Day 18 PAD 2023

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

“Another Storm”

The night is filled with a thunder
that troubles my dreams. I wonder
if my sins are reaching
for my soul. Calling me to pay
for all the times I couldn’t stay.
The lightning beseeching

me to bend my knees to receive
retribution for hearts deceived.
I toss and turn under
the blanket of an ignorance,
of wanting more like Icarus.
Now my heart asunder.

The rain doesn’t care for my plea.
It only wants to share the debris
I left on the streets of
lovers’ hopes of life together.
A reminder, from this weather,
that I promised them love.

Poetic Form: Rime Couee

Poem from the MVICW Conference

 

Today is the first day of the Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing Writers' Conference. I thought it would be fun to share the works I create during this week. These works may be revised after the conference is over.

"This is a Moment"

This is a moment

    The one between the lighting strike

    And the thunder

Like children counting Mississippies

    To know when to cower

    In fear of the storm

The window panes

    Rattling the historical pain

    Of every tornado

    That touched down in our fields

    Of dreams

Tearing up the newly planted crops of stories and poems

    That could one day feed the souls of this Earth

This is a moment

    Filled with backward steps

    Mental debates

    Like standing on the high dive in June

Your dad watching

Your mom’s hand resting on his shoulder

The water looks so far away

    And the teenagers are getting angry

    At the bottom of the ladder

This is the moment

    This is the sentence

    This is the word

    That allows us to crawl out of the covers

        To play in the rain 

        12 feet above everyone

Poetic Form 79: Interlocking Rubaiyat

 Another Storm

Another storm, my hands become

numb. The wind cuts like a bass drum

along the street, angry with us.

Eyes closing I shy away from

Mother Nature’s judgment. Night plus

time reveals a clearing sky, thus

I can see Orion standing, 

shield ready as if he mistrusts

the oncoming day. Commanding

the horizon from expanding.

I wonder if he can save me,

from the storm I am withstanding.

My breath, white and dense, show the degree

the night has fallen. The grey trees

whisper over my head, “No, he

will not step from the stars for thee.”

Poetic Form #79: Interlocking Rubaiyat

The Interlocking Rubaiyat is composed of quatrains following 

an aaba rhyme pattern. The successive quatrain uses the 

unrhymed line as the rhyme for that stanza. A three-stanza 

rubaiyat rhyme scheme would be: aaba/bbcb/ccdc. Sometimes 

the final stanza rhymes all four lines. The lines are usually tetrameter 

and pentameter. Robert Frost’s "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” 

is a classic example.

Poetic Form 68: Awdl Gywydd

 The Last Storm of 2020

As we slept, the snow fell from

clouds humming secrets. The night

kept the sun down an extra

minute. Electric the sight

of metal clouds, snow and rays

of light brazed across morning

routines. Plows beeping, a call

to arms. To all, a warning.

The year will not go gently

into twenty-one. A last

reminder of its death grip

on our kinship or love’s cast.

Poetic Form #68: Awdl Gywydd

The Welsh form, Awdl Gywydd, is interesting because of the internal

rhyme scheme. A stanza is four lines, with seven syllables per line. 

The final syllable of the first and third lines rhyme with the 3rd through

5th syllable of the following lines, while the second and fourth lines

rhyme. Here is a visual look at a stanza:

xxxxxxa

xxaxxxb

xxxxxxc

xxxxcxb

Poetic Form 52: Catena Rondo

Twenty-two

Twenty-two years gone by today.

One man, one woman, building a life

through moments of joy and strife.

Twenty-two years gone by today.

One man, one woman, building a life.

Six names born into the world.

Each with their own talents furled.

One man, one woman, building a life.

Six names born into the world.

Late night cries during storms.

Stories told in blankets kept us warm.

Six names born into the world.

Late night cries during storms

of rain and tragedy. Our story

tells of the power of love’s glory.

Late night cries during storms.

Of rain and tragedy. Our story

unfolds with each new day.

Even when we don’t know the way.

Of rain and tragedy; our story.

Twenty-two years gone by today.

One man, one woman, building a life

through moments of joy and strife.

Twenty-two years gone by today.

Poetic Form #52: Catena Rondo

The catena rondo is composed of a variable number of quatrains with a rhyme pattern

of AbbA. The first line of each quatrain is also the final line of the quatrain. Then, the

second line is the first line of the next quatrain The final quatrain repeats the first quatrain

word for word. There are no rules for meter, syllables, or subject matter.

Poetic Form 32: Chanso

The Headline Read

I walk the streets filled with the debris

of last night’s summer storm when I see

a soaked newspaper’s headline decree

“3 Dead.” The rest is folded under,

lost in the puddle. I feel thunder

echo in the branches. I wonder

about the story untold of life’s

end for three people. Maybe a wife?

