Hour 16
the ruminative silence of my reflection train window
Athletes village
Hour 9
Running swiftly and steadily
Almost 2 km left to reach school
5 km back and forth, daily
Has made their limbs stronger
The Panchayat is known for it’s contribution of athletes
There are no schools within the radius of 5 km
Every child has to travel far to reach school
Which has made them athletes before they even they know the meaning of an athlete
All the competition eliminated
Nobody can challenge these children
They don’t even need to practice
All they have done throughout their life is running
Hour Twenty-one: Running from Silence
Running her mouth off
Again, Chele knew compulsion
Drove her to fill the silence for
Empty silence would swallow her thoughts
Forcing her to savor the bitter taste of
Soured love and confront her dread of
Aloneness
Preferring to stay stagnant in
Love gone wrong
Choosing to rot in a killing place,
Chele talked of nothing so she could
Unhear silence urging her to start
Running
Hour 21: tanka
Get up, go to work,
I cannot do it for you,
Got to help yourself,
You cannot expect handouts,
Life is hard for everyone.
23~10
what is love?
a tiny kitten
giant meows
found by you
broken leg
snuggling you
such soft paws
fluffy tail
surrounds you
while you both sleep
your arms
gently entwine
her too
Hour 17
school project
mother’s broken bangles
in my Kaleidoscope
Hour Twenty-One: Running
Running into an old friend at the local coffee house,
we exchanged updates, what the kids are doing,
the old man’s work and music, jobs, and housing.
“Do you run any more?”
Marathons, half marathons, 10-k’s, 5-k’s, mud runs, fun runs,
I used to do them all, just because I could.
My knees held out, but my ankles caved from soccer, and
then I turned to a low-impact lifestyle.
“No, I stopped running a while back. I teach yoga now.”
And we chatted about the studio, my writing, teaching, volunteering,
return to school–only 100 hours left for my practicum–and the dogs,
cat, travels, certifications, and businesses.
“Wow! You’re so busy.
Even back then, you coached soccer, volunteered at school,
headed the art program, managed two club teams, ran a law office and
two kids to soccer games up and down the coast.
And then, didn’t you take your parents in?”
“I did. They lived with me for ten years before they died.”
And now, just the two of us, the cat, the dogs, and my ten jobs, in a two-bedroom
above my yoga studio, one of three businesses I run…
Busy-ness, so my therapists say, is a symptom of trauma.
I guess I’m still running.
#Prompt 21 – 2023
NOTE: Contains swearing.
Getting Old
Running days now over
They have been for a bit
I can’t even remember the last time
I subjected my body to all that sh*t
To be utterly honest
I was never that big a fan
If I saw the bus coming down the street
I’d wait for the next one was always a failsafe plan
The children used to keep me fit
Running about after them
But once that spread their wings and flew
I knew I’d never do it ever again
I’m more a couch potato these days
My lifestyle choice is cunning
I use my age and my advancing years
As the perfect excuse … to never again go running