Poetic Form 4: Magic 9

Lines

Watch me draw a line 

If I’m an artist it will create beauty 

On a clock it breaks down time 

Lines can construct a home or a bridge 

Between dots they work just fine 

On a map I can trace the contours of the land 

But the lines today are used to divide 

Allowing our hearts to be damaged by cruelty 

I wish I knew how to erase those lines

Poetic Form #4: Magic 9

A Magic 9 poem doesn't have any rules besides the rhyme scheme: abacadaba. The Writer's Digest info states that the form may have been the result of a poet misspelling "abracadabra."

Poetry Challenge Day 4: Wish

I Wish

“I wish,” she didn’t finish her thought

I didn’t know her but she sat across from me

Her hands were tense like knots

Her eyes dark and dreamy

I didn’t answer, the rhythm of the train

Filling the air between us

The window filled with color lanes

Greens, blue, and red rust

I was going home after a week

On the coast, selling possibilities

Trying to bridge the distance, I speak

“What do you wish? Loss of responsibility?”

She smirked at my attempt

But her hands relaxed on her lap

She sighed with discontent

“I wish I had a better map”

“That would show the hazards of life.”

I nodded in agreement

She turned back, silence a knife

Tempting me to bereavement

The Point of Now

Count the ways

    to a single point

More than South

    West

    North and East

A 360 degree map

    a point

        from A to B

        but to C and Z, also

See,

    there is a time

    in fact, it is now

    even tomorrow

This point is accessible

Even for those

    who believe they are lost

Walking the Path

I’ve walked so far that I've lost my way  

My shoestrings are so frazzled they can't be tied 

To keep my shoes on I shuffle along

My hands are cold from the ever-changing wind 

That penetrate my tattered gloves 

Everyone wonders where I'm going 

All I can say is where I've been 

My map shredded, unfolded too many times 

Coffee stains and fast food residue 

Make the legend and roads hard to read 

I look up to the sky to aligning myself with the North Star 

But it simply watches me 

My Boy Scout badges are no help 

I've wandered from place to place 

Having my mail forward
But somehow I never get the letter you say you wrote so many years ago.