prompt: rocking horse, constrain 13 words

there are stallion days
joy jumping barriers
and rocking horse days
going nowhere

a thousand voices raised
emptying hearts on pages
that fly across satellite paths

I dig my pen into the paper
press with rigid anger

ridged paper like braille
this never ending spiral
makes no difference

my head aches with wanting
to feel something other
than nonchalance as though
I am not a part of this
as though I am above
as though I am not enough
I would write a brightness

but there is none in me today

there was a man carrying a cross
in a nearby churchyard
as though we needed a reminder
his faux crucifixion an affront
as though walking around
carrying a piece of wood
could save anyone
or bring on an Easter
bring forth spring

I long for sun
while my heart fills with
dusk

just a cloudy rainy day and a bad cold…maybe it should have been titled “as though”

Prompt: T.S. Eliot “I will show you fear in a handful of dust.”

Sifting dust through clay fingers

I am kin to soil and memories linger

Beginnings in a clod of dirt
Though daily consciousness seems to skirt
soft edges, for my spirit burns

Still from dirt I came
and to dirt return

we all push the envelope
push the line
whine and dine and wine
and see just how much closer
to the edge throw hedges
up around us when retreat
is called for treat ourselves
much better and much worse
that others curse the darkness
while we bitch about the
light bill climb the hill
just to see what’s on the other side
the ride is worth it we tell
ourselves our hearts on shelves
protected so we say but then
we may or may not lay it out
lay it down play it close to the vest
fail the test what is the answer
fly by the seat of our pants
or plan it out to each and every
little detail wail when all
goes wrong we are not strong
and yet we are it’s all just small
stuff but we sweat it and we let it
twist us up and round
the sound of all the cries the lies the
blame is cast the past
it shapes us takes us down
a beaten path we are so lost
so lost but still we get up
one more time put one more
dime in the machine
take one more chance
at one more dance and hope
that this time
this time
this

these I leave you
these tiny notebooks
filled with pieces
of my heart my mind
my memories, my life
these are mine alone
a more selfish indulgence
than anything I have done

these I share
I sing from a place
that cannot be
but is
I sing from a place
I keep for me
I leave you with
this one piece of advice
keep a place
for yourself
always

the world will take things
and leave things
you never wanted
your dreams will fade
or change
because what we
see inside
is never what it is
but in this place
you keep
dreams can live

you can sing
and you will remember
that I told you this
that I left these pieces
these words for you
I laid it down here
because I couldn’t
hold it in
anymore

Image Source: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v462/glass0rthodoxy/finalquilt.jpg

weeks pass by
with no moments in them
colors running together
as though they were left
out in the rain
moments can come
holding lifetimes
where stars are born
and weeks eclipsed

AP prompt – White Picket Fences

iron padlocks on
white washed fences
keep dirty laundry in
dreams impaled
on splintered points
rusty hinges creak
their dissatisfaction

AllPoetry prompt: Convince Me

have I got a deal for you
a steal the wheel will spin
and you can win and breast
enhancement penis
implants whiter teeth
fresher breath will all be yours
for just a song a shamwow
cleans and disinfects and wait
there’s more the steak knives
change lives grow some
hair where you have none
make it leave those unwanted
spaces the places we won’t mention
hey did I tell you
here to sell you glory genius
perfect abs no anal leakage
plumbing seepage shake
the flakes I got what
it takes and it can be yours
and if you hurry scurry
curry favor with the credit
card folks just dial the number
for deeper slumber
husband a slob?
no prob say goodbye
to rags and mops and
arches that drop just look at me
I’m sixty three and not a wrinkle
no drippy tinkle live forever
decay never you’ll be broke
but you’ll look good
in that prepaid coffin
they cart you off in

five cent moon
in a million star sky
astronomers eyes
ages past
mapping out heaven
as though it could
be quantified
qualified to describe
a universe hung with
more care than the icicles
on mama’s Christmas tree
“you can’t just stand there
and throw them
just because you like
the sparkle”
she said.
there’s beauty in order
and caring shows
I hear sirens in the distance
and feel the weight of
dark matter pressing down
the souls marching through
time and space
those I loved and lost
all who came before
whisper breeze of nightbird
wings in passing
lifts weight
and stars become stars
once again
chaotic dancing
as I watch them sparkle

