24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
the sunflowers are struggling
I forgot them
left them to the summer solstice
dirt as hard & dry as hot pavement
now they drink greedily
water I should have poured
days ago sluices over roots
they soak it up
tall aging ladies
guzzling bubbly from pink wineglasses
picking over cheese & crackers
talking of oak and tannin
the sunflowers are silent
their wilted leaves hang
the spaces between leaf and stem
empty
thirsty
waiting
Broken Windows Policing
Chairs are filled
at a table of under qualified
applicants,
Poor training—
and we wonder why there’s no change?
Flawed from the start,
the old system
is still upheld today.
How many more witnesses
are needed
for us to do better?
To find a solution—
I joined the problem,
adopt policy changes,
ensure I practice and cross examine myself.
One day I’ll only hire people with no desire for broken windows.
There is space
in my born family of origin
Entitlement overshadows
the importance of generational heirlooms
knitted in one long thread
are stories
so old if shared we could use them as a knitting tool
to count back to generations
forgotten
To nail something down
I would not be able
to see or know
otherwise
In my family
there are no sunflowers
no pavement markings
just the presence of well drained soils
Counting breaths like waves
Crashing lips over my dunes
A fluttered memory,
Full moons like our hips breaking
seaside to our ecstasy.
Norma asked me to write some lines
About a nursery flower
She sent in a website photo
She believes I have the power
To write a poem any time, so:
Walking along one day, I see
A fragrant flower with a bee
Both hang low from an old oak tree
Why do flowers dance in rain
Without fear or worry
They never bother with umbrellas
A walk in the garden
Blooms, petals, color galore
So much greenery
Of flora that we adore
Why can’t we have even more?
V.
Let me recount my multi-colored, full-throated, feathered brood:
Chickadee, House Sparrow, Junco, Jay
Nuthatch, Robin
Purple Finch, Gold Finch,
Ruby Throated Hummingbird, Crow
Red Winged Black Bird, Tree Swallow
Downey Woodpecker, Snowy Woodpecker,
Mourning Dove, Cedar Waxwing, Cardinal
And not least of these –
RAVEN
.
An Evening of Wine and Cheese (Poetry Marathon 2022 Hour 5)
An evening with you
Where we can share
My favorite white wine
With a faint scent of oak
If the proper wine glass
Is given room to breathe
And your favorite yellow cheddar cheese
Since I’ve known you
You’ve always loved
Yellow cheese
I think you have a thing for yellow
Though you never mention yellow
As your favorite color
Maybe yellow just goes with your smile
I noticed you have changed your nail polish
You used to be so careful to use either clear or pink
But now you have decided
To use the yellow of sunflower
I guess to match your slice of cheese
As you lift it delicately
We have a few glasses
The space between us
Filled with silence narrows
Before we ate we spoke about our days
And how hard it has become to beat the pavement
You reminisced about how your mother
Would spend the night
Watching tv and knitting
But you and I are beyond that
Now that we have settled in
And put the day behind us
We have no need
In our dialogue for words
We communicate
As all lovers do
Without the need for verbal communication
We use our other senses
Our defenses our so far down
That any disturbance
Will destroy the fragility of existence
In this moment
We can talk later
About sunflowers
And the yellow roses
I bought for you
On my way over
Pick 5 words from the list in the prompt:
space, wine glass, pavement, sunflower, oak
In the space,
between the pavement
and the bomb-levelled home,
the oak tree clung to life,
its limbs splintered
by shrapnel.
Beside it a solitary sunflower
its face bent in sorrow
looked down at a wine glass,
shattered.
Nature grieves for us,
yet hopes
for an end to war.
IMAGE: Sunflower copyright Wendie Donabie
Another prompt from I am Incomplete without you – which is honestly one of my favorite prompt books ever and is probably the most valuable thing I’ve ever invested in.
Your Name is _________ and you are important.
Your name is ______ and you are valued and needed here.
Your name is ________ and you have completed me.
Poem 5:
Your name is Strawberry and you are important.
We got drunk on wine and midnight as poetry
seeped so freely from our veins and filled the room
together we let the world slip right on by for the sake
of artistry and togetherness. And you are important.
Your name is Polaris and you are valued and needed here.
Always guiding me towards a better version of myself
and the things I hope to share with the world for the
purpose of not only inspiration but pure unfiltered joy.
I cannot thank you enough, but I can continue to remind you
that you are indeed valued and needed here.
Your name is Poetry and you have completed me.
Encouraging me to continuously embrace everything
that has gone into shaping me and building up who
and what I am, reminding me that my voice is strong
needed and necessary, and that I too am important.
Your name is Poetry, we are one in the same and you
have completed me.
-M. Rene’
SincerelyBlueJay Poetry
It’s open to interpretation.
Becoming or going,
whether living is movement only
or something more discrete.
In every drop of water I see a face
In every empty space I see myself.
Wandering through purgatory alone
Because heaven and hell is other people.