Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ category

Forgetting/Letting Go

February 4, 2015

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Forgetting/Letting go

Before letting go,
forego letting be–

at least for me,
that’s how it had
to be.

I needed to knead
what had gone
before–
I could not let it alone,
alone.

Forlorn, I foraged for a lore, some tale
that I could wag,
some tale that would make me
a teller (taller),
a wagger (wage-earner)
a mover and shaker
and not
the moved-out, shaken–

I told this tale
as my own bedtime story,
until I just didn’t
anymore,
until–it seems to me now–
I arched my neck back
and saw through the window at my bed’s head,
all those shines
the glass reflected, genuflecting
to the laws
of perspective,
bright rounds that outglowed the moon, though but
the disks of desk lamp no bigger
than my fist–
mere street lights,
red, green, white–
no bigger than
my head but seeming more monumental
than even dwarf stars–

and as my eyes noosed
those outsized glares, some grip loosened
in my brain–

Of course, it helped
that you also lay beside me
your skin too glowing,
but not glass.

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Another drafty poem.  (People make fun of my term, but when something is fresh off the brain press with relatively little re-writing, the word “draft” feels right to me.)   This one owes a debt to the wonderful writer, Kerry O’Connor, who posts at Skywriting and Skylover, for a poem she has called “Gotta Go” in which she talks about the difficulties of forgetting letting go. ”

The pictures are from NYC, taken the other night.  In both cases, the moon is the smaller orb in the top left.

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Ode to Hello

February 3, 2015

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Ode to Hello

You sound, to my flat-tired mind,
like Jello,
and I try to gather
some bounce from that,
a vision of myself
as a stainless steel spoon tapping
an uncracked ruby sheen,

and I try to look through
that rubyiat lens
as I say hello
to aloneness
(he goes and I
do not)
but Jello
is a rather artificial
construct
that I long ago omitted
from life, and I can’t quite come up
with faked cheer either,
so I don’t say goodbye
gracefully
and past hellos sound,
as they echo,
hollow,
though the burn behind my eyes
feels real enough–
It is not red;
it is not shiny;
it does not bounce.

And how is it, I wonder,
that love can fold in upon itself
so sharply,
when all it wants
is to lie like two hellos
in soft sequence, each fitting
the other’s hollows as flesh
pillows bone, as if we were each made
of whispered vowels, consonants,
as if we could be held
by a word.

*******************

Another super drafty poem.  Still away from home, and not thinking so clearly!  Am posting for With Real Toads Open Forum.  The pic is an older one–  sorry for any lateness in returning comments.

Also, I’ve not made a pitch in a long time, but here’s one–check out if you have a chance my books!  Serious novel–Nice— Comic novel, NOSE DIVE,  book of poetry, GOING ON SOMEWHERE, or children’s counting book 1 MISSISSIPPI.       

Also, I want to express deep gratitude to Marian Kent of Runaway Sentence for her very kind review of Nice on Amazon.  I am too shy/embarrassed to ever check my books on Amazon and so did not see the review until just now.  Thank you so much, Marian.

Her Body Soon Following After (Heat-Seeking in 55)

January 31, 2015

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Her Body Soon Followed After (A Heat-Seeking Missive)

Her nose fell first, head over heel,
his smell of warmth so strong,
the opening of his elbow
a window to a long
sun’s day,
his ribs a heated clay
that no
other kiln could fire,
his loins a hearth she could feel
even from afar.

***********************

Here’s a 55 (including the title, which some might feel has been deliberately lengthened) inspired by both the inimitable G-Man and Kerry O’Connor’s prompt on With Real Toads.  Kerry has given the added challenge of using a Robert Herrick style form for the poem.  Kerry  suggested breaking up the Herrick lines by a word count, which would equal 55,  but I’ve gone for a syllabic count, which is why my poem needed such a long title.  (Ha.)

The pic doesn’t really go with it, but since I’m still away from home, using what I can!

