The Poetry Marathon

prompt 3: this burning mess

The 20 little poetry projects

this burning mess

breath is life

small red berries see in the dark

the white-hot light of these end-of-days summers

filling my mouth with ash.

 

now all I smell is burning

when I worry about the future

and I long to run to the water to cool my raging skin

or taste the silence of all those screaming trees Bezos and Musk can’t hear

in California

or the Cayman Islands

or Mars.

 

our breath is killing us in our sleep

while we wait for someone else to fix the problems we’ve created.

Skodene!

these companies are all going green to save the planet

because, they say,

liquid natural gas does not come out of the ground…

the exquisite pile of lies

making me shove my thumbs in my eyes so deep

I am now deaf,

the silence slicing through me.

“she’s mojo,” they said,

“the one who brings water to fire in

rippling, glass buckets.

this madness will end in the squishing of mud between our toes!

maajtaadaa!

the trees are calling while they run around screaming

with their hands on fire.

(C) r. l. elke

 

 

Come Friday, Jimmy (An odd tribute to Jimmy Buffett)

 

Life is like a bowl of cherries
There goes a cow down the road
I smell it
I see it
I hear it
I touch it
Might be my dinner
The stars shout in exultation
Jimmy Buffet in Margaritaville
I do not touch it
If I had to guess, I’d say purple
Oh my cow!
The rooster crowed three times and now I am doomed
Je ne parle pas l’espagnol
The greyest stone of dawn
Like looking through the glass darkly
Jimmy could not find the clock with the 5:00 p.m. alarm
Skipper found the time
She’ll be in Margaritaville by midnight
Humongous marbles
If you follow my example, you will have no success
Je ne sais quoi
The clock rolled its eyes
The margaritas did what the rooster had been unable to do

 

Hour 3: Stories

Her voice was a cry through the chambers of a full heart

Pumping rhythmically its 8 pints of blood

The sound smooth, soft, gossamer

Scraping the ears of all those who would listen

Releasing a tale from the mouths of those she trusted

A tale many had heard

Those who heard, all thought they understood

An epic saga of good versus evil

Where all that was good was stripped from her

A tale where she was left the villain

A thundering scream, ripped from her heaving chest

An unanswered question, “Why?”

Starting over…

Her voice was an echo through the chambers of an empty heart

Devoid of its 8 pints of blood

The sound sharp, cutting, angular

Caressing the ears of those who cared to listen

Unfolding a story trapped within the depths of her soul

A story few had heard

Those who heard, few understood

A story with no hero, only villains

No epic tale of good versus evil

For only evil had left its mark on her

A soundless scream racking her heaving chest

An unanswered question, “Why?”

 

Hour 3- Cows, Ducks, and Starshine

1. You are pulling my leg, I might have a cow. I’d get bent out of shape, If I only knew how.
2. I think my mind is heading towards the moon with the cow! Oh no! I have reached the stars.
3. Looking around, I see the milky way, I hear the whoosh of a meteor fly by. I nibble the silky strands of starshine, tasting the lingering sweetness of dreams. Closing my eyes, I breathe in deep, the scent of space so clean. Peeking once more, I grin, as the man in the moon smiles at me and I feel his glee so I tickle him.
4. The sounds of the universe send blue waves trickling through, tasting of the ocean, the colours true.
5. Coming back to the Earth, I revel in the blessing that Mother Nature provides.
6. You know, maybe I won’t have a cow….I think it will be a duck. Ducks are more fun and they waddle.
7. Now that I think about it, ducks do not waddle…they paddle as they swim in the water so maybe I will just be a mermaid.
8. To be honest, I know diddlysquat about mermaids, but I can learn!
9. As the mermaid swims, they stir up the currents in the water and create hurricanes! I learned something new, but….is it true?
10. Behind me, I hear a four year old screaming “Poo poo! Poo poo!” A six year old replies, and I can hear his eye roll, “That’s a bad word! What the hell!?”
11. The logic of children befuddles me.
12. I shake my head, and my thoughts scatter through the world like random sparks.
13. I giggle and the moon changes colours like a rainbow.
14. Dee was amused by it all.
15. I shuffle my feet, walking towards the dawn, knowing my words will reach many eyes.
16. The gregarious clouds whiffle across the sky, flowing like rice in a bowl.
17. With a gentle demeanor I strike out at a rock, kicking it and rolling it with my nose.
18. Je t’aime!
19. The rock replies that it loves me too.
20. The cow and the duck frolic through the milky way, swinging on stars and teasing the moon. I acknowledge my words might be from a mermaids mouth, but I’ll get a reaction real soon.

24 Hour Marathon Hour 3: A Tribute to Langston Hughes “The Lesson of Night”

I will carry my dreams
wherever they take me
for I know not where they go
in my desire for an unplanned flee

My dreams seem immortal
as they taunt and scold
Yet laughter’s breath is not far away
as I shiver in the sunless cold

All those tragic heroes
rendered useless by fate
send to me a message
that opens heaven’s gate

Life seems futile
I, like a finless salmon
swimming hopelessly upstream
leading to famine

The fields of dreams so dreary
like the shadowy moors
and spine-chilling shriek of wolves
that only fantasy endures

They keep coming back
as if I will never hold there say
but now I join them
with the woolgathers of the day

hour 3 image prompt: swirling

Swirling

Concentric circles, I look down
upon my contemplative self
lonely? – never

serial scripts, scenarios, sequential senses,
syntagmatic semantics, seriously slither sideways,
sister singer sirens, siting in shared silence
sustaining splendent sanctity, strength and love.

Dinner with Death

His chewing was the sound of tires on gravel
Shattering the crystal on the table
Speaking through the chewing,
Sending shards of breadcrumbs
And spittle like shrapnel on his guests
The choked sounds of mumbling
Through the sucking of the oysters
Gluttony spilled down his chin
And onto his suit
The arrogant James Bond villain sits
In the open air dining hall
Overlooking The Riviera
Demanding respect through the demonstration
Of elegance and grace
Not to be ignored
A demonstration of violence with food
Scaring them into submission
A blatant display of vulgar passion
For the macabre
He leads Susan to her doom
Perhaps to be the next course

Poking the Bear

She rests

supported by a wooden chair

unable to leave the circle

Knowing full well

The lie that lured her

to this spot

Reading the note tapped to the chair

Congratulations you’re still alive

Hour 3 image prompt – An Isolation

Perhaps merely lonely

The griefling sought out like

Perhaps merely lonely

They stole a yellow bike

Perhaps merely lonely

They hid in a dark alley

Perhaps merely lonely

They set a monster free

Perhaps merely lonely

The monster ran amok

Perhaps merely lonely

And by a car was struck

Perhaps merely lonely

The griefling cried and cried

Perhaps merely lonely

It hid again and lied

Definitely not lonely

Just alone within its home

Definitely not lonely

Just fearful on its own

Definitely not lonely

Just locked inside a jar

Definitely not lonely

An Isolation forevermore

 

The Stillness Inside (Hour 3)

These lights shine,
too bright for my eyes.
I shut the outer ones,
switch on the ones, inside.

This world is different,
no rush,
nothing gets crushed.

Here time is our own,
I build my sweet home,
or discover the one here,
Deep within,
with lights of its own,
taking me into unknown.