24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
The Same Sea
I climb down to the water
Where paper rains into the sea
The same sea that, when I sleep,
Has a song I can sing along to
The same sea that, when I sleep,
Will tangle me if I step into her surf,
Eroding the sand out from under me.
She always threatening to drown me.
I’ve said I loved you
Many different ways.
In texts, over the phone,
In messenger, Audio, and
Video
But never to your face.
Never, to hold you
As the words flew out.
I met you but couldn’t meet you.
Fear of what I survived.
Life and death,
So, I hide,
In tech
And give you my love
From Afar.
One day, we will meet
Under the stars
Where love will grow
In real time.
With touch.
For now, our love will grow
In a modern way.
If you listen you will hear them-
calling,
whispering,
warning,
across space… across time.
listen
& you can hear them-
on the wind,
riding waves,
wrapped in music.
listen
they are right here
celebrating,
encouraging,
guiding.
if you listen.
I see through many other eyes
And feelings share as though inside
The heads and hearts of beasts and men
I am when dreaming, now and then.
I walked in Tudor times again
As someone’s loyal and trusted friend.
A family of monstrous men
And women, I was one of them.
I dream in vivid stories when
I walk in the shoes of other men
These stories have just one down-side:
They never end before I rise!
Form: Duo-rhyme
Prompt: Be inspired by a dream, without saying it’s a dream.
Not strictly followed, but acted as a starting place.
There it stood, as finally,
What I always hoped would be–
The mailbox showing clear, my name,
At my cottage beside the sea.
The box reveals the strange one there–
The one who holds the deed,
Who never thought she’d ever live
In a home washed by sea breeze.
But there, it stands, in sunshine hot
Just waiting there, in time
For new ones coming through the door
Who love bright rays and brine.
The rooms will fill with laughter;
The floors will creak with cheer;
The air will smell of happy times
When friends and family gather here.
And though storms will come raging
Against its quiet, calm façade,
It will shelter well from gales
That blow and tempests dodge.
Who are you?
I still have no clue.
Together
for five years,
I should know you by now but
you’re my enigma.
(A shadorma consists of six lines with the syllable count of 3/5/3/3/7/5 respectively for each line.)
My father preferred a crunchwrap
double-shelled taco or a Mexican pizza
to whatever my mother had left for us
in the crock pot. On the nights he didn’t eat,
there was no question of where he’d been.
It was the dietary equivalent of cheating,
the home-grown vegetables left to simmer
into mush as he gorged himself on tortillas
white as bleach, but sweet as the empty
space inside a cavity. His body was a plant
rooted in the wrong soil, withered at
the edges. Death coiled around him
like a taproot trying to find nutrients
in clay, his pale fingers turning black
as they wrapped around another
soft taco. Even in the nursing home,
where he was the youngest by at least
thirty years, he asked his friends to bring
chalupas, bean burritos, Baha blasts,
not caring how long he lived, not wondering
if life could be more than a greasy stop
on a long stretch of road, an empty wrapper.
Warm, clouded windows
On wooden shacks
Arranged like a misassembled puzzle
Beckon me inside.
I must cross the lake between us,
One stroke at a time.
Each stroke tears like a whiplash into my frosted skin
But suffering alone is not an option
When it can be shared over cups of sake
Along the stony trails of the garden,
counting every step,
picking the fallen leaves,
looking at the birds,
her winters nearing.
she walked,once again.
She took in the same fragrance,
walked the same road,
got wet in the same rain…
Sitting on the rusted swing,
her eyes closed,
her mind mused on a missing,now a longing,
A man who held her little finger then,only in her memories now!
Walking down the street
Left and right is only field
Corn is growing there
Houses are away
Stop and listen close
Can you hear the wind?
Softly blowing through the trees
Gently touching skin
Walk, then stop and listen
Can you hear the birds?
Tweeting in the trees
Sing the latest melodies
Walk 5 metres further
Can you hear machines?
Working far away
Caring for the crops