earth is just a place
it cannot hold or mold
people sold the green and
bought the dream that
screams just run and run
and never stop you drop
the cleaning off and drive
through food is always fine
no time to craft a meal or
settle for a moment with
familial ties the lies we tell
so what so fine so why so how
the sacred cow of things we reap
for lack of sleep is not for real
we sleep all day and move as though
we are awake but take
a look around the ground is
rushing at us faster than
the sound of prayers can
catch us dues are owed
but down the road so what
me worry too much hurry
I would like to leave not die
but go away a far off place
with blue and green and peace
a pace that matches me
no slavery to clocks and rocks
that fill our pockets list
the crimes set in the dockets
judge the weak and weary
mothers teary I am leery of
the quicker fixes find a cliff
and spread our wings
no bag of tricks is
going to fix this broken toys
where is the joy that we
were promised by the law
no not the joy just the pursuit
but who is chasing who the cliff
is coming end is drumming
beating out a tempo we can
never dance to take
a chance to care to cry to
write it down so someone
somewhere some how
will now understand that
this is not what I signed up
for ever mindful of my own part
still I find it breaks heart
circled round and round
I chase the thoughts down
alleys filled with saddened faces
all in races to the edge
not knowing that it’s all
there is

what it’s like to burn
to feel the years fall away
like skin shed raw flesh
blood pounding through veins
unclogged untwisted

limbs strong and heart
each part each chamber
beating to rhythm of flames
of a thousand candles
handle anything and everything
hands unmarked reaching
teaching all the rest

the roof is falling
we don’t care the night
is calling moonsongs
heart songs strings plucked
all night long

melting down the heat
sweat on upper lips
pooling in the creases wild
righteous indignation needing
action leads to fixing
needing touching everywhere
at once

trading down measured ways
music plays
a soft refrain the rain will
be our soundtrack as
curtains fall stars fall
in fading stages morning
dawns with cooling dew
breezes scatter ashes

just one breath and sleep
filled eyes closed to the sun
the fashions change
we maybe find a slower roast
makes sweeter saucy meat
we chewed it up it spit
us out but once we were
sparklers spinning in the dark
fireworks and fireflies
are only beautiful when
they glow and then the night
swallows light
and we are gone

but didn’t we shine

friend to poets
no small thing
words though random
come together
collective love of light
dance of letters
each step marked
by voices singing
spark of creator
from created
fingers might
bring all closer
to heaven’s heart
through art
encouraged
by a friend to poets

This was written in January for an All Poetry contest. The parameters were to write a five line piece for six days and that week ended with the shooting of congress woman Gabrielle Giffords.

i.
some days are
just so much sawdust
and splinters
hammers and nails
wasted sweat

ii.
Wednesdays fly by so fast
coffee barely cooled
as night slams down and
I slide into home scraping
cheeks on pillows

iii.
beaten over the head by
boredom – a huge marshmallow
that leaves no bruise
but regret that
there is nothing to feel

iv.
dawn unbroken
world dreams and I
want more cream in my coffee
but the bus is leaving
and I will be on it

v.
days and days upon more
they seem forever
yet are finite
I will live as though
the sand never runs out

vi.
in six days the world
was created
on the news today
one moment and for some
the world ended

All Poetry prompt: “Most people don’t pour a cup of bourbon on their milk and oatmeal in the morning. It’s just the way it is.” (Dan Fante)

Have no idea how or why I went here but here I am…

I went to visit a friend
and we sat
and talked
about nothing in
particular.
I enjoyed the warm
evening breeze
and sipped my drink,
laughed at a joke,
lulled by the sunset.
His cat jumped up on the
bench next to me.
Absent-mindedly
I reached down to stroke
the damn thing and
next thing I know
blood is dripping
down my arm.
There is a lesson
I’m sure, but
for now
I just want a gun
and a bandage.

like a shirt that doesn’t fit
too short sleeves
tight across the breasts
hitches up in the back
letting the cold chill me
letting cold fill me

my life is a question mark
an unfinished poem
stilted language and
forced rhyme
words written across
gooseflesh and scars

home is an idea
skin stretched across miles
tentative smiles
that don’t quite reach
brown eyes
I never quite get it
I never will

like the dream where
you’re running
with no hope of stopping
and wake upon falling
with a start and a shiver
I wonder forever
if I just don’t belong here

poetry comes a butterfly
you cannot call her to you
and once she lights on your shoulder
you must be still for
you are being blessed
she is light as air and will disappear
from your fingers
delicate and easily frightened
you must handle her very gently
or her colors will fade
forever damaged
and instead of flight she was
born for
she will die