The Poetry Marathon

Hour 8- Truth or Dare

“Truth or dare?”, they screamed at the top of their lungs,

I always picked ‘dare’ lifting my glass above the crowd.

Nothing could possibly hold me back, could it?
Always the life of the party, the centre of the hubbub,

Tendrils of energy blooming off of me to every lone soul here.

I’m game for anything and everything, any and every time,

Don’t hesitate to be the first of the lot to mark the path.

Why should this time be any different than the last,

For a tiger is true to its stripes and so will I always be.

As I stumbled around the place, absorbing the attention on me,

They screamed at the top of their lungs, “Truth or dare!”

I told you I’m game for anything and everything, any and every time,

No one doubted what it meant when I always chose ‘dare’,

That I didn’t have to lie and look them in their eyes.

So I had to take it when they all gave me the biggest of all dares,

What was I to do but stab him there?

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Note: This is a Gigan- which has 16 lines, consisting of a couplet, a tercet, 3 couplets, a tercet and another couplet. The 1st and 11th and the 6th and the 12th lines should repeat.

Tough going

In a storm out side of Kentucky

The phone rings louder than usual while this tornado passes over us freely

A space in one of the rooms

Comes in a horrible time stalling and stopping scary

Hardback poem book storytelling told by a friend out loud until it all go away

Mother still knitting her blankets at dawn in a hurry

Just for tiny toddler and adoption orphan homes in Avandia

Last sitting on a log sipping on grape white wine in a marble wineglass from 1976

In the country in a dry field of sunflowers

 

 

A Gigan Poem for my Gigantic Ideals

1 Nancy is such a day-dreamer.

2 and possibly a teacher and peacemaker.

 

3 She once came to school late, and instead of hurrying,

4 her sixth grade teacher  — and classmates — watched as she stopped

5 in the park across the street to watch a squirrel play.

 

6 She loves stories, imagining herself there

7 in short stories or novels, and with visuals on TV or film

 

8 Likable characters, of the present, or the past,

9 redeemable folks can draw her in.

 

10 especially late blooming heroes and saints.

11 Nancy is such a day-dreamer.

 

12  She loves stories, imagining herself there

13 applying what she read in stories

14 Like expecting Johnnie Tremain to be as brave as George Washington

 

15 Sometimes a real life friend, child, or sibling can gain confidence

16 from such idealistic expectations.  Sometimes just seek other advice.

 

By Nancy Ann Smith, Poetry Marathon, prompt #8,   June 25, 2022

 

 

Brainstorming

I’ve become obsessed with what went wrong
with our big brains, our pride and joy

how we lost more than we gained
when we learned how to dig up coal
and forgot all we had once revered

the plants, the bugs, the birds, the fish
the sun, the moon, the stars, the wish

everything going on its timeless course
was now just fodder for our mills

and ancient wisdom plowed under, too
I’ve become obsessed with what went wrong

the plants, the bugs, the good black earth
paved where forests had been felled
and waterways forced underground

let’s fix our eyes on our design flaws
and rediscover Mother Nature’s laws

My Own

The pretty white house on the back road

has a mixed up bunch of flowers

waving colors in the wind.

A blue here, a pink there

catching the sunlight.

I long for home,

my own place

to share.

now.

A Home Within

Searching for our house, your eyes gleamed when you saw this and decided we had found home: 
a sturdy dog house, surely strong enough for quite a gentle giant. 

You had visions for it, knowing exactly what you wanted.  
You brought in a poker table with leather top and side pockets for game chips, 
decorated with vintage posters from feather and boa days, a special chair for me. 

This shed made our home your castle, 
and your poker table provided escape, wealth, chance, and deeper connections to others. 

When friends suffered illness, you made it all the more accessible and comfortable; 
when each member lost a loved one, you created a space of listening among jokes and cigars. 

A treehouse in youth, a motorcycle in your adventure years, and now a den for fellowship, 
searching for our house, your eyes gleamed when you saw this and knew we had found home. 

This shed made our home your castle.
A favorite among all your friends, you created their haven for games and deepened friendships. 
It grew richer with each passing year, each joke and confidence, and a patina of smoke and tales.

Death transformed every aspect of our lives during the world-wide crisis, and friends moved or fell away. 
Yesterday a young man discovered your poker table as front lawn trash and seized it with bright eyes just like yours had been.

Hour 8

Thanks for your support,

All of my friends and non friends

Confetti, cheers to you!

Santiago

I want to walk the Camino

a trip long postponed by the pandemic

to practice I stroll the labyrinth at

Trinity Cathedral

and arrange for birds and deer

tiny plates of tapas —

nuts and seeds

as toppling cairns

What the _____ Man? Poetry Again? (Poetry Marathon 2022 – Hour 8)

What the _____ Man? Poetry Again? (Poetry Marathon 2022 – Hour 8)

People think that poetry as an art form has died
There is nothing left to say after you get rid of rhythm and rhyme

Stream of consciousness writing creating structural associations
That only the writer, if anyone, truly comprehends (TS Eliot tried to crawl
his way out of this conundrum or perhaps paradox)
Modernism, post modernism, surrealism, impressionism, expressionism
Abstract impressionism, abstract expressionism, realism, super realism
Deconstructionism

As analytic devices are fine to comment on other forms of art
But poetry by definition

Needs structure
As certainly maintained by anyone who has ever and only read Trees by Joyce Kilmer

What is poetry after all but words on a page
People think that poetry as an art form has died

As analytic devices are fine to comment on other forms of art
Are the words too hot to touch after prosody is cancelled (or should we say eliminated, or should we say no longer needed once writing was invented)
Have you ever tried to memorize ee cummings

TS Eliot had his comings and goings, and had his women coming and going (was
there a pun involved?)
Would he really have been happier living at the bottom of the sea?

My Mothers Prayer

Dear Lord in Heaven,

Please watch over my daughter

and her boyfriend, Trenton

as they go to work.

 

Please Lord,

Give them the strength

to get through the day

and

to face the battles that they may face today.

 

Be there for them when they need it.

Protect them from things that may want to harm them.

I thank you, Lord, for giving us another day to live.

We thank you, Lord, for all that you provide us.

Thank you.

Amen.