Friends? Or a fight that ended by knife?

As I step around the fallen leaves,

and tiptoe through puddles, the wind grieves

with me the cold truth no one believes.

The headline was one of too many

stories that fall like rain. There’s plenty

of moments ignored like lost pennies.

As I turn home,

I suddenly 

feel very alone.

Poetic Form #32: Chanso

The Chanso form consists of five or six stanzas with an envoy that 
is half the size of the stanzas in the poem. The stanza structure depends on the poet. The main rules are that each line of the poem should have the same number of syllables, and each stanza should be uniform in line length and rhyme scheme.

Poetry Challenge Day 24: Nature

Friday Rain

The sunrise is covered by grey April clouds

Rain colder than snow

Penetrates my skin

Grass and winter’s decay mix with my coffee

Not sure if my spirit will rise today

The storm is covering my window panes

While the wind is stirring through the garage doors

Moving dust along the foundation

How do you find the sun

When yesterday looks just like tomorrow

All I want to do is run free

Dodging the rain as it follows the wind

In a frazzled way down

Down with my eyelids 

Protecting my view of today

My hair beginning to flatten to my skull

Dripping down my collar

Another gust pushes me to my left

For a second I believe I can tumble like a leaf

To be swept away, maybe to the gulf

But I step hard with my left foot

Steady my cup in both hands

My daughters call to me, with giggles

They want to know what I was doing outside

Their eyes smile in wonder, anticipating an answer

I want to tell them the truth

That I was searching to be baptized by the storm

That I was trying to recite a sacred prayer

Instead I tell them that fathers gain special powers

In a Friday rain

What powers they ask, never doubting my words

I stare at them for a few seconds

Then quietly I tell them the truth

To love you more each day

Slowly, they start to smile

My skin warming in their hugs

After the Storm

The clouds have receded

The concrete grey and puddled

A fresh aroma of dirt and blossoms

The sun now hot on damp skin

The fears have receded

Windows still un-cracked

The flags sagging against the pole

The sun now melting the hail

The hours have receded

Children are swinging

Mom has yelled that dinner is ready

The sun now fading below the horizon

Grey Morning

The rumble of the garage door breaks the silence

I step out onto the driveway

The sky is grey-blue

A quilt of clouds sit on the horizon

To the east a small smudge of rose filters through the clouds

But I know that there will be no rays of sunshine today

To the west a lightning show has begun

There is almost a rhythm to the strikes

Funny how the past generates so many storms

I turn toward my car, keys in hand

It’s going to be another cloudy day in my heart

It's Been a Long Winter

It’s been a long winter

  And another storm is raging outside

The power is out this Christmas morning

  No wrapping paper litters the floor this year

  No tree fills the window view

As a family we slept huddled together in the living room

To silence our hunger we eat Pop-Tarts and dry cereal

The drifts block the doors

Cell phones are on low battery mode

  But it doesn’t matter

  No service blinks at the top

I see the fear in my little ones’ eyes

My wife sends a question with a look,

 “What do we do?”

It’s been a long winter

  And another storm is raging outside

There are small flames in our neighbor's windows

The battery operated radio is just static

  Until we find a voice on an a.m. station

He tells us that this is the worst storm in years

  As if we didn’t know

I wonder if I have the Faith to wait it out

 Or should I grab a shovel and a scarf?

My wife produces a cassette tape

The joyful music feels like a scream in the grey sunshine

I see a small wisp as I breathe out

My oldest daughter has a book

Everyone has a blanket

Then our heads snap up in shock

  As a howl fills the space

There is a pack of wolves running between the houses

  Snipping at each other

  Sniffing the wind

  On sits atop the drift in front of our patio doors

I shrug in amazement toward my family

It’s been a long winter

It is Christmas morning

Another storm is raging outside

Instead of wrapping paper on the floor

We have wolves at the door

I'm so sorry for the rain

I’m so sorry for the rain

I tried to keep the love letter protected

But it was a downpour

Even my socks are wet

My words are now lost in the this pile of pulp

There’s no use trying to dry it out

The fibers are falling from my fingers

You will never know how I truly loved you

I’m so sorry for the wind

I tried to keep the flowers protected

But it was blustery

Even my skin is wind burned

The petals are all lost in the air

There’s no use trying to catch them now

The stems are broken and wilted

You will never know how redolent they were

I’m so sorry for the storm

I tried to keep your heart protected

But it was a tempest

Even the great oak tree has damage

Limbs are scattered on the lawn

There’s no use use trying to save it

The trunk is splintered and uprooted

You will never know how much time it took to grow

I’m so sorry for the rain

I’m so sorry for the wind

I’m so sorry for the storm

I’m so sorry