The Poetry Marathon

(Hour 10) 07.30-08.30am. VISUAL PROMPT: looking up at a couple touching foreheads from below

chins +

it’s a long time : since i’ve thought about : being 7 : if i ever did : when i was 7 : i think i just was : no thinking required : but today i gained insight : into how the boy : ( we really do : need to work out : a name for him : sooner ) must feel about : his spooky upside down : new world

while kneeling : to retie : one of his laces : again : despite my best : double knots : they’re repeatedly coming undone : Stella & Rueben had one of their : allegedly harmless : disagreements : on which is the better film : Frozen : or : Tangled : my opinion : neither sought : nor given : following my (again “allegedly”) unhelpful remarks : in earlier iterations : of this oft-repeated argument : despite : the answer : obviously being : The Lion King : (original version) : i saw what the boy sees : a forest of strangers’ chins : & up-inside-nostrils : & long-way-off-faces : looking alarmed : alert : & apprehensive : all at once

so while we are : essentially : all looking skywards : anxious of AI pods : & drones : & god knows what : other death-dealing : monstrosities : he’s doing that too : plus with chins : & pimples : & boofheads : & meaningless arguments : about Disney : blocking much of the view 

Wordle

Every night at midnight

i play wordle. I’m at 100% on

a 65 day streak!

I lost my old score when i

upgraded to a new phone.

there’s something about this game,

I can’t leave it alone.
sometimes I get the answer

on try three. Mostly try four.
only once have I done it

on the first line.
wordle is quite fine.

do you have a favorite five

letter word?

jaded or shark? Snake or faked?

scoop or baked?

Scrap or harry?

bitch or scary?

the list goes on and on.
so it’s almost time to play

guess I’ll bid you a fond adieu!

 

 

 

 

Prompt 10, hour 10_ Go to the sloths you sluggard.

Go to the sloth you sluggers, consider it’s ways and be wise.

To build a tomorrow , bright and filled with wealth,

Follow Ben the three toed sloth!

Ben is just the poster child for the cliché that said “the early bird catches the worm”.

For Ben, day is just as good as night, 24 hours almost not enough, for Ben never sleeps  till his work is done.

20 hours he works only 4 he sleeps, Ben never sleeps till his work is done.

If hard work is your aim and discipline your goal,

By all means follow Ben I say.

I indeed had a friend , a writer by craft, who couldn’t sit down to write.

He had ideas worth 10 thrillers, but the pitfall is this

How to sit down and just keep at it.

But on bright good Friday , the god of fortune gave him a kiss.

Right smack on the lips he confessed.

He met Ben the hard worker, yes that very Ben and to this day 10 thrillers he wrote.

I do hope that these few lines of mine convinced you,

You can’t do better than a slot for hard work.

Hour 10

Quack quack! – said the polar bear

Where can I find some tuna?

I saved up for the airfare,

but where’s Santa Apolónia?

A Knight’s Promise

There is much yet to explore
Vast expansions of the beyond
Somewhere it is out there, what I am looking for
My enemies are at every turn, still I push on

All around me I see a void
Where blocks of time stood still
I stand in the midst of the destroyed
Gazing upon what once was real

I have found no other dream so near
As I stand beside myself and see
After it all the reasons are still unclear
Why my dreams have fallen beside me

I see all around me there is nothing
Nothing that can consume me so
So much that I feel the passion it brings
Brought by the only passion I know

To fight as a warrior has become all I know
I shall remember I have given my word
I will search until I find her soul
Then shall her captor fall by the edge of my sword

Hour 3

Duet Tangle

A duet of cellos
A rumble of dueling attitudes
Snark and reverberation
A conversation of tea and formality
Each side plays a tune of proper
And I was in the corner
Pretending not to overhear

Hour 10 visual prompt – (Haiku)

You Get ME

Heads, hands together.
Melding in perfect union.
I know I am seen.

Forgiveness (Hour #10)

The sky darkens, thunder claps,

Eyes glares, words are sharp;

There is tension in the air.

 

Gasping for breath in the ocean seems comfortable,

Lying in a pool of blood in the highway seems secure,

Struggling dangling from the ceiling seems enjoyable,

Choking with pills on the bedroom floor seems good enough,

Foaming from a syringe in the bathtub seems likeable.

 

Hate decends and makes its way;

Splitting siblings,

Splitting friends,

Splitting couples,

Splitting families,

Splitting people.

 

The sky is gloomy while danger looms,

Triggers go off and fingers keep pointing;

There is tension in the air.

 

Dissapearing off the face of the earth seems advisable,

Running away from home seems approachable,

Revolting and striking back seems agreeable,

Poisoning them all seems good enough,

 

Talking things through seems hard; forgiving even harder,

But it is what is best.

 

 

Curious–Hour 10

1.

At work one evening

a white shape beneath green foliage

caught my eye

across the street

at the edge of the golf course

I crossed over

to investigate

I pushed aside greenery

to find a pile of quicklime

with a deer skull sticking out of it

no doubt someone’s scheme

for subduing the stink of a carcass

Why not encase the dead deer

rather than remove it?

I stood with my hands behind my back

leaning in

wondering at this sculpture

white skull protruding

from white hardened material

and I recalled Michelangelo’s idea:

I did not sculpt a deer

rather I removed the stone that was not deer

 

2.

As I approached work in my car

a white shape against green foliage

caught my eye

I noticed the white cattle egret

standing on the grassy shoulder

across the street

wings behind its back

leaning in

investigating a roadside cross

that had been erected

in memory of a young woman

who’d been killed by a truck there

There was much to examine:

flowers and photos

and poems and remembrances

and trinkets

The egret remained there

focused

in position

as I drove past

 

Hour 10 – Love (Haiku)

Hour 10 – Love (Haiku)

 

No matter your race,

religion, culture or sex,

love should always win

 

Two hearts together,

neither one will be perfect,

as one, love prevails

 

This world is cruel

loving with our hearts will help

heal, meaning Loves wins