24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
running problems
i.
Running
From a lion-sized
Yawn I’m caught
Exhausted keeping
This misfit mishmash
Of survivors running
ii.
Running argument
With Ryan ongoing
Never resolved
& as for this year’s
Nobel Prize nomination
Definitely out of the running
iii.
Running nose
Dribbling onto a shirt
Worn 9 days running
soft landing
this rough and tumble
of life’s path
Running scared
running low
running into
running next to
running two for one
running away
running over
running under
running a meeting
running against
running out
running on borrowed time
and just plain running
Running away from
Is more important than
Where you’re running to
The danger may be behind
But you can’t run faster
While looking back
Just recall every slasher victim
Who fell while they did
A man can beat a horse
From a standing start
Over short distances
I don’t have to be faster
Than a lion
Just faster than you
If you run far enough
You’ll end up where you started
And probably die tired
The race isn’t always to the swift
But that’s the way to bet
And even a determined tortoise
Can beat a lazy hare
If he just keeps running.
Running
Up the stairs,
Along corridors,
Along the beach,
Down the street
Over the bridge
Down the stairs
Running
Physiology
Our prehistoric brethren
knew it was time for bed
when the eldest pack member
began to yawn, setting off a string
of other yawns, as empathy
within a well-matched pack
demands we yawn as well.
Yawns cool our big, overheated
brains and set the stage for deep
sleep once again. We must receive
deep sleep in order to wash our brains
clean of daily waste, cerebro-spinal
fluid clearing away the sludge
our brains produce each day.
i’m never going to see the future
i wish i could
even if i couldn’t participate
i wish i could
to see if we propel past petty squabbles
i wish i could
to see the end of time
i wish i could
to see the inevitable collapse of the universe
i wish i could
to see the “explosion” of a new one
i wish i could
71 years old
First time being on the mainland in 13 years
First time in Nebraska
First time meeting some of my wife’s relatives
What seizes my attention?
That’s a rabbit!
A squirrel!
A SPOON A DAY
The colours of the rainbow
Can be found in our food,
How can anything in life
Ever taste so good?
So many cuisines in the world
The delicacy of each can never be verbally told
Food is made special by the cook,
This can never be taught in a book.
Food is sometimes spicy
And sometimes sweet
Some like it to be cooked with vegetables
And some like to be cooked with chicken and meat
The farmers toil day and night in the field
To provide us with crops which protect us like a shield
Never waste food, given to us by the Lord,
It is like cutting our own heads with a sword
BY SHREYA SURAJ
running, that’s how they
name the hot
loo breeze
as it sweeps
over
the land
the desert sand
shimmers
like the
skin of one
running