24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
No rain in nearly two months.
The sunshine is glorious, but with no access
to an outdoor spigot or hose, I struggle
to water the garden’s plants.
The balcony is long as the house, my mistress’s plants plentiful.
She’s turned her back.
Again. Walked away;
we’re no longer speaking.
The watering can almost empty.
The balcony is long as the house, my mistress’s plants plentiful.
Berthe Morisot, Young Woman Watering a Shrub, 1876 (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond)
truly
there is no way,
in a million years,
there is enough money to fill my empty pockets.
I could eat ten thousand tables worth of feasts for the hungry
before I am sated.
seven great lakes are not enough to quench my thirst
and I walk a billion miles over broken glass to get to them before I die.
but if you ask me how long I will love you,
I tell you, truly, until the sun collides with the Earth,
boiling the seas dry.
and you can believe what I say because I never lie.
R. L. Elke
© Aug 5/17 prompt 21
Are you sure you want to wear this to the party?
What will people think?
I bet they’ll tear you down the minute you walk in.
Gorge you with disgusted and pitiful stares.
You sure you want to really go down this path and dredge up the past from its grave?
Haven’t you embarrassed yourself enough?
I hate to be the one to say, ”TOLD YOU SO.”
You are good for nothing,
I am the only one who is genuinely frank with you?
What if it doesn’t work?
what are the risks?
What are the repercussions of my actions?
Have you thought this through?
What if no one really buys my book
what if they fail to resonate with my words?
what if they hate it?
what if they don’t approve?
What if I fail?
How will I recover?
Self Doubt is a disease of the mind,
the more you listen to it
the more importance you give it.
Next thing you are acknowledging it,
and are getting influenced.
Self doubt – A destructive way to destroy your individuality.
Tap it out before it taps you out.
j.r.m©
Allergic
To people.
Sneezing coughing
Tongue swollen.
Caught up in the chest.
When coming close
To the human species.
Catching flu
Eyes tear
Choking on own breath.
Runny nose.
Skin eruptions.
Rashes within the flesh.
Ears swell. Tummy is hell.
Do not touch.
What might happen.
Nothing to tell….
Two Razing Bulls
In a crowded market place
Two razing bulls stood facing each other
Snorting with passion,
Tension building up for the busy migrant onlookers
Caught in the snarl;
Mouths wide open, they waited…
A young lad of seventeen
Endowed with strength as nature would have it,
Set about to beat the dust,
Opened the tap of a nearby water tanker
And sprayed at the beasts;
Oh! Swooned a couple of ladies…
Their husbands cheered the lad,
The water calmed the beasts
Though we cannot say for sure
For they started to disperse among the crowd
Only to resume their rivalry
At some other place, at some other time.
Hour 20
@varenyas
“Oh my God, I hate my life‼”
“And what the actual fuck?‼”
Teenagers love big emotion words.
What will they do in an emergency
When they truly need to measure
Pain or excitement, despair or joy?
And yet, don’t you ever say,
“I’m going to kill you!”? I do.
What kind of homicidal maniac
Kills in retaliation for taking
The scissors without returning
Them to where they belong?
“I thought I would die,” my
Mother used to say, when she
Could say anything, in regards
To an embarrassment or shame.
Yes, those humiliating moments
Burn but never kill, nor maim.
And even the occasional yell,
”You’re driving me crazy!”
Which my mother and I both
Said to our children or spouse.
Though no one has gone mad
By another’s annoying behavior.
But melodrama is nothing new.
I’ve heard in the movies or
Maybe I read it in a book, the
Lover declares to the beloved,
“My life has no meaning, is not
Worth living without you.” Really?
And don’t get me started on cars.
I’d get more than a second glance
Had you recorded my car litany.
“What the f#$*k is wrong with
You, you jackass, mother f’ing
Moron. Learn how to drive‼!”
Comedian Louis CK jokes,
”Can you imagine if you said
the same to someone who
bumped you in an elevator,
Facing them, “I hope you die‼”
Never Grow Up
Be young and carefree like the days of simply being alive was enough for you to see
Stay curious and remain playful
Never Grow Up
Be full of laughter and joy
Start jumping into rain puddles
and blow bubbles across the lawn
Never Grow Up
Revisit Neverland the novelties inside of your imagination.
Enjoying life without simple conversation
Gravitating toward kindness and displaying gifts of admiration
Never Grow Up
Body tired
Brain stone cold
Wired
Here we are
Longing, dreading
Finish line in sight
Three more to go
High on caffeine
And inspiration
Music blasting, silently
Exhausting, batteries
Running on empty
Living like renegade
Love the underdogs
Parade! Parade!
Did the circus come to town?
We are the poets of the night
It’s always different
Then when it came before
Exaggeration?
That’s what words are for!
Prompt 20
Trash will be our legacy
The future will know we existed by The remnants of our debris
Please explain how there’s more trash in space then there are galaxies
Beaches have eroded. Oceans overloaded millions of animals slaughtered needlessly
I caught a catfish from Lake Powell.
‘Twas bigger than your pike so frail.
It was this long from head to tail.
My story has a fishy smell?
I tell the truth, so go to—
Well, Okay it wasn’t quite that swell.
This fish was bigger than a house,
Okey a house made for a mouse.
Or maybe for a common louse?
Don’t bother me with fine detail.
My story grows with every tell.
I’ll send a picture in the mail,
Juxtaposed by a giant snail.