The Poetry Marathon

Valentine’s Day

Poem 2

Valentine’s Day

By: Ashley L Powers

 

February 14th

For many represents a day of love

A time for gifts and dinners

Expected sex, flowers, and hugs

Its the day girls dream of engagements

And men actually put effort into make arrangements

A day I’ve never been too fond of….

Never knew this day would hold any importance

That it would become a date I will always notice

Never knew I love you and goodbye would be in the same sentence

Never knew this date would wake me up and make me pay attention

It’s the day my world fell apart

The day Cupid decided to break my heart

That dreaded phone call

The moment I became truly lost

Screams and tears as I held my phone

Only to hear these words from my sister….

Ashley, she’s GONE

Valentine’s Day….

You stripped away my mother’s love

Damn

I knew there was a reason I was never fond of you

Creation (prompt 2 hour 2)

The sandbox is where the magic happens.
A universe of particles waiting
to be created by the force of intention,
Animated into being by thought.

The I AM dances in shifting forms
always in motion, never still,
A restless magnetism holding all life
in shapes we know but for a moment

until they decay
until they pass away
until we pass away

The sand returns to the sandbox
Resting,
waiting for the joy of rebirth
at the touch of the creator

Hour 3

Whoops… I fobbed hour 3 off with a wee haiku.

I promise to make it up to you later.

(a tanka)

that old Slinky toy
descending the stairs
of my memory
its mechanical agency
as urgent as ever

Magical Rain

Thunder and lightning clash swords up there
As healing waters flood from jars onto the grounds below
Dry and arid as the living souls
Watch the children dancing and babies whispering
This can only be magic and a beautiful one

Hour 3 Wait

Here outside a door
Wondering who is inside
Waiting and waiting

Hour three: Ode to my pansexuality

I do not understand how the trace
of fingertips across the back of my neck
has a gender— the press of lips

to my temple, the sobs that rattled
my ribcage like a ghost shaking
the walls of a place it longed to leave,

your arms both the exorcist and
the blessing— but you would not
have held me so close had you known

I was a boy. I could have held you
together through the long nights
when poetry could not contain

whatever clawed at the edges
of your mind— you named it
monkey, demon, mania—

but I’ve always known how
to talk it into silence. You believe
that no man could have this power

over you. I say that I do not
understand why you love must
attach itself to gender.

Around The Room (Prompt 3 Hour 3)

The ceiling fan hums as it stirs the air.

The carpet soft to my bare feet,

The linoleum cool, where my toes meet.

The sunlight brightens the room,

Giving hint of the warm day.

The cats are snuggled together,

Resting from play.

Empty House

Poem 3

In this empty house
that I call home
I am often unaccompanied
but never alone,
for these walls have helped raise me
and console me in sorrow.
How could I feel alone
when there’s no loneliness here?

-h.e.m.

Summertime Cold Feet

For as beautiful as it is outside
On this first full day of Summertime
It is amazing how cold my feet are
In the cool, damp grass
Especially on that one side of the house that gets little sunlight
I feel more alive now than I did
Before I chose to walk barefoot
Around the house
While the chill is appreciated
In the heat of the afternoon
It isn’t necessarily enjoyed so early
For now I’m actually shivering
Although to be walking barefoot
Summertime cold feet
Is still a gift
Which is prayed for
Much of the year

(Book 99 #19239)