24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
Shadows stretch out long fingers reaching for the dark
hiding our secrets, memories we lock away,
and bury in our hearts.
Remembrances cast shadows forward into our lives,
creeping into our consciousness,
when our resistance wanes.
When we face the light, those unwelcome echoes from the past,
release their deathlike grip,
allowing us to move on.
Fingerprints on the fridge
footprints in the fabric
a foreign perfume in the air
a trial of breadcrumbs left behind
Who stole my sandwich?
It had my name on it
and everything
bacon, lettuce, tomato, and cheese
but it’s so much more than a BLAT
The fridge is cold
like my sandwich-less heart
it’s making a strange noise
it feels my pain
I see him
Jim
the office manager
picking bacon from his teeth
My new enemy
no one takes my sandwich
and gets away with
no one!
Revenge is best served cold
like a sandwich
Oh
I miss it.
Oh! Adventurer
Did a new place call out to you?
That you’re setting out on a new journey
Oh! Explorer
Are your feet not able to settle at one place?
That you’re always on-the-go
Oh! Traveler
What are you seeking?
That you’re always in search of the next big thing
Oh! Dreamer
When will you pause and take a breath?
That you’re able to enjoy the moment you’re in
Oh! Motivator
Don’t ever stop
Your stories are what lets people know how big the world is
Oh! Inspirer
Never settle
You are the reason we know the world doesn’t revolve around us
Oh! Catalyst
What’s new and exciting this time?
Tell us so that we may rid of our drab routines for a while
Female octopuses throw shells at males that irk them.
So reads the lead-in to the story online.
And herein lies a message to poets:
Why waste ink on the bastards
when a well-aimed projectile will serve the same purpose?
Concrete stares
From hard eyes
Concrete shoes
For betrayals
Concrete set
To thin lips
Concrete resolve
Driving the act
Concrete defiance
Daring it
A single splash
Concrete certainty
Of no more tomorrows
One less animal
In a concrete jungle
Where only
Reinforced concrete
Can take the weight.
Once upon a smooth night sailing,
the edge was found of the world.
Where moon had the sun suspended
and light fell deep and fathomless dark.
Spinning on a disk with no ending,
all planetoids much the same.
Like plates, twirling, whirling,
the oceans sloshed and continents jiggled,
on their sleepy molten beds
and hanging, suspended off the edge
was what every cat had ever knocked.
A hairtie, a wrench, some string,
a figurine, a d20(an 18, good luck perhaps?)
and my magazines. Such a strange and silly thing,
a flat world without curves.
So that is why the cats enjoy
knocking things off the edge.
She was an adderall addled techno gnostic
having graduated from wicca and the baby witches
who still hung around the apartment talking about incense
and the men they were screwing and how awful they were.
The occult is not fun or cool
and mostly bores people or perplexes them
her new late night rituals and readings
had me putting crucifixes on my bedroom door.
It took one bad salvia trip
and she was screaming at me over the phone
about how we were on a prison planet
that not even death could free us from the Demiurge.
It was a unique despair
the idea of the eternal matrix
of endless repetition
and knowing it.
Made worse by the pills
providing intensity and laser focus
staring at spots in the air
like she could very well see the grid.
I drug her outside one Saturday morning
after dumping the pills and tomes in the trash
I pulled up some dewy grass and closed it into her hand
‘This is real,’ I said ‘And so are you.’
Photography is a silent poetry,
Words transceded to images,
Where your eyes can see,
And your heart can feel.
Its an art mystery,
Clutch strong in our memory,
Proclaim its territory
And knock us down to feel.
It ain’t just a random imagery,
Its poetic,
Its raw,
Its real.
#POETRYMARATHON2023 #HOUR06 #24HRSCATEGORY
The names fill the white board,
A tombstone drawn in jest.
Those who moved to other places,
This office no longer the best.
Picking up the pieces.
New hires are moving in.
There’s training and much
work left to begin.
Work from home, work from the office,
What helps people want to stay?
Retirements starting,
Who is next?
Anyone the lottery want to play?
Just wanted to say goodluck and hope everyone finishes on a good note. I’ll be starting at 9pm tonight and go till 9am. Gotta finishe gathering my stuff so I am ready. See you all on the otherside, can’t wait to read everyone’s poetry.