Tuesday, April 27, 2021

April Poetry Challenge 2021: Day Eight


 

Day 8 Prompt: Metaphor

Form: Free Verse


“Winter Coat”


Early April day

    Forecast calls for sun

        And 78 degrees

But I am taking my winter coat off the hanger

It is dark blue

     Thick with grey fur you can see alone the edges of the collar

    and the cuffs

I grunt at the weight as I fling it behind me

    Frustration swells as my left hand blindly searches for the sleeve

    My heart calms as I feel the lining meet my arm

        A sense of comforting despair encloses me while 

I shimmy the coat until it fits on my shoulders

    Like an old friend

        Who you know tells your secrets

            But no one else picks up the phone

when you call late at night

The sun is bright

    as I open the door to the day

I stuff my hands into the pockets

    That feel as deep as the Mariana Trench

    I have lost countless scraps of paper

With love poems scratched on them

        I’ve lost handfuls of change

            Both money and personal

        in the depths of those pockets

    My finders have never felt the seems

        at the bottom

        no matter how far I reach inside of them

I step outside

Pause at the top step to button up

    I know it is going to be one of those beautiful spring days

        For others

The buttons are worn smooth from the years

    Small scratches of regret,

 The thread barely holding on

One angry tug and they would be gone

I pull the collar up around my neck

    protection against the warmth that awaits on the sidewalk

The fur is thick

    Musty from the sweat of panic 

        that collects behind my ears

    A friend would not be able to recognize me

        if I walked past them

    No exchange of hellos

        or stopping to catch up on lost time

I know everyone will simply walk by

    Eyes averted by a screen

        or discomfort

 from the site of me

Wearing my winter coat 

    in 78 degrees

        on a sunny April day

Monday, April 26, 2021

April Poetry Challenge 2021: Day Seven

 

Day 7 Prompt: Villain

Form: Cywydd Llosgyrnog


“Reasons”


Every morning light shines on all

of us. When we rise or we fall.

Nothing calls us to the light

or the darkness except the heart.

Broken pieces is were we start,

falling apart, life’s true rite.

Sunday, April 25, 2021

April Poetry Challenge 2021: Day Six

 


Day 6 Prompt: Change

Form: Diminishing Poem


“Yesterday”


I miss her presence sitting in the chair

next to me. Windows open, her hair

blowing in the late summer air.


I still use the oversized coffee cup,

she gave me when I wanted to give up


this writing life. Today is not...

 

Saturday, April 24, 2021

April Poetry Challenge 2021: Day Five

 



Day 5 Prompt: The First (Blank)

Form: Free Verse


The First Time I Saw a Spirit


It was past my bedtime

I was six years old

My father

sitting at the table

Illuminated by the light above

His shoulders sloped down

He did not know I was there

I walked to his left

that is when I saw my first spirit

A demon, a wisp, floating

above the ice cubes bobbing

 in caramel colored liquid

My father sipped the spirit 

down with the liquid

As the glass hit the table a different

spirit would materialize

I must have let out a breath

because my father turned toward me

But it was the spirit speaking

his words dragged out of his mouth

slow and trembly


“What are you doing up?”


His hand heavy on my head

I stepped back, 

afraid of the spirit

swimming in his eyes


“Had to use the bathroom”


My father smiled

I did not recognize it

There were too many teeth


He sipped the second spirit

a third appeared

I stumble

as the wisp, the demon,

smiled

at me

   like my father


“Goodnight” I said


And hear a grumble from the figure

At the table

As he sipped again

 and again

 and again.


I did not sleep well for years

Until I finally gave into the spirits

beckoning

But I have no son to bother me

It is just me

Ice

Caramel liquid

And a little spirit floating above my glass.


 


Thursday, April 22, 2021

April Poetry Challenge 2021: Day Four

 

Day 4 Prompt: Active

Form: Free Verse


"Easter 2021"


Easter morning

All the eggs have been found

Worship filled our souls


I’m out walking, trying to remove the age from my legs


It has been

A year since the world locked down

I notice some homes have

Out-of-state plates

While others have nothing but dark windows

How many stories have ended in the last 

356 days

How many lives 

began in those same thousands of hours


I feel the contradiction of this world

As the sun warms my face

With the promise of a new beginning

Yet, the breeze cools my neck with the memory of winter


Our stories are solid beneath our feet

But flow together like cirrus clouds in the sky above me


My name 

unknown to almost everyone

My title of father, though, has cemented generations to come


I don’t know 

If my neighbors see me reach my front step

As I open the front door

My family knows I’m home

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

April Poetry Challenge 2021: Day Three

 

Day 3 Prompt: Communication

Form: Somonka


“Memories”


I searched the pages

for the promises we said

we would keep. I could

not hear them in the words you

wrote with pens now out of ink.


I have those late night

whispers pulsating in my

fingerprints, left on 

table tops we don’t sit at

anymore because you left.

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

April Poetry Challenge 2021: Day Two

 


Day 2 Prompt: What does the future hold?

Form: Acrostic


Holding on to a flame

Oblivious of the scorching pain.

People share that it can’t

End the noise of evil’s rant.

Another day, another heartbreak,

Needing a new way to remake

Daylight into a warm

Light that shines through storms.

Only release the fear

Vandalizing the walls near

Everyone’s waiting game.

 

Monday, April 19, 2021

April Poetry Challenge 2021: Day One


Day 1 Prompt: Introduction

Form: Blitz


"Things of Death"


How are you

How are things

Things are good

Things can be better

Better time

Better love

Love is tough

Love hurts

Hurts my soul

Hurts my vision

Vision of my future

Vision filled with you

You with coffee

You holding my son

Son crying

Son walking

Walking then running

Walking different paths

Paths on mountains

Paths of life

Life alone

Life lived true

True to a name

True to the letter

Letter about the past

Letter of verses

Verses that rhyme

Verses filled with heart

Heart of a man

Heart of a woman

Woman builds strength

Woman saves the world

World on fire

World falling

Falling from the sky

Falling for you

You make me weak

You make me strong

Strong enough

Strong beyond measure

Measure of time

Measure the distance

Distance between hands

Distance I will walk

Walk to find you

Walk until death

Death from life

Death of fear

fear

life