24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
Baikal of the Kurykans lies cold beneath the canopy of stars;
water reflecting sky, ancient watchers bearing the crescent
moon in a boat, the breastbone of the earth cloven deep
beneath the pale and stellate glory of the Milky Way.
Cronus of the Greeks consumes his children, ruling the outer planets
from the depths of Tartarus, among the gods and titans.
The lakes of Titan are cold, and absent water reflect only black.
Another beer in and I’m back again
I’ll pay tomorrow but tonight I’m free
Everybody loves me
Or at least I see it though the beer
And the way they stay near
The pool is too cold
And I’m too old
And nobody likes my music
Jumping in the jeep
Cruising by the lake
Everybody panics
When I pull up on the brake
“I stopped to see the moon,”
I say
“Sit back
Enjoy the view.”
My girl shouts “Oh, Phooey!”
When she figures what I want to do
The moon is bright
The night is right
Two couples in the dark
Everything was going well
‘Till we heard a big dog bark
That dog came charging at us
Jumped in the open door
And now my girl won’t to talk me
Or go cruising anymore.
The End.
“Martian moons are Phobos and Deimos,
the latter translated as Panic,” I told you then.
It was mid-way through our junior year–our glory days.
I would leave you that very next week for California.
The last time we drove around the lake in your jeep,
open air, breeze whipping the hair against our ears, you
replied: “I don’t believe in moons, stars or planets.”
I still don’t know what you mean.
A Murmuring
As if the wind had a body, as if the sky
shuttered dark with its own laughter, as if the clouds
discovered each other and couldn’t stop
touching, as if our skin could shatter
and show what a joy it is to be here
and alive next to you
Have u ever
never been held by loving arms
Heard I love you from your mom
Been in trouble with your dad
Lived with strangers who claim they’re fam.
Have you ever
Never been kissed
caring hands caress your face
A spirit to fix your soul.
Have you ever
Never been loved before.
Have you ever
Met someone that made your heart smile
Made you feel it was all worth while
Given you spirit and faith in life.
Have you ever
fallen in love
Before I rage impotently against the dying light.
Before I scream incoherently as my gaolers drag me away.
Before my vision narrows inexorably to nothingness.
Before the last vestiges of acuity, clarity, and dignity disappear.
Before I kneel to the inevitable.
And shamble off into nothingness.
Before my time comes.
Let me see this world again.
© 2016 SP
Of the moon I have naught to fear
Her silver breath calms me still
Upon my lake of glass
I ride the placid waves
The rhythm that pounds beneath my breastbone
Tells the tale of my past
Of when the waters did my life spare
Once when I thought myself immortal
The illusion made near deadly
By the my youthful glory
Above the depths rippled my life giving canopy
The mercurial duality of calm and stormy
Panic set upon my heart for all was lost
Until that moment of reprieve
When arms so loving saved me from the depths
Of rubbery boundaries
And I was only three
they asked me about a vagabond
they asked me to write
how did they know
i suited both roles
as apt as sunlight at day
my eyes rove
and tread
passages and spaces
people and places
once whom i called
my very own
my fingers touch
trees and mail boxes
identifying the similar
eliminating the difference
i once stopped and captured
little images of you
to carry with me
this gravel
i called home
my feet mark territories
i despise shifting
from one space to the next
i have to shed layers
each time every time
like a snake through metamorphosis
i despise change
it makes me lose my bearings..
yet i never remain,
constant –
in stasis..
The prompt for this hour is to write a poem about a missing person. This person could be someone real or someone imagined. Someone you knew, or someone you did not know.
A great way to do this prompt is to go to this website: http://www.charleyproject.org/
Pick one of the missing people listed there and write a poem about them.
You can use the details available on the site and you can embellish if you wish. All of the specifics are up to you. You don’t even have to mention that they are missing in the finished poem.