What I Might Hunger For (If I could Just Concentrate)

January 27, 2015

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What I Might Hunger For (If I Could Just Concentrate)

Sitting in a diner just outside of
Seattle,
trying to write about what I hunger for,
which is not (like my husband) hash browns–

when a large flushed (for morning) foursome
squeezed round the next table, says loudly
”there was this movie–”

but words
The Big Lebowski
words
“what’s in a white russian–”
(believe me, there was much more)
“anyway?”
(about the movie and kahlua, bowling) —
“Your sour cream pancakes–”
as I try to think about, you know–
“I LOVE Victoria”
words.

Words with an edge
(that, the locale of)
“like the sign at that hotel in Canada,”
(someone’s retirement party)
“that said: newly weds–the nearly dead–”

words that wedge meaning
“that rockstar with the name”
into meaning
“like the exit off–”
You know, meaning?
“Route 5.”

All punctuated by–
I feel my own face flushing–
the clink–
as I really do try–
cutlery,
to write
and the cluck
something
the cluck, the cluck
anything
chuck-chuckle
but not those words I–
“you know there are people in Arizona–”
hear–
“your scrambled”–
“who actually HATE”
lettered lenses
that carry me farther than–
I imagine a word chariot, I imagine it drawn by
“the Sea Hawks–”

Words, I want to scream
BE QUIET!
not even hungry
PLLEEASE!
for the eggs
please!
on rye
please!
poached.

************************

A little frustrated sort of poem.  Posted for the Tuesday Platform on With Real Toads, hosted by the inimitable Kerry O’Connor. This poem was originally inspired by Mama Zen’s words count prompt to write on what you hungered for–I could not get it down to sixty words, which was her limit.   (The Sea Hawks for those outside of the US are the Seattle football team.) 

I am using an old picture for this post–I do not have my iPad with its terrific drawing programs me, so this doesn’t really work–supposed to be a blank notebook–(and eggs)–

Night Feeding

January 25, 2015

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Night Feeding

As the baby nursed,
fingers opened like petals bloomed,
coaxing the breast

as if a huge bee–the breast,
being all the baby knew while nursed,
her mother in flushed bloom.

If flesh were cloth, they would be loomed
as a single weave, the breast,
the fingers, the baby, mother, nursed,

the shuttle sighing, nursed back, forth,
the pattern resting its bloom
against night’s breast.

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Here’s a tritina of sorts (like half a sestina) for Margaret Bednar’s Play It Again Sam on With Real Toads to return to a selected archived prompt.  I’ve used Kerry O’Connor’s prompt to write a flowery poem in an unflowery or uncliched way–this is rather flowery and rather a cliche, I’m afraid–but in writing it,  I was also thinking of Hedgewitch’s cascade prompt–a poem with repeating lines.  Repeating lines were too much for me, but this repeats words!

Essentially, I am saying that I cheated on both prompts, but since I use two–perhaps it adds up to one submission.  (The drawing like the poem is mine; I’m not much good at hands; still, all rights reserved.) 

 

In the Soup

January 20, 2015

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In the Soup

The soup at the mouth of the river
is–broadly speaking–vegetable,
despite its heavy oil content,
(not fish chowder, not
bouillabaisse).

The ocean at the underside of the plastic wrap
has not preserved
its freshness.

Whales within range
of sonar waves
swim like the punch drunk
if the punch drunk were puppet-strung
to fall up.

Whales, falling up, surface
too fast; fail.

Even whales that get down again
after their falls up,
face failing.
A swallow
of plastic wrap
is a surfeit
for a whale.

The soup at the mouth of
the river
is like one of those dishes
made of leftovers that, constantly added to,
never diminishes–
octane a la king
heavy metal tettrazini
nitrate roulade
petro-chili goulash bisque
(sometimes with rice).

There are ever more buckets
of it, tons
and megatons.

Maybe as many
as there are drops
of plastic-wrapped
ocean.

Certainly more
than tears shed
for dead whales.

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Here’s another sort of drafty poem riffing on Kerry O’ Connor’s prompt to use a book title for a poem; I am posting this one for the Real Toads Open Forum.  The photo, modified by me, is subject to a common use license–originally made by Whit Wells (Wwells14). 

