24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
Loving toads the way I do
May seem a bit disturbed
Warts and all I love these guys
They’re smart haven’t you heard
Nightcrawlers are about the best
Long and soft and wiggly round
Keep several in my cold fridge
Hoping fishing pole is found
Ladybugs will come and go
I’ll never sweep them out
Promises my wish comes true
I’m sure without a doubt
Little critters can be good pals
Please keep them far from harm
Be careful when you move about
They could be your lucky charm
Alternative
My dreams of late transport me
to both a different place and time.
I am a child once more, though
my legs are broken, and I travel by
means of wings.
I twist the muscles between
my shoulder blades
just so to unlock them.
Majestically, they rise from my back,
and I join flocks like myself
wheeling across the sky, and suddenly
my broken body matters no more.
Keyboard and computer.
My fatigue a palpable reality.
I don’t feel like writing.
Sleep.
Yesterday’s latte petroglyph
inside the rim beg for a sip
from a fresh cup.
Sleep.
Two notebooks, one for work
the other for wishes,
though both drift together.
Sleep.
What happened to ButterBeauty?
I think a mouse, perhaps
under the couch.
Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.
I do not want illusions in my life!
Is it crystal clear? I need certainty!
What do you need? Is it me
you are looking for? For sure?
Upon the turn of the century
We (I) beseech my nation
to redact our previous laws
to protect the population (fundamentalists)
These laws allow too much leeway (freedom)
to the people (masses) causing chaos (rebellion)
So in that regard we will redact (takeaway)
particular laws allowing women to make choices (rights)
When I was a young man
hey ho my love did bloom
the world my oyster pan
but lo, my heart wa laughter’s own
When I was an eager man
hey ho my love did bloom
to places of rejoicing I ran
but lo, my heart wa laughter’s own
When I was a conceited man
hey ho my love did bloom
oblivious to the rule of clan
but lo, my heart was laughter’s own
When I was a clowning man
hey ho my love did bloom
rejecting any thoughtful plan
but lo, my heart was laughter’s own
When I was a less younger man
hey ho, my love did bloom
and how I’m here, so glad to stand
and lo, my heart is laughter’s own
Running to escape.
I am hiding to catch myself.
In a dream, I am my own enemy,
I am my own defenses, curses and weaknesses,
I am the monster under my bed.
My eyes turn red when I see myself in the mirror.
Am I you? Who are you?
Are my human self? Or somebody else’s doppelganger
Acting like me in my head.
No responses, just silence.
A clutch on my chest,
I don’t remember the rest.
You appeared behind my back,
Am I under attack?
By a monster who looks like me?
Or I am the monster? How this supposed to be?
I am no monster, I know.
But who are you?
Who am I?
Between us, who is the monster?
Your eyes are way darker,
You’re a lie from the sky.
You’re an abomination.
Created by my Imagination,
Maybe a thing in my head,
Or a reality instead.
So, I kept running,
Catching my breath still,
As I heard you speaks.
Keep running.
Text Prompt
Write a poem that starts and ends with the word running.
#POETRYMARATHON2023 #HOUR21 #24HRSCATEGORY
this is not the prompt i was looking for
almost every poem I’ve written
over the past 22.5 hours
has been in a world not this one
as I continue to flesh out
my Young Adult Novel in Verse
manuscript Dropped the Sky —
a beyond dystopian alternearth
where seemingly 99.9% of earth’s
biomass has been exterminated
converted to fine orange dust
via an invasion force of intergalactic
end-of-lease style AI/cyborg crustaceans
& follows teenaged survivors
Stella & Ryan as they seek ways
on how to stay alive
that said it seems fair
I write this poem about me
… in this world as an inverse
to the prompt above — given
every previous prompt today
I’ve endeavoured to filter
through Ryan or Stella’s eyes
— even if it’s not okay
… I’m too tired to care 🤩
The purple sun rose in the distance, a mere speck
On the horizon, the air was a misty rose colour.
The mountains black rose in the distance there
shadows covered half the planet.
My mask was firm, the tank heavy, my body weak.
I watched the sky turn from red to purple The
ground was dry beneath my feet water no longer
exists, and l am dying maybe today, tomorrow .
The last sunrise watched from this planet.