Day 13 PAD 2023

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

“Don’t until Tomorrow”

Forgive and forget
Forgive but don’t forget
Don't forget the past
Don’t forget the pain
Pain of what could be
Pain of love not given
Given days of silence
Given nights of loneliness
Loneliness of self
Loneliness of family
Family name
Family gone
Gone from tomorrow
Gone from hope
Hope a small seed
Hope for better
Better chances to be
Better moments to see
See the flowers bloom
See the road ahead
Ahead of the game
Ahead of the chase
Chase to win
Chase a dream
Dream of hope
Dream a life
Life of my own
Life filled with more
More stars
More days of love
Love the moment
Love the growth
Growth of a family
Growth of a heart
Heart still trying
Heart still scarred
Scarred with memory
Scarred that fade
Fade to black
Fade from memory
Memory of a phone call
Memory of a bad goodbye
Goodbye to youth
Goodbye to yesterday
Yesterday haunts me
Yesterday taints tomorrow
Tomorrow is a gift
Tomorrow is not promised
Promised…
gift…

Poetic Form: The Blitz

PAD 2022 Day 2: Second Chance

 This poem is presented in its rough draft form for the PAD 2022 challenge and will be revised. 

PAD Prompt: Second Chance

Poetic Form: Prose

“Yesterday”

There are times, when the past calls me to follow it down the stairs. Promising no harm, yet the light switch never works. The darkness whispers to me, drawing me down seldom used stairs. Each step creaking as I step back - back to any moment in time that I could have been important to you, both of you. I could have been loved like a son. Protected. Tossed a ball to. Had someone there on Parents’ Night.

My feet touch the concrete floor. My eyes adjust. The outlines of memories are visible, I recognize them because I lived them. I feel the darkness that sits in the middle of their existence. I admit to a heavy desire to bring them up the stairs, into the light. Hoping against hope that I can refurbish them. Freshen the paint. Make each memory joyful.

I touch the edge of an old black and white TV. One of the first memories of you wasted on a bed that lays on a floor. The sunlight making the dust dance. I watch a movie about giant spiders. I am hungry, you do not respond. I am four years old and know not what to do.

I hold the tears back, knowing that none of these memories can give me the power to write a different story. The darkness holds me there, even as I want to leave. My chest tightening. Starting to panic. It feels like you are here, stepping from the depths of yesterday. I feel the air move backwards. I am on the edge of fear and anger. I break for the stairs. Feel a hand brush my shoulder blade as I reach the top of the stairs, entering into the light of today.

You do not deserve a second chance.

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...

 

Poetic Form 92: Ottava Rima

 A Better Yesterday

She waits for something more than paper cards.

Written words of affections look so nice

when printed in mass. Love is discarded

with the scraps from dinner. She’ll sacrifice

flowers for a kiss that sets her off guard.

She wants a romance felt more than just twice

a year. She believes in those high school notes,

signed with a heart. Regret tightens her throat.

Poetic Form #92: Ottava Rima

The ottava rima is an Italian from. Lord Byron used this form to write Don Juan. 

The ottava rima form has 8 lines with an abababcc rhyme pattern. It is commonly

 written in iambic pentameter or 10-syllable lines. The form can be a stand alone 

poem, or with any number of stanzas.

Poetic Form 67: Villanelle

 

Today in History

It’s hard living through history

Watching the days fill the pages

Never understanding glory 

No maps for this territory

All books burn in the dark ages

It’s hard living through history

Tomorrow is an allegory

Holding lock and key to cages

Never understanding glory

Today’s prayer for purgatory

Draws the thin line for war to rage

It’s hard living through history

Yesterday left a scar’s gory

Lesson to see life in stages

Never understanding glory

Only the clock’s auditory

Echo through time pays the wages

It’s hard living through history

Never understanding glory

Poetic Form #67: Villanelle

The villanelle consists of five tercets and a quatrain using a 

simple A / B rhyming scheme. The first and third lines of the first

stanza are refrains that repeat throughout the poem, alternating 

as the last line of the rest of the tercets. The final quatrain ends 

with the refrains. I created lines with 8 syllables. I found contradicting

information about having a set syllable rule for the lines.

Poetry Challenge Day 17: Exotic

Let Me Take You

Let me take you to a place

A destination where dreams reside

No passport needed

But the cost is steep

    We’ll discuss the fee later

You can fall in love, again

Capture endless childhood energy

The only reason your heart will race

Is because of the way time is spent

    It will feel like a forever instant

I warn you now, though

It still rains in exotic places

Thunder cracks over all beaches

This time it is your choice to stay

    Standing in the downpour of sorrow

Are you ready to go?

No, there is no train or boat to catch

All I need is to punch your ticket

So you can give up your desire for today

    To live your life in yesterdays