No Person An Island

January 17, 2015

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No Person An Island

Secrete, he said,
and I, not hearing right or not
understanding, said, maybe–
if it were once more March and
flowers murmured their bright ahs up
to the sea-mirrored sky,
but he said, no, hide it–
there–
in your pocket-

and, if, I went on heedlessly, mosaic dolphins
still rocketed off
the lintels of Minos’s palace,
their blue amphorae for
that glow that echoes
about well walls or the curve
of a cenote.

But no, he said, that’s not–
while Japanese tourists smiled
at their cameras’ gaze, lenses aimed
towards the poppied fields, and not
the Ionic
(an iconic blossom, red,
posed at the ear).

Seriously, he said,
as I followed the remnant cobbles
of an excavated maze, a lover who didn’t
much love me, the muscle-buried column of
his spine, sheets footed from
their moorings, creased waves below
the window frame–

until you, this guy here speaking, said
this guy who never even pretended
to love me,
this guy marooned
in my wax-winged brain,
until you, this guy with no fingers for thread, said,
you, he said,
are impossible–

and though that seemed, just then,
so much better
than being possible, so much fresher
and bluer and bigger than all that knotted silence might secure
(the linted grey of the meaninglessly
coveted, the stowed un-
examined), I did not
reply.

********************

Here’s a strange sort of drafty poem, very belatedly written for Abhra Pal’s prompt on dVerse Poets Pub to write about a secret (not told).  Minos’ temple is on the northern coast of the Island of Crete, at Knossos, with beautiful mosaics of dolphins.  (That’s a doctored photo above.)   (PS–sorry for my lateness in visiting commenters on latest posts–will have a little more time today.) 

Just Ten (Twice)

January 16, 2015

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Just Ten (Twice)  (Not Including Titles–Ha!)

Dizzy With It

Headache slings hammock
between closed eyes, tries
to slow swing.

***

Writing Technique

One way to hold a pen–
as a life raft–

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Two ten word poems for Victoria Slotto’s prompt (and Brian Miller’s ten word form) at dVerse Poets pub.

Not Pulling It Over Anyone’s Eyes Here

January 15, 2015
Brrr.....

Brrr….. (Note that wool socks are not being worn)

Not Pulling It Over Anyone’s Eyes Here

The cold is truly fine for those
with knitted wool upon their toes.
Silk liners make it even finer–
(forget your cottons, hose nyloner).
Wool underwear’s another must
over your bum and on your bust.
And sweaters–wool again, my dear–
else the cloth of some clove-footed peer–
a goat, alpaca, maybe yak–
(frizzy fuzz from someone’s back).
More wool or fleece to wrap your legs
or down, if on bent knee each begs–
(for down, oh down, I rank it highest,
though perhaps it’s best when cold is dryest–)

Picture your bod as princess pea–
your layers multi-mattressy
(not only are you safe from freeze,
your limbs will also bounce off trees).
Though novices claim itchy pain,
wool never hardly shows a stain,
so you can scratch that same long john
without a break all winter long,
unless, of course, you’ve got the heat
of someone else beneath your sheet.
Oh sure, sometimes space can get tight,
the two of you may even fight,
but a cure for any winter schism
is the other’s high metabolism,
keeping far the bitter cold
just as well as weave from 
sheepish fold.

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Here’s a sort of poem for Fireblossom (Shay’s Word Garden) Friday on With Real Toads to write about winter.  I realize that, as a vegetarian, I neglected to extoll the virtues of fur–I’m not really in favor of new fur (given my sense of how it’s produced), but if you can find something old and long ago taken, it is also pretty darn warm. 

The picture is an old drawing of Pearl, also now gone.  I alway tried to persuade her of the virtues of wool, but perhaps being a lamb in wolf’s clothing–or the reverse–she was wary of it. 

At Night

January 12, 2015

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At Night

So, I breathe your chest
the way the Moon breathes
the Sun’s skin, inhaling
one half of the month, exhaling
the rest.

So, I rest upon your breath
the way the Earth rests
in the path of the Moon,
nearly centered.

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Here’s another poem that came from the springboard of the prompt of Grace (Everyday Amazing)  on With Real Toads on David Huerta, a Mexican poet.  I am probably linking to With Real Toads Tuesday open forum.  All rights reserved (as always) in drawing and poem. (Yes, I know it’s not much of an elephant!)