24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
20
Age of Retirement
I am learning
the new routine
of the age of retirement
I shuffle old paper
The new routine
of digging into my past
I shuffle old paper
keep new at bay
The new routine
of no routine is scary
keep new at bay
there is still work
No routine is scary
in the age of retirement
there is still work
I am learning
Sit down early morning
quiet time to write
Words fill my mind
fingers poised to type
“Mommy, I’m hungry!”
Words erased from memory
computer goes to sleep
time to take care of
all my little peeps
Breakfast is over
dishes are done
Slip back behind my computer
sign in all again
Fingers poised again
remembering the words
Story reforms in my mind
a few strikes of the keys
Interrupted again
doggie pushing against my leg
Whining to go out
put computer to sleep again
Doggie duty done
sun high up in the sky
Sitting down to open
my computer once again
Bells and whistles finished
all passwords entered well
Here comes my muse again
the story starts to swell
Telephone is ringing
breaks my writers spell
My oldest has a fever
have to drive to school right now
Doctor office, lab results
to the pharmacy we head
Go home and tuck her into bed
it’s back to work I finally go
18
Two Crows
Today’s walk outside
I watched two crows.
They hold good luck
so as I watch them dance
I hope they don’t leave me
without luck
on a day where I need
what I gather.
A World That Is Not This One
Okay. I’m on a roll.
I want to live, at last, in a
world that is not this one.
A world where truth prevails
and justice rains down like water,
to quote Dr. King. I want Biden
to be respected for the decent man
he is. For grieving with families
not unlike his own, and also totally
different from his own. I want the
tall Trump kid to hear an apology
from his father for using him as
a joke. A political joke. And finally,
I want an inauguration to beat all
Inaugurations. I want our rightful
President to take office, with Biden
As her vice, just because he deserves
the respect, but he also deserves a
bit of a rest. So let her take it from here,
Madame President, Hillary, we play
hail to you, hail to the priestess.
Now do all you’ve ever dreamed.
Fix health care, justice everywhere, and oh yes, Putin’s wagon.
Fix Putin’s wagon.
Running round and round in circles meeting all the needs and wants and things she never can succeed
Years of running pass with more needs unmet as time elapsed never can she succeed
Surrender came when she believed that hers were all the needs to heed nevermore would she be running
I live in a world where everything is a maze
The windows are all crooked
And lined up like offbeat stepping stones.
A lone tree guards the front
Tall and spindly, but proud.
My elusive dreams
Stay funky*
Even in the hours of dream
I am staid,
proper, afraid of what
is outside of my zone of solitude.
I wish I was edgy but manage
just a snitch of snark.
Earth to Asgard**
If the gods are crazy what does that make humans that became sheep to follow blindly becoming humans that leap
or maybe not leap into the category of lunacy?
Don’t play with shadows***
Come in it’s dark.
I’m tired I flirt with the night
in my pretend goth stage
but
my body lies
my cicadia rhythm
that’s inside me
leaving before the twilight ends
and the shadows of deep night
overwhelms the space of my safety.
Nocturne****
Soon my night move is a nocturne lullaby
suited just for me
and a soft dip into pages
before slumber
Inspired by
*Photo by Clark van der Beken
**Earth to Azgard Partick Doyle
***Playing with shadows David Franklin
****Nocturne Jiang Xiao Qing
All music instrumental
“Spacey Stanzas”
I’m not of this place
I haul from different times
shifting, dimensional space
where we all use rhymes
in a word race
In a world
all our own
we poets of the night
sharing stories, secrets
community through verse
I’ve always enjoyed
Playing at being something else
Different people
Different things
It’s easier
To steal other qualities
Than it is
To use my own
So naturally
How different is it
Under hot stage lights?