
and every weakness would fall beneath me
Assuming I only knew how to use them…

I would learn how to use them
Now that the moment has come

Hot and Cold

The sun glitters
Off the lake water
Until it burns
Your irises
And you squint
Across the liquid surface
To the forest across.
You hold on
To the edge of the dock
Feeling course wood
Grate against your palm
The cool mist
That lingers on your dusty feet
and turning it into mud
Is a sharp contrast
Against the blazing sun
On your back.

I am

I am stronger than you know,
I am taller than I look,
I am smarter than my grades say
I am better than I am
I am whatever I want to be
I am me

(Hour 05) 02.30-03.30am. PROMPT: write a poem using a dream

the big fish

when i visit the whale
he is alone somewhere off
the cold pacific coast
singing a playfully melancholy
refrain across a 1000 miles
he eyes me with utter disdain
yes whales can (or he could)
disdain with the best of them

“doubting again are we?” he booms
inside my head & beyond the galaxy
i wish i have a witty reply
but he knows everything
that’s deep inside me, so i
simply sigh & smile whereupon
he takes me on his back
& reminds me how to fly 

 

 

This Poem

I wrote this poem

As a random collection of thoughts

Cause my brain

Was tied up in knots

And it came to me

Just write what you see

I sit in my room

Under the fan

Patterns on the ceiling

I never noticed before

I need coffee

Keeps my mind from reeling

All these words

Such a jumble

But sometimes

That’s the way

The cookie crumbles

Dream

Hands shaking
Minds changing
Peace making
Skies blue
Eyes witnessing
Ears listening
Hearts ministering
Words true
Arms dropping
Harm stopping
Opportunity knocking
For more than few
Great debating
Love making
War taking none
Do you
Have a dream too

A Quarter In

A quarter is a fortune when you’re young

And the machines at the grocery store hold precious treasure

A quarter once could buy a phone call

Before there was a phone in every purse and pocket to be used at your leisure

A quarter could be saved away

Rolled up and taken to the bank when things got lean

A quarter at the Laundromat

Could get your clothes washed and clean

A quarter in the jukebox

Played fast and slow songs all night

A quarter at a toll booth

Keeps traffic moving along alright

A quarter can be as much or as little as you see fit

For me it means six hours of work, and eighteen more before I quit