24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
Grown ups chuckle with delight
Until we can barely breathe
Worries left outside our door
Brought into the present with a snap
Elders guffaw in shared surprise
Until ribs are sore and aching
Memories of best loved times
Complaints are all forgotten
Babies chortle gleefully
Until their belly hurts
Smiles appear on all who hear
Happiness, a beautiful contagion
(Prompt: Write a poem about laughter without ever using the words, laugh, laughter, or giggle.)
An ex once told me
I looked like Santa with
my belly shaking
and it embarrassed her.
That took the grin
right off my face
and put me in my place.
Hour 11, Prompt 11
(the twisted tree image)
Entwined
(this one is by the character Nigel Taiman from my world of Onweald)
I might have forgotten this day to mention
when the first sun spread
dawn’s pale blue across our bed
how perfectly you are an extension
of the soul of me
Gods placed and planted our roots side by side
to grow to embracing
perfection enlacing
supporting, holding your form alongside
close against the soul of me
It is the joy of my life to rise with you
and succumb to the breeze
tangling branches to appease
those entwined and wet with dew
out of the soul of me
It lingers in its longing.
So distant yet so close in
any circumstance.
You think about it constantly;
is it your salvation or just another false prophecy?
Has it been your calling all along or merely a last resort?
You need to consider,
analyze
as thoroughly as possible
in order to keep your regrets from consuming you whole.
It’s never easy nor do we expect it to be
but perhaps we owe it to ourselves to see it through
come hell or high water.
This was not the plan
How could it be?
For you to be there with him
and for me to again be alone
You were never committed to this
that is clear to me now
This was our problem
How do you not see that?
But you were not willing to fight
for this relationship, for my love
You were meant to be my last chance
at building something real
This is our end then
How do we move on from this?
Clearly you no longer care
how much you leaving me for him hurts
You were supposed to be the one
who would fix me
I saw the tortoise
Running so fast
To meet up an appointment
With the Chief of Army Staff.
Yes I saw him, I mean the tortoise
Talking to himself
And running to meet the Chief…
Licked by a toad
Look around your nest and see if the coast is clear.
I hear a bullfrog croak and that I know for sure.
Cautious if you are alone, I would not go outdoors
Kindly, hang out, wait for my sign and stay here.
Everyone knows they are found here this time of year.
Do have them lick you if you’re wishing for a cure.
But, look around your nest and see if the coast is clear.
You may hear a bullfrog croak and then you’ll know for sure.
Also, Charlie be careful and try to swallow your fear.
To the shadows with others who can not yet soar.
Oh, like a boat to a rudder and a sea to a shore.
Almost made it to half a year, grab the tiller and steer.
Do look around your nest and see if the coast is clear.
Hour eleven, 7pm
Licked by a Toad
(form Acrostic/ Rondel)
Charlie the Mayfly.
v.j.calone
We sit side-by-side on the bleachers on our street
It’s been a long school term so we fill each other in
I tell you about the boy I like
“Our first kiss was like magic
It wasn’t quick or like the marriage of lips by amateurs
It was heaven and sugar and bliss
I chuckled after in high clouds
but a teacher saw us the whole time”
I tell you how my mother beat me blue-black
I raise my skirt to show you the proof of my stupidity brandished on my thigh
you guffaw and quake to the ground
I cannot help it, I cackle along
My story takes a back seat to yours
you failed math again so you would be back to my public school
with a loud roar I collapse beside you
we are going to make a bad pair at school
Hour Eleven: Old Tree
Limbs tangled, twisting, entwining each other,
like children playing Twister
or the perfect Eagle pose
centuries of wind sweeping across the desert
nudging the winding of supple bark
now hardened into wizened shape.
The tree barely leaves
yet stands even now
bending only to the wind.