Day 29 PAD 2023

 

This poem is presented in its rough draft form for the PAD 2023 challenge and will be revised.

“I am Here”

I watch my shadow move in front of me, the wind, still angry from winter, assaults my face. My stride is still as quick as my youth, just not as strong as my shadowed legs wobble with another burst from mother nature. For a second I feel my presence cutout of the air around me. I am here. The world is beneath my feet. The wind has to move around me. My gumline stings as I smile. My shadow reflects my existence on the concrete. I am the moment. But then my shadow moves without me, and now I am trying to catch back up with the day.


Poetic Form: Prose

Day 26 PAD 2023

 

This poem is presented in its rough draft form for the PAD 2023 challenge and will be revised.

“Used to Love”

After - Parachute’s “What I Know”

Every time the path turns, I'm
lost again. Returning to find another him in
your arms. You promise me it’s not love,
and I believe. Taping my heart with
the way you smile. Then you found someone
to walk down the aisle with. What else
could I do? You became a she
I used to love. But that’s not what my heart said.

Poetic Form: Golden Shovel

Day 9 PAD 2023

 

This poem is presented in its rough draft form for the PAD 2023 challenge and will be revised.

"How to Die on Social Media in 4 Steps"

One: Assume everyone actually cares
About the food you ate
The stairs you had to walk
Or that you are having a bad day

Two: Try to feel loved with each icon
That fills in on the screen
Rely on your ego to be fed
Be ready for the hunger to stay

Three: Smile in every reply
Even on the hard days
Your eyes have to shine
Remember your life is on display

Four: Hold your phone at all times
Notifications are all you need to feel
Those chimes will send chills
Better than reality you’ll say.


Poetic Form: Nonce

Poetic Form 9: Katauta

I believed your smile

Seductive with promises

I didn’t know how to keep

Poetic Form #9:Katauta

A katauta is a Japanese poetic form with either  5 / 7/ 5 or 5 / 7 / 7 syllables per line.
It is also an incomplete poem addressed to a lover. Multiple katautas combine to form a sedoka poem.

 

Poetry Challenge Day 22: Quirk

*This is a descort poem. No line is the same in the poem.

Fast Car

I find it 

quirky 

That my eleven year old daughter’s favorite song is 

“Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman 

Song 

About troubles of life 

With the promise of living if we could get away by driving fast 

Of living with the promise of love 

When I ask her 

Why she likes the song 

She just smiles at me, eyes light up and says that she just does 

I understand how music connects to our soul 

Maybe it makes her feel that she 

    “could be someone, be someone, be someone”

Poetry Challenge Day 15: Dream

 

I Dream of Better Days

I dream of better days

When a handshake can seal the deal

When I can eat a wild apple, the peel

Stuck in my teeth, juice on my chin

I dream of better days

When a hug will feel like Christmas

When I can choose to stand last

In a line, not feel like sin

I dream of better days

When the playground slide is free

When the masks fall to see

Smiles from strangers and kin

I dream of better days

When hearts’ desires are pursued

When a day lived is not a feud

Between regret and wanting to begin

I dream of better days...

Poetry Challenge Day 12: Spirit

When the Spirit

She was speaking in tongues again

Hands raised

Feet stomping

He had seen the show too many times

He was trying to get his bearings again

A new town

A new school

The new kid with the same problems

It wasn’t that he didn’t believe

In the spirit

Or the ghost

He was tired of the tithing plate changing

She won their hearts with her

Past story

Present smile

They told him how proud he should be

He bowed his head at the right time

Said amen

Shook hands

Even fell for a girl three rows over

Six months later, he felt the spirit

Packed bags

Said goodbye

He prayed as her voice faded away

Poetry Challenge Day 7: Lucky

 

Lucky in Love 

A field blossomed in green

Walking with no purpose

They stop to watch a hawk

Seeking a meal to surface

He wonders if she is the one

Smile shines, eyes hold

Him like a blanket keeping 

At bay, the winter cold

He glances down at

His feet to see a patch

Of clovers, he kneels

A four leaf clover he grasps

She follows the hawk’s

Flight through the sky

Wishing to be free 

Turns to him and sighs

He is standing up

Smiles and holds out

The clover for her

To see the leaf count

Silence between them

He feels happy, lucky

She understand she needs

freedom, that is the key

She kisses his cheek, leaves

Him falling, spirit now weak