Hour ten
Your sorrows will fade
like the night sky fades—
from black to blue
from blue to pink.
The dawn will come.
She
She was lonely and scared.
Scared that no one wanted her,
That she would be rejected by everyone.
And so it seemed to be,
that she came to believe it!
Now she lays awake at night,
thinking!
Thinking how different life would be,
if she ever decided to leave.
Slipping (hour 9, 2017)
SLIPPING
The sky was weeping mercilessly
the evening we entered New Mexico.
Staring skyward, palms uplifted to the sonorous, wet falling,
I felt a slipping in my heart –
heavens unbalanced –
this desert – too green too green.
I saw the climate wandering, unhinged;
arroyos surging with mud.
Tests. Experiments.
I dreamt an explosion – saw the searing white blast,
withering of birds (mountain jays, golden eagles);
tasted the acrid stench of crisped juniper.
The next day an atomic physicist’s dream of death
shadowed our steps along Los Alamos’s Boyo trail –
steep-walled box canyon once witness to flash & blast –
small bombs testing nuclear containment –
while dead-end geology and weather drove us back –
thunderclouds surging overhead.
This is not a test texts read that night.
Flash floods, flash floods,
be prepared to evacuate.
This was not a riddle in so many syllables.
Imminent incident. Flash flood. Early September.
splittings
“I am choosing not to suffer uselessly / and not to use her / I choose to love / this time / for once / with all of my intelligence” – Adrienne Rich
she and I
terrified, i suppose i am
we seem to be beyond choosing
to be together or to not
is beyond our faculties, to
make a choice, a decision to suffer
i often find prodding my brain uselessly
to be a mere habit
and also a comfort, not
because it is comfortable but it is satisfying to
the way that a hunter tortures a creature with no defense mechanisms to use
that’s how i am with my brain some days (most days) without her
she and I
a life to choose
our life begs us to
to choose each other is to love
to love this
to embrace this time
when we discover it is what we are made for
just try it once
your soul’s mirror to laugh with
cry, hold, accept: all
it is what we are made of
i do believe, i choose her with all of my
intelligence
Untitled – Ekphrastic Poem
(Random Prompt – Ekphrastic – See below)
The bear growls about graffiti and lack of proper trees.
The fox drags its tail,
tired of being clever,
it just wants to try The Brew and Shrew,
the local artisan gastro pub.
The girl is all business in red and green
out to save the world,
if not for herself,
at least for St. Nick, the bear and the fox.
The bear and the fox warn her not to get too serious.
They’re grumpy but she loves them anyway,
smiling brightly beneath her Elmo hat.
Random Prompt (Ekphrastic)
Write an ekphrastic poem to go with this image. An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning.
This painting is called Coalition and it is by Kevin Peterson.
Prompt for Hour Eleven
For this prompt you should listen to The Swallowtail Jig. You can watch the video or not. Personally I prefer to turn the light on my screen down all the way and just listen. But I want you to really focus on the music and do nothing else the first time through. Then you can either turn the music off or play it again. At that point you should start writing your poem.
All-In (Masterpiece)
We’re a masterpiece, don’t you see?
Just try to see what it means to be alive.
Beating, singing, dancing to existence;
Thinking, feeling, planning; This condition is persistent.
We’re a masterpiece, we’re a witness, an author and an actress.
You identify what it means to sing and be alive.
Health and Happiness, salt-water taffy lips;
Creating in the moment, this condition, We own it.
Nothing I do is random, purpose and intention in tandem.
That’s two girls, one line. I’d explain it to you but I haven’t got the time.
If you don’t flex it, you don’t grow it, no pain, no–And you know it.
Create that vision and chime in, rewind that vision and I’m all-in.
We’re a master piece, we’re a witness…
Consciousness, Intention, Creation; Isn’t a sickness, it’s our business.
We are Human.
Black Creeper
I awoke with a startle
Eight little legs
fell in my lap
I don’t remember having a mosquito net
Sparkles all over
a schrilling scream
my eyes so big
swelling like waterfalls
Harry and ugly
the vision stayed
nightly nightmares
they’re all around my bed
no way around
No hole to escape
tiny tarantulas
Smiles on their face
Fear followed
I close my eyes
just to wake up
A Dream ..
Dancer
Like the chances
from Day 1 to here,
she finds
opens
upends the box,
muses
searches
picks
& unthreads,
teases meaning
from all kinds
of mess,
checks gaps
resets,
hopes
tests,
lets swing
at the kinks,
straightening us out
before plugging in,
then runs off
for the long haul,
laughing again.