The Poetry Marathon

Hour 4: Neon lit nothingness

years and years later,

a neon lit cheerful

looking museum enshrines,

 memories- silver and black faded 

photos of human faces;

preserved in their emotional intensity.

a careful study for all to 

observe and consume.

purple flowing rivers,

black dahlias blooming in crystals,

simulated fifth dimensional

bird sounds,

pink and blue mynahs,

the perfect preserved habitat

with orange horned elephants and pink flappy penguins.

“Ahh! perfect nostalgic times,

we captured it exactly as it was.”

rue the other worldly spectators

 

as the little black-silver faces and smiles

fade further and further…

into the neon nothingness.

 

 

12 Ways of Looking at Birds

IV.

Dreaming in birdsong

dreaming in birdsong to learn the tune

Did the birds teach us to sing

around ancient fires –

 

our first grounded

gutural utterances –

elevated.

 

Infinite

Photos in a frame
Memories of a life well lived
Our parents looked like you and I
Momma was bright eyed in white at nineteen.
You take my hand and tell me we will be fine.
I’m alive in my party dress tonight.
One sip just watch the distress melt away.
Because tonight we are infinite
You and I are too young to die
It’s a magical time
Let’s just have the time of our life
The war is only alive in the memories in our mind.
You and I are on top of the world tonight.
Don’t cry, you and I are infinite tonight

Bambi

Soft yet outspoken.

Demure yet dangerous.

Cultured and Clever.

Kind yet curt.

Frank but not ever fiction.

Confident and curious.

Humble yet Honest.

Solid yet flexible.

Poem 4. 1922

Cooing Cooing, he
died last year from that bad flu.
Church says I need to
marry again, but I have
vegetables growing

fruit trees bursting out,
a hog, goats, chickens and eggs,
a roof and a floor
and milk for my two babies.

I barter for the
field work and the heavy work.
Mama does the laundry.
Ruth in the Old Testiment
did it. I will do it, too.

Cooing Cooing dove
in the kitchen rafters say
Love is just a hard
day’s work for the right reasons.
He died last year, but I lived.

Lasciviousness (Valkyrie) hour 5

Lasciviousness (Valkyrie)

My body betrays me as I succumb to carnality,
Your touch renders all hope futile, oozing sensuality,
Driving into me, drenched with turgid salaciousness,
I surrender entirely to viciously intrusive licentiousness.

Tongue and hands accompany your lecherous symphony,
A masterpiece sordid with blood tarnished melody,
Ever meeting my lips through passion’s rhapsody,
Until I can no longer thwart the inevitable crescendo’s entropy.

I am your Venus de Milo, sculpted living art,
Prize possession to own and survey,
But my mind remains stealthy, not so my heart,
As its shadow still wishes to obey.

As we lay naked, imbibing stale residue,
I make my plea to his ear,
Prosthetics to give further loving to you,
My hand continues to flatter his gear.

Hour 4

Clank! It feels dark

In the summer heat

Clank! There’s so much space

In this tiny tearoom

Clank! We are people

In this sea of uniform machines

Clank! Freedom can be

a violent desire

Clank! When we are trapped

Inside a blank screen

Nature’s Symphony (2022)

The thundering sound of wind
As it rushes past me
The “sh, sh, sh” of the trees
As their branches sway
Rays of warmth and light
Dancing across my skin
The chirping and clicking
Of crawling insects
The sweet pitches of birdsongs
High up in the boughs
The chittering of critters
Scurrying about
I close my eyes
Breathing in the smells
My heart beating in time
Allow myself to melt into
The din of life around me
I’m part of the symphony now, too.

Friendship bracelet

I wandered deep into the only living forest to find this —a narrow rusty box

that, in the glare of the sun,

revealed a

List of Friends

a scroll of photos

hearts and smiles

Are these my earthly ancestors?

my nubile antecedents who

Talked of space travel

and equated Hell with Planet Venus

(a heart frozen over)

I wonder if they’ll like it here:

my own dwarf planet, where I can

fly with diaphanous wings

That fold into origami fins and scales

that let me dive into my

oceanic haven.

alternating between flight

And

Blue Fury

i

Yearn for

Moss

Autumn

The chorus of trees

The flurry of bees

I want to know if those

Strange creatures called

Birds

are indeed

the great great grandparents of my

Pterodactyl

War Torn

Looking back a hundred years

At 2025

It’s crazy to imagine

How it felt to be alive

 

Walking through these city streets

That used to be so grand

Now tattered picket signs

And ashes cover up the land

 

The Women’s War they called it

The War of Bleeding Hearts

The War of Fuck Around & Find Out

How a country falls apart

 

Can you imagine all the people

Screaming Fuck the Supreme Court

Marching through the city streets

Showing their support

 

Imagine how it felt

To watch that city fall

The first of many battles

The reckoning it caused

 

I know the streets are empty now

But just imagine, can’t you see?

Thousands lined up arm in arm

Demanding to be free

 

The Women’s War they called it

The War of Roe v. Wade

The War of Fuck Around & Find Out

What a Goddamn mess you made

 

The Women’s War they called it

The War of Bitch, You Thought

The War that even in a million years

Won’t be forgot