Prompt #21
Running
scared, scarred beyond
recognition, the old dog
weaves miraculously through
the traffic to the other
side of the road.
Only then do I realize
I have been holding my breath
and come to a complete stop,
engine running.
23~7
when lovers leave
sometimes you cry
(but you don’t know why)
you cried before they left
they see you cry
when lovers leave
they do not care
running away so happily
you watch them go
reaching out
when lovers leave
your hand alone floating
sometimes you sigh
(but you don’t know why)
you feel so relieved
when lovers leave
21 Keep the Running
Running a marathon,
poems—not miles–
watch out for the potholes,
the detours,
and dogs—yes, dogs too;
vicious little yappers,
ankle nipping
confidence grabbers,
that tell you you’re not gonna make it through–
Listen, this is what you are gonna do:
Grab that pen, and high jump for the sky;
Paper stamped, and flying by,
and when the 24 have turned,
Wear your ‘I did it!’ button
that you’ve earned.
Just. Keep. Running.
Running Almost Empty
Running almost empty
forgot my password
panicked need to finish
then I remembered it
wrote a poem so quick
so not to forget it
like my energy time is running
Runner’s High-Hour Twenty-One
Running, running, sprinting down the street,
feeling feet thud pavement, arms as I swing,
chest tightening, sweat slipping as I press on,
stretching for the end in sight, the finish line,
but even when my legs should stop my heart keeps running.
Hour 21, Poem 27
Running through the empty streets
On dark streets in empty night
Silence surrounds me like a shroud
Nothing to see, just my own dissipating breath
I can only hear my own life signs
Waiting for them to fade away
But in the darkness, something shines
As the cloud shifts to reveal
The stars and the moonlight
And just the view of that round sky rock
Dark in itself but still reflecting light
Has me stopping and just staring
The halo around the moon reminding me
Of something long forgotten,
A promise that makes me move again
And this time its not the darkness I see
This time it’s the gentle moonlight comforting me
As I, towards a new tomorrow, take off running.
HR-8 (not exactly a text prompt)
On this solemn night
Awake with my thoughts
Alone in them all, sadly
Tearing my soul to pieces
Ripping away the heartache
Waiting to just feel whole again
Hour 21- The River
Running water in the river
Expanded by the mountain melt
Swiftly flowing, sometimes growing
This year, its shrinking can be felt.
In summer people ride the river
Floats and kayaks do abound
Surfing, swimming, joy that’s brimming
Peace on the water can be found.
Folks enjoy the rivers charms
Cold water, yet they’re sunning
The crisp and clear, the water here
Never still, always running.
2023 Full Marathon: Hour 21
Listening to the music you left behind is like
trying to send letters to a stranger in a house
that won’t be built for centuries and there is
something to be said for the level of tenacity
or pure dedication coursing through veins that
won’t even begin to form for an eternity – literally.
There is a sense of familiarity that cannot be
rationally explained and there is still a
certain mystery no level of science or
understanding will ever be able to decode.
And I would like to be clear – I did not
sign up for a decade of picking up pieces
of a puzzle I never even liked in the first place.
I think I love your ghost more than I ever
even registered you. And maybe there’s
something to be said for the choices being
made between wishing
the hummingbirds forever to
sparkle and sanity in a single human being
bound to the limitations of flesh.
Do not get confused – every moment
is a choice and I have made just as many
good ones as poor in my quarter-life musing –
I just know that the showing up will
outweigh any “mistake” that never
morphed into full-fledged lesson.
EVEN YOU.
-M. Rene’
Hour 21 – Words, a treochair
labels hard
lamentably, they are also
useful, amass them unbarred
Mad, enby
LGBTQIA
ADHPTSD
alphabet
soup and it’s actually
the abbreviated set