Day 30 Prompt: Goodbye
Form: Imayo
“Loss is a Home”
There are moments that break us - in words and belief
We hold on to picture frames - hang them in the halls
The glass forged by their goodbyes - feel hairline fractures
Hallway dark with our shadow - worn into carpet
Day 29 Prompt: Evening
Form: Rondel
“House”
House, dark and asleep, I can write.
The last of my breath fills the page,
as the writer now takes the stage.
Computer screen shines, a spot light
on my monologue, so quiet -
keep the peace, even when I rage.
House, dark and asleep, I can write.
The last of my breath fills the page.
Words roll on the screen like headlights,
blinding my tired eyes of age.
Time’s script always sends me downstage
to find a rhyme to this good night.
House, dark and asleep, I can write.
Day 28 Prompt: Remix
Form: Nonet
“In a Park: Part II”
In a park there is a statue of
a girl holding a red balloon
shaped like a heart. She looks up
with a serious gaze.
I always think she
is wondering
what to do
with it
now.
After
a moment
I hear laughter
from my three daughters
as they run through flowers.
I walk away from the girl
holding a heart shaped red balloon,
sad because she cannot feel this love.
Day 27 Prompt: Believe / Not
Form: Echo Verse
“Told to believe”
They say all it takes is belief. Grief
is what it causes for so many. Any
person can say the words. Words
are empty vessels we fill, until
the vowels drip with sight, bright
and hot to the tongue. Unsung
songs lost in our reactions, distracted
with questions about life, strife
not solved with our speech. Breached
are the promises we were sold, told
to believe, to believe.
Day 26 Prompt: (Blank) World
Form: Trimeric
“Nothing in this World Lasts Forever”
A minute, a second, a lifetime,
all find the ragged edge of ending.
Nothing resists decay forever,
not even our love.
All find the ragged edge of ending.
Even our initials carved into a park bench
read by strangers stopping for a moment.
Nothing resists decay forever.
Letters crumble, photos fade,
technology crashes into the void.
Not even our love
will be remembered past
the stories we tell our children.
Day 25 Prompt: Thought
Form: Kimo
“School Daze”
For thousands of days they have sat in rows.
Weary, defeated he stands,
thinking of his own dreams.
Day 24 Prompt: Question
Form: Magic 9
“Why Me?”
I question the choice of the muse,
as I grip a pen with another poetic idea.
Struggling to find the words to choose
to fill the space between me and you, reader.
I admit that the words struggle in a confused
clatter, like magnet letters falling off a fridge.
I scramble to place them back up, only to lose
the voice hibernating in my mouth ready to be a
poem. But I write, again, to keep the muses amused.
Day 23 Prompt: Appointment
Form: Alphabet Poem
“Test Results”
The x-ray found nothing.
Dead space was illuminated
above my heart.
Gone, yet just quivering
below, past every vocal cut,
love keeps zigzagging
under overused reasons.
Day 22 Prompt: Nature
Form: hay(na)ku
Days
call me
away from youth.
Day 21 Prompt: (Blank) Me
Form: Chant
“Fall to me”
Fall to me when all is lost
Fall to me at all cost
I promise my arms are strong enough
to hold the end of the world’s pieces
Fall to me when the sun rises
Fall to me under starry skies
We will dance for all to see
and maybe they will join us
Fall to me when you are afraid
Fall to me after you have prayed
I will hold your secrets in place
Share in the tears that flow from joy
Fall to me tomorrow
Fall to me to know
That to find the edge of a ring
You have to fall
Fall to me
“This April Snow”
The morning starts, coffee maker a glow
Window reveals flurries passing by
A winter wind rattles my ribs, temperature low
No one will notice the ice in the corner of my eye
I smile, as I fall apart like this April snow
Gently moving down from the steel grey sky
A winter wind rattles my ribs, temperature low
No one will notice the ice in the corner of my eye
I try to capture a moment from a photo
I only hear the memory of your goodbye
I smile, as I fall apart like this April snow
Gently moving down from the steel grey sky
I try to capture a moment from a photo
I only hear the memory of your goodbye
The days are now unplanted rows
Loneliness knocks at the door, ready to testify
I smile, as I fall apart like this April snow
Gently moving down from the steel grey sky
The days are now unplanted rows
Loneliness knocks at the door, ready to testify
My breath says another love I may never know
Or feel the freedom of days in July
I smile, as I fall apart like this April snow
Gently moving down from the steel grey sky
Day 19 Prompt: Animal Title
Form: Lai
“When the Wolves Howl”
Wolves are at the door.
We will sleep no more
tonight.
Howls rattle like war
across walls and floor.
Teeth tight.
Hands clenched, tired and sore
from not falling for
their bite.
Day 18 Prompt: Ekphrastic
Form: Nonet
“In a Park”
In a park there is a statue of
a girl holding a red balloon
shaped like a heart. She looks up
with a serious gaze.
I always think she
is wondering
what to do
with it
now.
Day 17 Prompt: Waiting
Form: Golden Shovel
“Calendar”
After John Mayer’s song “Waiting On the World to Change”
The days have already been numbered. There’s nothing we
can do to change the pages of calendars we keep
on refrigerators. Notes and events written with pen on
days we’ve yet lived. We feel happiness waiting
for us next week. It’s there in a box with a number, waiting
for time to bring us to that day. Until then read what’s on
today to give us direction. Hoping that the
events listed will fill our small world
with meaning. So busy planning the boxes to
see that calendars are history pages meant for change.
Day 16 Prompt: City
Form: Cascade
"Winter in the City"
The street lights are pearls.
Bright against a winter night,
dressing up the city’s skyline
I’m walking fast, head down.
Hurrying through life, until I notice
the street lights are pearls.
Soft orbs of tinted yellow.
Streets busy below the lamps shining
bright against a winter night.
The cold wind sets me in motion.
Walking head down below the street lights
dressing up the city’s skyline.
Day 15 Prompt: (Blank) Story
Form: Clogyrnach
“This is not a love story”
The sun is still hours away.
I am trying to keep at bay,
the memory of
that day you let love,
like suede gloves,
start to fray.
Goodbyes start before you say them.
You can hear it, like a red drum,
during the day, off
beat, a stifled cough,
a standoff,
a hem,
when you expect to hear I love
you. Instead you feel disposed of.
The ring tight against
the knuckle. Looks tense.
Now a sense
of unloved.
Day 14 Prompt: From Where You are Sitting
Form: Fib
“From My Desk”
Rows
filled
with hope.
Students’ eyes
a mix of past pain
with vows to heal their broken view.
Day 12 Prompt: Lucky
Form: Shadorma
“Stargazer”
I’ve never
felt like the stars
aligned for
me. Every
night some star or planet was
sitting off center.
Even so,
I am still a star
gazer. You
can find me
staring up at Orion
lost in the past light.
