The Poetry Marathon

“Keep Running”

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

(Hour 23) 20.30pm-21.30pm. TEXT PROMPT: a world that is not this one

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 🤩

Hour 23

twelve cherry plum trees

sprouted from the mother roots

my mouth salivates

H23.P23

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.

 

 

 

 

 

(more…)

“Nice Place to Visit, Don’t Know I Want to Live There”

Hour Twenty-Three: Prompt: A Different World

Our three moons taking turns by staggering phasing leaves us both water -logged and amphibious.

Our Tagi (sphere of habitation) mambas with Yash (another inhabited sphere) we crossbreed with.

Our vafs (outer membranes) are green-plaided on both Tagi and Yash. This should keep us safe and equal,

Our antennae serve as (your eyes) All are a shimmering gold with red specks This should keep us safe and equal.

We only consume red flakes all the time, served only one way. This should keep us safe and equal.

There is one language, all pronunciations, give no hint of birth location, parental bias, no slang language is available.

We travel through triangulated trams to provide less friction on our wargs (your bottoms). Seating is first come, first served. This should keep us safe and healthy.

Our children have no other lives than to procreate.

Politicians are held accountable or become hewersbaa (too scary to describe, trust me) bait. This should keep us safe, healthy, and equal.

We’re almost there.DMW

Hour 23

Hallows eve

A moment never too soon

Undead awaken

Not a moment past twelve

Taunting the living

 

The angels and me

Could this be a dream or a nightmare?

Indescribable space with so much fortune

Was once breathing something like

the mixture of invisible odorless tasteless gases.

Could this be a private or public kingdom?

Perhaps this is the eternal kingship of God.

Everything is charming and sparkling

Not only the plants that are surrounding

But also the rivers that are pouring and gleaming.

 

Hour 22

Pepperoni

Italian

Zesty

Zooming

Aqua

“My 3:00AM Ritual”

 

Every weekend, before the world wakes up,

I grab my running shoes and head out for a jog.

In the University of The Philippines near my place,

It’s no race, I felt like grace,

And the feeling of being in a good place,

Starting my day right for the first time.

Silence, silence I can hear,

I am the only person in the oval running this hour.

No people around, something I prefer.

I love it here.

The world speaks to me like a friend,

I can hear it telling stories.

As If I am an old friend whom he sees once a week.

I don’t feel weak at all.

I gain power,

In this hour of total darkness

I see the first light of the world,

Sharing its blessed wisdom to me

Before I go on busking back

To my usual city state.

 

Text Prompt:

Write a poem about a routine or ritual that is part of your life. It can be something like making coffee every morning, or something like attending religious services once a week.

#POETRYMARATHON2023 #HOUR20 #24HRSCATEGORY

Hour 22 “Children Have Always Been Cruel…”

Hour 22

9/3/2023

 

“Children Have Always Been Cruel…”

 

Children have always been cruel – they haven’t yet learned their humanity or the “accepted” behaviors of their generational society.  After they HAVE “learned”, they BECOME that society and their current cruelties are accepted as the norm standard to be taught to the next children as the new standard of accepted behaviors.  The previous generations are left to experience the new “accepted” behaviors and contemplate the “failures” of the previous moralities that no longer seem to matter to anyone but themselves… and life goes on – til it doesn’t.

 

Chris

(C) Chris Twyford 9/3/2023